Harrison Phillips is an English author of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. His literary influences range from Clive Barker and Stephen King, to Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee. He was born and raised in Birmingham, England, where he still resides with his long-suffering wife, their two daughters, and a schnauzer named Minnie.
This is a horror novel that clings to you long after it’s over: half-alive, it lingers decaying in the back of the mind, creepingly rotting away at anything that tries to take its place.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Whitney and Izzie got talked into the woods in search of The Black Altar. Legend has it, witches did human sacrifices as offerings to Satan. The girls were skeptical, until they finally reach The Black Altar. The boys had nefarious ideas on what they were about to do, but they didn't count on them being offerings as well.
Father Andrews was performing the funeral for young Izzie, and Liv her girlfriend, was distraut. When very strange occurrences start to happen in the church, all hell starts to break loose. Everyone is scared and shocked at what they see. Far away from the town of Dunswell, a sexual deviant gets a calling. A strange calling from something non human. Something evil. He's chosen to carry out the ritual that wasn't completed. In hopes to help Hell rule earth.
Dunswell will never be the same. Deep under the ground, the dead are awake. Something has awoke. SomeTHING has come to take over. Evil secrets are revealed and nobody is safe from the dead. Will Hell finally reign on earth? Welcome to Dunswell. May god have mercy on your souls
Delicious. Delicious. DELICIOUS! I'm a sucker for a good Hell setting and this did not disappoint. From the demon description, to the undead, to the depraved catacombs, and straight blasphemous scenes, I loved every single bit of this book. Harrison really nailed this one and I would love to read more demon and Hell stories from him. Oh Leonard, I enjoyed him more than I should have. This could easily be a great movie adaptation. What an excellent job! I highly suggest!
Absolutely FANTASTIC!! I couldn't put it down. It is exactly like a classic Italian horror film and it gave me everything i wanted. One of the best books i've read this year.
I went into this book with high hopes due to the numerous 4/5 star reviews and I was thoroughly disappointed. The jump from one perspective to another right in the beginning of the story sets this up to fail as you have no basis of understanding as to what the plot even is and are lost until halfway through. I also understand this is a horror/gore novel and went into this expecting to be unsettled or slightly disturbed, but this author added unnecessary deeply disturbing sub text regarding the corpse of a child which from my perspective was abhorrent to read and completely unnecessary to plot or story. This is an author I am unlikely to read again.
Firstly thank you so much to Harrison for sending me this! I am so so grateful to be part of your ARC team & absolutely love reading & supporting you along the way.
If you’ve read any of Harrison’s books you will know they all take you on a different journey & this one was a journey to hell…oh my daaaays it did not disappoint in the slightest!
Something is happening in the town of Dunswell, Liv has recently lost her girlfriend Lizzie. It’s said it was an accident but her nightmares are telling her the gateway to hell is partially open thanks to her friends sacrificing Lizzie. And now she keeps seeing corpses, visions of death surround her…
Leonard’s need for pain & pleasure is increasing. He’s having visions, demons are calling to him, he’s told to go home kill the girl & he’ll get his true desires
Father Matthew’s saw the blood pouring from the statue, he saw the empty graves…he’s unearthed catacombs that he didn’t know existed, what does it all mean?
“We all die & rot eventually. We just have to pray we don’t rot in hell…”
Ohhhh this was goooood 👏🏼 the way it all came together!! 😮💨👌🏻I did not predict the ending to go that way! It was certainly no fairytale that’s for sure 😅
As usual there were the occasional gaggy parts (maggots) 🤢 but this story was an easy read! I loved it! It’s available now & also on KU so make sure to add it to the TBR!!
Thanks again Harrison! I can’t wait to see what’s next from you 👏🏼🤎
i knew i would be directly plagued into a bloody & rotting decay bliss!
die & rot in mf hell b!tch!
well that was all around bonkers in a good way lol. this read like entering a portal that transports you through hell. a sexual deviant gets possessed into becoming pregnant by an unearthly demon then gives birth to its baby. the pencil & birth scene? ah the hilarity! the visions, a miracle witness with a priest involving the beloved catacombs beneath a church <3
crawling out of its grave, a classic italian horror story mingling with delicious supernatural gore. it was exactly as it mastered to be. i encourage everyone who has this on their tbr to move it up a notch
”we all die eventually. we just have to pray we don’t rot in hell…”
Die and Rot in Hell is an absolute rollercoaster of a read. At no point did I expect what was going to happen next. A grotesque tale of brutality, gore and body horror.
"He was slurping on her intestinal tract like it was spaghetti" *chefs kiss*
A vile and disturbing read right from the get go! Phillip's will leave you squirming and gagging at the most unbelievable scenes that also have you on the edge of your seat dying to see what will happen next. If you're looking for a happily ever after, you may move on, because not once will you feel good about yourself for reading this book.
I personally have a soft spot for Leonard and his weird lil fetish, all the guy wants is a life full of disturbing pleasure, and he unfortunately got caught up in the end of the world.
Phillips has a wonderful way of writing the most dark and unsettling scenes, building these hopeless environments for readers. The sense of dread he made me feel throughout Die and Rot in Hell was absolutely fantastic! This was my first read of his and I cannot wait to dive into more of his work!
10/10 craic was had! My fellow sick and twisted girlies who love a bit of body horror and the most grotesque of reads, dive right in!
This book doesn’t ease you in it drags you face first into rot, blood, and something deeply, spiritually wrong. Die And Rot In Hell feels like a town already dead before the first page even breathes. Dunswell isn’t just cursed it’s festering. Every character is either breaking, hiding something, or already halfway gone. Liv’s grief is raw and suffocating, Leonard is straight up disturbing in a way that makes your skin crawl, and Father Matthews? That man is standing way too close to something ancient and unforgiving.The real horror here isn’t just the gore (and yeah there’s plenty of that). It’s the slow realization that nobody is getting out clean. The visions, the catacombs, the “miracles” none of it feels holy. It feels infected. This book reads like: * A sermon whispered through a corpse’s mouth * A nightmare that smells like damp earth and decay * A warning you’re already too late to hear And when it hits? It doesn’t pull punches. It breaks bones. If you like your horror: * Bleak as hell * Morally rotten * And unapologetically violent
…then this one will absolutely ruin your day in the best way.
When I saw this cover I knew I was in for a treat. What I didn’t know was how invested I was going to be in this story.
It starts with kids performing a ritual and opening the gates to hell, then moves quickly to a very masochistic character, a grieving 17 year old, and a priest!
The fact that each chapter focuses on one character only completely pulled me in, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would all tie together. For me, this is just very clever writing, and even though it’s completely different from all the other books I’ve read by Harrison Phillips, it makes me want to go through his backlog.
Don’t get me wrong! You do get the gore, the graphic images, and the humour, as usual, but this one just hits differently.
This was a bit different from Harrison's usual tales - still depraved and gruesome but with more of a main storyline and character development.. as much as I shouldn't, I really liked Leonard 😂 so many hilarious moments around him if you like or understand fetish/debauched humour.
As usual, it was well written and funny and had so many WTF moments.
It felt like a fever nightmare.. or like a terrible acid trip that would make you never want to touch the stuff again. The visions some of the characters have are truly terrifying and horrific.
There's a scene involving a pencil that'll make your eyes water - 👀✏️🍆
Check/ask for triggers with this one, and honestly , I genuinely hope that IS what happens to evil people in Hell🤞
This book was a journey. It was shocking, absurd, bloody, hellish, with plenty more that, despite its dark subject matter, makes it a great slasher read. It’s definitely not for everyone. I had my fair share of “What am I even f**king reading?” moments, but I kept coming back to it, and ended up finishing the whole thing in almost one go. If you’re into slasher, body-horror, classic Italian horror, extreme gore, type of books, this one’s for you.
So fun! Gave me literal nightmares. Quick easy burn. Vibes of all the classic horror stories like The Shining, The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead, Silent Hill.. even had a little grownup Goosebumps feel to it. Loved the author’s style and the going in & out of consciousness, unsure what was real or a dream. Obviously some scenes were cringe and going to be hard to forget, and the author left some as “indescribable”. My first splatterpunk and loved it.
Harrison Phillips should be in jail. What the ****?! This felt like watching a horror movie. Like evil dead meets the Cell. There are images so disturbing in this book that I wish I could take my brain out and wash it and put it back.
Everything about this book was great. The gore and violence are what you come to expect from phillips. Unlike a lot of extreme books the story and characters are well developed and actualy likable. I cant recomend it enough.
Every page of this book was more wild than the last. I don’t even know how to rate this because I ripped through it in two days while thinking “what the fuck am I reading” the entire time.
Fucked up. The ending was expected but the twists and turns to get there had me fucked up. Hallucinations? Fucked up. Like…. Fuuuucked up. Loved it, honestly.
One of my favorite reads all year. There are three sets of characters who are all tied to the setting of this story, the town of Dunsewell. A preacher with deep regrets who hears screaming from underneath his church, Liv, a lesbian teen whose secret lover was recently murdered, and lastly Lenard, a sexual deviant who is on a mission and has frequent visions and dreams leading him to the old town of Dunswell. All three character’s stories intersect and collide explosively. I still think about the characters and for some reason I enjoyed reading through Lenard’s perspective more than I should have! I highly recommend this!