What do you think?
Rate this book
Suffer Hard
Four university students are on holiday in Cornwall. On the recommendation of the proprietor of the B and B they’re staying at, they decide to do the fifteen mile, cliff top hike to the village of Hanow.
Unfortunately, more than a pub lunch lies in wait. The people of Hanow are seriously messed up. They like to do terrible things to tourists…
WARNING: Sam West pulls no punches. This is extreme horror in the tradition of the hardest of the hardcore authors. If you enjoy a hefty dose of sleaze, cannibalism, murder and depravity, you’re in the right place. If you don’t, DO NOT buy this book. You WILL be offended.
Unfortunately, more than a pub lunch lies in wait. The people of Hanow are seriously messed up. They like to do terrible things to tourists…
WARNING: Sam West pulls no punches. This is extreme horror in the tradition of the hardest of the hardcore authors. If you enjoy a hefty dose of sleaze, cannibalism, murder and depravity, you’re in the right place. If you don’t, DO NOT buy this book. You WILL be offended.
- GenresHorror
136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 18, 2014
41 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Sam West
62 books234 followersSam West is a British, extreme horror author with more than forty books to her name. If you like your fiction dark, gritty, gory, perverse and truly terrifying, then you're in the right place.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 22, 2021
The Queen of Extreme strikes back with another pretty nasty tale. This time we follow two couples, hikers, into a remote village. The pub food there is something very special and the inbred inhabitants know exactly what they want strangers for. Absolutely disgusting hick story set in Britain. More gory details than meet the eye. Sexual detail to turn you into a hermit from now on. The twist at the end is pure evil and mocking. Do I need to tell more? This is nothing for the faint hearted. This is sick. But it is well written, has convincing characters and a page turning plot. Recommended.
December 7, 2022
This was very ok. Some really vulgar and extreme body horror involved, but that was the highlight. It is way too short, and the violence could not compensate enough for the lack of everything else. The ending, specifically, felt very abrupt and incomplete. I think Sam West had a great, albeit extreme Jerry Springer-esque sort of, premise with inbreeding and such, but there wasn't enough substance here to make it all come together. It needed a lot more development in almost every aspect, especially concerning the creature children hiding in the basement. That was barely touched and could have been a great, thoroughly explored plot point. Even with our main characters, none of them were necessarily likeable, and Beth had a fairly abrupt character pivot early on, which didn't make much sense. And there were some other questionable character actions and internal logic. So, while this wasn't bad by any means, it just lacked in a lot of areas, that could have all been drastically improved with some further editing.
March 19, 2022
I didn’t like this very much. Meh.
Four friends upon the reccommendation of the owner of the B&B they were staying at decided to do a fifteen mile hike to the small village of Hanow. There stood a pub called “Dirty Swallow”. Craig, Tim, Jessie and Beth will soon know how dirty the occupants of the village could be.
Obviously inspired by The Hills Have Eyes and The Wrong Turn series. The typical cannibal family in the middle of nowhere, feasting on human flesh, disfigured spawn and female captives for breeding. Nothing new, nothing exciting. Just senseless killings.
I want the feeling of dread and surprise to come back whenever I read a splatterpunk. This just wasn’t it.
Four friends upon the reccommendation of the owner of the B&B they were staying at decided to do a fifteen mile hike to the small village of Hanow. There stood a pub called “Dirty Swallow”. Craig, Tim, Jessie and Beth will soon know how dirty the occupants of the village could be.
Obviously inspired by The Hills Have Eyes and The Wrong Turn series. The typical cannibal family in the middle of nowhere, feasting on human flesh, disfigured spawn and female captives for breeding. Nothing new, nothing exciting. Just senseless killings.
I want the feeling of dread and surprise to come back whenever I read a splatterpunk. This just wasn’t it.
September 15, 2021
Four hikers; Craig, Tim, Jessie and Beth stop off at a Cornwall pub/B&B on their travels. They meet a pregnant woman Margret and her rather unappealing-looking husband Michael. It quickly descends into a night of unspeakable horror for the four friends. But will any of them make it out alive? 💀
Wow. So I know Sam West is the Queen of extreme, shock horror but parts of this really took me by surprise and sickened me to my stomach. I had to skim read some of the more graphic details, but yet I couldn’t put it down. It’s an engaging and fast paced story.
The warnings are accurate, this is not for the faint of heart.
Wow. So I know Sam West is the Queen of extreme, shock horror but parts of this really took me by surprise and sickened me to my stomach. I had to skim read some of the more graphic details, but yet I couldn’t put it down. It’s an engaging and fast paced story.
The warnings are accurate, this is not for the faint of heart.
May 15, 2021
Man oh man!!! This book is if the movies Green Inferno and The Hills Have Eyes had a baby. I've read/watched/ listened to enough horror to know to never trust the dude running the B&B or hotel. Especially when they tell you to hike 15 miles to see a village. Then, when you show up, and the village looks deserted, you should run. Fast and far!!! It's almost like characters in the horror genre are utterly stupid and have never seen a horror film. With all that being said, West turned the violence up in this one. 5 full stars
December 17, 2021
What a good read!!! Haha get it…
Sam west does not disappoint in this violent tale of mayhem.
This is what Texas Chainsaw Massacre should have been. It has that vibe.
Sam west does not disappoint in this violent tale of mayhem.
This is what Texas Chainsaw Massacre should have been. It has that vibe.
August 13, 2025
I've been reading alot of Sam's books recently and this one did NOT disappoint. I made alot of faces during this, it was so good. Nasty, violent, good story line, basically everything that hooked me in. I cannot wait to keep reading more.
September 25, 2020
I'm not one to immediately discard every other work by an author if my first encounter with them doesn't do it for me. After all, how do I know I didn't accidentally pick up the worst thing they wrote? I snapped up a few of Sam West's works the last time I was out and about (why not, they're cheap), so I figured I should try a different one. This one looked like it had potential, so putting aside all my preconceived notions from Home Intruder 2 - Born This Way, I loaded Suffer Hard onto the ol' eReader and started, uh, e-reading.
Suffer Hard is clearly West's homage/entry to the "Out-of-towners eaten by locals" genre, only with a British flavor. The most obvious examples of this genre, at least in cinema, tend to take place in the US: Wrong Turn is set in West Virginia, The Hills Have Eyes is set in the desert southwest, and if I have to explain the setting of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to you, our friendship will not emerge unscathed. Even my favorite literature example of hillbilly cannibals, Jack Ketchum's Off Season, takes place in rural Maine.
But cannibalistic families have been a part of folklore for far longer than the United States has been a country. The legend of Alexander 'Sawney' Bean comes not from North America, but Scotland somewhere between the 13th and 16th centuries. So, while it's pretty much on the complete opposite side of the UK, it's not so hard to believe rural Cornwall, situated out of the way of much of the rest of the country, might be home to some depravity of its own.
Suffer Hard follows Craig, Beth, Tim, and Jessie, four university students on holiday from Penzance. After a talk with the owner of the Bed & Breakfast where they're staying, they've come to investigate the quaint little hamlet of Hanow. The guy at the B&B talked the place up as a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime experience, but after the fifteen-mile hike through the hills, all the four want is to crash at the pub, murder a few pints, and then take a bus back to civilization.
The site that greets them upon arriving in Hanow is most bizarre though: sure, there's a pub, but there's also three small, dilapidated houses with boarded windows, and literally nothing else. If the pub wasn't open, they'd swear the place was abandoned. Despite the weird vibes they get from the odd houses, none of them is keen to turn around and hike back the way they came. They decide to settle in for a drink and a snack, wait for the bus to pick them up, and have a word with the owner of the B&B when they get back home.
One problem with that plan: once the pub door swings closed, there is no 'getting back home'. Hanow gets so few visitors, you see, and the ones who do arrive have to stay. The residents insist.
Forcibly.
I'm glad I didn't give up after Home Intrusion 2, because this is much better. Still lacking in the characterization area, but with only fifty or so pages to play with (the rest of the ebook is a preview of Djinn, another of West's books) and four protagonists, there's not a lot of time for character development. West takes a few pages to get our victims settled in, toys with them psychologically, then starts right in with the violence, sadism, restraint, and torture.
That's just about what you should expect from this: the wordy equivalent of a 30-minute film short exercise in depravity, incest, cannibalism, and other nastiness. You'll burn through it in under an hour unless you're the slowest reader on the planet, and at the end, you'll conclude the title was appropriate: nobody gets off easy here, whether it's being force-fed a stew made from the remains of their mates or having to watch helplessly as one of the group is violently dismembered with a chainsaw. West isn't breaking any new ground here, and the story isn't long enough to significantly change the horror landscape, but she certainly spills plenty of bodily fluids along the short diversion. West sticks to the genre conventions closely, making this short story a cross between The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the X-Files episode Home, where the inbred cannibals grow either enormous and strong or slight and weak, and don't let matters of personal hygiene get in the way of a little rape action.
