Within Their Screams

by Chris Rush

Growing up, life was different for Darren. Born with a rare, dangerous condition, making him immune to experiencing physical pain, broken bones went unnoticed, wounds were untreated and an ordinary existence was out of the question.
As an adult, Darren's intrigue with how other people reacted to injuries increased, leading him to experiment on his own body.
Following the tragic loss of his parents, Darren's perverse obsession with pain spirals out of control and he determines the only way he will ever know what it feels like is to experience it through others.
As Darren's hunger for satisfaction grows, he leaves behind a trail of terror and brutalised victims, but will he ever truly achieve his goal?

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2021

About the author

Chris lives in County Wicklow, Ireland and has been writing horror and supernatural pieces for a number of years. Folklore, based on Irish lore, was his first release and it quickly became an international best seller and continues to remain high on the best sellers list. Folklore was followed by his hugely successful second novel All Shall Suffer. Chris was also involved in a Horror Anthology, which published his short story Lambs to the Slaughter. Chris then released The Legend of Loftus Hall, which also quickly reached the top 100, followed by his next titles 13 Dead and Folklore: The Second Tale, both also ranking high in their categories. Chris then released Within Their Screams. He latest title Folklore: The Third Tale is available now.

With a huge fascination of the horror genre, Chris is continuing to build his catalogue to help put him firmly on the map in the world of horror.

https://www.chrisrushauthor.com/

Reviews

[Kristopher Krumb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book at a recommendation of a friend of mine. This isn't my usual horror sub genre; I tend to prefer supernatural or existential horror. That being said, I do love slasher films and this aligned with my tastes there. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It generally keeps things moving forward and I appreciate the writing style. Plot wise, I think some parts could have been edited down a bit, but it was never to the extent that I felt it detracted from the story.

The story itself? The main character, Darren, is fucked up. Obviously. Dude is also an idiot. Clearly. I prefer my killers to be smart. Darren is so emotionally stunted from his inability to feel pain that it seems to have impacted his intelligence. Or maybe this is how he experiences grief; he forgets basic anatomy and just goes with what a 1st grader might think would happen if you swapped out two people's limbs. Tactically, he's not dumb. He's good at luring victims and I give him a gold star for creativity. But his planning seems odd to me. Walking into a hardware store to buy supplies that any true crime buff would look at and say "hmmm, seems sketch,"? Realizing only after seeing people's faces onto your chest that it might be visible under a t-shirt? Fear not, put a hoodie on, problem solved. I know these are small things to dwell on, but I think these are fair, and interesting, things to highlight.

Part slasher, part meditation on what it means to feel and navigate grief, I would recommend this to those who are fans of the genre. I'd even consider reading it again because I think there are some interesting things being said here. What I look for in horror, besides being scared or disgusted, is some sort of commentary on the human condition. That's here in small bits where it makes sense. One line stuck out to me: "Although he had observed and heard the impact of the hurt he had caused on another person, he was none the wiser to what it felt like." How far will we go to understand something that we can never comprehend due to our nature? At what point do we decide that it's futile? What kind of person relents? What kind of person preserves? Had Darren had the opportunity onto explore some of these themes before the passing of his parents, maybe he wouldn't have had to go as far as he did. But ultimately, I understand why he did it. And to me, that understanding and passing empathy that I have for Darren, is probably what scared me the most about this book.

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was brought to my attention by an author who hadn't read this one, but said it sounded like it had a similar plot of one of my own. Who was it.?.. Mark Twain I think who said 'There are no original ideas'. It's true there are even several movies with the similar basis of people who can't feel pain which leads to torture. That's the beauty of imaginations. They can begin as a similar idea, but unravel into entirely different stories. This is a new-to-me author. The start of the story was slow, but I get it. That's world building/character development. The torture was solid. I read much more extreme stories, so I guess I'm immune to that stuff. Nothing bothers me anymore. Not even the scene with the kid. If you're looking for good ole fashioned torture, look no further. This book does that.
Now, here's what I didn't enjoy about the story. I like my torture stories to be realistic. Nothing scares me more than an evil human because they do exist in real life. The bad guy in this story can't feel pain. I understand that. But after several beatdowns by Gardai (which I assume are police in Ireland) with batons, this guy still has full function of his limbs and body. It's my understanding that even if he can't feel pain, his bones can still snap. Broken bones lead to loss of function of whenever the bone is broken. For example, in one scene I think he takes a baton to his forearm, yet he was still a fighting machine after that without injury. Pain and injuries are two different things. It reminded me of Mike Myers. Like the main character in this book was invincible.
Also, I got bored in a few parts. It could have been shorter. The scenes of him stalking his victims were prolonged. I tell people I stopped reading King because I hated reading page after page about a character, only for them to die in the next scene. There was page after page of stalking Jennifer and Michael (I think was his name) only for them to die. That prolonged stalking added nothing more to the story than a padded word count.
I'm just a picky reader
It's still a solid read and if you're looking for torture upon torture, this is the book for you

[Eliza Clara Hemming · Rating 4 out of 5]

A genuinely twisted novel, gruesome and cruel beyond words! A few moments were legitimately tense and disturbing, and the ending was most unpleasant. An excellent, brutal read!

[Lisa Whelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those Horrors that you think actually yeah that could really happen in real life! Every town has that one kinda weird guy who seems really nice but you think could actually be a serial killer right???

A great graphic and violent story with lots of details and a look into the mind of tormented man! Best to go in not knowing too much detail but it's full of gore so not for the faint hearted or squeamish!!!