What do you think?
Rate this book
The Roger Huntington Saga #2
Born To Bleed
Born to Bleed is the exciting sequel to the cult classic, The Summer I Died! It's been ten years since Roger Huntington suffered through the bloody events in Skinny Man's basement. Ten years since the game of chance, the dismemberment, the torture, and the grisly deaths. Roger has moved to California where he now works as a painter and pines after his co-worker, Victoria. It's a seemingly bland life, which is how he likes it. But just as he can't forget his past, he is about to discover that his future may hold far more terrifying events than anything he could possibly imagine.
"Ryan C. Thomas is one of the most talented writers coming up from the micropresses. The Summer I Died and Born To Bleed are both excellent examples of hard-hitting, relentless horror!" - HorrorDrive-in.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ryan C. Thomas lives in San Diego with his wife and two dogs. He is the author of several novels including Born To Bleed (the sequel to The Summer I Died), Hissers, Salticidae, The Undead World of Oz, Ratings Game, Origin of Pain, as well as several novellas and short stories.
"Ryan C. Thomas is one of the most talented writers coming up from the micropresses. The Summer I Died and Born To Bleed are both excellent examples of hard-hitting, relentless horror!" - HorrorDrive-in.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ryan C. Thomas lives in San Diego with his wife and two dogs. He is the author of several novels including Born To Bleed (the sequel to The Summer I Died), Hissers, Salticidae, The Undead World of Oz, Ratings Game, Origin of Pain, as well as several novellas and short stories.
184 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2011
70 people are currently reading
1273 people want to read
About the author
Ryan C. Thomas
56 books397 followersI am the author of the novels The Summer I Died, Ratings Game, Born to Bleed, Salticidae, Undead World of Oz, Hissers and more. I hope to learn a lot from the readers on this site, and get some good book recs in the process. Thanks!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
July 6, 2015
Hey Grandpa! What's fer dinner?
I could not work up an appetite for this second offering in the Roger Huntington Saga. The Summer I Died stands on its own merits, in my opinion, but this story dumped me in the deep end of the pool without my water wings.
Difficult to measure up to The Summer I Died, that is to be expected. I sorely missed the buddy aspect here, but applaud that the Red Sox cap is still in play.
Fine dining is much more than dressing for dinner. On the menu here is something even too gnarly for this seasoned horror veteran to consider.
I could not work up an appetite for this second offering in the Roger Huntington Saga. The Summer I Died stands on its own merits, in my opinion, but this story dumped me in the deep end of the pool without my water wings.
Difficult to measure up to The Summer I Died, that is to be expected. I sorely missed the buddy aspect here, but applaud that the Red Sox cap is still in play.
Fine dining is much more than dressing for dinner. On the menu here is something even too gnarly for this seasoned horror veteran to consider.
December 30, 2013
A 3.5 Rating
I think the most difficult thing with Born To Bleed is that it’s the follow up to an absolute classic, The Summer I Died is one of the most powerful stories you’re ever likely to read and it was always going to be an impossible task to match up to that.
Born to Bleed set ten years later gets its shocks from cannibalism and the people who claim it as there life blood and prolonged youth, Roger Huntington finds himself right in the thick of it once more as he attempts to rescue Victoria, his co-worker and Gabe, her partner from some fairly sadistic upper class crazies.
Roger as a result of his experiences has some serious psychological issues, he sees our old antagonist skinny man at every turn and his best friend Tooth, who died at the hands of the brutal torturer is never far from his conscience.
The companionship and brutality is not on the same level as the first book but Roger constantly relives what happened to him in that cellar, there must be a limit to what one man can take and he certainly has a survival instinct that is unsurpassed. I did like the twist at the end that sets things in motion for the third book in the series, which I will definitely read.
I think the most difficult thing with Born To Bleed is that it’s the follow up to an absolute classic, The Summer I Died is one of the most powerful stories you’re ever likely to read and it was always going to be an impossible task to match up to that.
Born to Bleed set ten years later gets its shocks from cannibalism and the people who claim it as there life blood and prolonged youth, Roger Huntington finds himself right in the thick of it once more as he attempts to rescue Victoria, his co-worker and Gabe, her partner from some fairly sadistic upper class crazies.
Roger as a result of his experiences has some serious psychological issues, he sees our old antagonist skinny man at every turn and his best friend Tooth, who died at the hands of the brutal torturer is never far from his conscience.
