Subcutaneous

by R.E. Holding

Sebastian lives a comfortable life in the small town of Black River, Missouri. He leaves behind the corporate slog, the woman he once loved, and a childhood he can barely recall. One weekend, along with girlfriend, Lacey, he joins an old friend, Matty, and Mena, the ex-girlfriend now engaged to someone new. Their ordinary conversation evolves into a revelation about the absence of a former coworker that doesn't appear accidental.



As Sebastian attempts to regain Mena's affections, disturbing events befall the circle of friends that lead to the discovery of a strange white chapel in the middle of Fort Pines Park; a sprawling forest large enough to conceal the darkest of secrets.

Each new catastrophe draws closer to home, revealing cryptic connections between the chapel and a dark force hunting random victims to create ritualistic soap.



SUBCUTANEOUS explores themes of bodily autonomy, paranoia, and the fragile nature of reality through the lens of intimate horror.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Suspense

240 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 16, 2027

About the author

I grew up in the Midwest in the 80s and 90s, often finding myself on the dirty low-pile carpets of Waldenbooks reading the newest Christopher Pike YA horror. I'm an avid lover of stories of all kinds, with a particular penchant for the things that go bump in the night.

Reviews

[R.E. Holding]

Hey all! Excited to share this one with all the horror lovers! All reviews are welcome, good or bad, I just ask that you keep your reviews either spoiler free, or use the spoiler tags around the juicy parts. You can also select the checkbox below the review field to hide the entire review for spoilers. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read!!

[Mr. M · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars - rounded up.

Thank you to Cliff Cave Books LLC and Net Galley for allowing me to access this digital arc.

This is going to be a review of R.E. Holding’s book Subcutaneous. The genres for the book are adult fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, and I would add psychological. The book hits shelves physically and digitally on February 16, 2027. Before we get into the review, I want to place the following trigger warnings:
• Alcohol
• Violence
• Sexual Assault
• Body horror
• Stalking
• Witchcraft

Subcutaneous follows a retired engineer, Sebastian Page who starts to experience unexplainable things. In the background, there are a string of killings happening in his town. As the webs of intrigue and dread close around him, Sebastian will find out just how sinister the webs around him are and how deeply they are rooted.

Right away the book hits the ground running, and the author did an excellent job of describing everything. The scenes were painted vividly, and it helped the story feel real and organic. Following Sebastian as he wanders deeper into his own mind and despair was an interesting journey, and on I enjoyed following.

I also thought that the violence was written well and the methodology was unique. The meticulous nature of the violence reminded me of the show Dexter. The mystery was kept close to the chest until towards the very end, and I enjoyed reading the explanation given to everything. There was also something about the characters that made them relatable.

The one thing I found hard to like was how predictable it was when you suspended disbelief. While I did not receive vindication until the end of the story, I was writing notes about how things would go. I also think the story could have benefited more if the author used “show, don’t tell” with the big reveal. But I enjoyed the story all the same and would read again.

[Merlyn Fereira · Rating 3 out of 5]

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚏 𝙲𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝙻𝙻𝙲 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚟𝚒𝚊 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝙶𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚢. 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚗 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝙶𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘 𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎.

𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔?:
- For those who don't want to read that will take too much time—208 pages. Not too long not too short.
- A group of working class individuals who go out, eat and have fun until one of their girlfriends suggests something creepy.
- a book that takes it own sweet time in unraveling its secrets.
- for those who love reading books about killers and dissecting their psychology and mindset.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍:
- Right off the bat, the chapter starts off who has no problem (spoiler) dismembering a body. The descriptions are so grotesque, so raw that it felt straight off Dexter S1.
- Very unconventional naming system for chapters.
- I liked the cover design. The fact that the author did the cover design was amazing. It isn't too fancy or too over the top. It explains everything in a simple manner and the font is also self explanatory of what is about to happen in the story.
- I liked the way how the author left one hint about who the killer was by writing one word used before in the sentence. I had my suspicions on three people and they ended on one.
- The story seemed like an amalgamation of fear, loss, anger and a hallucination all mixed in one.
- I couldn't stop gagging at how the killer would turn the victim's I think it was body fat or body remains into soap? The more I read it, the more it chilled me.

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
- the writing style wasn't too upbeat and not too engaging.
- the writing style changing POV in some chapters was something that dipped the momentum for me.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley

Subcutaneous is a serviceable occult thriller with a strong voice, though some plot holes left me with questions.

Subcutaneous starts out strong with an eerie and mysterious first person voice before getting into a third person story with the protagonist Bash and his friend group. I liked that Bash and his friends felt like real 3-dimensional people with faults. The first chapter had me a little worried that they would all be caricatures, but they felt fleshed out.

The writing style overall was strong and consistent, with engaging prose that keeps the audience reading.

I have two minor frustrations with the book. The first is just my own opinion that I'm sure other people wouldn't have an issue with. The second is more about craft.

First, at times this book falls into the "there's not really anything scary to say, so I'm going to make my protagonist have a scary dream" pattern that is unfortunately common in books. That's not to say it's always out of place, but it's not my favorite style of horror writing.

My second complaint is that it feels like there are some plot holes left at the end. No spoilers, but I was left wondering, "Did the bad guy do all of that just for arts and crafts?"

Overall, however, I enjoyed this book, and I will be checking out some other books by the author.

[SueCooks · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

My review is for an ARC from #Subcutaneous #NetGalley.
Thanks for the opportunity to Holding for the early view and review. I'm terrifically excited about the locale of SE Missouri and thinking about Cliff Cave which I hope is the same as I used to explore decades ago.
I enjoyed the murder, mayhem, occultism, witchcraft and keeping me guessing about the details right to the end.
Lots of gore so not everyone's cup of tea (fair warning to the squamish) but it was perfect for me. Thanks.
And thanks for the KSHE shout out. ;)

[Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part 20 of my Return to Reading Journey and my 8th book from NetGalley

Thank you, R.E. Holding and Cliff Cave Books for the ARC!

-- Why I Chose This Book --

Subcutaneous was such a treat!

So, I used to almost exclusively read Stephen King books way back when I was a more casual reader, but it's honestly been a while since I've read a good horror book. Since a big part of this reading journey has been to explore a variety of genres and authors, and I've been really wanting to dive back into a good horror book, I went to NetGalley and found this hidden gem.

I wasn't really looking for any specific type of horror; I just wanted to go in blindly and see what I could find, and this book hit the spot.

-- What I Liked --

I always enjoy seeing the first-person present tense point of view, but it works so especially well here. I'm going to be light on details here to keep things spoiler-free, but the way this particular perspective was written was so cool.

One of my favorite things about the book is the writing style. I'm not really sure what kind of writing style I was expecting out of the first horror book I've read in years, but R.E. Holding wrote some beautiful sentences in this story and used a nice vocabulary of uncommon words like "titter" while still keeping the story very accessible.

Another pleasant, unexpected surprise was the very well-placed humor in the book. I very much want to find any excuse possible to call someone a "tofu person" now, and I had to hold in a laugh in the breakroom at my work when one of the characters said "You stabbed me!" Which was a stupid thing to say. She knows she stabbed him.

I thought the characterization here was also very good for the story being on the shorter side; it feels like everyone got the spotlight at some point. One character was kind of uninteresting and then became interesting as the story went on. Others had great character quirks and flaws. The group dynamic was a lot of fun to see; kind of gave grown-up Scooby-Doo vibes in a way.

I also enjoyed the mention of Dr. Thunder. The struggle is real.

-- Closing Thoughts --

My first venture back into horror was awesome. Subcutaneous is a great mix of tasteful horror elements, complex characters, and a touch of humor written in a wonderful way.

I'm adding R.E. Holding's other books to my Want To Read list because I love this style of horror writing.

[Lex · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Grotesque, unsettling, culty, witchy, just everything that makes a good horror, wrapped up in a cute bar of soap. When you read, you’ll understand. So READ IT!

I was wonderfully granted early access through NetGalley and I’m so grateful. This book had me on edge. What starts out with a bang, leads you down a road of subtle “I know where this is headed” until wait, no, you don’t. I was second guessing everyone for a second and bits and parts started connecting and I was just creeped out at every new chapter as the story unfolded. This book was the perfect start to my spooky season reads and I’m so excited for others to pick this one up. There are things in this book that may set people off so I would read warnings before diving in.