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Circle Jerk
I survived a situation.
I awoke in a dark basement with fourteen other people. We were in dog cages and our arm and legs were cuffed into another cage. The cages made a circle.
Of those in cages, some of the other captives were compassionate, brave people; others were total jerks. There were all kinds there in the basement with me. I liked some, hated some, pitied a few, and would have killed a couple if given the opportunity.
Our captor was someone we all had connections to, and this person forced us to play various sick, brutal games for rewards. Some rewards. They were based on self-mutilation or the mutilation of the person next to us. The captor claimed there was only one source of food, and as time passed, the gnawing of hunger pangs became worse. There was no longer just the personal, moral issue of cannibalism to worry about, but also the fear of what the others would do. Would they break down and eat? That was my situation.
I’ll share my story. I’ll tell what I did and what the others did, but I doubt anyone can understand how it felt to be locked in the cages. I have no way to explain how it felt when no one cared how loudly we screamed.
I survived, but the price was high. I learned this: never underestimate a person’s determination to live. Some determination is strength; some is depravity.
I awoke in a dark basement with fourteen other people. We were in dog cages and our arm and legs were cuffed into another cage. The cages made a circle.
Of those in cages, some of the other captives were compassionate, brave people; others were total jerks. There were all kinds there in the basement with me. I liked some, hated some, pitied a few, and would have killed a couple if given the opportunity.
Our captor was someone we all had connections to, and this person forced us to play various sick, brutal games for rewards. Some rewards. They were based on self-mutilation or the mutilation of the person next to us. The captor claimed there was only one source of food, and as time passed, the gnawing of hunger pangs became worse. There was no longer just the personal, moral issue of cannibalism to worry about, but also the fear of what the others would do. Would they break down and eat? That was my situation.
I’ll share my story. I’ll tell what I did and what the others did, but I doubt anyone can understand how it felt to be locked in the cages. I have no way to explain how it felt when no one cared how loudly we screamed.
I survived, but the price was high. I learned this: never underestimate a person’s determination to live. Some determination is strength; some is depravity.
- GenresHorror
178 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 2, 2014
3 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Catt Dahman
91 books51 followerscatt dahman is now under contract with Severed Press publishing house for the 9 Z is for Zombie books.
catt dahman has been writing for more than 30 years, has taught in public schools, private schools, home school, and college. Her B.S. and M.S. degrees are from Texas A & M. She is a native of North East Texas, has lived all over the US, (and tries to claim Jamaica as a second home) but is currently back in the Fort Worth, Texas area where she lives with her husband, David (a retired Marine), son Nic, cats, a ferret, and dog. She has also been a public speaker, artist, director for a charity, dabbled as a PI, and more. When not working, she enjoys SCUBA diving (PADI), reading, ruining movies for her family by pointing out mistakes, collecting Tarot card sets , playing Legos with her son, and growing herbs. She now writes full time, working on a zombie series of nine books, short stories, horror, splatter punk, thrillers, vampire books, and westerns.
catt dahman has been writing for more than 30 years, has taught in public schools, private schools, home school, and college. Her B.S. and M.S. degrees are from Texas A & M. She is a native of North East Texas, has lived all over the US, (and tries to claim Jamaica as a second home) but is currently back in the Fort Worth, Texas area where she lives with her husband, David (a retired Marine), son Nic, cats, a ferret, and dog. She has also been a public speaker, artist, director for a charity, dabbled as a PI, and more. When not working, she enjoys SCUBA diving (PADI), reading, ruining movies for her family by pointing out mistakes, collecting Tarot card sets , playing Legos with her son, and growing herbs. She now writes full time, working on a zombie series of nine books, short stories, horror, splatter punk, thrillers, vampire books, and westerns.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 13, 2016
This is the first Catt Dahman book I have read and I loved it! I've watched loads of movies that start with people waking up in a room together and forced to do horrible things to survive and, for the most part, I kinda like 'em because you see what people will do to survive, even if it does involve a ridiculously well engineered murder device (Saw sequels, I'm looking at you).
Circle Jerk takes a group of people that are a focus group wet dream and confines them, immobilises them and has them perform grisly tasks under the guidance of a psychologist who, to me, seems completely bug-fuck nuts. Some react as you would expect, some break, some find strength but you are always wondering who will actually survive.
One of the questions you ask yourself while reading is, could you? And, my dearest goodreads, I think I could.
Circle Jerk takes a group of people that are a focus group wet dream and confines them, immobilises them and has them perform grisly tasks under the guidance of a psychologist who, to me, seems completely bug-fuck nuts. Some react as you would expect, some break, some find strength but you are always wondering who will actually survive.