The companionship and brutality is not on the same level as the first book but Roger constantly relives what happened to him in that cellar, there must be a limit to what one man can take and he certainly has a survival instinct that is unsurpassed. I did like the twist at the end that sets things in motion for the third book in the series, which I will definitely read.
October 27, 2015
Roger Huntington is one hell of an unlucky guy. Or is he? You see Roger survived a harrowing, life-altering ordeal that left him with complex PTSD and quite possibly psychosis of the full blown kind ten years ago, and now, just when he decides to end his therapy (having already come off his meds), his major crush and her boyfriend have been kidnapped. And guess what? Roger, who is no longer afraid (as he tries to reassure himself repeatedly), is the only person who can save them! Except he's about to get into something far deeper than his admittedly very-active imagination could have conceived ...
Ryan C Thomas' follow up to the stunning The Summer I Died (which also happened to be one of my Top 10 Horror Novels I read in 2013) is a pretty damn good sequel. It ups the ante in terms of players, pits Roger against a foe that is far more mysterious than a backwoods psychopath, and even manages to build upon the mythos established for his character in an interesting way. Of course, it's not a patch on its predecessor in terms of intensity or gut-wrenching horror - but then, it was never going to be. Instead it's a page-turning thriller which features one significantly gore-laden scene that will likely have casual readers vomiting into the mouths (if just a little). Hardened horror veterans such as myself may only wince, but then, we knew Thomas had to deliver something of this order after everything that occurred in The Summer I Died.
Ultimately, how good Born to Bleed is will likely rest on how the remainder of the ROGER HUNTINGTON SAGA plays out. If it ups the ante and takes Roger and his "gift" to new and interesting places, then this will be viewed as a good bridge to those events. It not, it might be dismissed as the book where Roger and his saga began to fall away - more specifically, right about the time a bald-headed man started appearing among statues of wolves and repeatedly nodding approval at Roger's desperate efforts to survive.
3.5 Rarest of Rare Meats for Born to Bleed.
Ryan C Thomas' follow up to the stunning The Summer I Died (which also happened to be one of my Top 10 Horror Novels I read in 2013) is a pretty damn good sequel. It ups the ante in terms of players, pits Roger against a foe that is far more mysterious than a backwoods psychopath, and even manages to build upon the mythos established for his character in an interesting way. Of course, it's not a patch on its predecessor in terms of intensity or gut-wrenching horror - but then, it was never going to be. Instead it's a page-turning thriller which features one significantly gore-laden scene that will likely have casual readers vomiting into the mouths (if just a little). Hardened horror veterans such as myself may only wince, but then, we knew Thomas had to deliver something of this order after everything that occurred in The Summer I Died.
Ultimately, how good Born to Bleed is will likely rest on how the remainder of the ROGER HUNTINGTON SAGA plays out. If it ups the ante and takes Roger and his "gift" to new and interesting places, then this will be viewed as a good bridge to those events. It not, it might be dismissed as the book where Roger and his saga began to fall away - more specifically, right about the time a bald-headed man started appearing among statues of wolves and repeatedly nodding approval at Roger's desperate efforts to survive.
3.5 Rarest of Rare Meats for Born to Bleed.
January 13, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up. The follow up to the magnificent "the Summer I Died" by Ryan C Thomas. I wasn't expecting this one to quite hit the lofty heights set by that one, but this was still a fun, fast paced and, in some parts, very nasty read. Exactly what you expect from Ryan C Thomas, one of the most promising authors in the horror genre.
What Thomas does in this one is mix it up and gives us a more complex narrative. Whereas the first story was an intense, claustrophobic, brutal punch to the stomach, this one explores the aftereffects of PTSD on the protagonist and also the possibility of fate guiding his life toward a particular path. It then throws him neck deep in a brutal rescue mission where the odds are stacked against him, but the scars of past events compel him to push it to the limit and do all he can to save the day this time.
Although not as intense and gripping as the first I did enjoy the action and turn of events and particular the character arc for the main man Roger Huntington. The other characters could have been fleshed out more and this one lacked the friendship that was such an important part of the first. But the importance of this part of the story is a bridging mechanism as the narrative transitions into something quite different and exciting.
In summary, an enjoyable read that doesn't quite live up to the first but does take the story in a very interesting direction that has me hungry for the next installment. I can't wait!
What Thomas does in this one is mix it up and gives us a more complex narrative. Whereas the first story was an intense, claustrophobic, brutal punch to the stomach, this one explores the aftereffects of PTSD on the protagonist and also the possibility of fate guiding his life toward a particular path. It then throws him neck deep in a brutal rescue mission where the odds are stacked against him, but the scars of past events compel him to push it to the limit and do all he can to save the day this time.
Although not as intense and gripping as the first I did enjoy the action and turn of events and particular the character arc for the main man Roger Huntington. The other characters could have been fleshed out more and this one lacked the friendship that was such an important part of the first. But the importance of this part of the story is a bridging mechanism as the narrative transitions into something quite different and exciting.
In summary, an enjoyable read that doesn't quite live up to the first but does take the story in a very interesting direction that has me hungry for the next installment. I can't wait!
February 5, 2013
As others have said, this isn't quite as good as The Summer I Died but I doubt it is possible for that masterpiece to have been outdone. I'm still going with 5 stars on this one because it is excellent on its own and technically TSID was really a 6 star book. Highly recommended and I'd love to read another sequel.
May 23, 2014
Born to Bleed is a sequel to the Summer I Died. If you know anything about me, you will know that I have promoted the hell out of the Summer I Died, it was easily the best book I read last year out of close to 60 books. So when I heard Ryan wrote a sequel my first thoughts were how? I thought Summer ended perfectly and what could you really expand on? And my second thoughts were why? Just like when you have a horror movie you really love or using comic analogy ala’ Roger Huntington..a sequel to a good mini-series or graphic novel…you realize the sequel rarely ever surpasses the original. So I really had mixed emotions going into this book.
For me it was hard to buy the same guy same type of scenario deal….fortunately the ending helped eliminate a lot of my cynicism. And I am the type of horror fan that normally can suspend any critiques or criticisms, I mean it’s horror anything can happen…I mean they made a Hostel II right? That being said I love reading Ryan’s writing, his cultural references felt like they were meant for me, to me he is the voice of a generation X writing horror. Overall I enjoyed this sequel better than I thought I would. I kept expecting that dark dread intense feeling where I didn’t want to know what was going to happen next like in Summer, but it never really took me there. But on it’s on merit it was an enjoyable read, and I am sure I will be picking up book 3 as well, probably with a better expectation of what is to come. A solid 3.5 – 4.0
For me it was hard to buy the same guy same type of scenario deal….fortunately the ending helped eliminate a lot of my cynicism. And I am the type of horror fan that normally can suspend any critiques or criticisms, I mean it’s horror anything can happen…I mean they made a Hostel II right? That being said I love reading Ryan’s writing, his cultural references felt like they were meant for me, to me he is the voice of a generation X writing horror. Overall I enjoyed this sequel better than I thought I would. I kept expecting that dark dread intense feeling where I didn’t want to know what was going to happen next like in Summer, but it never really took me there. But on it’s on merit it was an enjoyable read, and I am sure I will be picking up book 3 as well, probably with a better expectation of what is to come. A solid 3.5 – 4.0
February 26, 2014
Roger was seemingly indeed born to bleed. Ryan C. Thomas has created him to suffer. He survived the spectacular butchery of the first book, traumatized but alive. And now ten years later he's a 30 year old man, haunted but functional, trying to lead a normal life in sunny California (which is apparently a terrifying place where the rich literally consume the needy and the old eat the young)and making a living as an artist. The odds of something like what happened to him in the past recurring are infinitesimal, yet it does. This time Roger has a choice of walking away and decides not to in effort to save the girl he likes, proving to himself and us that he's become a much stronger more fearless person. He stumbles into a culinary worship of the most disturbing proportions and has to fight his way through. The first book was notorious. Thomas managed to reach a stunning degree of literary brutality, but he's balanced it with enough heart to elevate it above torture porn level. Above all he's created a great character in Roger, who is smart, caring, flawed, strong, geeky, funny, ballsy, very average sort of nerdy guy, very much an everyman who gets tested in these phenomenally messed up violent ways and sort of becomes a real life superhero. It's a theme that resonates throughout the book. I've heard that many didn't like this book as much as the first one, but I thought it was great. It was, especially the first half, considerably more subdued, with more thriller than horror elements. But the second half had all the murder, madness, depravity, torture and rape the readers might expect. The only thing that I really didn't care for was the ending. Would have preferred the book ended a chapter earlier. But alas in this day and age where every work that's even semi decent (and sometimes not even) gets a sequel and/or serialized, this was inevitable. As much as I like Roger, I think it'd just be nice to revisit him every so often (ten years was reasonable), to see how he progresses as a person and what sort of shenanigans he gets into that time. Thomas has sped up that process providing explanations where none are needed and creating a structure that would enable Roger to kick ass on a much more frequent basis. I think it takes something away from the integrity of Roger's character, but maybe it's just the next evolutional step in his development. Time will tell. For now there is this book and it's tons of fun, extremely violent yet emotionally involving, kudos to Thomas for maintaining that balance. Highly recommended.
September 26, 2016
This is the sequel of The Summer I died and I read this a week ago and forgot to write a review.
It was definitely not as good as the first book but that is understandable because that book was great but it was also a surprise to me.
The element of surprise was not here in this book because I'd just finished reading book 1 but it was still good.
There were a few sentences that I loved.
I'll quote one: You dig like my grandma taking a shit.....slow and hopeful and in the end all she expels is hot air.
bahahaha. Very good..
There was one contradiction he wrote which I also bookmarked cause I thought it was a bit of a mistake.
spoiler book 1
You see in the first book there was a girl who had an ax in her head and terrible things were done to her but she kept on living and the narrator was understandably very shocked. Now he writes :I've heard of people getting shot in the head and living but never figured they be lucid enough to keep fighting.This is the same guy.
I am also wondering if people can eat noses with only their teeth,crunching the cartilage,.He chewed her nose like steak and then swallowed it in one gulp? Is that humanly possible?
I ask so I might give it a try.
End of spoiler
Another quote. Yes English is not my first language so I could be wrong.
question for you native English speakers
He writes he was trying in vain to make out the conversation coming from a few rooms away, but then he is telling us the exact conversation.
I thought trying in vain means you can't?
Anyway all in all still a decent read.
It was definitely not as good as the first book but that is understandable because that book was great but it was also a surprise to me.
The element of surprise was not here in this book because I'd just finished reading book 1 but it was still good.
There were a few sentences that I loved.
I'll quote one: You dig like my grandma taking a shit.....slow and hopeful and in the end all she expels is hot air.
bahahaha. Very good..
There was one contradiction he wrote which I also bookmarked cause I thought it was a bit of a mistake.
spoiler book 1
You see in the first book there was a girl who had an ax in her head and terrible things were done to her but she kept on living and the narrator was understandably very shocked. Now he writes :I've heard of people getting shot in the head and living but never figured they be lucid enough to keep fighting.This is the same guy.
I am also wondering if people can eat noses with only their teeth,crunching the cartilage,.He chewed her nose like steak and then swallowed it in one gulp? Is that humanly possible?
I ask so I might give it a try.
End of spoiler
Another quote. Yes English is not my first language so I could be wrong.
question for you native English speakers
He writes he was trying in vain to make out the conversation coming from a few rooms away, but then he is telling us the exact conversation.
I thought trying in vain means you can't?
Anyway all in all still a decent read.
November 11, 2013
Another wild ride from Ryan C. Thomas! We start with Roger, ten years after he endured the events in The Summer I Died. This was a solid book as far as story lines go, but somehow the only character I really "felt" was Roger, himself. The fast paced action and grisly details were there aplenty. While this book was good on it's own, I think it was just hard to follow up the emotional turmoil built up in book one.
January 21, 2023
A fantastic sequel. This one is set later and follows Roger as an adult. We get to see the aftermath of the horrifying events of that brutal first book. This one expands things and we get to see Roger as he unexpectedly becomes involved in a nightmare situation. I've seen a lot of reviews for the first book and I almost didn't keep reading but am so glad I did. This one while not as gory or graphic (with the exception of a few choice scenes) this one felt like more of an action horror with a focus on story rather than extreme horror. Highly recommend.
November 1, 2023
The Summer I Died was one of the hardest books to read due to the extreme graphic violence but was still wholly satisfying as a story. So I wanted to read its sequel but had to take a deep breath to prepare myself before jumping into this one.
But nope, I still wasn’t prepared…
Roger Huntington, who barely survived that first book is trying to manage his trauma and has attempted to move on, relocating to Los Angeles and working as a painter of serene woods scenes. But that doesn’t last long, as trouble catches up with him again.
The violence and depravity is just as hard-hitting in this book and the author still manages to deftly touch on the long-term affects of trauma and how it changes Roger in ways that he never expected, where he’s constantly questioning what kind of person he might be becoming.
But nope, I still wasn’t prepared…
Roger Huntington, who barely survived that first book is trying to manage his trauma and has attempted to move on, relocating to Los Angeles and working as a painter of serene woods scenes. But that doesn’t last long, as trouble catches up with him again.
The violence and depravity is just as hard-hitting in this book and the author still manages to deftly touch on the long-term affects of trauma and how it changes Roger in ways that he never expected, where he’s constantly questioning what kind of person he might be becoming.
August 10, 2025
It’s been maybe 4 years since I read The Summer I Died, so a lot of the finer details are hazy. It wasn’t hard to jump back into things, and honestly I felt like this could’ve been a stand-alone story. That being said, I really liked it and thought it was a great continuation. The antagonists were vile but it was fun rooting for Roger again. You know…just like with the first one, I can see this happening in real life bc people are capable of disgusting things. Not sure how I feel about the ending but it does explain some things and I’ll find out soon enough how Roger fares after all the outrageous things that have already happened to him.
January 22, 2014
Born to Bleed is a sequel to the Summer I Died. If you know anything about me, you will know that I have promoted the hell out of the Summer I Died, it was easily the best book I read last year out of close to 60 books. So when I heard Ryan wrote a sequel my first thoughts were how? I thought Summer ended perfectly and what could you really expand on? And my second thoughts were why? Just like when you have a horror movie you really love or using comic analogy ala’ Roger Huntington..a sequel to a good mini-series or graphic novel…you realize the sequel rarely ever surpasses the original. So I really had mixed emotions going into this book.
For me it was hard to buy the same guy same type of scenario deal….fortunately the ending helped eliminate a lot of my cynicism. And I am the type of horror fan that normally can suspend any critiques or criticisms, I mean it’s horror anything can happen…I mean they made a Hostel II right? That being said I love reading Ryan’s writing, his cultural references felt like they were meant for me, to me he is the voice of a generation X writing horror. Overall I enjoyed this sequel better than I thought I would. I kept expecting that dark dread intense feeling where I didn’t want to know what was going to happen next like in Summer, but it never really took me there. But on it’s on merit it was an enjoyable read, and I am sure I will be picking up book 3 as well, probably with a better expectation of what is to come. A solid 3.5 – 4.0.
For me it was hard to buy the same guy same type of scenario deal….fortunately the ending helped eliminate a lot of my cynicism. And I am the type of horror fan that normally can suspend any critiques or criticisms, I mean it’s horror anything can happen…I mean they made a Hostel II right? That being said I love reading Ryan’s writing, his cultural references felt like they were meant for me, to me he is the voice of a generation X writing horror. Overall I enjoyed this sequel better than I thought I would. I kept expecting that dark dread intense feeling where I didn’t want to know what was going to happen next like in Summer, but it never really took me there. But on it’s on merit it was an enjoyable read, and I am sure I will be picking up book 3 as well, probably with a better expectation of what is to come. A solid 3.5 – 4.0.
April 25, 2013
Somewhat disappointing sequel to The Summer I Died which finds our "hero" Roger in a life or death battle with demented high-society cannibals. Unlike in TSID, where the over-the-top story worked so well, the plot just feels forced and silly most of the time. It's well-written, and the story does start well and moves along at a brisk pace, but it never develops into a real nail-biter like TSID did. The ending felt like it was stolen from the film Unbreakable and just made the story even sillier. While likeable, it doesn't match the quality of TSID. Then again, that's a hard book to top.
June 15, 2014
A solid follow up to the first--but nowhere near as impactful--Born to Bleed brings us more Roger Huntington, more torture, more sharp wit, and more brutal comeuppance as the main character finds himself, once again, in the worst situation imaginable. What it fails to deliver, however, is the same level of rawness and heart as its predecessor.
July 25, 2017
This is VERY, VERY different from The Summer I Died. I THINK I like the first book better but honestly they are hard to compare. One thing for sure- the body count is MUCH higher in this book. Secondly, the ending threw me for a loop and proves that the third book will again be much different from its predecessors. I'm excited to give it a shot! Already have it queued up on my kindle.
July 7, 2025
That was intensely brutal! The first one was better but I still could not put it down.
Triggering warning: ‼️ Rape, cannibalism
Triggering warning: ‼️ Rape, cannibalism
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2013
Okay, so this was quite the amazing sequel to the masterful The Summer I Died. I was fortunate enough to have not been exposed to any spoilers before reading either one of them. I did however have high hopes because of all the rave reviews associated with this series. I have not been let down yet. I think Ryan C. Thomas has created something rare and exciting and I am delighted to see that there will be another sequel. After the way this one ended, I was really hoping for a continuation. It seems as if the story is just getting started, and that should seem impossible after all the emotions it has wrung out of me already. Seriously, this is brutal, gut wrenching stuff here, folks. I actually finished this a couple of days ago and it has had time to settle a little. One concern I had when I started reading this was that it would be a clone of TSID, or that it would simply try to hard and fall flat. I mean, TSID is one of the best stories I've read this year. So was this. I'm happy I got to read them back to back because it was basically like reading a long novel rather than two short ones.
In regards to the story, we have Roger Huntington ten years after the events from the first book left him psychologically brutalized and attempting to pick up the pieces and form some kind of life for himself. Things are going along as well as could be expected when he is thrust into another situation lifted right out of our worse nightmares.
This time, though, the story is a bit more complex. I won't go into too many details, so as not to spoil anything, but I will say that the one thing I was hoping for and didn't get in this one was the claustrophobic horror generated by the first book. That was about the only complaint I had. Notice I still gave it five stars, so it wasn't that detrimental to my enjoyment.
I strongly recommend this book to lovers of extreme horror. In fact, get both The Summer I Died and Born To Bleed and read them back to back. You can't go wrong!
In regards to the story, we have Roger Huntington ten years after the events from the first book left him psychologically brutalized and attempting to pick up the pieces and form some kind of life for himself. Things are going along as well as could be expected when he is thrust into another situation lifted right out of our worse nightmares.
This time, though, the story is a bit more complex. I won't go into too many details, so as not to spoil anything, but I will say that the one thing I was hoping for and didn't get in this one was the claustrophobic horror generated by the first book. That was about the only complaint I had. Notice I still gave it five stars, so it wasn't that detrimental to my enjoyment.
I strongly recommend this book to lovers of extreme horror. In fact, get both The Summer I Died and Born To Bleed and read them back to back. You can't go wrong!
May 2, 2011
Born to Bleed is a continuation of The Summer I Died, in a way. It fills us in on what happened to Roger Huntington, ten years after he survived being detained and tortured in Skinny Man's house of horrors.
Richard lives in California and is a plein air artist. He is currently seeing a psychiatrist to help him deal with everything that went down at Skinny Man's house, especially the nightmares he's having because he couldn't save his friend Tooth or his sister, Jaimie.
Richard has a way of stumbling into trouble that's going to be all kinds of painful, and when a pretty coworker whom he has a crush on drives out to meet him at a remote location, bringing along her boyfriend Gabe, the trouble soon begins when Gabe and Victoria are kidnapped by some men in a van. Lightening does strike twice as Roger immerses himself in the bloody goings-on at a mansion where kidnapped girls are invited to be the meal for a youth-loving wolf cult.
I didn't believe this was going to be able to touch The Summer I Died, a splatterpunk novel I consider to be brilliant, and it doesn't. But it's a fun romp through the halls of an elitist asshole's mansion as the battered Roger dodges bullets and cannibals so that Victoria doesn't suffer the same fate as his friend and sister.
The ending is a little unusual, as we realize the reason why Roger always beat Skinny Man at his own dice game.
Richard lives in California and is a plein air artist. He is currently seeing a psychiatrist to help him deal with everything that went down at Skinny Man's house, especially the nightmares he's having because he couldn't save his friend Tooth or his sister, Jaimie.
Richard has a way of stumbling into trouble that's going to be all kinds of painful, and when a pretty coworker whom he has a crush on drives out to meet him at a remote location, bringing along her boyfriend Gabe, the trouble soon begins when Gabe and Victoria are kidnapped by some men in a van. Lightening does strike twice as Roger immerses himself in the bloody goings-on at a mansion where kidnapped girls are invited to be the meal for a youth-loving wolf cult.
I didn't believe this was going to be able to touch The Summer I Died, a splatterpunk novel I consider to be brilliant, and it doesn't. But it's a fun romp through the halls of an elitist asshole's mansion as the battered Roger dodges bullets and cannibals so that Victoria doesn't suffer the same fate as his friend and sister.
The ending is a little unusual, as we realize the reason why Roger always beat Skinny Man at his own dice game.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2025
If you’re going into Born To Bleed expecting it to be like The Summer I Died, well, just don’t. They are nothing alike.
The Summer I Died was amazing. Brutal. Scary. Everything you can want in an extreme horror novel. Born To Bleed had very little resemblance to the original besides for the main character hearing the old dead antagonist in his head.
Born To Bleed is all about action. The amount of action is plentiful and there are some really cool scenes. I would say the action is this stories biggest pro and also its biggest con…
Because so much was going on, Born To Bleed was far from boring but it seemed a bit comicbookish and over the top. The protagonist feels nothing like how he was in the original. The author tries too much to make him edgy and cool while he suddenly turns into a superhero on a quest to save another man’s girlfriend who he is obsessed with.
Meh - this wasn’t a bad read but felt like a forced sequel.
The Summer I Died was amazing. Brutal. Scary. Everything you can want in an extreme horror novel. Born To Bleed had very little resemblance to the original besides for the main character hearing the old dead antagonist in his head.
Born To Bleed is all about action. The amount of action is plentiful and there are some really cool scenes. I would say the action is this stories biggest pro and also its biggest con…
Because so much was going on, Born To Bleed was far from boring but it seemed a bit comicbookish and over the top. The protagonist feels nothing like how he was in the original. The author tries too much to make him edgy and cool while he suddenly turns into a superhero on a quest to save another man’s girlfriend who he is obsessed with.
Meh - this wasn’t a bad read but felt like a forced sequel.
November 25, 2013
Enjoyable second installment of the Roger Huntington adventures....Roger is one unlucky guy, having escaped Skinny Man in "The Summer I died" he is hoping to live a quiet life in California...not going to happen Rog!! The girl he adores Victoria is captured together with her boyfriend Gabe and both are tortured (Gabe killed, Victoria raped) Roger peruses the villains and in the usual "gore" fest he manages to dispense the baddies and finally rescue the girl...who will of course remain rather traumatized for the rest of her life. This book is a pale reflection of The Summer I died (which was seemingly a coming of age story that moved quickly into horror in the most brutal way) an ok read but nothing really new and exciting to offer the discerning horror lover....lets hope the third outing for Roger gets back to winning ways!
September 26, 2016
I don't like giving negative reviews, but I'll be honest, I really did not enjoy this one like I did the first one. They were two completely different stories. Maybe because the first one took me by surprise -- it was extremely horrific, and I was impressed. I thought I'd be hard to shock until I read the first. But the first felt real. It felt like a situation that anyone can just walk into. But with the second book, Born To Bleed, well, I stopped feeling real. I didn't feel that this 'adventure' could simply happen to just anyone, and especially the outcome. Anyway, I guess it's called the Roger 'Saga' for a reason. Things are just getting started for this character, now that he met with Nick Fury...
December 25, 2020
Poor, poor Roger Huntington. This is a book that struggles to find a reason to be. Following up the intense, splatterpunk cult classic of Summer I Died, where is there to go? How about a ridiculous noir bloodbath about a lonely nerd going on a bloody mass murdering spree to save the girl he likes from a cult of super-rich cannibals? Well, that’s one way to do it.
There’s a kind of off-the-cuff purple prose quality that’s more engaging than not but also kind of annoying at times too. But, hoo boy! When the action kicks in, it turns into a pretty wild free for all. And that’s all that matters really. It’s short, it’s a super fast read and when the action kicks in, it’s NUTS. 80s Graham Masterton would be proud.
There’s a kind of off-the-cuff purple prose quality that’s more engaging than not but also kind of annoying at times too. But, hoo boy! When the action kicks in, it turns into a pretty wild free for all. And that’s all that matters really. It’s short, it’s a super fast read and when the action kicks in, it’s NUTS. 80s Graham Masterton would be proud.
December 19, 2012
it wasnt as good as The Summer I Died but it was still pretty cool
October 14, 2015
Another awesome book! Ryan has such a way with words that he makes you believe you're the one in the book and it's terrifying! Love his work
May 25, 2021
This reeeally needed some serious editing.
March 8, 2020
This ten- years- later sequel sees Roger Huntington as an artist in California suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks to the events of The Summer I Died. After an afternoon of painting, the bloodshed he thought he left behind returns when the woman he likes and her fiance are kidnapped by some men for unknown reasons.
The ante is certainly upped in this equally nasty sequel. Seriously, there's a scene about 2/3s of the way through that goes on for pages that will make almost anyones stomach churn. As before, the violence isn't intended to be entertaining, but upsetting and it is most certainly that. The story is fairly standard stuff, with Rogers nihilistic narratiin making it stand out.
There's a final chapter development that you could argue jumps the shark, but honestly, I'm all aboard said shark. Horror like this can often fall into repetitive formulas, and the end of this book promises something more. It's an interesting development for a series that started as a straightforward extreme horror story about a day in the woods gone horribly wrong.
The big criticism I have is that the story all too easily falls into the damsel in distress trope, and in the case of extreme horror, it's very difficult to argue against the more mysoginistic aspects of the sub sub genre when the women are put in danger. Sadly, that's the case here. In the first one the rather chauvenisitc attidude of one of the main characters at least felt somewhat justified in the sense that it made sense for the character at that time in their life.
But hey, criticising extreme horror for being offensuve is kind of missing the point, and this is, at the end of the day, another extremely effective piece of splatterpunk fiction with promises of more to come.
The ante is certainly upped in this equally nasty sequel. Seriously, there's a scene about 2/3s of the way through that goes on for pages that will make almost anyones stomach churn. As before, the violence isn't intended to be entertaining, but upsetting and it is most certainly that. The story is fairly standard stuff, with Rogers nihilistic narratiin making it stand out.
There's a final chapter development that you could argue jumps the shark, but honestly, I'm all aboard said shark. Horror like this can often fall into repetitive formulas, and the end of this book promises something more. It's an interesting development for a series that started as a straightforward extreme horror story about a day in the woods gone horribly wrong.
The big criticism I have is that the story all too easily falls into the damsel in distress trope, and in the case of extreme horror, it's very difficult to argue against the more mysoginistic aspects of the sub sub genre when the women are put in danger. Sadly, that's the case here. In the first one the rather chauvenisitc attidude of one of the main characters at least felt somewhat justified in the sense that it made sense for the character at that time in their life.
But hey, criticising extreme horror for being offensuve is kind of missing the point, and this is, at the end of the day, another extremely effective piece of splatterpunk fiction with promises of more to come.
December 31, 2024
Roger, roger, roger..... god damn it Roger.
I think this book is a very logical sequel to the first, going all in on Roger's PTSD after his holiday with Skinny Man and how he is dealing with that, while accepting that who he was before that summer is long gone - only to be thrust into another set of horrifying events that in some ways rival the first, but ultimately, for me, fell a little flat in contrast to the unnerving, unrelenting tension that "The Summer I Died" had in spades.
Despite the overall tone shift not quite hitting the same for me, this is an undoubtedly great horror/mystery and a very adequate sequel with some twists and turns that set up a very interesting third and final chapter to Roger's story which I am super curious to jump into.
I think this book is a very logical sequel to the first, going all in on Roger's PTSD after his holiday with Skinny Man and how he is dealing with that, while accepting that who he was before that summer is long gone - only to be thrust into another set of horrifying events that in some ways rival the first, but ultimately, for me, fell a little flat in contrast to the unnerving, unrelenting tension that "The Summer I Died" had in spades.
Despite the overall tone shift not quite hitting the same for me, this is an undoubtedly great horror/mystery and a very adequate sequel with some twists and turns that set up a very interesting third and final chapter to Roger's story which I am super curious to jump into.
April 18, 2025
After the first book, naturally I was ready to dive into the second book in the series. While I enjoyed it, just doesn’t beat the first book for me. I am really enjoying Roger still, he continues to be such a lovable character that I want to always know more about. The direction that is story is going is a bit surprising but I guess I didn’t know what to expect either. It’s not that I don’t like it but maybe it’s just not what I had in mind. I love the blood and gore and I don’t feel like there is as much in this one but still enough to enjoy. Also, Roger is just funny. Top tier sense of humor and I appreciate that as he has endured so much trauma and sometimes we just need to cope with humor. Onto the third book!
May 4, 2025
Huh. Not as good as the first book, but not bad either. Held my attention, less gory which might be better for some people (but if you don’t like gore I don’t see why this would be a book you would choose to read).
From the way this book ended, I have a feeling I’m not going to like the third.. but we’ll see how it goes.
From the way this book ended, I have a feeling I’m not going to like the third.. but we’ll see how it goes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews