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The Suffering
“Are we safe here?”
Atop a remote mountain in northern Italy rests the Sant’Arcangel convent, a sanctuary for women from all walks of life. On the cusp of winter, Dr Henrik Persson pays his final visit of the year. He cannot stay long, for a storm is coming that will shut the convent off from the outside world.
But when a young girl is found injured in the surrounding forest, the victim of a savage attack, Henrik decides to remain in the convent and nurse her back to health. It is, he believes, the correct thing to do.
But something has followed the girl to Sant’Arcangel. And once the snow begins to fall, the sinister presence will run rampant through the miserable corridors, bringing violent, bloody madness to all it touches. When all hope is lost, what remains is... THE SUFFERING.
A gripping tale of love, death, and total bodily destruction, The Suffering is a new nightmare of escalating dread from David Sodergren, author of The Haar and Maggie’s Grave.
Atop a remote mountain in northern Italy rests the Sant’Arcangel convent, a sanctuary for women from all walks of life. On the cusp of winter, Dr Henrik Persson pays his final visit of the year. He cannot stay long, for a storm is coming that will shut the convent off from the outside world.
But when a young girl is found injured in the surrounding forest, the victim of a savage attack, Henrik decides to remain in the convent and nurse her back to health. It is, he believes, the correct thing to do.
But something has followed the girl to Sant’Arcangel. And once the snow begins to fall, the sinister presence will run rampant through the miserable corridors, bringing violent, bloody madness to all it touches. When all hope is lost, what remains is... THE SUFFERING.
A gripping tale of love, death, and total bodily destruction, The Suffering is a new nightmare of escalating dread from David Sodergren, author of The Haar and Maggie’s Grave.
258 pages, Hardcover
Published May 1, 2026
About the author
David Sodergren
21 books3,467 followersDavid Sodergren lives in Scotland with his wife Heather and his best friend, Boris the Pug.
Growing up, he was the kind of kid who collected rubber skeletons and lived for horror movies. Not much has changed since then.
His best known books include the gory and romantic fairy tale The Haar, the blood-drenched folk-horror Maggie’s Grave, and the analog-horror fever dream Rotten Tommy. David also writes under the pseudonym Carl John Lee, publishing splatterpunk
novels such as Psychic Teenage Bloodbath and Cannibal Vengeance.
Growing up, he was the kind of kid who collected rubber skeletons and lived for horror movies. Not much has changed since then.
His best known books include the gory and romantic fairy tale The Haar, the blood-drenched folk-horror Maggie’s Grave, and the analog-horror fever dream Rotten Tommy. David also writes under the pseudonym Carl John Lee, publishing splatterpunk
novels such as Psychic Teenage Bloodbath and Cannibal Vengeance.
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February 7, 2026My new book The Suffering is out May 1st 2026! This one's been in the works for over two years, and it's a sort-of cross between Hammer Horror, 1960s Italian gothic cinema, and David Cronenberg's early body horror. It was a lot of fun to write, and due to the unusual setting and time period, required much more research than usual, including a trip to visit Italian convents, catacombs, and medical museums. I really hope you dig it!
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June 2, 2026pre-read:
My book hangover is slowly encroaching on book slump territory😩 Only adequate to read a book called The Suffering because that is how I'm feeling rn💀
My book hangover is slowly encroaching on book slump territory😩 Only adequate to read a book called The Suffering because that is how I'm feeling rn💀
May 12, 2026
David, you sick fuck! I loved it!!
June 4, 2026
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2
This book had nun of what I was expecting. It was anything but convent-ional. I could see how reading Sodergren could become habit-forming.
But, seriously… this one felt very different than any other of his books. In some good ways and bad. Sodergren is a go-to for a b-movie type of feel, and this book was a far from that. It was still gruesome and gory, all trademarks of his style, but it lacked the campiness that I’ve come to expect and love from his books. I honestly don’t like books set in this time period, and I didn’t know that coming into the book, so I was already at a disadvantage from the start.
It was still quite enjoyable, with several parts ranking among my favorites from any book of his. I’ll still read anything he puts out. This did nothing to change that.
This book had nun of what I was expecting. It was anything but convent-ional. I could see how reading Sodergren could become habit-forming.
But, seriously… this one felt very different than any other of his books. In some good ways and bad. Sodergren is a go-to for a b-movie type of feel, and this book was a far from that. It was still gruesome and gory, all trademarks of his style, but it lacked the campiness that I’ve come to expect and love from his books. I honestly don’t like books set in this time period, and I didn’t know that coming into the book, so I was already at a disadvantage from the start.
It was still quite enjoyable, with several parts ranking among my favorites from any book of his. I’ll still read anything he puts out. This did nothing to change that.
June 4, 2026
💀 multiple triggers of almost every kind 💀
🌒 abandon hope all you who enter here 🌒
THE PESTILENCE
Murder most foul, as in the best it is, but this most foul, strange and unnatural.
~the Ghost in Hamlet ~
There is no werewolf or vampire or ghoul or axe murderer forcing entrance into the convent.
Death and horror enter unseen in the body of a wounded girl saved from the forest and brought inside to recover.
But there is a virus in her.
And soon it’s in you.
Soon it’s in everyone.
Covering bodies in sores and pus and blood.
Filling bodies with sexual lusts and perversions.
Consuming the heart with a desire to wield axes and kill kill kill for the sheer joy of it.
Soon the hunger is to make love to rotting nuns. To enjoy sex with putrefaction. It’s the only thing that gives victims of the disease any relief from the pain and the eroticism. So they welcome it. They entice it. They demand it.
And eventually only cannibalism and hot blooded murder can bring satisfaction. To consume the decaying flesh of other humans is an act of pleasure and celebration.
The pestilence is relentless and bestial and demonic.
You have a gun. A cleaver. An axe. Kitchen knives.
But is it enough?
Do you have the will to destroy the sexually deranged, blood-hungry nuns from hell and hades and the dank inner darks of our hearts?
Do you possess the will to be like them and savage and brutalize others in order to survive?
And if you do, what does that look like. Feel like.
Scream like.
3.75
rounded up
🌒 abandon hope all you who enter here 🌒
THE PESTILENCE
Murder most foul, as in the best it is, but this most foul, strange and unnatural.
~the Ghost in Hamlet ~
There is no werewolf or vampire or ghoul or axe murderer forcing entrance into the convent.
Death and horror enter unseen in the body of a wounded girl saved from the forest and brought inside to recover.
But there is a virus in her.
And soon it’s in you.
Soon it’s in everyone.
Covering bodies in sores and pus and blood.
Filling bodies with sexual lusts and perversions.
Consuming the heart with a desire to wield axes and kill kill kill for the sheer joy of it.
Soon the hunger is to make love to rotting nuns. To enjoy sex with putrefaction. It’s the only thing that gives victims of the disease any relief from the pain and the eroticism. So they welcome it. They entice it. They demand it.
And eventually only cannibalism and hot blooded murder can bring satisfaction. To consume the decaying flesh of other humans is an act of pleasure and celebration.
The pestilence is relentless and bestial and demonic.
You have a gun. A cleaver. An axe. Kitchen knives.
But is it enough?
Do you have the will to destroy the sexually deranged, blood-hungry nuns from hell and hades and the dank inner darks of our hearts?
Do you possess the will to be like them and savage and brutalize others in order to survive?
And if you do, what does that look like. Feel like.
Scream like.
3.75
rounded up
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2026
Jesus first.
Others second.
Yourself last.
Others second.
Yourself last.
May 16, 2026
Naughty nuns, extreme amounts of gore, a disease beyond imagination (The Rot) and an explosive ending. This is the most graphic story I’ve read by Sodergren, be prepared for some very disturbing reading.
The story was written as a homage to Italian nunsploitation films of the 70’s. These films involve religious oppression or sexual suppression due to living in celibacy as the main theme. Sodergren says he also drew much inspiration from the classic Hammer Horror gothics, with one of the characters meant to be Christoper Lee who played Dracula in multiple films.
Sodergren stayed true to this style in his writing and created an atmosphere similar to these old films. It is apparent that much time and research was put into this book. 4/5 Think you will enjoy it if you have liked his other work.
The story was written as a homage to Italian nunsploitation films of the 70’s. These films involve religious oppression or sexual suppression due to living in celibacy as the main theme. Sodergren says he also drew much inspiration from the classic Hammer Horror gothics, with one of the characters meant to be Christoper Lee who played Dracula in multiple films.
Sodergren stayed true to this style in his writing and created an atmosphere similar to these old films. It is apparent that much time and research was put into this book. 4/5 Think you will enjoy it if you have liked his other work.
May 26, 2026
ugh i loved this! it was so so good, exactly what i wanted from it. had some really gross and nasty imagery, i read this as quick as i possibly could because i didn’t want to put it down
May 3, 2026
Nunsploitation mixed with stomach churning body horror. What more can you want?
May 28, 2026
Seeing that David Sodergren had listed Hammer Horror films as an influence on an upcoming nunsploitation novel had me enticed from the get-out for a few reasons. One, I am a big fan of those films. Two, I am always looking for books that properly capture that Hammer-specific version of Gothic atmosphere. And three, most importantly, Sodergren's previous novels have done a great job of proving that he can do tasteless extremely well, and a proper Hammer-esque take on nunsploitation in 19th century Italy would require at least a few dashes of restraint and/or atmosphere-building that is not always present in his other work. In other words, it promised something different. And mostly, it delivers.
A challenge I face with some of Sodergren's work is his tendency to lean into the pulpier 80s VHS rental aspects of his style--something that can ironically also be a source of a lot of his writerly charm as in MAGGIE'S GRAVE and ROTTEN TOMMY. I do, though, admit this may be more representative of an allergy on my part to this type of thing than a failing in his style. To this point, there are a few awkward stabs at humor and some flattening of character that work against the rich world-building he accomplishes in the first third of the novel. Similarly, the structure gets a little flimsy once the action gets moving and in the 80s VHS pulp of it all, this all tracks. But I always sense there is something more boiling underneath, something greater. This go-round, I find that to be especially true.
I think maybe some of it comes from the fact that Sodergren seems to, in reality, generally be a lovely and nice fellow who likes to get a little mean and cruel on the page. For me, this is why THE HAAR is so successful. Beneath the body horror and the meanness, there is a really big beating heart in that book. Here, there is a heart as well, but it is black and diseased. The impression I get is that the real Sodergren is a lot closer to the thing at the center of THE HAAR, and that there may be something inside of him that actively resists giving himself entirely over to the downbeat ugliness a plot like THE SUFFERING requires--which is why we see those tiny injections of silliness or humor that, to me, stick out like sour notes.
That being said, don't take my critiques as denigration. This book contains both some of his most accomplished writing and some of his nastiest, borderline vomit-inducing moments (for all you other sick freaks out there). He was right to cite Hammer as a reference point, and I hope we see more in this register in the future. His choice of setting is spot-on and his sense of place is strong. I love the brutally cold winter, even if the logic of the storm gets a little shaky at times--the whole 80s VHS thing again. The grander take-away is that THE SUFFERING and his last shortie HARD LUCK JENNY have been especially good and if this is the direction he is moving in, I think we may be seeing an artist hitting his stride. Top-tier work from one of the biggest voices in independent horror.
Sodergren Ranked:
1. The Haar
2. The Suffering
3. Hard Luck Jenny
4. Maggie's Grave
5. Rotten Tommy
6. The Forgotten Island
7. Dead Girl Blues
8. Summer of the Monsters
9. And by God's Hand You Shall Die
10. Satan's Burnouts Must Die
11. Death Spell
12. Cannibal Vengeance
13. The Navajo Nightmare
Read on independently published paperback.
A challenge I face with some of Sodergren's work is his tendency to lean into the pulpier 80s VHS rental aspects of his style--something that can ironically also be a source of a lot of his writerly charm as in MAGGIE'S GRAVE and ROTTEN TOMMY. I do, though, admit this may be more representative of an allergy on my part to this type of thing than a failing in his style. To this point, there are a few awkward stabs at humor and some flattening of character that work against the rich world-building he accomplishes in the first third of the novel. Similarly, the structure gets a little flimsy once the action gets moving and in the 80s VHS pulp of it all, this all tracks. But I always sense there is something more boiling underneath, something greater. This go-round, I find that to be especially true.
I think maybe some of it comes from the fact that Sodergren seems to, in reality, generally be a lovely and nice fellow who likes to get a little mean and cruel on the page. For me, this is why THE HAAR is so successful. Beneath the body horror and the meanness, there is a really big beating heart in that book. Here, there is a heart as well, but it is black and diseased. The impression I get is that the real Sodergren is a lot closer to the thing at the center of THE HAAR, and that there may be something inside of him that actively resists giving himself entirely over to the downbeat ugliness a plot like THE SUFFERING requires--which is why we see those tiny injections of silliness or humor that, to me, stick out like sour notes.
That being said, don't take my critiques as denigration. This book contains both some of his most accomplished writing and some of his nastiest, borderline vomit-inducing moments (for all you other sick freaks out there). He was right to cite Hammer as a reference point, and I hope we see more in this register in the future. His choice of setting is spot-on and his sense of place is strong. I love the brutally cold winter, even if the logic of the storm gets a little shaky at times--the whole 80s VHS thing again. The grander take-away is that THE SUFFERING and his last shortie HARD LUCK JENNY have been especially good and if this is the direction he is moving in, I think we may be seeing an artist hitting his stride. Top-tier work from one of the biggest voices in independent horror.
Sodergren Ranked:
1. The Haar
2. The Suffering
3. Hard Luck Jenny
4. Maggie's Grave
5. Rotten Tommy
6. The Forgotten Island
7. Dead Girl Blues
8. Summer of the Monsters
9. And by God's Hand You Shall Die
10. Satan's Burnouts Must Die
11. Death Spell
12. Cannibal Vengeance
13. The Navajo Nightmare
Read on independently published paperback.
May 19, 2026
ew, David!
Review of advance copy received from Author
I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of The Suffering by David Sodergren, and as always, he absolutely delivered.
From the first page, you’re thrown straight into it. No slow build. No easing in. Just immediate dread and chaos. He has this way of hooking you instantly and never letting you breathe. This one is a wild, gross, relentless ride and exactly what I’ve come to expect from Sodergren. The horror is emotional, the pacing is tight. He writes with such confidence that you feel completely locked into the story from start to finish.
If you like your horror brutal, uncomfortable, and impossible to put down, this one will absolutely hit.
Another win.
From the first page, you’re thrown straight into it. No slow build. No easing in. Just immediate dread and chaos. He has this way of hooking you instantly and never letting you breathe. This one is a wild, gross, relentless ride and exactly what I’ve come to expect from Sodergren. The horror is emotional, the pacing is tight. He writes with such confidence that you feel completely locked into the story from start to finish.
If you like your horror brutal, uncomfortable, and impossible to put down, this one will absolutely hit.
Another win.
May 5, 2026
I am unwell ... lol.
This was absolutely terrific. Loved the writing and the setting. I am simply a big fan of horror in a religious setting. Disturbing, disgusting, gory and also kind of sad. I inhaled this book, for me it just hit the right spot. There was a passage in part II that literally made me gag, bah. There is a lot of pus in this book ... like a lot.
This was absolutely terrific. Loved the writing and the setting. I am simply a big fan of horror in a religious setting. Disturbing, disgusting, gory and also kind of sad. I inhaled this book, for me it just hit the right spot. There was a passage in part II that literally made me gag, bah. There is a lot of pus in this book ... like a lot.
May 7, 2026
Disgusting. Give me 14 of them right now.
👌🏼
Part nunsploitation, part Silent Hill, part T. Kingfisher, part The Evil Dead.
👌🏼
Part nunsploitation, part Silent Hill, part T. Kingfisher, part The Evil Dead.
February 22, 2026
Thank you David Sodergren for the ARC!
This book doesn’t hold back. It is a well crafted blend of grotesque imagery and mounting dread which leads to a descent into chaos and disturbing horror. This combination makes it impossible to put down, pulling you through the pages as you witness the carnage unleashed upon the inhabitants of Sant’Arcangel convent.
“The Suffering” is an exceptional piece of work. Sodergren masterfully crafts a dark, brutal and unsettling story that will leave readers with a range of emotions upon completion. This is an easy five star read and is one of Sodergren’s best works to date.
This book doesn’t hold back. It is a well crafted blend of grotesque imagery and mounting dread which leads to a descent into chaos and disturbing horror. This combination makes it impossible to put down, pulling you through the pages as you witness the carnage unleashed upon the inhabitants of Sant’Arcangel convent.
“The Suffering” is an exceptional piece of work. Sodergren masterfully crafts a dark, brutal and unsettling story that will leave readers with a range of emotions upon completion. This is an easy five star read and is one of Sodergren’s best works to date.
May 25, 2026
The Suffering by David Sodergren is an extreme gothic horror novel that combines religious horror, body horror, supernatural infection horror, and survival horror. The story follows Dr Henrik Persson, who arrives at the isolated Sant’Arcangel convent before winter seals it off from the outside world. The convent, led by Mother Superior Lucia, descends into terror after Sister Caterina rescues a mysterious injured girl named Rosa from the forest, unleashing a supernatural plague that spreads madness, violence, and grotesque transformations among the nuns. As chaos consumes the convent, Henrik must uncover the source of the evil and survive the growing nightmare.
What I enjoyed about this book was the intense atmosphere, cinematic pacing like one of the Hammer Horror films from the 70s. The setting is vividly gothic, there are plenty of shocking body horror moments, and relentless tension. If you’re a fan of extreme horror you will enjoy its mix of gruesome imagery, psychological dread, religious themes, and claustrophobic isolation, along with Sodergren’s fast-moving writing style and unapologetically brutal storytelling. This is an excellent story and pure entertainment.
What I enjoyed about this book was the intense atmosphere, cinematic pacing like one of the Hammer Horror films from the 70s. The setting is vividly gothic, there are plenty of shocking body horror moments, and relentless tension. If you’re a fan of extreme horror you will enjoy its mix of gruesome imagery, psychological dread, religious themes, and claustrophobic isolation, along with Sodergren’s fast-moving writing style and unapologetically brutal storytelling. This is an excellent story and pure entertainment.
Review of advance copy received from Author
David Sodergren has done it again!
High in the Italian mountains sits a convent cut off from the world. The only visit they get is from the doctor & his assistant who are from the nearest town, (a six hour horse ride up the mountain) twice a year. As the nuns prepare for the winter storm a young woman comes out from nowhere gravely injured. The nuns take her in & after the Dr helps her his assistant decides to stay behind to look after her. However this strange young woman brings with her a great evil that spreads through the convent. Will anyone survive? This book had me on the edge of my seat & often times grimacing at the gorey very detailed situations. Definitely recommend but reader beware, you may not want to be eating while reading this.
A huge thank you to the author for the advanced copy!
High in the Italian mountains sits a convent cut off from the world. The only visit they get is from the doctor & his assistant who are from the nearest town, (a six hour horse ride up the mountain) twice a year. As the nuns prepare for the winter storm a young woman comes out from nowhere gravely injured. The nuns take her in & after the Dr helps her his assistant decides to stay behind to look after her. However this strange young woman brings with her a great evil that spreads through the convent. Will anyone survive? This book had me on the edge of my seat & often times grimacing at the gorey very detailed situations. Definitely recommend but reader beware, you may not want to be eating while reading this.
A huge thank you to the author for the advanced copy!
May 10, 2026
I need to wash my eyeballs! And... maybe pray.
Sodergren does it once again with this gnarly nunsploitation story with all the religious gothic vibes!
Sodergren does it once again with this gnarly nunsploitation story with all the religious gothic vibes!
June 5, 2026
3.5✨
idk why but a sexual disease horror will always do it for me (my favorite movie is It Follows) … this hit
idk why but a sexual disease horror will always do it for me (my favorite movie is It Follows) … this hit
May 16, 2026
Thank you to Simon Maverick, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, for the free gifted audiobook! I actually felt nauseous listening to this book. That’s how intense the body horror is….especially as a female! It was so disturbing and gross, and I absolutely loved it. I mean… WOW… I am reeling. On a remote mountain in Italy rests the Sant’Arcangel convent. Dr. Henrik is paying his final visit for the year and must leave with a big storm rolling in. But when a girl is discovered injured in the forest, he remains to nurse her back to help. What unfolds is one of the most disturbing stories I have ever read! Something sinister has entered into the convent with the girl and all hell breaks loose within its walls. There is definitely an underlying message for sexual oppression within these pages. I love the setting, I love the mounting dread, I love where it ultimately leads. At one point I messaged a friend and was like “wow this is so gross”, and he was like “just you wait, it gets worse.” Great job. I don’t know how something so well done could be rated anything less than five stars.
March 3, 2026
I think it is safe to say, this may be one of the most disgusting books I have read in a long time. I physically gagged in multiple spots, but absolutely loved every minute of it. While this book may not dethrone The Haar as my favorite book by David Sodergren, it definitely is close as a new favorite. It was dark and depressing and horrific in every way, the atmosphere written here is incredible and I felt like I could visualize and feel everything happening, which for some parts was not for the best, without spoiling anything, maybe don’t eat while reading this. This story will stick with me for a long time.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Describe this book in three words: "Cannibalistic. Nymphomaniac. Nuns"
All the vile, disgusting, horrific revolting fun you'd expect from a Sodergren book is all here, but add a little bit of satanic sexual deviancy and you've got yourself The Suffering.
A malignant presence, figurative and literal is brought into a secluded cloister of nuns right before they're cut off for winter. I'll say one thing about the nuns, they sure do have a lot of guts. And intestines. And every other kind of innards you can think of.
As the evil spreads, slowly turning the nuns into fungal rotting horrors, they begin to develop a taste for flesh. Carnal AND culinary.
Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed was that everything about this book is absolutely oozing with the same atmosphere and charm of a Hammer Horror film. The characters, the dialogue and the setting all evokes a Hammer film that never was. One of the main reason I love Sodergrens books so much is because he uniquely excels at translating the feel and tone of a particular style of film into the written word. I was glad to see in the afterword that I wasn't imagining things!
Vivid and putrid descriptions of nuns rotting while literally falling apart, eating each other and satisfying their nymphomaniacal desires are fine enough on their own, but the actual mystery behind the story here is so satisfying to watch unfold. There are hints straight from the beginning as to what's really going on, and I think the climax and culmination of everything at the end was some of the most fucked up shit Sodergren has ever written.
Another five star book from Sodergren, and quite possibly his darkest yet!
All the vile, disgusting, horrific revolting fun you'd expect from a Sodergren book is all here, but add a little bit of satanic sexual deviancy and you've got yourself The Suffering.
A malignant presence, figurative and literal is brought into a secluded cloister of nuns right before they're cut off for winter. I'll say one thing about the nuns, they sure do have a lot of guts. And intestines. And every other kind of innards you can think of.
As the evil spreads, slowly turning the nuns into fungal rotting horrors, they begin to develop a taste for flesh. Carnal AND culinary.
Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed was that everything about this book is absolutely oozing with the same atmosphere and charm of a Hammer Horror film. The characters, the dialogue and the setting all evokes a Hammer film that never was. One of the main reason I love Sodergrens books so much is because he uniquely excels at translating the feel and tone of a particular style of film into the written word. I was glad to see in the afterword that I wasn't imagining things!
Vivid and putrid descriptions of nuns rotting while literally falling apart, eating each other and satisfying their nymphomaniacal desires are fine enough on their own, but the actual mystery behind the story here is so satisfying to watch unfold. There are hints straight from the beginning as to what's really going on, and I think the climax and culmination of everything at the end was some of the most fucked up shit Sodergren has ever written.
Another five star book from Sodergren, and quite possibly his darkest yet!
May 5, 2026
Wow, like, really WOW. You obviously can't tell where a storyline is going to take you as a reader, and that's the beauty, but this one i don't think anyone could predict. It's certainly in sharp contrast to the beginning of the book.
There was a particular scene which actually made me feel sick. And no book has done that before. Or not that I can recall anyway. Just the imagery that David portrays through his writing was a bit too real for me. There's another scene which was super tense, heart racing tense. The whole book is great but there are definitely a few standout moments. Those were a couple for me. The environment is eerie given it's remoteness and isolation but it soon descends into something quite different.
I love the era, and David does a great job of portraying it through dialogue and descriptions.
Overall, another wonderfully horrible (in a good way!) David Sodergren story. Go read it!
There was a particular scene which actually made me feel sick. And no book has done that before. Or not that I can recall anyway. Just the imagery that David portrays through his writing was a bit too real for me. There's another scene which was super tense, heart racing tense. The whole book is great but there are definitely a few standout moments. Those were a couple for me. The environment is eerie given it's remoteness and isolation but it soon descends into something quite different.
I love the era, and David does a great job of portraying it through dialogue and descriptions.
Overall, another wonderfully horrible (in a good way!) David Sodergren story. Go read it!
February 21, 2026
Another 5 star book from David Sodergren! A sorrowful, tragic and flesh rotting story of a flock of Nuns and the price they pay for their Mother Superiors carnal actions. Through David’s always descriptive words, we get a look inside the hellhole that is Sant’Arcangel - a vile ride through a covenant as the winter approaches and they become shutoff from the world. Side note: I kept reading ‘abscess’ instead of ‘Abbess’ and turns out, that theme really held for the book😂
I was gagging during parts (many parts if I’m honest). My heart was breaking during others, and pounding in the next breath.
These characters were feral and unhinged, even before the sickness took hold. It’s what the suffering will do to you.
I was gagging during parts (many parts if I’m honest). My heart was breaking during others, and pounding in the next breath.
These characters were feral and unhinged, even before the sickness took hold. It’s what the suffering will do to you.
May 2, 2026
Well, that was gory and bleak!
I love a good religious horror and this one wastes no time getting into it with the discovery of a young girl with old axe wounds and was seemingly buried alive.
An isolated setting is set with a harsh snow storm keeping the nuns and lone doctor trapped in the convent.
Things escalate quickly and don't really let up at all. This was a gory, depraved ride all the way to the end!
I love a good religious horror and this one wastes no time getting into it with the discovery of a young girl with old axe wounds and was seemingly buried alive.
An isolated setting is set with a harsh snow storm keeping the nuns and lone doctor trapped in the convent.
Things escalate quickly and don't really let up at all. This was a gory, depraved ride all the way to the end!
May 11, 2026
The Suffering is everything I want in a horror story.
"It was an unspeakable orgy of total bodily destruction."
The setting of this story was perfect - in an isolated convent, mid-winter - a girl is discovered in the surrounding wilderness. Near death, the nuns bring her inside the walls for aid. That's when shit starts to get weird. A mysterious plague starts to spread among the Sisters and God is nowhere to be found. What follows is a masterpiece in Nun-horror and body-horror.
Take heed to this warning:
"My dear Joseph, if you're reading this in Sant'Arcangel and I stand not by your side, then I urge you - nay, I beg you to get the hell out. Run from this place and never look back. Or better yet, burn it. Raze these hallowed walls to the around and let the mountain wind scatter the ashes, for whatever macabre terror stalked these halls when first we arrived... is no longer alone."
"It was an unspeakable orgy of total bodily destruction."
The setting of this story was perfect - in an isolated convent, mid-winter - a girl is discovered in the surrounding wilderness. Near death, the nuns bring her inside the walls for aid. That's when shit starts to get weird. A mysterious plague starts to spread among the Sisters and God is nowhere to be found. What follows is a masterpiece in Nun-horror and body-horror.
Take heed to this warning:
"My dear Joseph, if you're reading this in Sant'Arcangel and I stand not by your side, then I urge you - nay, I beg you to get the hell out. Run from this place and never look back. Or better yet, burn it. Raze these hallowed walls to the around and let the mountain wind scatter the ashes, for whatever macabre terror stalked these halls when first we arrived... is no longer alone."
May 13, 2026
Another great story from David Sodergren. I was happy to read in the afterwords that it drew inspiration from the good old Hammer House of Horror series. I could feel that vibe as I was reading it.
The characters in this one genuinely feel authentic, the pacing is spot on. I can't really fault it at all. It's got it all going on.
Gets pretty gross-out at times, too.
Superb work as always.
Five stars no question.
The characters in this one genuinely feel authentic, the pacing is spot on. I can't really fault it at all. It's got it all going on.
Gets pretty gross-out at times, too.
Superb work as always.
Five stars no question.
May 5, 2026
- religious/historical horror
- body & hammer gothic horror combo
- nunsploitation
- brutal, gory & gross
- a dark evil
- constant state of dread
Everything I love in a horror book, David has once again not disappointed me. Actually I think this book is one of my top 3 now, SO good!
- body & hammer gothic horror combo
- nunsploitation
- brutal, gory & gross
- a dark evil
- constant state of dread
Everything I love in a horror book, David has once again not disappointed me. Actually I think this book is one of my top 3 now, SO good!
May 10, 2026
4.75 ⭐️ This book is brutal, gross, and sad. The setting is awesome, some supernatural elements, and characters that are very well written. Only holding off on 5 stars because of the end…Mr. Sodergren…I needed 5 more pages!!!
April 19, 2026
Sick! Vile! Disgusting! I loved every minute of it.
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