One of the questions you ask yourself while reading is, could you? And, my dearest goodreads, I think I could.
January 7, 2025
Loved the concept of this book and it gave me Saw vibes. Only negative is there are several typos.
April 23, 2015
Circle Jerk is one of those books where revealing the plot will honestly spoil it for the reader, so I'll just keep things to the basics here. Circle Jerk is a very dark psychological horror novel intended for fans of extreme horror and a plot that twists and turns the characters as much as their outcome. It plays with your head too, so I don't recommend it to readers who are strongly affected by their reading material. Overall, the plot is nicely done and clearly involved a lot of planning on the part of the author. The characters believably react to their environment, psychological games being played with them, and take actions based on their personalities and make up. This book definitely sets out to play with some dark territory and we see some very extreme role changes and mental breaks. The ending itself is it's own headtrip, well worth it for fans of books like Lets Go Play at the Adams.
March 18, 2018
Great potential!
This story has a lot of great potential. The idea is interesting, the characters too. Where it fell a little flat was the delivery, some of the conversations and scenes, as well as the bad guys motives felt...clunky and not fully flushed out. Even being evil for the sake of evil, while easy, makes sense. It seems to me the author was trying to go for a twist ending with a psychological punch. There wasn't enough build up, or clear concise detail for the facts that were to come as a surprise to be..well, surprising. It was more like, "Wait a minute..I need to go back and reread that." I hope the author comes back to this one at some point, the story could really pack a wallop with some work.
This story has a lot of great potential. The idea is interesting, the characters too. Where it fell a little flat was the delivery, some of the conversations and scenes, as well as the bad guys motives felt...clunky and not fully flushed out. Even being evil for the sake of evil, while easy, makes sense. It seems to me the author was trying to go for a twist ending with a psychological punch. There wasn't enough build up, or clear concise detail for the facts that were to come as a surprise to be..well, surprising. It was more like, "Wait a minute..I need to go back and reread that." I hope the author comes back to this one at some point, the story could really pack a wallop with some work.
April 10, 2015
First of all, I am a big fan of Catt Dahman’s and have read pretty much all of her books and have loved each and every one of them! Some, such as the Z is for Zombie series and Alice in Wonderhell I have loved more than others but all are great stories. I had been warned about Circle Jerk being a very upsetting story prior to starting it but being a lover of horror stories I really didn’t think I would have a problem reading it. Well…I was reading it one night…night being the key word here…and had to put it down because I was at the half way point in the book and so many horrific things were happening and I figured if I continued to read more, I would have nightmares! Well…I woke up in the middle of the night, heart pounding out of my chest and soaking wet from a nightmare! I have never read a book that has upset me and scared me as much as this one did! I think the reason is because in this sad, sick world we live in, this could really happen to someone. Please don’t get me wrong and think this is not a good book or I am telling you to not read it! On the contrary…to me when an author can scare the heck out of me with their writing is the sign of one helluva great author! Catt Dahman is such an author! Her vivid descriptions of the scenes and each and every character and the emotional hell they are going through will make you feel their pain! You will be dragged into the agony and terror along with them. As I was finishing this book, I was cheering and crying and hoping some would make it out more than others. I felt what they were going through because of fantastic picture that had been painted in my mind by this amazing author. Thank you Catt for one heck of a good scare and one very engrossing yet terrorizing story! I can’t recommend this book enough and consider it a must read for any lover of horror stories!
May 7, 2015
This book was disgustingly awesome. I think I enjoy psychological thrillers because they're not predictable and it adds to the scary aspect of things because it could actually happen. I can't say too much about this book because it'd spoil everything.. But I will say this book was extremely graphic and the way Catt wrote out the scenes you could vividly picture them (and smell a couple). There were several parts of the story that made me grimace in pain. If you want to be creeped out AND grossed out at the same time, THIS book is perfect for you. If you have a weak stomach, read it with the lights on and an empty stomach.
November 9, 2015
Survival Games ...
Damn ... I'll start with that. I love horror ... Plain and simple. I really love horror with a story depth. I really love Circle Jerk! Gruesome ... Captivating ... Delicious even ... Then at the very end ... A smile. Dahman rocks! Pick up a copy of this book and let this amazing author know you feel the same!
Damn ... I'll start with that. I love horror ... Plain and simple. I really love horror with a story depth. I really love Circle Jerk! Gruesome ... Captivating ... Delicious even ... Then at the very end ... A smile. Dahman rocks! Pick up a copy of this book and let this amazing author know you feel the same!
December 15, 2015
i mean, it's not as bad as some of the other 1 stars i've rated but... god the writing is so horrible i don't know how it was published
January 19, 2016
Just, wow!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews