Hellbound

by Sara Clancy

There is a price for cheating death…Wren, Shrike, and Lark are three, very special siblings with one unusual calling. Raised by a father gifted with the ability to sense impending death, his visions allowed them to save people’s lives. But they never imagined meddling with fate would have horrific consequences…Now their beloved father is dead, murdered by one of the people they saved. And the Rose siblings have unearthed a terrifying those who were meant to die have become hosts for demonic spirits from beyond. Ghostly apparitions who feed on misery and pain. And who delight in torturing their human victims…Shocked by the devastation wrought by these sinister forces, the three vow to put an end to this evil reign once and for all. And to do it, they will have to kill every last victim they saved… every soul whose destiny they altered.But repairing the damage done turns out to be far more difficult than they thought. And when an exorcism goes horribly wrong, the fallout sets a new enemy on their trail…

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2021

Reviews

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual and intriguing story from the mind of Sara Clancy, HELLBOUND follows three siblings whose father's visions predict individuals soon to die in accidents. The two sisters and one brother then follow the individuals secretly and perform last-minute rescues. It all makes for an odd but very close-knit life--until, on his birthday,  the siblings find their father dead--inexplicably murdered.  A year later, the killer claims that all the saved-from-untimely-death individuals,  including herself,  are then possessed by Demons. Now, for Shrike, Wren, and Lark, the chase is on: both to themselves avoid the predations of an insanely obsessed traffic officer, and also to track all the individuals their beloved Dad "saved."

[Colton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay story. However, the relationship between the three siblings is completely unbelievable and borderline creepy. I had to keep remind myself the three siblings were ADULTS and not teenagers or children. This is because their codependency on each other is that of a little child towards their older siblings. I mean I’m sure there are some siblings in the thirties that all live together (and their father until recently), have no jobs, and don’t have any lives except for each other. They all sleep in the same hotel room, two adult women and an adult man. Their emotional range is very immature as well. For example, Shrike (the middle child) is the most intimidating of the three because she is over 6 feet tall and muscular. So she serves as the siblings body guard basically. However, her default emotion is anger. For instance when the siblings visit a patient in an asylum, the police officer investigating their father’s murder shows up. Instead of acting like a normal adult, Shrike puffs up her chest and blocks the officer from talking to her siblings. She even punched him the eye apparently because she comments on his black eye. Again, unbelievable because if she really did hit an officer in the face she wouldn’t be free to roam the streets. Anyways, the story line (besides the creepy relationship between the siblings) is pretty good.

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fighting demons with garlic? Really?!
The entire premise of the book seemed a bit off... The dad has visions, he and his adult kids save people, but the plot twist is that the people they save are actually potential meatsuits for demons. So after the dad is killed by one of the meatsuits, the only logical solution for the kids is to go kill all those people that they initially saved. Ok. I can maybe get behind that idea.
I have read enough horror books to know that I have to suspend my disbelief to enjoy them. But I draw the line at demons being repelled by garlic. No. Just no.
And those kids? That are actually adults? Throughout the entire book I kept waiting for an "adultier adult" to come and save them, because all three of them seem to be too stupid to live. The only one that is a little bit relatable is Lark, but otherwise... There's nothing special about them.
By this point I would usually abandon a series after such a disappointing start, but since this is one from Scare Street, I will give the second book a try. But fighting demons with garlic?! Come ooooon!!!!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a bit more trouble getting into this one than with most Scare Street offerings, but once I got to the last half of the book, things fell into place and the story grabbed me. It is an intriguing plot - three siblings whose father dies under suspicious circumstances learn that his lifesaving efforts may not have been in the world's best interest. A person he once rescued should have died and the reason he should have died is the theme of the book. I won't spoil it.
The father loved birds, so he named each of the siblings after birds. You have Wren, Shrike and Lark. They make a great team. As this is advertised as the first of a series, and the ending leaves some unfinished business, we will hear more from this trio.

[Rebecca Borrero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written. Having read and enjoyed her short stories about Hotel Caligula in the Terror In The Shadow's collection, I was hoping for more of that spine-tingling suspense and horror. Hellbound didn't even come close. In fact the only reason I finished reading the book was because I always finish what I've started reading. I was also hoping against hope the book would get better. It simply failed to draw me in and bond with the characters.

[Mrs V · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slow start but a gripping end.

This is the first book that I've read from this author, although I'm thoroughly acquainted with Scare Street via the brilliant Ron Ripley!

At first I wasn't too enamoured with the characters, I thought that their names were a bit bleh! However the story really developed and Sarah Clancy certainly has a way of building up the tension.

I'll certainly be giving thus author another try.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic! I loved this book! It was hard to put down.

Three siblings are trying to undo the "good" their father did over the course of his life. Now dealing with demons of different breeds, they are attempting to stop them from completely ruining the small towns they are inhabiting. But the Rose siblings are about to see just how strong they are without their father.

[Norman Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sara Clancy is fantastic at writing for an ensemble of characters instead of having one main protagonist. The issue with this book it felt like I was jumping into a middle of a series. There seemed like a lot of the background I wanted would have been explained in a previous book.

[Cathrine Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely engrossing!

Great read! Had to force myself to put it down and get some sleep! Can’t wait for the next book!

[Joy Jurich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Supernatural family tale

A great scary story with lots of details regarding the demons. Almost makes me feel I'm right there with the characters fighting their battles.

[Anita Barousse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellbound

I like the family worked together to fight. Thus is a very good book. Thus us a must read book

[Rose Haskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling read

Three siblings battling demons in the snow and fire. Would have been an awesome time reading when there was a snow storm coming.