All Men Must Die : An Extreme Horror Novella

by A.E. Soto

Brandie is a shell of a person, only existing for her next fix, selling her body every night to try and make ends meet. She scores herself a position she’s been able to hold down for eight months at a brothel in Kensington, PA. Until one night Brandie finds herself at the mercy of a deranged client who viciously mutilates her, leading to her hospitalization and unsettling news about her health. All Men Must Die follows Brandie as she uses the time she has left to seek scarlet soaked revenge on the men who have used, abused, and taken advantage of her. Strap yourself in tight for this gore soaked, cringe inducing, nightmare of a novella.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

142 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2025

About the author

If you want to know more about me, all I will disclose (for now) is that I am a 27 year old female author who lives in North Carolina. I’m married to a beautiful woman and we own a bizarre amount of animals, currently the number is sixteen, but please don’t let that scare you away! We have a farm, so it’s at least somewhat justified. My passion for extreme horror developed from my curiosities in my adolescence, I would often look up the most extreme horror films I could find with my friends and watch as many as we could stomach. Looking back on it, I think viewing those movies set a standard for me that most contemporary horror could rarely achieve. It wasn’t until I found extreme horror literature as an adult that my needs for the extreme were satiated! I have always had a passion for writing and reading, so the three interests combined and brought me here, to a place where I can express my creativity freely and without (much) judgement.

Currently all I have out is All Men Must Die, which is my first novella, and while it is very fun it is also very flawed. I will be releasing my sophomore novella, Junebug, very shortly, followed by a collection of short stories I have written!

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bravo to AE Soto on her debut novel! It was gritty and violent and visceral. Definitely achieved all of the author’s goals here. And it used all real world type of horror, which can be even scarier than standard tales of the macabre. Brandie was a very deep, dynamic lead that pulled you in and kept you in the passenger seat of her heart breaking journey. There were a lot of instances involving body horror that needed some additional context, but were still done well. As a horror author, reviewer, and overall genre nut, I adore extreme horror. There’s just times where some of it needs to be organized better to make the story have a better flow. Brandie, here, without spoiling anything, had a multitude of plaguing issues that warranted her to be vengeful and relentless. But, she wasn’t a killer naturally, so some of her more drawn out and intricate displays just felt a bit out of place. Again, minor critiques there and could be easily fixed with some additional development for her. However, a very strong initial outing with the author. And I so appreciated the background given for certain plot points and the writer’s own history. To write a character properly, you need to know the character. And what better way to do so, than lived experience. Keep an eye on this one, folks!

[Ashleigh Soto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it too incredibly uncool to give your own book a five star rating?

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and I grew to adore Brandie for her desire to destroy every perverted weirdo that eventually ruined her.
A certain piece of my lady parts ached for days after I'd finished reading this... and not through pleasure I can tell you...but through the sheer thought of the pain endured by Brandie and I couldn't use dental floss for several days 😳😲🤮
This was a very graphic book and spared no mercy...some scenes and scenarios were sickening and vile...and not for the faint hearted!!
A.E. Soto is an awesome writer and this definitely won't be the only book I'll be reading from this author.

5 Big Clitorious 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟's from me.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raw, violent and brutal from the outset - I loved it!

Meet Brandie - the abused whore who is hell bent on settling the score. But time is a-ticking!

A little gem of a dark and grim extreme horror short, packing a punch that will long be remembered.

Great sick, thrilling action designed specifically for a strictly adult audience only.

Lots of positives in the narrative, with heap loads of amusing lines of dialogue to enjoy.

Will definitely be reading more from this new horror author - but hopefully gripping tales containing far less typos than those found within this fine debut appearance which almost threatened to detract from this whole, gloriously pleasurable, but undoubtedly stomach-turning experience.

Rating: 4.3 brightly glowing stars of sweet...REVENGE.

[Kenia Coronado · Rating 5 out of 5]

wild ride!

Beandie didnt care about much but the second a man took her livelihood and gave her a disease she threw everything out the window!
I genuinely loved her! She was all over the place at times but her resilience was admirable! The girl would not give up until she got what she wanted.
This novella was so fun and if you are in for an fmc getting revenge on depraved man this is it!

[Keira · Rating 5 out of 5]

the ending broke my heart!!! i was so into reading what brandie was doing i was unprepared for how the story ended, how it all kinda pieced together. very sad ending of a very violent and gross (in the best way) book.

[Elaine Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed!! I think this is the fastest I’ve ever finished a book. It’s so well written and definitely a must read if you’re into extreme horror/gore!

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did it take me so long to stumble across this one?????
I wish I had read it sooner.
Very fun

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow

That's all I can say is wow. Just fucking wow! One of the most fucked up books I've ever read!!

[hailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given that the author chose Kensington, Pennsylvania - a location often associated with poverty, addiction, and violence - as the setting, I knew this story would be extremely dark. Brandie, a prostitute and addict, leads a dangerous lifestyle that ultimately catches up with her when she encounters a deranged client who unleashes a level of brutality she never anticipated, irrevocably altering the course of her life. In the aftermath, she sets out on a path of vengeance against the men who have wronged her or who she believes deserves to suffer. This story was both gripping and brutally intense.

[marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

well written and entirely fucked up, HOWEVER, if you are going to write a book about a woman with AIDS you should probably do a google search to get basic information about HIV/AIDS so minus some stars for adding to the misinformation epidemic booooooooo

edit: after reading the author’s response to my original review, it still leaves me scratching my head about two scenes in particular: one where a doctor straight-up tells brandi she tested positive for AIDS immediately after being exposed, and one where a google search tells her AIDS is transmissible through unprotected sex. oh well. to each their own.

[trashkitten (scoobsboobs) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly written. Captures the mourning of a sex worker perfectly, after losing someone they cared about to the industry. Really appreciated the CSA to sw pipeline too because it's not discussed enough in the community, and it was refreshing to see someone who's had compounded trauma from men her entire life, finally be able to release that. We don't get enough of that in the genre. there were some parts of the writing I felt were cliche, but I feel like the plot and care that were given to the subjects of SA, CSA, and SW made up for that.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Men Must Die is a story about a drug fueled story of urban decay and revenge. Brandie is a working girl surviving on the streets of Kensington Avenue, a low-income neighborhood in Philadelphia that is notorious for rampant crime and an open-air drug market. Brandie is just one of the many people caught in the web of addiction and exploitation, until the day her life changed.

I typically enjoy good for her female rage stories, but I found myself going back and forth on my feelings about this book. The story is disorganized and held down by some plot inconsistencies, such as the main character smashing a specific phone in one scene and then a chapter or two later they are flipping through that same phone. I flipped back and forth between the pages to be sure. There is a lot of back and forth that is ultimately useless to the story that could have been tightened up.

I also didn’t care for the glorification of hard drugs, with Brandie shooting up left and right, especially during pivotal moments in the story, but I understood that is a symptom of the setting. I actually liked Brandie quite a bit, but there is a lack of character development despite her apparently “waking up” to her new reality. Brandie’s story is a tragedy, and that’s what makes the horror in this story so visceral, her experiences are grounded in reality.

The book is a decent debut, just rough around the edges. It’ll appeal to the right reader, especially those that enjoy fast paced stories of desperation and furious reckoning.

[Erika Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um yes ma’am!

This started out by wanting to support a local writer, and it’s horror so best of both worlds; however, I fell in love with Brandie and her fighting spirit annddd should I say making the best out a shitty situation? Or maybe using the crappy hand life dealt her and using it for good? Regardless, 10/10 recommend if you love horror and splatterpunk!

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into this, it was so predictable, held out for the second half hoping for a twist or some originality. Don't really understand the hype of this, there was no relatability to the FMC, I just didn't like her!

[Severed Therapy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been sitting here trying to find the words to properly express my feelings without revealing too much.

I'll go with this: It's a dark, gritty, and realistic portrayal of the life of a sex worker that turns into a visceral revenge story.

6 out of 5 severed thumbs-up.

[Reading In The Dark · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have a new Queen of Extreme. Wow oh wow this girl can write I loved it. What a great Debut book I look forward to reading more from her

[Madison Fanning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid showing for a debut novel. This is the definition of female rage. It was unhinged and brutal with a decent amount of plot to break up the sex and violence. I really enjoyed this one

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this one down. Loved the violence and the gore! Looking forward to seeing what comes next from A.E. Soto 🤗

[Zach King · Rating 5 out of 5]

someone get this women a mcchickdn

[Kayla Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Mellisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great short extreme-horror read! Gory and gripping, everything that's needed!

[Ophelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't bad. I like me, a good woman taking revenge on men who hurt her kind of story if it's justified which in the case of this book the men she killed let's just say they won't be missed.