We still have protagonists acting like downright idiots, but at least one of them gets in some good licks before suffering their fate, which is more than can be said for the others in the group who are either swiftly incapacitated or go along with things in the hope it won't be as bad as they imagine. The ending is, at least, more realistic than that of Home Intrusion 2, so despite the story using virtually every genre trope you care to name, I'm still awarding this one three severed spinal columns out of five. Suffer Hard delivered exactly what I was expecting from a horror novella billing itself as 'extreme', and that's all I wanted.
Good work, Ms. West. You've redeemed yourself with this one, and I'll be examining you again in the future.
The whole story's essentially one disturbing scene after another, but at one point a member of the cannibal clan goes into labor and delivers her child. Not an hour or two after giving birth, her hormones are racing and she's swift to mount one of the restrained men in the hopes he'll impregnate her. She hasn't even bothered to clean herself up since the delivery. It may be unrealistic, but it's also obscenely disgusting even to consider in a way the rest of the novella can't quite match.
Suffer Hard is clearly West's homage/entry to the "Out-of-towners eaten by locals" genre, only with a British flavor. The most obvious examples of this genre, at least in cinema, tend to take place in the US: Wrong Turn is set in West Virginia, The Hills Have Eyes is set in the desert southwest, and if I have to explain the setting of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to you, our friendship will not emerge unscathed. Even my favorite literature example of hillbilly cannibals, Jack Ketchum's Off Season, takes place in rural Maine.
But cannibalistic families have been a part of folklore for far longer than the United States has been a country. The legend of Alexander 'Sawney' Bean comes not from North America, but Scotland somewhere between the 13th and 16th centuries. So, while it's pretty much on the complete opposite side of the UK, it's not so hard to believe rural Cornwall, situated out of the way of much of the rest of the country, might be home to some depravity of its own.
Suffer Hard follows Craig, Beth, Tim, and Jessie, four university students on holiday from Penzance. After a talk with the owner of the Bed & Breakfast where they're staying, they've come to investigate the quaint little hamlet of Hanow. The guy at the B&B talked the place up as a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime experience, but after the fifteen-mile hike through the hills, all the four want is to crash at the pub, murder a few pints, and then take a bus back to civilization.
The site that greets them upon arriving in Hanow is most bizarre though: sure, there's a pub, but there's also three small, dilapidated houses with boarded windows, and literally nothing else. If the pub wasn't open, they'd swear the place was abandoned. Despite the weird vibes they get from the odd houses, none of them is keen to turn around and hike back the way they came. They decide to settle in for a drink and a snack, wait for the bus to pick them up, and have a word with the owner of the B&B when they get back home.
One problem with that plan: once the pub door swings closed, there is no 'getting back home'. Hanow gets so few visitors, you see, and the ones who do arrive have to stay. The residents insist.
Forcibly.
I'm glad I didn't give up after Home Intrusion 2, because this is much better. Still lacking in the characterization area, but with only fifty or so pages to play with (the rest of the ebook is a preview of Djinn, another of West's books) and four protagonists, there's not a lot of time for character development. West takes a few pages to get our victims settled in, toys with them psychologically, then starts right in with the violence, sadism, restraint, and torture.
That's just about what you should expect from this: the wordy equivalent of a 30-minute film short exercise in depravity, incest, cannibalism, and other nastiness. You'll burn through it in under an hour unless you're the slowest reader on the planet, and at the end, you'll conclude the title was appropriate: nobody gets off easy here, whether it's being force-fed a stew made from the remains of their mates or having to watch helplessly as one of the group is violently dismembered with a chainsaw. West isn't breaking any new ground here, and the story isn't long enough to significantly change the horror landscape, but she certainly spills plenty of bodily fluids along the short diversion. West sticks to the genre conventions closely, making this short story a cross between The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the X-Files episode Home, where the inbred cannibals grow either enormous and strong or slight and weak, and don't let matters of personal hygiene get in the way of a little rape action.
We still have protagonists acting like downright idiots, but at least one of them gets in some good licks before suffering their fate, which is more than can be said for the others in the group who are either swiftly incapacitated or go along with things in the hope it won't be as bad as they imagine. The ending is, at least, more realistic than that of Home Intrusion 2, so despite the story using virtually every genre trope you care to name, I'm still awarding this one three severed spinal columns out of five. Suffer Hard delivered exactly what I was expecting from a horror novella billing itself as 'extreme', and that's all I wanted.
Good work, Ms. West. You've redeemed yourself with this one, and I'll be examining you again in the future.
The whole story's essentially one disturbing scene after another, but at one point a member of the cannibal clan goes into labor and delivers her child. Not an hour or two after giving birth, her hormones are racing and she's swift to mount one of the restrained men in the hopes he'll impregnate her. She hasn't even bothered to clean herself up since the delivery. It may be unrealistic, but it's also obscenely disgusting even to consider in a way the rest of the novella can't quite match.
October 22, 2025
This was fantastic hooked from the get go it was gory and I could imagine scenes it really was horrific I’ve read a few novellas from this author I love his writing style and how he can create a good plot in such a short read highly recommend I read this in one sitting it was brilliant
November 11, 2014
Seems no one's reviewed this yet so allow me. This was a short but break-neck terror filled novella to put it bluntly. The first of West's offerings I've read, rest assured I will be reading more! It's your classic 'fucked up, inbred cannibal family meets unsuspecting students out in the middle of nowhere' scenario. West puts his own spin on things and though his writing is a bit Ed Lee-esque (this isn't a bad thing) I think he breathes new life into a very 'travelled' premise. All in all a very satisfying read if you like gore, cannibals and quick tempo'd in your face horror. I've gotta say one of the characters, the sort of 'head honcho' of the family reminds me of grand pappy from Edward Lee's Header, in more ways than one! Read and find out! 5 stars!
September 6, 2020
My second Sam West book. First was 'The Grindhouse Experience". This book is a follow-up - not the second in a series - to Grindhouse. If you have read Grindhouse and enjoyed it, I guarantee you will like 'Suffer Hard' just as much.
Extreme horror is almost an understatement. I couldn't help but insert myself into the situation experienced by a couple of the characters. My stomach churned; I had tears in my eyes; I was angry; terrified and exhausted, all in one.
My second consecutive Sam West marathon reads. I am almost sure it won't be my last. I am now a true fan of this writer.
Extreme horror is almost an understatement. I couldn't help but insert myself into the situation experienced by a couple of the characters. My stomach churned; I had tears in my eyes; I was angry; terrified and exhausted, all in one.
My second consecutive Sam West marathon reads. I am almost sure it won't be my last. I am now a true fan of this writer.
July 27, 2019
I wonder why this novella was titled “Suffer Hard”. There are truly a million and one better titles for this tale (ie: “The Dirty Swallow.”). Alas.... that’s what we are stuck with.
This is a “Wrong Turn” kind of tale in extreme horror with an injection of humour. As with most Sam West stories, it was a fun read.
SPOILER:
I did have a lingering thought..... what the hell happened to Beth? Can we bring her back in another tale? Did she suffer the same fate as her boyfriend?
This is a “Wrong Turn” kind of tale in extreme horror with an injection of humour. As with most Sam West stories, it was a fun read.
SPOILER:
I did have a lingering thought..... what the hell happened to Beth? Can we bring her back in another tale? Did she suffer the same fate as her boyfriend?
September 11, 2019
Review
Very enjoyable....could definitely see the influence of the classic film's like the hills have eyes!
Only thing I would have done different is maybe in the 9 months later bit I would have liked a twist with the character beth or at least her outcome.
As always loving the books.
Very enjoyable....could definitely see the influence of the classic film's like the hills have eyes!
Only thing I would have done different is maybe in the 9 months later bit I would have liked a twist with the character beth or at least her outcome.
As always loving the books.
May 10, 2023
L’intrigue était bonne ce qui a fait en sorte que je n’ai pas déposé le livre avant de l’avoir finit, but still ehh 🫠 im disgusted by the image the book created in my mind so l’auteur a bien écrit le livre pour ca
February 9, 2021
Not bad
Not a bad little read to while away an hour or so. A good introduction to this author if you have never read her work.
Not a bad little read to while away an hour or so. A good introduction to this author if you have never read her work.
April 25, 2021
Good short story, could of have a little more details.
February 19, 2022
Fast Paced Read
Loved this book, really different. The family dynamics was well detailed. I felt as if I was in the home just based on description and could clearly see them all
Loved this book, really different. The family dynamics was well detailed. I felt as if I was in the home just based on description and could clearly see them all
October 26, 2024
This was a great read. Chilling and tormenting these village people spare nothing when it comes to dinner. Using every last entrail. Literally.
January 10, 2026
This was another good one! However, I felt that the storyline was lacking in some parts and it felt rushed/unfinished.
I really enjoyed the gore details, but felt it could go so much deeper.
I really enjoyed the gore details, but felt it could go so much deeper.
July 23, 2025
There's a particular scene where my jaw literally dropped. Wonderful and grotesque. Everything you could possibly want from an extreme horror novel.
September 25, 2015
Two couples go hiking in Cornwall. Everything gets a bit Texas chainsaw massacre :)
It makes such a nice change to read a horror story with actual horror:)
I regularly pick up books claimed as "terrifying" "gruesome" and featured on book snob type lists of horror novels. I'm disappointed 98% of the time, usually the bigger the author, the more likely it is to disappoint, like Clive Barker and Peter Straub. This did not disappoint. I've read a few of Matt Shaw`s stories lately and I've liked them all.
Not for the squeamish or faint hearted, but those who like proper pyscho tales should read him. These are the book equivalent of grindhouse movies. You either like that s$#!t or you don't...
It makes such a nice change to read a horror story with actual horror:)
I regularly pick up books claimed as "terrifying" "gruesome" and featured on book snob type lists of horror novels. I'm disappointed 98% of the time, usually the bigger the author, the more likely it is to disappoint, like Clive Barker and Peter Straub. This did not disappoint. I've read a few of Matt Shaw`s stories lately and I've liked them all.
Not for the squeamish or faint hearted, but those who like proper pyscho tales should read him. These are the book equivalent of grindhouse movies. You either like that s$#!t or you don't...
April 27, 2015
A waste
I love horror and even though extreme horror and splatterpunk aren't my favoorites, I enjoy them. But I find it annoying when characters act contrary to their personalities that have already been developed. Or when they're all given ridiculous personalities. The story was pretty good, I just found a lot of the behavior, mostly by the victims, to be ridiculous. Yes, the behaviour of the cannibals was over the top, but they're cannibals, what do you expect?.
I love horror and even though extreme horror and splatterpunk aren't my favoorites, I enjoy them. But I find it annoying when characters act contrary to their personalities that have already been developed. Or when they're all given ridiculous personalities. The story was pretty good, I just found a lot of the behavior, mostly by the victims, to be ridiculous. Yes, the behaviour of the cannibals was over the top, but they're cannibals, what do you expect?.
March 31, 2015
Wickedly funny!!
This one had it all... creepy, grotesque, with a hint of crazy humor! The characters were described crazy good. I could practically smell the rancid odor of them. Will definitely look up more books by Sam West.
This one had it all... creepy, grotesque, with a hint of crazy humor! The characters were described crazy good. I could practically smell the rancid odor of them. Will definitely look up more books by Sam West.
January 7, 2015
Loved it
This story gives great homage to the likes of film greats Texas Chainsaw and the Hills have Eyes.. Very good read..
This story gives great homage to the likes of film greats Texas Chainsaw and the Hills have Eyes.. Very good read..
December 21, 2014
Finally, no holds barred
Very predictable, but entertaining raw gore. At least there were no pulled punches. Will definitely be on the lookout for more by this author.
Very predictable, but entertaining raw gore. At least there were no pulled punches. Will definitely be on the lookout for more by this author.
April 25, 2017
Off of pork for good!!!
I like the ultimate horror of cannibalism, and inbreeding but find it extremely hard to hold down the bacon sandwich I ate not too long ago....I am truly a fan of all of Sam wests books. It is the rare author who can make me truly feel afraid and uncomfortable at the same time. His descriptions truly make you feel as though you can smell, feel, touch, and taste what the victims are. You can also easily let yourself slip into the evil that lurks within.
I like the ultimate horror of cannibalism, and inbreeding but find it extremely hard to hold down the bacon sandwich I ate not too long ago....I am truly a fan of all of Sam wests books. It is the rare author who can make me truly feel afraid and uncomfortable at the same time. His descriptions truly make you feel as though you can smell, feel, touch, and taste what the victims are. You can also easily let yourself slip into the evil that lurks within.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews