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Bad Girl in the Box
Birch Street. A beautiful neighborhood on a beautiful summer day.
Then raw meat falls from the sky.
People are at first offended, then intrigued.
Once tasting it, they can eat nothing else. It becomes an addiction
that owns them body and soul, releasing pent-up frustrations,
secret desires, and nameless horror. And when the meat runs out,
the monsters are loose on Birch Street.
Into this hell zone of starvation, rot, and worms comes a conflicted,
traumatized young woman. She’s returning home after a long, painful
absence. She alone broods over the secret of the meat. Through her is
deliverance from starvation.
But only at the most horrific price.
Then raw meat falls from the sky.
People are at first offended, then intrigued.
Once tasting it, they can eat nothing else. It becomes an addiction
that owns them body and soul, releasing pent-up frustrations,
secret desires, and nameless horror. And when the meat runs out,
the monsters are loose on Birch Street.
Into this hell zone of starvation, rot, and worms comes a conflicted,
traumatized young woman. She’s returning home after a long, painful
absence. She alone broods over the secret of the meat. Through her is
deliverance from starvation.
But only at the most horrific price.
- GenresHorror
323 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 18, 2021
6 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Tim Curran
149 books596 followersTim Curran lives in Michigan and is the author of the novels Skin Medicine, Hive, Dead Sea, Resurrection, The Devil Next Door, and Biohazard, as well as the novella The Corpse King. His short stories have appeared in such magazines as City Slab, Flesh&Blood, Book of Dark Wisdom, and Inhuman, and anthologies such as Shivers IV, High Seas Cthulhu, and Vile Things.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
For DarkFuse and its imprints, he has written the bestselling The Underdwelling, the Readers Choice-Nominated novella Fear Me, Puppet Graveyard as well as Long Black Coffin.
Find him on the web at: www.corpseking.com.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 29, 2021
One would think that juicy, tender, succulent, meat raining down free from the sky would be a good thing. But no, this flavorful, perfectly seasoned, filet and well marbled shank is not a gift from heaven, and the people of Birch Street are not blessed on this day. When Bria comes home for a visit to her mother's house in the ultimate dysfunctional relationship she is not expecting a peaceful good time, but she never expected the entire neighborhood to go to hell.
You'll need a strong stomach for this one! Bad Girl in the box is a raunchy, gruesome, and gory read full of open festering sores and gallons of pus. It is beyond dark and twisted and definitely not something to be read on a lunch break, or even while snacking, unless you have a stomach made of steel and nonexistent gag reflex. I may need to go vegetarian for a while after reading this.
I received a complimentary copy.
You'll need a strong stomach for this one! Bad Girl in the box is a raunchy, gruesome, and gory read full of open festering sores and gallons of pus. It is beyond dark and twisted and definitely not something to be read on a lunch break, or even while snacking, unless you have a stomach made of steel and nonexistent gag reflex. I may need to go vegetarian for a while after reading this.
I received a complimentary copy.
June 2, 2021
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
I’ve only read two of Curran’s previous work before snagging this for review. The first was his bonkers novel ‘Clownflesh’ and the second was his fantastic story in ‘The Best of Indie Horror’ Anthology.
Going in, I wasn’t sure what to really expect. The synopsis reminded me a bit of ‘Clownflesh.’ One thing you’re always guaranteed of with Curran though is insanity and extremes and both were very present in ‘Bad Girl In the Box.’
What I liked: The book follows a girl returning to visit her estranged mom. The street she grew up on now feels off and different, the locals odd. While there, mysteriously, meat begins to rain from the sky and transform those who eat it.
Bonkers, right?
But also mildly similar to ‘Clownflesh’ where a blizzard hits a small town and ravenous clowns appear from the storm.
Curran never holds back in this one. Both with the oddities and subtle shifts of the people on the street but also with how the book unravels.
This is a tough one to review because the really cool and exciting aspects happen later in the book, but I don’t want to spoil how we get there. Just insane stuff.
What I didn’t like: I found there was a lot of useless characters at the beginning who are either introduced or purely there to eat the meat and change and be dispatched. It made the first half or so leaving me a bit disconnected.
Why you should buy this: Whilst I didn’t love this, I did enjoy it a lot and it’s what you’d expect from a Curran book.
This has so many bonkers moments that new fans will find it completely off the wall but for long time fans, I think you’ll be richly rewarded.
I’ve only read two of Curran’s previous work before snagging this for review. The first was his bonkers novel ‘Clownflesh’ and the second was his fantastic story in ‘The Best of Indie Horror’ Anthology.
Going in, I wasn’t sure what to really expect. The synopsis reminded me a bit of ‘Clownflesh.’ One thing you’re always guaranteed of with Curran though is insanity and extremes and both were very present in ‘Bad Girl In the Box.’
What I liked: The book follows a girl returning to visit her estranged mom. The street she grew up on now feels off and different, the locals odd. While there, mysteriously, meat begins to rain from the sky and transform those who eat it.
Bonkers, right?
But also mildly similar to ‘Clownflesh’ where a blizzard hits a small town and ravenous clowns appear from the storm.
Curran never holds back in this one. Both with the oddities and subtle shifts of the people on the street but also with how the book unravels.
This is a tough one to review because the really cool and exciting aspects happen later in the book, but I don’t want to spoil how we get there. Just insane stuff.
What I didn’t like: I found there was a lot of useless characters at the beginning who are either introduced or purely there to eat the meat and change and be dispatched. It made the first half or so leaving me a bit disconnected.
Why you should buy this: Whilst I didn’t love this, I did enjoy it a lot and it’s what you’d expect from a Curran book.
This has so many bonkers moments that new fans will find it completely off the wall but for long time fans, I think you’ll be richly rewarded.
June 20, 2021
This one needs to come with a lot of trigger warnings: animal death and abuse, mentions of Anorexia, spousal abuse, pedophilia... Not my style of reading materials.
Read
August 17, 2021DNF - 56%
January 1, 2022
Interesting story at first but gets heavily bogged down by the end of the first third, and the ending is just bad. Like "OMFG SERIOUSLY?!?!?!!?" cop-out bad. I'm actually pissed off that I stayed up late reading it instead of catching up on sleep.
Curran used to be one of my favorite authors. I loved his early horror work, loved his splatter westerns (which were so good that they created a genre) and I even enjoyed his serious western. I have read many of those books more than once, which is extremely rare for me. Over the past several years his stuff has become a lot more hit-or-miss. This one, unfortunately, was deep into "miss" territory.
Curran used to be one of my favorite authors. I loved his early horror work, loved his splatter westerns (which were so good that they created a genre) and I even enjoyed his serious western. I have read many of those books more than once, which is extremely rare for me. Over the past several years his stuff has become a lot more hit-or-miss. This one, unfortunately, was deep into "miss" territory.
June 29, 2021
It's no Dead Sea that's for sure.
Definitely not his best work. Not the Tim Curran I've come to expect. The usual well written gore fest but with over the top perversion added. Wish I had skipped this one.
Definitely not his best work. Not the Tim Curran I've come to expect. The usual well written gore fest but with over the top perversion added. Wish I had skipped this one.
July 9, 2021
Combine a bonkers premise with Tim Curran’s notoriety for hitting fans with excrement, and Bad Girl in the Box promises to be a wild ride. Not one for the faint of heart, however. Regarding content warnings, this box checks just about every box I can think of. If that’s your particular cup of tea, flip that first page and dive in.
One aspect that caught my attention early on is the way Curran cycles between a more traditional narrative and extended fairy tale-esque cut scenes. The traditional narratives are broken into a day at a time over the course of four days, with each day divided into sub-chapters. During the brief sub-chapters, Curran pans around the town, likely reminding the reader of an Under the Dome or Salem’s Lot type set-up. We meet characters who will figure in prominently, characters who will become fodder, and characters who breathe life into the town, but end up lost in the shuffle.
Once the town, and the catalyst event (choice cuts of meat raining down from the sky, creating a ravenous hunger and madness among the townspeople. Yeah.) are established, Curran uses short chapters to tell backstory. Rather than character names, we get designations such as Evil Queen, Bad Girl, and Good Boy that make it read like the most demented bedtime story you ever heard.
The town devolves quickly in this one. By day two, sanity is circling the drain and some immensely horrid things are happening. Curran continues to dial it up to eleven. Then twelve. Then thirteen. There’s some good foundation for the characters in terms of backstory, but ultimately it feels like mayhem is the star of the show more than any one person.
If madness mixed with untamed gore gets you turning the pages, Bad Girl in the Box is probably right up your alley.
I received a copy from the publisher for review consideration.
One aspect that caught my attention early on is the way Curran cycles between a more traditional narrative and extended fairy tale-esque cut scenes. The traditional narratives are broken into a day at a time over the course of four days, with each day divided into sub-chapters. During the brief sub-chapters, Curran pans around the town, likely reminding the reader of an Under the Dome or Salem’s Lot type set-up. We meet characters who will figure in prominently, characters who will become fodder, and characters who breathe life into the town, but end up lost in the shuffle.
Once the town, and the catalyst event (choice cuts of meat raining down from the sky, creating a ravenous hunger and madness among the townspeople. Yeah.) are established, Curran uses short chapters to tell backstory. Rather than character names, we get designations such as Evil Queen, Bad Girl, and Good Boy that make it read like the most demented bedtime story you ever heard.
The town devolves quickly in this one. By day two, sanity is circling the drain and some immensely horrid things are happening. Curran continues to dial it up to eleven. Then twelve. Then thirteen. There’s some good foundation for the characters in terms of backstory, but ultimately it feels like mayhem is the star of the show more than any one person.
If madness mixed with untamed gore gets you turning the pages, Bad Girl in the Box is probably right up your alley.
I received a copy from the publisher for review consideration.
September 26, 2021
Bad Girl in the Box
By Tim Curran
Verdict 4/5
What the flying fuck?
Okay, so this is weird horror and extreme horror, no doubt. I'm not entirely sure how to describe this book to someone because, to be honest, I'm not sure I even understand some of it. By the final line, I was left laughing at the crazyness of it all and how many demanding questions I still had remaining.
I can say these things, though:
- I really liked the writing. I was engrossed and interested and bewildered throughout.
- Things get wild at a frequent rate.
- There's a large cast, some of which you will forget and mix up along the way.
- The idea is fresh and fucking twisted.
- This book deserves all the trigger warnings. There is a lot of raw, disturbing, and uncomfortable content throughout this book. Unfortunately, Silver Shamrock didn't start including CWs until after this one was published (unless they've updated prior releases at this point - I just know my ARC didn't have them).
If you like really strange and violent stories that will leave you grossed out and confused, this is the ride for the you. Just be forewarned: there is a lot of hardcore content throughout. I can see this being an easy DNF for many readers. But if you can push through to the end, Bad Girl in the Box will probably go down as a bizarre enough read that you just can't help but like it.
By Tim Curran
Verdict 4/5
What the flying fuck?
Okay, so this is weird horror and extreme horror, no doubt. I'm not entirely sure how to describe this book to someone because, to be honest, I'm not sure I even understand some of it. By the final line, I was left laughing at the crazyness of it all and how many demanding questions I still had remaining.
I can say these things, though:
- I really liked the writing. I was engrossed and interested and bewildered throughout.
- Things get wild at a frequent rate.
- There's a large cast, some of which you will forget and mix up along the way.
- The idea is fresh and fucking twisted.
- This book deserves all the trigger warnings. There is a lot of raw, disturbing, and uncomfortable content throughout this book. Unfortunately, Silver Shamrock didn't start including CWs until after this one was published (unless they've updated prior releases at this point - I just know my ARC didn't have them).
If you like really strange and violent stories that will leave you grossed out and confused, this is the ride for the you. Just be forewarned: there is a lot of hardcore content throughout. I can see this being an easy DNF for many readers. But if you can push through to the end, Bad Girl in the Box will probably go down as a bizarre enough read that you just can't help but like it.
December 3, 2021
Gory and Perverse
I don't mind either as long as there is a point to it however I dont think Curran needed any of it for the story he was trying to tell. Curran is a great writer and the story has an interesting premise but the execution fell flat. I think he was trying to juggle too many characters, and a very complex and sensitive subject with horror/gore. This book did not come with trigger warnings either so be prepared for that as well.
TWs for eating disorder, mention of sexual abuse of a minor, rape, animal abuse and cannibalism
I don't mind either as long as there is a point to it however I dont think Curran needed any of it for the story he was trying to tell. Curran is a great writer and the story has an interesting premise but the execution fell flat. I think he was trying to juggle too many characters, and a very complex and sensitive subject with horror/gore. This book did not come with trigger warnings either so be prepared for that as well.
TWs for eating disorder, mention of sexual abuse of a minor, rape, animal abuse and cannibalism
January 29, 2022
Weird, gross, and fun!
November 16, 2022
I don't know what I just read, honestly. It atarted one way, veered another way and ended in a very ambigious way.
I love a good mind fuck story, but I still want it to make some sense,at least within its own storyline. Honestly, I'm not sure this one did.
It seemed to build up to something, working towards a specific ending and then it just stops abruptly. This is unfortunate because otherwise, it was a really gory, body and cosmic horror. It has an unreliable narrator and a flow that was very entertaining.
I love a good mind fuck story, but I still want it to make some sense,at least within its own storyline. Honestly, I'm not sure this one did.
It seemed to build up to something, working towards a specific ending and then it just stops abruptly. This is unfortunate because otherwise, it was a really gory, body and cosmic horror. It has an unreliable narrator and a flow that was very entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews