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Bestiary
For a quarter and your silence, the Bestiary is yours to enter… But you may never leave.
Karen was a child when Doctor Cromwell stole everything. She followed her parents to his tent and raced away alone, haunted by the monstrous things she witnessed and the twisted power that commanded them. She has spent her life in pursuit of the man who stole everything from her.
Now, thanks to private investigator Cal Leverone, her revenge is finally within reach.
But Doctor Cromwell is no ordinary predator. His words sculpt flesh more deftly than any scalpel. Wonder is his art—and either Karen or Cal could become his next canvas. Together they'll discover that monsters aren't merely born. They're made. And in the Bestiary, the line between hunter and exhibit has never been thinner.
Will Karen claim her vengeance, or become the Bestiary's next attraction?
A dark, suspenseful horror novel featuring body horror and body transformation, a strong female protagonist driven by grief and revenge, and a manipulative villain unlike anything in modern creature horror fiction.
Readers of Thomas Ligotti, Joe Hill, and Clive Barker will find a nightmarish companion in Bestiary.
Proudly represented by Torrid Waters, a division of Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!
Karen was a child when Doctor Cromwell stole everything. She followed her parents to his tent and raced away alone, haunted by the monstrous things she witnessed and the twisted power that commanded them. She has spent her life in pursuit of the man who stole everything from her.
Now, thanks to private investigator Cal Leverone, her revenge is finally within reach.
But Doctor Cromwell is no ordinary predator. His words sculpt flesh more deftly than any scalpel. Wonder is his art—and either Karen or Cal could become his next canvas. Together they'll discover that monsters aren't merely born. They're made. And in the Bestiary, the line between hunter and exhibit has never been thinner.
Will Karen claim her vengeance, or become the Bestiary's next attraction?
A dark, suspenseful horror novel featuring body horror and body transformation, a strong female protagonist driven by grief and revenge, and a manipulative villain unlike anything in modern creature horror fiction.
Readers of Thomas Ligotti, Joe Hill, and Clive Barker will find a nightmarish companion in Bestiary.
Proudly represented by Torrid Waters, a division of Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!
233 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 24, 2026
About the author
Patrick Rutigliano
19 books31 followersPatrick Rutigliano made his way as a fry cook, cart monkey and feral cat tamer before going into business for himself. Working as an editor and proofreader in addition to writing, his first independent release, "The Untimely Deaths of Daryl Handy," hit Amazon in 2013. His newest book, "Wind Chill," was released by Crystal Lake Publishing in 2016.
During his off time, Patrick can usually be found attempting to recreate foreign cuisine, performing the solemn duty of feline waterbed and having spirited debates with his wife over the failings of Disney villains.
Further information is available at http://www.patrickrutigliano.wordpres...
During his off time, Patrick can usually be found attempting to recreate foreign cuisine, performing the solemn duty of feline waterbed and having spirited debates with his wife over the failings of Disney villains.
Further information is available at http://www.patrickrutigliano.wordpres...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 27, 2026
The nitty-gritty: An uneven story with top notch body horror, Bestiary gets an A+ for the horror elements, but a C- for execution.
Bestiary has some great ideas and plenty of gruesome body horror, and in that respect it worked well for me. Patrick Rutigliano is a solid writer (despite some awkward phrasing here and there), and his revenge story involving an angry woman and a mysterious carnival was a fun one. My lower rating mostly stems from confusion. The plot is all over the place and many of the action scenes don’t make sense. Despite its short page count, I struggled to keep reading at times.
Karen Lambert is eight when she witnesses something terrible. Her parents have left her home alone one night (wtf she’s eight!), and she decides to get out of bed and run into the woods. She comes upon an odd carnival tent full of people. She peeks inside and is shocked to see her parents standing up on a stage. The carnival ring leader is a man named Cromwell who claims to be able to cure people, and Karen assumes since her mother is gravely ill that her parents have come to Cromwell for help. But instead, Cromwell whispers in her mother’s ear and her body begins to change into something horrific. In shock, Karen runs back home and she never sees either of her parents again.
Fast forward eleven years. Karen has become a bitter, angry young woman, and all she wants is to find Cromwell and pay him back for what he did to her parents. She hires a man named Cal to help track down Cromwell’s elusive carnival so that she can take her revenge, but Cromwell has people protecting him, and it's almost impossible to get close enough to confront him.
I’ll start with the elements that worked for me. First, I loved the idea of monstrous creatures emerging from a human body, and the author’s vivid descriptions were both fascinating and disgusting. If you aren’t into body horror, I would stay away from this book. And if you want a visual comparison, go watch the "Go Fish" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has a similar idea. I thought Rutigliano did a great job of bringing these gruesome images to life.
The rest of the story is pretty violent as well. Both Karen and Cal bring guns to the party, and Karen especially turns out to be extremely blood thirsty and trigger happy. She isn’t letting anyone get in the way of her revenge, lol. The story is gritty and dark—there isn’t a drop of happiness or light at all—and that was fine with me.
The actual plot, however, isn’t as well thought out. The transitions between scenes were often confusing, and the plot becomes convoluted, especially in the last section. The story starts out with the idea that desperately sick people are coming to Doctor Cromwell to cure them–at a price, of course—but that idea fizzles out early on. Instead of being cured, these “volunteers” are turned into hideous creatures, and then what? At the end, we finally learn what really happened to Karen’s parents, and the reveal was disappointing and didn’t make sense at all. The biggest head scratcher for me, though, was why? What was Cromwell trying to achieve? I know the answer is in there somewhere, but it wasn’t clear enough to drive the plot, which was why I started to lose interest. In my opinion, the story needed more thought and development in order to bring it to the next level.
As for the characters, all of them felt like clichés of one type or another. Karen’s over-the-top rage seemed out of place, especially for a nineteen-year-old who lost her parents when she was eight (it would have made more sense if she’d been a teenager when her parents disappeared). Cal seems more like a thug than a PI—he smashes a guy in the nose in one confusing scene. Cromwell’s character actually worked the best for me. He’s suitably creepy but in a more subtle way. I did want more of the carnival setting, though. Most of the action takes place outside the tent, which is really only used in the beginning scenes.
Overall, I liked Bestiary but didn’t love it, although there are certainly plenty of memorable scenes for lovers of the genre.
With thanks to the author for providing a review copy.
Bestiary has some great ideas and plenty of gruesome body horror, and in that respect it worked well for me. Patrick Rutigliano is a solid writer (despite some awkward phrasing here and there), and his revenge story involving an angry woman and a mysterious carnival was a fun one. My lower rating mostly stems from confusion. The plot is all over the place and many of the action scenes don’t make sense. Despite its short page count, I struggled to keep reading at times.
Karen Lambert is eight when she witnesses something terrible. Her parents have left her home alone one night (wtf she’s eight!), and she decides to get out of bed and run into the woods. She comes upon an odd carnival tent full of people. She peeks inside and is shocked to see her parents standing up on a stage. The carnival ring leader is a man named Cromwell who claims to be able to cure people, and Karen assumes since her mother is gravely ill that her parents have come to Cromwell for help. But instead, Cromwell whispers in her mother’s ear and her body begins to change into something horrific. In shock, Karen runs back home and she never sees either of her parents again.
Fast forward eleven years. Karen has become a bitter, angry young woman, and all she wants is to find Cromwell and pay him back for what he did to her parents. She hires a man named Cal to help track down Cromwell’s elusive carnival so that she can take her revenge, but Cromwell has people protecting him, and it's almost impossible to get close enough to confront him.
I’ll start with the elements that worked for me. First, I loved the idea of monstrous creatures emerging from a human body, and the author’s vivid descriptions were both fascinating and disgusting. If you aren’t into body horror, I would stay away from this book. And if you want a visual comparison, go watch the "Go Fish" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has a similar idea. I thought Rutigliano did a great job of bringing these gruesome images to life.
