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Just to See Hell
From the controversial author of Dead Inside comes a collection of eleven stories that delve into the darkest depths of human nature. Featuring a cast of dejected and often morally ambiguous characters, these complex works of short fiction explore such topics as addiction, mental illness, suicide, and religion. As you descend deeper into the bleak despots depicted within these pages, you'll find yourself immersed in narratives so sordid and unsettling that you'll have to look up... Just to See Hell.
297 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2015
174 people are currently reading
742 people want to read
About the author
Chandler Morrison
18 books785 followersLittle is known about Chandler’s origins. He has claimed, on separate occasions, to be both from Helltown, California, and Cleveland, Ohio. To date, it is still unclear from which locale he actually hails. He currently resides in Los Angeles, but sightings of him are rare.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
March 21, 2025
Wanna see hell? Here you have it, in punishing short stories. It's a balls to the wall kind of collection with some raw humor that you may or may not appreciate. (I did.) The last story left me in a tizzy. My brain was giggling and whelmed over.
March 26, 2025
JUST TO SEE HELL [2015] By Chandler Morrison
My Review 4.5 Stars
“It won’t clear away the grime. Don’t you understand? I’m submerged in it. I’m so fucking deep. I am…too low. I…. I have to look up just to see hell.” -Quote: Dr. April Diver from “April Showers”
I just finished reading this collection of short stories by Morrison that was written a decade ago and published by Amazon Media under the genre designation of “Literary Fiction”. It is definitely literary and damn well better be fiction!
“Dead Inside” [2020] cemented my position as a Morrison fan. It was lauded by critics for its powerful message and for Morrison’s raw, honest writing style. The novel sold 500 thousand copies worldwide, and it was one of the most successful novels that were published in 2020.
I do not make it a practice to read Customer Reviews (or engage in any kind of fact-finding mission) prior to reading a novel. I do sometimes read reviews (and in a few instances conduct a deeper dive) after I finish reading a book. It is most often to satisfy my need to know about some aspect that I wanted to explore. I found the 5-Star Customer Reviews on Amazon illuminating only from the perspective of readers feeling stunned that more people are not discussing his work. A male fan wrote “…this book is just on a whole other level of nihilism and brutality but done in a very thought-provoking way.” He also opined that it is superior to Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted. High praise, that. A female fan begins with “If I weren’t an atheist I’d be scared for my soul”, and yes, Morrison is THAT good.
Ordinarily I average the scores of every contribution in the case of an anthology or short story collection written by a single author. That average becomes my rating. "Just to See Hell" is a bit unusual in that it is a "themed" collection which concludes with all of the main characters reassembled together in the final lengthier "Going Down". This was quite impressive with the writer demonstrating a brilliant prose style coupled with a stunningly creative imagination in seamlessly integrating the parts into the whole.
The first story “Satisfaction” follows a man and his little boy while they are shopping in a superstore in some metropolitan city in the US. The man is both appalled and enraged by the glittery display of consumerism everywhere he looks, and the apathy all around him disgusts him and pisses him off even more. The message appears to me to be an indictment of Americanism. The unidentified man who is “losing it” and ready to crack is of the mind that Americans want, want, want, but would not be motivated to get off their ass and do anything. A hard day’s work would be utterly alien. This was not one of my favorites in the collection.
“April Showers” I liked quite a bit, in large part I believe because the character and her flaws are largely already known by me through her cameo appearances as Derek Diver’s pill pushing depressed, and promiscuous sister in “Hate to Feel”. Dr. April Diver also makes a cameo appearance in “Until the Sun” in which she is using her license as a psychiatrist to numb her teenage patient into oblivion. In this short story we see April as being attracted to the “bad boy” men in her life to include those who inflict emotional and physical abuse. She is exhibiting signs of OCD with her repeated showers to cleanse the “grime” which is constantly accumulating on her existence. Her self-analysis of feeling “dead inside” may suggest manic depressive illness and I opened this review with a quote by April from this story.
“Pleasant Times Away from Home” was also a story that I liked. The reader sees the Mudhoney Butcher as a 13-year-old homicidal sociopath just embarking upon a lucrative career as an unstoppable killing machine. His auditory hallucinations are bothersome but slaughtering innocent people with dismemberment, disemboweling, necrophilia and the occasional cannibalism seems to provide temporary relief. It is obvious that Sterling McPleasant is also a recurrent character in Morrison’s works.
