The Void

by Teri A. Jacobs

The dark underworld of Xibalba is a realm of unimaginable pain and tortures. There lurks the Dark Man, who enters this world through the dreams of his victims. Leslie now dreams of this world, its hideous images burned into her mind. But these are not mere nightmares--the Dark Man is eager to steal her soul and drag it with him to Xibalba.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

Teri Jacobs is the author of two beautifully written and haunting novels, The Void (Leisure Books) and Secret of the Bones (Wildside Press/Prime Books). Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and magazines such as Horror Garage, Flesh & Blood (of which she was also an associate editor), Surreal Magazine, Nasty Piece of Work (U.K.), Divas of Darkness, Reality's Escape, Dark Matter, Terror Tales, Dark Testament, and The Bible of Hell (from which her short story "The Darker Deceit" had been nominated for a Pushcart Prize).

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty nicely executed, rather extreme horror novel with some interesting mythological foundations. It's a bit longer than it needed to be, but the story holds together pretty well. It was a bit too extreme for me at times, but a good offering for fans of Edward Lee or Richard Laymon.

[Horror Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some pretty damn cool parts, mostly involving the Lovecraftian, Aztec-style vibe that the otherworldy creatures come from.
Unfortunately, the world-building in the otherworld seems to take over ground the world. When you look at the world of Clive Barker, Edward Lee and Ray Garton, all big splatterpunk authors that share the genre with Jacobs, all of them at least try to ground you before you get to the weird stuff.

I'd enjoy it more if it didn't go for broke as much in terms of insanity within the first 100 pages.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was real descriptive.
To the point i became kind of numb to the grotesque descriptions.
It felt like an edgy garbage pail kids book.
everything was slimy and covered with vomit and gore.
Fine at first, Grating after a couple hundred pages.
I'm not sure what i was expecting but this wasn't it.
story wise It just felt very meandering after a point.
I really wanted to like this one.