The rest of the story is pretty violent as well. Both Karen and Cal bring guns to the party, and Karen especially turns out to be extremely blood thirsty and trigger happy. She isn’t letting anyone get in the way of her revenge, lol. The story is gritty and dark—there isn’t a drop of happiness or light at all—and that was fine with me.
The actual plot, however, isn’t as well thought out. The transitions between scenes were often confusing, and the plot becomes convoluted, especially in the last section. The story starts out with the idea that desperately sick people are coming to Doctor Cromwell to cure them–at a price, of course—but that idea fizzles out early on. Instead of being cured, these “volunteers” are turned into hideous creatures, and then what? At the end, we finally learn what really happened to Karen’s parents, and the reveal was disappointing and didn’t make sense at all. The biggest head scratcher for me, though, was why? What was Cromwell trying to achieve? I know the answer is in there somewhere, but it wasn’t clear enough to drive the plot, which was why I started to lose interest. In my opinion, the story needed more thought and development in order to bring it to the next level.
As for the characters, all of them felt like clichés of one type or another. Karen’s over-the-top rage seemed out of place, especially for a nineteen-year-old who lost her parents when she was eight (it would have made more sense if she’d been a teenager when her parents disappeared). Cal seems more like a thug than a PI—he smashes a guy in the nose in one confusing scene. Cromwell’s character actually worked the best for me. He’s suitably creepy but in a more subtle way. I did want more of the carnival setting, though. Most of the action takes place outside the tent, which is really only used in the beginning scenes.
Overall, I liked Bestiary but didn’t love it, although there are certainly plenty of memorable scenes for lovers of the genre.
With thanks to the author for providing a review copy.
July 10, 2026
Thank you, @crystal_lake_publishing, for the #gifted copy!
Karen Lambert will never forget what she witnessed beneath the big top. In a single moment, her world was shattered, and her parents were taken from her.
Years later, Karen is determined to bring down Cromwell and his band of misfits once and for all. With the help of her friend Cal, she sets out for revenge, but nothing comes easy. Standing in her way is Cromwell’s daughter, Leah, who is more ruthless and determined than her father.
Karen’s fight comes at a devastating cost, testing her grip on reality. But was the price she paid worth it?
If you’re a fan of dark horror, creepy carnival settings, and stories filled with revenge, monsters, and high stakes, this one deserves a spot on your TBR.
Karen Lambert will never forget what she witnessed beneath the big top. In a single moment, her world was shattered, and her parents were taken from her.
Years later, Karen is determined to bring down Cromwell and his band of misfits once and for all. With the help of her friend Cal, she sets out for revenge, but nothing comes easy. Standing in her way is Cromwell’s daughter, Leah, who is more ruthless and determined than her father.
Karen’s fight comes at a devastating cost, testing her grip on reality. But was the price she paid worth it?
If you’re a fan of dark horror, creepy carnival settings, and stories filled with revenge, monsters, and high stakes, this one deserves a spot on your TBR.
September 2, 2026
Doctor Cromwell is a “faith healer” but not one like anyone has ever seen before. Karen was only a child when she followed her parents to his tent in the dark of night, and what she saw there changed the path of her entire life.
Years later with the help of Cal Leverone, private investigator and friend, revenge is finally witin Karen’s reach.
But Cromwell and his carnies should never be underestimated.
The book takes place in 3 parts, pre revenge, post revenge and…there is nothing to really call the third part other than maybe the “WTF WAS THAT!” section. (But in a good way.)
I dont’ know if it was Rutigliano’s intent, but I acutally disliked Karen. She spent all her life and money seeking revenge for something that was essentially her fault. I was fully team Cromwell here.
Cal, the PI, was probably my favorite character in the book though. He took on a job and ended up a father figure for a broken young woman.
There were a couple of parts that irked me, things that happened that I feel should have been touched on again but were not, but in the end that didn’t take away any enjoyment from the novel.
It really was a captivating story and I'm not sure why it took me so long to read it.
Years later with the help of Cal Leverone, private investigator and friend, revenge is finally witin Karen’s reach.
But Cromwell and his carnies should never be underestimated.
The book takes place in 3 parts, pre revenge, post revenge and…there is nothing to really call the third part other than maybe the “WTF WAS THAT!” section. (But in a good way.)
I dont’ know if it was Rutigliano’s intent, but I acutally disliked Karen. She spent all her life and money seeking revenge for something that was essentially her fault. I was fully team Cromwell here.
Cal, the PI, was probably my favorite character in the book though. He took on a job and ended up a father figure for a broken young woman.
There were a couple of parts that irked me, things that happened that I feel should have been touched on again but were not, but in the end that didn’t take away any enjoyment from the novel.
It really was a captivating story and I'm not sure why it took me so long to read it.
July 25, 2026
This was a rather strong and likable enough story. The idea of this one focusing on the girl's single-minded sense of revenge to get back at the scientist who took her parents from her as a child and needing the help of a friend to get everything accomplished sets up the kind of fun premise that takes a seemingly simple revenge plot into a different route entirely. There's some fun work here detailing the various events that have led up to this whole thing as we get to see the first stages of the situation develop and turn into her having the proper motivation and reason to go about this mission, and by bringing her friend along as a way to help balance out this straightforward, single-minded revenge tale.
As well, the slow reveal about what the doctor is performing on various patients and the band of followers around him comes together rather nicely, as her struggles at trying to stop them are far more difficult to accomplish than expected and put the success in jeopardy quite often. A lot of that comes down to how well the different characters here manage to help propel the action along throughout a series of rather fun moments in here. Given that the daughter shows up as a more ruthless and cold-hearted villain that must be overcome on top of the other encounters here inside the circus-like environment created in this world, everything here is given the kind of impressive, darkened touch that has a lot to like.
4.5/5
As well, the slow reveal about what the doctor is performing on various patients and the band of followers around him comes together rather nicely, as her struggles at trying to stop them are far more difficult to accomplish than expected and put the success in jeopardy quite often. A lot of that comes down to how well the different characters here manage to help propel the action along throughout a series of rather fun moments in here. Given that the daughter shows up as a more ruthless and cold-hearted villain that must be overcome on top of the other encounters here inside the circus-like environment created in this world, everything here is given the kind of impressive, darkened touch that has a lot to like.
4.5/5
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This is definitely one of the best stories I’ve read all year! From the very first page, it kept me hooked and hurrying to see what happened next. The characters are so well-created that you can’t help but have strong reactions to them; from cheering on Karen and Cal to absolutely hating Cromwell and Leah. The descriptions of everything (I’m not giving anything away) were outstanding and made everything play out like a movie in my head. If you’re looking for an original story that has you wanting to get to the finish to find out what happens as well as not wanting to it end, then this is definitely one for you. Five stars, very well-deserved!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! As there is a tale to be told. A tale about vengeance and magic. Karen saw what Cromwell did to her parents. The monstrosity they were turned into. Now Karen is on a mission for revenge. It seems simple enough right? She didn't realize what she was truly up against.
I loved this book it gives me “The Island of Dr. Moreau” vibes. The battle between Leah and Karen was epic. It was a steady paced easy read. I highly recommend this book to others.
July 31, 2026
Bestiary is a horror story unlike anything I have read before.
In this creepy, eerie, carnival setting. we have Dr. Cromwell, who uses his twisted, sick power of being able to turn people into monsters, to take everything from Karen. As she witnesses his gruesome act upon her parents as a child, she returns as an adult to seek revenge. However, her revenge seeking goes very wrong.
This story is dark, suspenseful, and full of horror that will no doubt linger in your mind for days! Great creepy story. Recommend giving this one a read.
In this creepy, eerie, carnival setting. we have Dr. Cromwell, who uses his twisted, sick power of being able to turn people into monsters, to take everything from Karen. As she witnesses his gruesome act upon her parents as a child, she returns as an adult to seek revenge. However, her revenge seeking goes very wrong.
This story is dark, suspenseful, and full of horror that will no doubt linger in your mind for days! Great creepy story. Recommend giving this one a read.
Did Not Finish
June 27, 2026DNFd at 59%
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews