Hack: An Extreme Home Invasion

Torment Trilogy #2

by Stephen Cooper

The Clarke family’s peaceful evening is abruptly interrupted when four twenty-somethings break into their home to brutally torment and torture them, all in the name of creating a fake news report to live out their morbid fantasies. No one is safe as each ‘news segment’ gets more twisted, depraved, and savage than the last. From the vicious mind of Stephen Cooper (The Rot, Near Death) comes his latest extreme horror offering, inspired by the video nasties of yesteryear. A home invasion story that’s less about what you can steal, and all about what you can take. Hack is bloodthirsty, unrelenting, and unforgiving. That’s your one and only warning!

Genres: Splatterpunk, Horror

127 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 10, 2023

About the author

Extreme Horror Author

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho ho ho, if you are seeing red this holiday season, you may be seeing Santa and his sack. Candy canes that kinda look like barber poles. Maybe this book by Stephen Cooper is all wrapped up for you under the tree. Take my advice and start reading this unsparing gem of extreme horror between holiday courses with the family. Now we're talking red. Meow.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another fantastic read from Stephen Cooper...he's managed to do it again to me...bought bile up into my mouth!🤢🤮with this violent disturbing book which had me hooked from the very first page and left me begging for more.
I found myself silently screaming "NO! NO! NO! FUCKING NO!" on several occasions as I couldn't believe the brutality and gore this home invasion story was throwing at me...it was like a smack in the face that stung for hours after!!
The ending couldn't have been more perfect...it was brilliant!
This certainly lived up to its title...AN EXTREME HOME INVASION... AT ITS VERY VERY BEST!!
Read With Caution...At Your Own Risk😱

[Milt Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great entry in the extreme horror genre by Stephen Cooper! This is a horribly disturbing short novel, about a nightmarish home invasion, definitely written for seasoned readers. There's an utterly helpless family of four, facing a group of four intruders, who torture everyone -kids included- for fun. Things escalate quickly, extreme scenes abound, a revelation follows at some point about why this specific family was chosen, and afterwards the ride concludes rather quickly, with a very satisfying ending (perhaps a bit frustrating for some people, though for me totally unexpected!) Cooper portrays evil very well: corruption, moral and otherwise, is taken for granted, the psychological sickness of the evildoers is beautifully described, in and out, and the story never lets up; perhaps characterization could have been a bit stronger, but the well paced plot makes up for it. Recommended!

[Brian Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savage!

My first read by Cooper, but certainly not my last. This one’s violent, sadistic, and intense. I'm looking forward to reading more from Cooper. Highly recommended for fans of extreme horror!

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf)]

Holy hell did this book keep me on my toes. I loved every minute of it. Just for a minute close your eyes and imagine several things. An apparently unrelated home invasion that ends with a family in terror and a group of really unhinged individuals all set on killing whilst presenting a pseudo investigative new report. I really loved this format.

Stephen Cooper has such a fluid writing style that matched the tension flowing from the pages. I was hooked from that first chapter. I really was caught up in that "what's going to happen" bubble. I was trapped, Cooper himself had me tied up and force fed me his narrative and although in a tricky predicament, I gladly accepted what he fed me.

Extreme horror can be either hit or miss but my dark heart bubbled with excitement at how the plot progressed. I felt what the characters felt, cringed when necessary and shouted at characters to "man the fuck up." That twist... yeah Cooper has a new fan for life!

[Stuart Bray · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Strangers is one of my all-time favorite horror films. If you feel the same way, you'll love this home invasion masterpiece.

[Hail Hydra! ~Dave Anderson~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

She finally got a look at Elle’s eyes. They were as black as night. Pitch black. They didn’t look real. The life that used to be in them had been taken, and Jess could guess when.

[Carrie Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Cooper has quickly become an auto-buy author for me, and when I heard he was putting out a home invasion story, I knew I had to read it! Home invasions are on my top five list of things that scare me silly.

The Clarke family has been targeted for reasons unknown by four intruders who don't want to carry out their deed in the middle of the night--they strike at 7 pm, which was utterly terrifying. Things that go bump in the night don't arrive at 7 pm.

While graphic and extreme, I do have to say that the psychological abuse of the teenage girl Elle was the toughest part to read. There was just something about the intruders reading her messages on her phone and making fun of her lock screen that just infuriated me. Their casual cruelty was apparent in everything they did, and compared to some of their more brutal acts, what they did to Elle was nothing, but if she was my daughter, all four would have left my house in a body bag.

Coming in at 127 pages, this was a quick read, and I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next. Of course with any book within this genre, be mindful of trigger warnings. Available now!

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Their own entertainment, their own creative, demented idea, a vile, savage, sick, tortuous evening, they could do as they want. This was their dream, a bunch of crazy, teens invading an innocent family, a duffel bag full of weapons and the most important equipment was the authentic beta cam, no 4k for these memories. The family tied to chairs, the crazy teens with camera, broadcasting like they were reporters conducting a live stream. A hacksaw hacks off a head, took time, back and forth, effort required, blood spraying and flowing, then stops after death, finally head drops onto the floor. Splat. Humans are evil and brutal.

[Megan Rang · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES! YES! YES! All the horror and gore in this extreme home invasion will not disappoint fans of this genre! I absolutely LOVED the ending!! Well done!

[Mama Wolfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a thrill ride indeed! An Extreme Home Invasion, with a satisfying ending too~

[Ashley Chmielewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️
Well that was... WILD!! Such an intense, never-ending and brutal ride! Could not read this fast enough! If you like the movie The Strangers, you'll definitely want to read this (this book is better)!

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hack wasn't nearly as extreme as I was expecting it to be. I had geared myself up for the mass amounts of gore that this was sure to have, but it was more dialogue and teen humiliation than anything.

The characters spent an awful lot of time talking about what they were going to do and then proceeding to do maybe half of what they were saying. If you're going to bill me an extreme home invasion, then I want the full brutal treatment. The reactions to some of the things that happened also felt over-dramatized; the mass amounts of blood alone didn't seem to match with the severity of some of the injuries.

The ending was a decent full circle moment but felt extremely predictable. It also left me some questions about what exactly happened in the time skip between the story and the epilogue. I feel like I got cheated from some really good plot by not getting to see any of that, only being told snippets to make the ending make sense.

This was alright, though it read more like a psychological than an extreme for me. Maybe I've just gotten desensitized to these kinds of things, but my expectations were far higher for this.

[mark feenan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal!

[Doris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome Read

What an awesome payback but ok!!! Definitely a great read!!! Will keep you up at night!!!! Read it right now!!!!

[Luke Lewis-Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best home invasion stories that I’ve read in a long time

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this was a short story that was trying way too hard to fit into the Splatterpunk genre. It was very theatrical and over the top not a realistic performance that took me so long to finish the book. There was a lot more talking between the characters about what they were going to do to the family and not much of actually doing. All they really did was tied up the family, punched them around a bit, broke/cut off some kids fingers, and of course verbally tortured them ( they also took so much time on the daughter and making fun of what they were finding on her phone which I thought was not the way to go to keep a home invasion story going). So if you like Splatterpunk to be more about humiliation rather than actual gore, this would be the book I would recommend, but personally, I would like to see more actual torture and if you're going to get into their heads, make it psychological torture not silly little high school humiliation drama.

It was also sometimes hard for me to distinguish between the male attackers as it seemed like they all had the same personality. This is even after we were told early on in the story one of them didn’t want to participate and he only did out of… FOMO?... peer pressure?... I’m still not sure because out of the entire group, he was the first one to really kill someone… twice.

The epilogue was a nice revenge ending, but it was one of those you saw coming from a mile away. It was also kind of silly that the leader of the whole invasion didn't go on to kill more in any way. You don't just start with a killing like this and cold turkey end it. Again, it made it so theatrical and eye rolling worthy.

[Ren · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Hack had the plot, pacing, and inventive brutality I was looking for, I was ultimately disappointed. The third-person narration is often bumpy, especially when it comes to the female characters. Of the four attackers, Jess is the only female and felt very one dimensional compared to the others. I felt the language used to describe the “token fat friend” (who is described as such) to be lazy and rather juvenile. I’ve read other works by this author that I absolutely loved, but this one was a big kiss for me :(

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book, I'd say worth reading once if you like horror. It did get a little stupid at times, and the reveal toward the end kind of ruined the rest of the book. It wasn't bad, just felt kind of corny.

I also feel some of the writing was a little rough in some parts. It wasn't a bad book, just not great either.

[Gideon Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was hard to stomach, but even harder to put down. I love the writing style, combining gore and humor in an oddly warming tone. The story is wild from start to finish. I’m not one for reviews, but this deserved it.

[Beth Keeling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[AA Button · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring