Grim by Joseph Spencer definitely lives up to its name: the tale Spencer tells paints a grim picture of murder, suffering, and moral corruption in the town of Prairieville. It begins with Heath Grim awakening naked and covered in blood, performing a bizarre ritual while staring into a mirror at his reflection with demonic eyes. Immediately, the reader knows that the tone of this story will be bleak and terrifying. This terror continues as the scene shifts to Detective Adam White as he investigates a crime scene at Marino State Hospital; the murders are so gruesome that they cause White to vomit…and he has been on the job for over ten years.
Over the next few chapters, the reader gathers the back-story for the main cast of characters. In the town of Prairieville, the Marino crime family used to run the show with The Reaper doing their dirty work. Now, the Black family is in charge, The Reaper is supposedly dead, and the mayor is in Cyrus Black’s pocket. In addition to the seedy deals of Cyrus Black, two years ago gruesome murders started happening again in the same place that The Reaper did his work.
This story raises numerous questions for the reader: who is Heath Grim? Is The Reaper really dead? Are the gruesome murders and Cyrus Black connected or are they two separate evils? In order to answer these questions and more, the reader must continue down the path of terror and suspense to find the truth.
Ultimately, the murders are solved in a period of less than two weeks; the short time frame of the novel adding to the overall suspense. Readers will be amazed at the amount of detail that Spencer uses as he weaves a tale about numerous characters that all have elaborate back-stories. By the end of the novel, the reader questions what he thought he knew as new details are brought to light about past events. Up until the very end, the mystery is maintained as to how all of the murders are related. Grim is for readers who enjoy elaborate stories full of terror and suspense; the mystery is not just about who is committing the murders, but also about the human condition overall – what causes people to develop a taste for blood? Is anyone immune or does every person have their breaking point?
Grim
Joseph Spencer
Copyright 2012
eternally learning 