Run Red

by R.J. Daly

WHO’S ONLINE TONIGHT? Anyone who knows him sees that Teddy Riviera has it all—success, wealth, and a loving family. But appearances can be deceptive. His relationship with his wife, Carol, has grown stale. As he turns to the internet to satisfy his lusty sexual appetite, his palate soon develops a taste for something sinister. Will Carol discover Teddy’s nasty little secrets? Alex and Billy are a young couple living their lives to the fullest—partying, drugs, and lots of sex. For fun and a little extra income, the couple put Alex’s flair for exhibitionism to work in front of the camera, charging netizens top dollar to view them in their most intimate moments. But who is really watching? And who is the mysterious man dressed like a priest? What part does he play in the lives of these couples? When their paths cross, will it end well? Few of us could deny the internet has revolutionised our lives and the way we interact and entertain ourselves. There is no doubt that it is indeed a very useful tool. But there are some who use that tool to exploit. And others that relish in the exploitation! This book contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Genres: Horror, Splatterpunk, Dark

96 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2023

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooh, five bright, red and meaty stars for this one. I read this so fast that I ended up in front of myself. The book was exciting, edgy and splattery all the twisty way through. Triggers? Check check check check check. Mr. Daly, I greatly anticipate your next well penned effort.

[MadameD · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved R.J. Daly's Run Red!
The story started slowly but it wasn't boring. It was more an intriguing atmosphere. Then I thought, I know what is going to happen, and it happened. But there was still more to come, that I didn’t see coming.
This well-written short story is very brutal, cringe-inducing, disturbing and original.
I highly recommend it!
🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷

[Leeanne 🥀 The Book Whor3 🥀 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Business owner Teddy is in a stale marriage with his dutiful wife Carol. They have been growing further apart since the kids have all flown the nest.

Carol spends her day dreaming of the new, younger guy she just met at the country club. Teddy meanwhile, once work has finished for the day, likes to spend his evening watching extreme porn, while Carol is zonked out on sleeping pills in bed.

College students Alex and Billy, are a young couple who like to spend their evenings getting wasted on ketamine and having webcam sex...

I was honoured when my friend, the author, asked me to beta read his debut novella. What I read completely blew me away, as it was hard to believe this was his first book.

This is a great story with an almighty twist at the end. It’s bloody, gory, violent, full of sex and drugs, and that twist just comes up and slaps you in the face when you least expect it.

This awesome debut will be a big hit with fans of extreme horror/Splatterpunk. R.J Daly is definitely an author to watch out for.

An easy 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Daniel Volpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great debut from a talented author. This novella has anything and everything a splatterpunk fan could ask for. With a few nice twists, and heaps of gore, this book is sure to satisfy extreme horror lovers.

[KillerBunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five freaking stars. The writing was absolutely fantastic. Tons of gore, very brutal. At first I was like hum... I know where it's going, I thought I already knew the plot twist but I was wrong. I didn't know everything.

[Corrina Morse · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I need to shout about what an absolutely incredible debut this is! Seriously, fantastic stuff! It's gone straight into my Top 10 for 2023, and I'm going to need sequels! Plural!! Dont walk, RUN (red) and get this! 😲🖤🩸

Teddy and Carol have a routine,whilst Teddy seems to be happy with it, Carol seems bored by the monotony of it all and goes to sleep every night with the help of medication and a drop of gin, causing her to remain unconscious until morning and for Teddy to indulge in his favourite pastime. Teddy still loves Carol, but a man has urges, and he thinks he has found the perfect solution to get the best of both worlds. He feels completely justified in his needs, after all, they're just actresses on a screen….

Alex wants to see how the other half live, she craves a bit of adventure. Her and her boyfriend, Billy, have a fun way of making a bit of extra money and keeping the romance and fun alive. When their plans for the night are scuppered, they go back to the flat and indulge in a little something to put a spring in their step before spicing things up a bit. But this time they get a lot more than they bargained for, and later, when doing their usual cam show, things turn really ugly….

Whilst online, Teddy gets a notification that links him to Alex and Billy's web page, they arent his usual indulgence at first, but then things change and he sees a sadistic opportunity to have some fun with them, and he takes it….

Alex is hallucinating, big style, and believes that she is in danger, only the voice can help her, so she listens and does exactly what it tells her to, but the voice is intent on making things worse for her and for things to run red in the most horrifically brutal ways!

When you think things cant possibly get any worse, they get so much worse! I felt so uncomfortable, due to all the squirming it caused me to do! I read most of this book with my jaw on the floor! RJ sets the scenes and the atmosphere brilliantly and the whole story is extremely well written. Utterly barbaric, bonkers and bloody brilliant! Very visual, in fact, all the senses were triggered, sights, sounds, touch and yeah, even the smells were really vivid in your mind….a wholly immersive experience!

I felt the sadness of Teddy and Carol's lackluster marriage! The manipulation by the man in black, or 'The Priest', was terrifyingly genius! And Carol!! My heart broke for her! 😲
This book was completely addictive, gripping, dark, disturbing and just, incredible! With an utterly shocking, almost heart-breaking twist that I did not see coming for one second!! Outstanding work all round, I genuinely cannot fault this book at all! Get it!! 🖤

Cringe Level: MAX!
Warning! This book causes toothache!! 😁

[ꪖꪶꫀ᥊ⅈડ ꪆৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

And this is why you don't do drugs kids!
Damn now my teeth hurt...

[Melanie Bouthillette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo R.J. Daly that was quite a fine debut to I'm sure, will be a great writing career. I had no idea what I was in-store for. The brutality was on point and the twist I had no idea was coming and it was great!!! Fantastic book and cannot wait for the next one. 5 stars

[Renée · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Bloody hell!!! What a debut!!! R.J. Daly is definitely one to watch. I can’t wait to see what he writes next… it will be an instabuy. Bloody brilliant!

[DA · Rating 5 out of 5]

A debut that will knock your socks off. What an introduction to Daly and his twisted mind. His writing flows smoothly from one scene to the other full of interesting characters and scenes that will make you cringe. I do hope we haven't heard the last of The Priest!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow...what a good read,a little slow to start with but once it got going it was brutal,gory and shocking.The ending was unexpected and the twist made it more exciting. My teeth are still hurting 😬😬😬😬🦷🦷🦷🦷 a recommended short read for those who enjoy the sickness of extreme horror🤮🤮

[Brian Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Exciting Debut!

I had a lot of fun with this one. RUN RED is bloody, fast, and violent, and I loved the wicked twist at the end. I'm looking forward to more from Daly. Highly recommended!

[Tara Losacano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was nothing I expected it to be but everything I want in an extreme, twisted read!! The story follows Teddy, bored husband who likes the darker side of the internet, and Alex and Billy, a young couple making money in front of the camera for their online fan base. The way R.J. orchestrated the collision of these characters was nothing short of brilliant! I'll read anything this author releases from here on out!! 5/5 skulls 💀

[Angel Gelique · Rating 5 out of 5]

”...[B]ehind that front of normalcy, there can be secrets and shades—even compulsions—in an individual’s existence that one tries to keep hidden”

Teddy Riviera is a successful entrepreneur who has settled into a familiar routine with his wife after many years of marriage. Yet, as with many marriages, the couple has grown a bit dispassionate with one another. Teddy’s wife, Carol, can’t help but see an overweight slob sitting across from her shoveling food into his gullet while Teddy feels that Carol’s libido fails miserably to satisfy his sexual appetite. While Carol goes off to bed, Teddy heads online to appease his lust. Not just any porn would do though....

“He wanted them wet in a bodily fluid most women only secreted once a month...He just wanted them to run red.”

But Teddy’s pleasure will soon turn to shock and horror when he makes a startling realization and all vestiges of the happy family life he once knew will be forever lost.

Daly writes with flair and weaves a most captivating story. The plot thickens and twists and the ending packs an incredible punch. It is absolutely unforgettable! This is a most impressive debut novella! I can’t wait for Daly’s next book!

[renee w · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🩸 ⭐️ Wow, what a way to make your way into the community with a debut like this. This is a story of a woman name Carol and her husband, Teddy they have what would appear to be a seemingly perfect marriage, but in actuality both are unhappy . Carol seeks love from another and Teddy seeks his needs on the Internet. Then you have a young college couple Alex and her boyfriend Billy, looking to make a few extra bucks to pay bills. Lastly you have a man by the name of the priest. One incident causes their lives to come together to form Run Red. This book was depraved , vile , and a bit sad. Daly, has definitely made a name for himself with this torture tale. I highly recommend this to my fellow depraved readers only !

[Phrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really didn’t want to do my homework, so I clicked on the shortest book I had & decided to let my brain pick which it wanted to do. It wanted to read Run Red to see what all the hype was about. …When I say I had to physically pause and look away from my screen at the bottle opener part, I mean it. I knew what was coming & still said we can power through this, c’mon. My brain stopped me like 4x getting through the scene like, “STOP WE’RE NOT READY YET!” Then I willingly did my homework b/c I needed a moment & finished the story right after. WOW. WOW. WOW. Amazing, (too) vivid, SO fucked, but SO good. WOW.

[The_5ft_reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent debut from this author! Builds a great story from the start, it has plenty of sex and gore and a great twist I did not see coming!

[Danielle Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“How and where from? He didn’t give a f*ck. He just wanted them to run red.” 🩸

In anticipation for the second book coming out, I decided to revisit Run Red and realized I never even reviewed it the first time I read it. (I know, I know. In my defense it was before I started doing my reviews.🫣)

Anyways, this book was just amazing the second time around as it was the first. Daly is able to tell an absolute depraved story that had me feeling all sorts of ways. 😳 It reads, and essentially is, a complete drug induced hell with a few scenes I’ll never recover from. 😭😬🦷 There were genuinely moments that gave me anxiety about what would happen next. 😅

Daly has a writing style that I absolutely love, and an incredible way with words. Which duh, he’s an author, that’s kind of his thing; but damn does he do it really freaking well and makes his stories binge worthy AF. The tone/language/and character development are always top tier, and this book is no different. The plot line here was incredible and I cannot wait to see what book two has to offer. 🙌🏼

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Run Red" by R.J. Daly is extreme horror candy! In less than a hundred pages, you get such detailed descriptions, such strong emotions, and such an amazing twist, it felt like reading a much longer story, full of different characters, multiple points of view, and larger than life situations! Yet it's a novella, tightly written and superbly edited, with fantastic pacing, original graphic imagery, and a really good plot. Essentially a dark web story, it reaches right into the reader's heart, playing with their minds at the same time. I especially liked the ending.

Definitely recommend!

[Stephen Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super nasty, hate teeth stuff lol. Really enjoyed this one, an intriguing idea, well done, with a great amount of gore and depravity.

[Mique Watson]

Okay buT THAT PLOT TWIST. THAT EPILOGUE. 🤯

[Erica Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh concept. Fun characters. Loads of sex. Gore upon gore. Vivid descriptions. All punctuated with a really fresh ending. I burned through this one fast. Excellent debut from RJ Daly. In my opinion, he is someone who will make big waves in horror in the coming years. If you're on the fence about reading this and you like gore and pornography, I think you're going to love this one. 4.5 stars rounded up.

[Eve L. Fell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a married couple in a boring day to day marriage. Teddy is a man who can’t seem to please his appetite within his marriage or even within the comfort of hookers so he looks elsewhere on the internet. He finds a video presented to him by a man called the priest and instantly goes into a spiral of carnage and depravity. He encourages violence and regrets it quickly. If you enjoy gore and sex go ahead and check this book out!

[Lexi Trumble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is some utterly depraved shit that very nearly had me gagging. Needless to say, I loved it. This debut novella was a quick, gristly, gory tale of the dark web’s penchant for torture and suffering. The body horror in this one is unrelenting…my God.

The only reason it wasn’t a 5-star story was that I wanted more, which I think is a fantastic problem to have.

[Ashley Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

THAT WAS AMAZING!
It has a good amount of gore, which is always great. But the storyline had me SCREAMING. Absolutely adore this one.

[Mrsgmamma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was wild as hell. The part that stuck out most was that this couple would do online sex lives. They would have viewers tell them what to do for money. It gets real crazy after that part. I was definitely shocked with the ending of the book.

[Suzanne Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars of horror goodness

[Rachel M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes it’s hard to scratch that itch………. Just be careful where you look! All Alex and Billy want to do is make money via their kinky webcam show, all Teddy wants to do is find the more extreme via the dark web and all Carol wants is hot younger guy. Unwittingly all these fantasies get entangled, but will everyone get what they are looking for? This is a great debut from R.J, sex and gore and gore and more gore! For a 90 page book this story has lots of action packed in along with the twists you won’t want to put it down!

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex took some drugs and with her partner preformed sex acts in front of a camera she set up for paying customers. She would perform want they wanted. Teddy was a fat old perverted fuck who loved the sight of blood. The pouring, oozing, dribbling, flowing look got him off. Alex would start to think her teeth were possessed and took a bottle opener and the tearing crunching sound of teeth leaving gums, blood flowing down her face, the teeth fell into the bowl between her legs. More teeth, now she is looking through a toolkit. Teddy is watching the livestream, the tearing, crunching, ripping, blood gushing making him gush. The ending was unexpected and brutal.

[Erica Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written though i fear that the dark web scenario has been done to death. I felt it needed a bit more backstory whereby the writer could have done a chapter on the priest and explained what he'd found out about the family and perhaps even how he got started in the dark web. The ending was also a bit abrupt. Had it been more padded out i would have given it a higher rating