Short Take: “Victim,” Sam West

Pros: Campy
Cons: Women and traps
Rating: 3 out of 5

I very much appreciate Sam West’s “An Extreme Horror Novel” warning on Victim. So many people enjoy different styles of horror, and some people would be understandably displeased if they found themselves reading something more bloody than they expected. This is a campy, highly bloody book. It’s about Chloe and her fiance, Greg. Greg starts to read her diary (sitting out in plain sight) to learn more about a terrible thing that happened to her a while back. She finds out and encourages him to read the rest. Under her therapist’s advice, she’s writing about that evening the way she would write it if it was one of the horror novels she writes–making it an uncomfortable read at best. Shortly thereafter, it’s time for Greg to take Chloe to meet his parents. That’s when things go terribly wrong.

I wanted at least the barest of reasons for why the killer does what they do and how they do it. This is definitely a campy story, so the reasons aren’t as important, at least.

I wasn’t terribly happy with the fact that a couple of the major female figures are of the trap-setting passive-aggressive female stereotype. It could have been a little less in-your-face, or at least restricted to Chloe. Chloe is apparently a contortionist and knows how to do some very unsettling things because of it.

Other than that, this is a funny, grotesque, bloody good time. Also, that killer is craaaazy!