“To the Face” is an interesting look at a man preparing to commit suicide and rendering his astute observations about people making attempts that are simply to garner attention and sympathy. He also obviously hates “false reassurances” and I am certainly with him on that one! Morrison uses stream of consciousness first person POV which is quite effective. The reader hears him loud and clear when he declares war on God and all of humanity for not exterminating him so he would not have to do it himself. And “do it” he does but not before some bizarre trails down the path of masochistic exquisite pain beforehand.
“Sick Again” was disturbing enough. It is about a husband who learns his wife is cheating with a 20-something virile and muscled young lover. He sees his wife’s image when he gazes in the mirror. All the while he gets physically closer to his target after invading the man’s apartment, he carries on a one-way conversation, acknowledging that he was not present in the relationship and that it was he who set the stage for her betrayal. The narrator either hears or imagines his wife’s responses to his actions as he advances on the sleeping figure of her tanned young lover blissfully asleep in his waterbed. The man self-reflects on his shortcomings while voicing his clear understanding that it was his verbal abuse, hatred and scorn that were responsible for his wife’s actions. The end is a flurry of bloody violence but immediately followed by regret. The ending was cryptic in my opinion. He used the analogy of a dying dog lying on the road en route to Loverboy’s apartment. He had the desire to stop the car and put the dog out of its misery. Then at the end of the story he feels compelled to go back and do it. He concluded the dog could “wait” but it suggested to me that he was contemplating putting himself out of his misery.
“Something Between Screaming and Crying” is my favorite to this point in the collection. It is an imaginative tale of an alter ego; an elaborate manifestation of the duality being manifested as two separate entities. Janice “became” Crazy Jane after ingesting varying degrees of booze and differing levels of willpower. There were the requisite blackouts. Janice then morphed into a different individual entirely, an entity that could drink with, counsel, entertain, and make love to Janice. The losers were the infant son Austin and the loyal husband Dave. Tragic tale of a duality of a very baffling variety created by alcoholism. Janice is left alone with her rocking chair beside a bucket of puke and only half a pack of Marlboros. She is out of liquor and cannot summon her alter ego to ease the pain.
“Objects in Mirror” was an entertaining flip the script from Morrison on the nature of “the highest heaven” and who is issued a ticket. Sterling McPleasant of Mudhoney Butcher fame is handed a key to his room in the Hotel Empyrean. He is told some interesting truths about “Heaven” and who gets to be there. Morrison fans know all about the Mudhoney Butcher. He was a prolific serial killer whose specialties included slaughter, decapitation, dismemberment, disembowelment, sexual abuse of corpses, and cannibalism when the taste hit him. He was a one-man killing machine who could really decorate a room (with blood splatter in all directions, internal organs tossed around, loops of intestine hanging from the chandelier and body parts slung far and near). It was explained that “Heaven” opened its doors to only the “best” (not to be confused with the “good or righteous”).
“Mechanical Patriots” was an excellent conception which captured and depicted dehumanization of our boots on the ground fighting our enemies on foreign soil. The depersonalization of the enemy soldiers who look different and fight different occurs when the soldiers witness firsthand the atrocities carried out against their countrymen who trained with them and fought beside them. They begin viewing these enemies who are a different color and talk differently as animals who need to be put down with prejudice. The fringe companies of men who raid, plunder, and slaughter the women and children of the villages are the real “Mechanical Patriots”. The earlier wars in our nation’s history were unfortunately populated by these splinter groups and no nation was immune. Some of the most sick and deplorable actions are documented in our history books. In the final analysis is it better to bind yourself to your pain in the interest of keeping your conscience clean, or to replace that pain with the chill of an unfeeling emptiness?
“Rocket Man” was about the futuristic notion of “Space Exposure Therapy” curing a chronic alcoholic with a round trip to outer space and back. In this extension of this science fiction notion our man who signs up for the cure gets “lost in space” with some interesting effects on his desire to drink when he lands back on earth and views his surroundings in a very different light.
“Body and Blood” is Morrison at his atheistic best. He treats the reader to what I like to call a “pay to play” visualization of the sadistic Sunday Mass of Catholicism three decades down the road of time. In a literal translation of “Body and Blood” Morrison really hits his stride as he cuts a path of sheer horror going into the final stretch. A well written and imaginatively conceived story that serves as a showcase which celebrates his subversive atheistic views. This contribution to the collection of stories is a blasphemous vision of the deterioration of religious faith in general and Catholicism in particular. It is a faithless fortune teller’s snapshot of America three decades in the future of what the author foresees as an ugly, selfish, and hedonistic society of hypocrites at its core. He views the professed faithful as sadistic soulless pedophiles and defilers who dish out only pain and hopelessness at Sunday Mass. The chosen ones who have the money can sin as they choose and, in any way, they please…so long as they pay Sunday’s fees.
“Coming Down” is the crown jewel in this chilling collection of depravity from the gifted nihilistic genius of Morrison. In this climactic conclusion which offers closure for the tales of woe before it, Christ rises from the dead in the unlikely sordid section of the city.
In the final tale, all of the flawed and damned characters from the preceding ten stories are reassembled as of horde of sinners aggregated in Hell. “Coming Down” was without question the most blasphemous story I have ever read, and the most sacrilegious work I have ever encountered in fiction. This conclusion by the “Prince of Lies” has Jesus awaken in (Hell) on a velvet couch in the vast, plush lobby of Hotel Empyrean. I will not spoil the plotline of the final summary of the writer’s message delivered in lies, betrayal, blood, disgusting depraved perversions of the flesh, and explicit torture and violence. Morrison wields his words like a vengeful sword as though to slay the entire Judeo-Christian foundation of our civilization. His atheism pierces the printed page with the intentional sharpness of a Samurai’s sword. You know Morrison and his nihilistic views of humanity and his hatred of the mere mention of faith-based religions. In this case, fans are getting what they paid for in this outing by a young author named Morrison.
GO TO HELL WITH CHANDLER MORRISON
My Review 4.5 Stars
“It won’t clear away the grime. Don’t you understand? I’m submerged in it. I’m so fucking deep. I am…too low. I…. I have to look up just to see hell.” -Quote: Dr. April Diver from “April Showers”
I just finished reading this collection of short stories by Morrison that was written a decade ago and published by Amazon Media under the genre designation of “Literary Fiction”. It is definitely literary and damn well better be fiction!
“Dead Inside” [2020] cemented my position as a Morrison fan. It was lauded by critics for its powerful message and for Morrison’s raw, honest writing style. The novel sold 500 thousand copies worldwide, and it was one of the most successful novels that were published in 2020.
I do not make it a practice to read Customer Reviews (or engage in any kind of fact-finding mission) prior to reading a novel. I do sometimes read reviews (and in a few instances conduct a deeper dive) after I finish reading a book. It is most often to satisfy my need to know about some aspect that I wanted to explore. I found the 5-Star Customer Reviews on Amazon illuminating only from the perspective of readers feeling stunned that more people are not discussing his work. A male fan wrote “…this book is just on a whole other level of nihilism and brutality but done in a very thought-provoking way.” He also opined that it is superior to Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted. High praise, that. A female fan begins with “If I weren’t an atheist I’d be scared for my soul”, and yes, Morrison is THAT good.
Ordinarily I average the scores of every contribution in the case of an anthology or short story collection written by a single author. That average becomes my rating. "Just to See Hell" is a bit unusual in that it is a "themed" collection which concludes with all of the main characters reassembled together in the final lengthier "Going Down". This was quite impressive with the writer demonstrating a brilliant prose style coupled with a stunningly creative imagination in seamlessly integrating the parts into the whole.
The first story “Satisfaction” follows a man and his little boy while they are shopping in a superstore in some metropolitan city in the US. The man is both appalled and enraged by the glittery display of consumerism everywhere he looks, and the apathy all around him disgusts him and pisses him off even more. The message appears to me to be an indictment of Americanism. The unidentified man who is “losing it” and ready to crack is of the mind that Americans want, want, want, but would not be motivated to get off their ass and do anything. A hard day’s work would be utterly alien. This was not one of my favorites in the collection.
“April Showers” I liked quite a bit, in large part I believe because the character and her flaws are largely already known by me through her cameo appearances as Derek Diver’s pill pushing depressed, and promiscuous sister in “Hate to Feel”. Dr. April Diver also makes a cameo appearance in “Until the Sun” in which she is using her license as a psychiatrist to numb her teenage patient into oblivion. In this short story we see April as being attracted to the “bad boy” men in her life to include those who inflict emotional and physical abuse. She is exhibiting signs of OCD with her repeated showers to cleanse the “grime” which is constantly accumulating on her existence. Her self-analysis of feeling “dead inside” may suggest manic depressive illness and I opened this review with a quote by April from this story.
“Pleasant Times Away from Home” was also a story that I liked. The reader sees the Mudhoney Butcher as a 13-year-old homicidal sociopath just embarking upon a lucrative career as an unstoppable killing machine. His auditory hallucinations are bothersome but slaughtering innocent people with dismemberment, disemboweling, necrophilia and the occasional cannibalism seems to provide temporary relief. It is obvious that Sterling McPleasant is also a recurrent character in Morrison’s works.
“To the Face” is an interesting look at a man preparing to commit suicide and rendering his astute observations about people making attempts that are simply to garner attention and sympathy. He also obviously hates “false reassurances” and I am certainly with him on that one! Morrison uses stream of consciousness first person POV which is quite effective. The reader hears him loud and clear when he declares war on God and all of humanity for not exterminating him so he would not have to do it himself. And “do it” he does but not before some bizarre trails down the path of masochistic exquisite pain beforehand.
“Sick Again” was disturbing enough. It is about a husband who learns his wife is cheating with a 20-something virile and muscled young lover. He sees his wife’s image when he gazes in the mirror. All the while he gets physically closer to his target after invading the man’s apartment, he carries on a one-way conversation, acknowledging that he was not present in the relationship and that it was he who set the stage for her betrayal. The narrator either hears or imagines his wife’s responses to his actions as he advances on the sleeping figure of her tanned young lover blissfully asleep in his waterbed. The man self-reflects on his shortcomings while voicing his clear understanding that it was his verbal abuse, hatred and scorn that were responsible for his wife’s actions. The end is a flurry of bloody violence but immediately followed by regret. The ending was cryptic in my opinion. He used the analogy of a dying dog lying on the road en route to Loverboy’s apartment. He had the desire to stop the car and put the dog out of its misery. Then at the end of the story he feels compelled to go back and do it. He concluded the dog could “wait” but it suggested to me that he was contemplating putting himself out of his misery.
“Something Between Screaming and Crying” is my favorite to this point in the collection. It is an imaginative tale of an alter ego; an elaborate manifestation of the duality being manifested as two separate entities. Janice “became” Crazy Jane after ingesting varying degrees of booze and differing levels of willpower. There were the requisite blackouts. Janice then morphed into a different individual entirely, an entity that could drink with, counsel, entertain, and make love to Janice. The losers were the infant son Austin and the loyal husband Dave. Tragic tale of a duality of a very baffling variety created by alcoholism. Janice is left alone with her rocking chair beside a bucket of puke and only half a pack of Marlboros. She is out of liquor and cannot summon her alter ego to ease the pain.
“Objects in Mirror” was an entertaining flip the script from Morrison on the nature of “the highest heaven” and who is issued a ticket. Sterling McPleasant of Mudhoney Butcher fame is handed a key to his room in the Hotel Empyrean. He is told some interesting truths about “Heaven” and who gets to be there. Morrison fans know all about the Mudhoney Butcher. He was a prolific serial killer whose specialties included slaughter, decapitation, dismemberment, disembowelment, sexual abuse of corpses, and cannibalism when the taste hit him. He was a one-man killing machine who could really decorate a room (with blood splatter in all directions, internal organs tossed around, loops of intestine hanging from the chandelier and body parts slung far and near). It was explained that “Heaven” opened its doors to only the “best” (not to be confused with the “good or righteous”).
“Mechanical Patriots” was an excellent conception which captured and depicted dehumanization of our boots on the ground fighting our enemies on foreign soil. The depersonalization of the enemy soldiers who look different and fight different occurs when the soldiers witness firsthand the atrocities carried out against their countrymen who trained with them and fought beside them. They begin viewing these enemies who are a different color and talk differently as animals who need to be put down with prejudice. The fringe companies of men who raid, plunder, and slaughter the women and children of the villages are the real “Mechanical Patriots”. The earlier wars in our nation’s history were unfortunately populated by these splinter groups and no nation was immune. Some of the most sick and deplorable actions are documented in our history books. In the final analysis is it better to bind yourself to your pain in the interest of keeping your conscience clean, or to replace that pain with the chill of an unfeeling emptiness?
“Rocket Man” was about the futuristic notion of “Space Exposure Therapy” curing a chronic alcoholic with a round trip to outer space and back. In this extension of this science fiction notion our man who signs up for the cure gets “lost in space” with some interesting effects on his desire to drink when he lands back on earth and views his surroundings in a very different light.
“Body and Blood” is Morrison at his atheistic best. He treats the reader to what I like to call a “pay to play” visualization of the sadistic Sunday Mass of Catholicism three decades down the road of time. In a literal translation of “Body and Blood” Morrison really hits his stride as he cuts a path of sheer horror going into the final stretch. A well written and imaginatively conceived story that serves as a showcase which celebrates his subversive atheistic views. This contribution to the collection of stories is a blasphemous vision of the deterioration of religious faith in general and Catholicism in particular. It is a faithless fortune teller’s snapshot of America three decades in the future of what the author foresees as an ugly, selfish, and hedonistic society of hypocrites at its core. He views the professed faithful as sadistic soulless pedophiles and defilers who dish out only pain and hopelessness at Sunday Mass. The chosen ones who have the money can sin as they choose and, in any way, they please…so long as they pay Sunday’s fees.
“Coming Down” is the crown jewel in this chilling collection of depravity from the gifted nihilistic genius of Morrison. In this climactic conclusion which offers closure for the tales of woe before it, Christ rises from the dead in the unlikely sordid section of the city.
In the final tale, all of the flawed and damned characters from the preceding ten stories are reassembled as of horde of sinners aggregated in Hell. “Coming Down” was without question the most blasphemous story I have ever read, and the most sacrilegious work I have ever encountered in fiction. This conclusion by the “Prince of Lies” has Jesus awaken in (Hell) on a velvet couch in the vast, plush lobby of Hotel Empyrean. I will not spoil the plotline of the final summary of the writer’s message delivered in lies, betrayal, blood, disgusting depraved perversions of the flesh, and explicit torture and violence. Morrison wields his words like a vengeful sword as though to slay the entire Judeo-Christian foundation of our civilization. His atheism pierces the printed page with the intentional sharpness of a Samurai’s sword. You know Morrison and his nihilistic views of humanity and his hatred of the mere mention of faith-based religions. In this case, fans are getting what they paid for in this outing by a young author named Morrison.
GO TO HELL WITH CHANDLER MORRISON
July 9, 2024
“That’s it, kiddo. Make yourself comfortable. You’re in this for the long haul. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”
Jesus would go on to scream forever, but God did not listen.
God listens to no one.
Jesus would go on to scream forever, but God did not listen.
God listens to no one.
November 14, 2020
Holy shit
Alright this is my first experience with this author and all I can say is he has got a new fan. I don't want to give anything away from any of the stories in this book. If you like horror read it. If you like to be psychologically fucked with read it. Chandler Morrison has a way of writing that is almost poetic because he can beautifully describe some of the most awesomely fucked up things and make you just want more. I literally went and purchased the rest of his work that is available on kindle. Really this author has a way of writing that's just all his own
Alright this is my first experience with this author and all I can say is he has got a new fan. I don't want to give anything away from any of the stories in this book. If you like horror read it. If you like to be psychologically fucked with read it. Chandler Morrison has a way of writing that is almost poetic because he can beautifully describe some of the most awesomely fucked up things and make you just want more. I literally went and purchased the rest of his work that is available on kindle. Really this author has a way of writing that's just all his own
December 10, 2022
DARK, DARKER.. CHANDLER MORRISON.. with a pinch of Satire/Comedy.
I absolutely love Chandler Morrison's writing and this is the 4th book I've read by him so far. Every time I turn a page in on of his books it feels like a new encounter with a brand new author. His style is just incredible. How can one author write such dark stories that will crawl under your skin but yet have such a slight and delightful satirical undertones?
This book is a bunch of short stories (11 to be precise).....
and then there is.... a nice little surprise at the end..
I absolutely love Chandler Morrison's writing and this is the 4th book I've read by him so far. Every time I turn a page in on of his books it feels like a new encounter with a brand new author. His style is just incredible. How can one author write such dark stories that will crawl under your skin but yet have such a slight and delightful satirical undertones?
This book is a bunch of short stories (11 to be precise).....
and then there is.... a nice little surprise at the end..
September 3, 2020
It's been a LONG time since an ending has thrown me through such a loop and both of Morrison's Dead Inside and Just to See Hell, made my mind REEEEL. I can actually rate this one though because it seemed more traditionally horror, whereas, I still have no idea what to make of Dead Inside. It just seems like a dead island in the middle of the ocean that you are better off ignoring.
As morbid and dark as his writing is, his sense of humor really does shine through in many of these stories and I honestly think he may be the Lucifer portrayed in this book, because who can write someone that diabolical and still have the audience smitten? I think Morrison's existence is a conspiracy.
As usual, be aware of the usual triggers in horror narratives: body horror, gore, rape, self-harm, mutilation, suicide, substance abuse, pedophilia, torture. If you are sensitive or vulnerable to these triggers, I do NOT suggest this for you.
As morbid and dark as his writing is, his sense of humor really does shine through in many of these stories and I honestly think he may be the Lucifer portrayed in this book, because who can write someone that diabolical and still have the audience smitten? I think Morrison's existence is a conspiracy.
As usual, be aware of the usual triggers in horror narratives: body horror, gore, rape, self-harm, mutilation, suicide, substance abuse, pedophilia, torture. If you are sensitive or vulnerable to these triggers, I do NOT suggest this for you.
December 15, 2021
I want to have Chandler’s psycho babies.
April 4, 2021
The first couple stories were competent, but a bit lackluster, and the author has a tendency to end abruptly with no real resolution. The last two stories were more what I was expecting, getting into some pretty graphic violence and perversion. The final story is extreme in its attempt to be transgressive. The underlying premise, which I will not give away, is interesting, but might fairly be criticized for being an excuse to describe atrocities against Jesus just to get a rise out of Christians. One wonders how many believers would ever know of the existence of this book, let alone read it long enough to be offended. Most likely it will be read by people who already reject the divine aspects, and find it both amusing and gross. There is promise here, and Morrison might develop into a stronger writer, but as of yet, he is no Joe R. Lansdale.
May 17, 2020
I just thoroughly enjoy Chandler's way of writing. Honestly, whatever it happens to be there's just a great flow to it. Awesome author all around.
February 16, 2025
2⭐️ “I’m so fucking deep. I am... too low. I.... I have to look up just to see hell.”
Welcome to the depression multiverse, featuring heart shaped ash trays and god bless america bumper stickers.
My favorite story was april showers. The rest were just fucking ridiculous. I love chandler’s work but sometimes it feels more like a lecture on society than a story and it can be too much. Also extreme horror is not good for me omg crazy jane?? Hello?
Welcome to the depression multiverse, featuring heart shaped ash trays and god bless america bumper stickers.
My favorite story was april showers. The rest were just fucking ridiculous. I love chandler’s work but sometimes it feels more like a lecture on society than a story and it can be too much. Also extreme horror is not good for me omg crazy jane?? Hello?
March 17, 2025
Brilliant short story collection and my first foray into the mind of Chandler Morrison. His understanding of the human condition, especially dealing with darker subjects of depression, alcoholism and substance abuse etc is really good. Several of the stories interlink with others and it all combines into the final story. It reminded me of Books of Blood by Barker in sole ways, maybe not thematically and definitely not with regards to Barkers use of the fantastical though. Overall though would definitely read more from this author.
January 21, 2021
This is my 2nd book of Chandler Morrison. This is a great selection of awesome stories. Chandler is an incredible story teller. I really enjoyed how the stories came together in the end. Both books I've read by Chandler had awesome shocking endings.
December 23, 2021
Chandler Morrison is either a genius, or deeply unwell. Perhaps both, I’m still not sure.
May 27, 2025
This extreme horror collection is quite simply a masterful array of short, dark and disturbing stories that specialise mostly in total depravity and outrageous blasphemous and hedonistic retellings of recognised Christian religious norms that exist within society today.
Special mention must go to three tales that rank among some of the best creative and imaginative short ‘alternative’ offerings that I have ever read namely ‘Mechanical Patriots’, ‘Body and Blood’ and ‘Coming Down’. All of them I deemed to be simply just works of pure brilliance and certainly not to be missed by any voracious reader of fictional material that pushes the buttons and boundaries of mainstream acceptability.
A highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyable set of bleak, but challenging adventures, but an anthology to be avoided at all costs by anyone not used to tales of the ‘extreme’ or others with strongly held religious beliefs. This book is most definitely not for you.
Mr Morrison, you are a genius, sir! I salute you.
Rating: 4.8 golden stars of masterful storytelling of the highest order.
Special mention must go to three tales that rank among some of the best creative and imaginative short ‘alternative’ offerings that I have ever read namely ‘Mechanical Patriots’, ‘Body and Blood’ and ‘Coming Down’. All of them I deemed to be simply just works of pure brilliance and certainly not to be missed by any voracious reader of fictional material that pushes the buttons and boundaries of mainstream acceptability.
A highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyable set of bleak, but challenging adventures, but an anthology to be avoided at all costs by anyone not used to tales of the ‘extreme’ or others with strongly held religious beliefs. This book is most definitely not for you.
Mr Morrison, you are a genius, sir! I salute you.
Rating: 4.8 golden stars of masterful storytelling of the highest order.
August 19, 2022
Absolutely OUTSTANDING collection of short stories (and a novella). Every one of them was excellent. Morrison is fast becoming one of my favourites.
March 24, 2025
Every time I peep into the extreme horror genre it's mostly out of curiosity. There is an appeal to it, like album art of grindcore bands. Anyone can write about gore; it's the easiest thing in the world. It's what the artist does with it, why they are deciding to use this tactic in the first place that is key. Shock is never enough by itself and that is why Morrison's stories do not work for me.
This is made most manifest in the story "To the Face" that ticks off every cringe box this genre has. Pointless gore, body fluids and band references. Seriously if you want your amateur horror stories to be taken seriously, stop name checking bands. It is a huge red flag that this is demonstrative "I am cool and disaffected" art.
Now, I think Morrison is on to something here especially his obsession with alcohol abuse. It feels real and lived in and sometimes genuine. But it lacks subtlety. And I'll grant that if you only have so many pages in your short story and seventy percent are taken up by descriptions of gore there isn't a lot of time to develop character. But Morrison isn't interested in that because in his longest story it's one long adolescent middle finger to the church which feels mid 90s edgy at best.
Where's the humor? Where's the innovation? What's the point?
This is made most manifest in the story "To the Face" that ticks off every cringe box this genre has. Pointless gore, body fluids and band references. Seriously if you want your amateur horror stories to be taken seriously, stop name checking bands. It is a huge red flag that this is demonstrative "I am cool and disaffected" art.
Now, I think Morrison is on to something here especially his obsession with alcohol abuse. It feels real and lived in and sometimes genuine. But it lacks subtlety. And I'll grant that if you only have so many pages in your short story and seventy percent are taken up by descriptions of gore there isn't a lot of time to develop character. But Morrison isn't interested in that because in his longest story it's one long adolescent middle finger to the church which feels mid 90s edgy at best.
Where's the humor? Where's the innovation? What's the point?
June 5, 2025
3.5 stars. These transgressive stories really delved into darkness as the synopsis promised they would. Favorite story was the final one because of all the Nick Cave references and the sheer sacrilegiousness of it all.
July 1, 2025
A collection of short stories of disturbing tropes
Some of these were good, some ordinary, some made me sit back and think what have I just read.
It’s well written and the last story brings all of the characters from the previous stories together.
It’s a very clever twist.
Some of these were good, some ordinary, some made me sit back and think what have I just read.
It’s well written and the last story brings all of the characters from the previous stories together.
It’s a very clever twist.
January 4, 2023
This wasn’t my favorite Chandler Morrison book, but not bad. Felt the short stories became repetitive after a while and ended up skimming through large parts of the book.
March 9, 2024
3.5 stars.
Not bad, but definitely not as good as Chandler Morrison usual novels and novella.
Not bad, but definitely not as good as Chandler Morrison usual novels and novella.
January 22, 2025
I was expecting more Dead Inside type stories. What I got was much more shocking. Turns out Chandler Morrison can write outside of the splatterpunk genre, and he’s not too shabby at it. Most of these stories are just unsettling and weird. Some of them feel like magical realism. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some senseless violence and gore mixed in, too, but color me pleasantly surprised. I think Morrison’s got big career ahead of him.
July 5, 2024
What a wild trip! I can't get over how much this author appeals to the cynical and edgy part of me that I never really grew out of!
This short story collection starts off with everyday, mundane horrors, then gets into more extreme situations still very much set in our familiar reality, before descending into absolute insanity by the end (I mean that in the best way possible), while wrapping it all up in a satisfying manner.
Also, I was so excited to see the cameo from Dead Inside! I can definitely see myself eventually reading every book that this author has written, I adore his style of horror!
This short story collection starts off with everyday, mundane horrors, then gets into more extreme situations still very much set in our familiar reality, before descending into absolute insanity by the end (I mean that in the best way possible), while wrapping it all up in a satisfying manner.
Also, I was so excited to see the cameo from Dead Inside! I can definitely see myself eventually reading every book that this author has written, I adore his style of horror!
May 1, 2024
so i’ll give this book about a 2.75 / 5 stars, right in the middle
it is a book of short stories and i would give it the biggest trigger warning for every trigger i can think of
it had some stories that were bloody disgusting and depraved, and some that were eh. This book will definitely offend at least half of the religious population so i’d maybe stay clear unless you are absolutely unhinged hahaha. it was a wild ride
it is a book of short stories and i would give it the biggest trigger warning for every trigger i can think of
it had some stories that were bloody disgusting and depraved, and some that were eh. This book will definitely offend at least half of the religious population so i’d maybe stay clear unless you are absolutely unhinged hahaha. it was a wild ride
October 27, 2022
Yes, it’s as gross and depressing as the reviews say. Proceed with extreme caution.
February 14, 2022
"Just To See Hell" by Chandler Morrison
From the controversial author of "Dead Inside", here are eleven tales of horror fiction that will take you through the deepest and darkest depths of human nature. Inside of this book you'll find tales of addiction, religion, and even mental illness.
This was my third read from Morrison. "Dead Inside" was my intro into the extreme world and while I'm not sure anything will ever top that first experience for me, this read was quick and enjoyable and allowed me a greater look into the mind that is Morrison.
"Satisfaction", "Pleasant Times Away From Home", and "Mechanical Patriots" were my top three. I also really enjoyed "April Showers". 3 🌟
From the controversial author of "Dead Inside", here are eleven tales of horror fiction that will take you through the deepest and darkest depths of human nature. Inside of this book you'll find tales of addiction, religion, and even mental illness.
This was my third read from Morrison. "Dead Inside" was my intro into the extreme world and while I'm not sure anything will ever top that first experience for me, this read was quick and enjoyable and allowed me a greater look into the mind that is Morrison.
"Satisfaction", "Pleasant Times Away From Home", and "Mechanical Patriots" were my top three. I also really enjoyed "April Showers". 3 🌟
May 26, 2022
Another read out of morbid curiosity I suppose. I did not enjoy it. Each short story was just...depressing. (i understand that was probably the point). I just couldn't get into it, the world is already depressing lol. The final story that tied it all together, was definitely...something. lol definitely do not read if you're religious. Not sure you would be anyway? But to each their own lol.
May 4, 2022
This is the 2nd Chandler Morrison book after Dead Inside, which the security guard has a cameo in one of these stories, This book lacked the humour that Dead Inside has, the writing was good, but the anti Christian theme seamed a bit preachy at times.
February 21, 2023
People suck, and evil wins the day: collection mixes up a nihilistic cocktail of addiction, depression, and violence. See my full review: http://theakersquarterly.blogspot.com...
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