Happy Hour by Gemma Amor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Happy Hour by Gemma Amor is the 9th-installment in the Killer VHS series. If you’ve never heard of these, they’re a series of standalone Horror novellas, written by a host of different authors, that channel the vibes of 80s/90s Horror.
My thoughts on this one are fairly simple, and can actually be summed up with just one word: UNHINGED!
In this novel, we’re following Brian, who owns a unique ((putting it mildly)) cocktail bar in 1990s-London. Brian has some interesting eccentricities that set his bar apart from the others. I let you discover the details for yourself.
Brian’s perspective reminded me a lot of Patrick Bateman. I’m not sure if the author was inspired by his character when writing Brian, but honestly, he could be Patrick’s cousin. I think they’d get along famously at the family reunion.
As far as the content of the story, I found it compelling. I liked the backstory we got for Brian’s character and the way that the back-and-forth was pieced together.
There’s some great, cringey body horror as well, and I felt Amor did a fantastic job balancing an actual plot with all the toe-curling Horror aspects. There’s actually a coherent story in here, which isn’t necessarily always the case.
While i wouldn’t classify this as Extreme Horror, it’s definitely dipping a toe in those deeper waters. This is actually the first I’ve read from Gemma Amor, but I’m stoked to read more. This was a tantalizing introduction to this author for me. For sure.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Shortwave, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’d love to collect all of these paperbacks.
The covers are always so good, and I’d love to add them to my always-growing Horror collection!