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The Hell Bound Kids: Wild In The Streets
Lawlessness.
Rampant crime.
Ruthless gangs running wild in the streets.
Welcome to Punk City...
An urban nightmare of endless twisting streets, glowing skyscrapers, and war-torn ghettoes under a perpetual moonless and starless night; the city of the Hell Bound Kids—one of the many gangs warring for control of Punk City’s hellish streets.
The iniquity within Punk City is purposeful, orchestrated by its mysterious ruler, Abraxas, and his corrupt City Management. Through the use of devious social experiments, they manipulate the Kids and keep the gangs at each other's throats, thereby maintaining the status quo that keeps Upper Management in power.
Yet it is a precarious control.
City Management and their police force number a few thousand Adults compared to the hundreds of thousands of Kids. And more and more Kids flood into the crime-ridden city on a regular basis. Kids sometimes as young as eight, but never older than nineteen or twenty. A steady flow of them appearing every month, with little recollection of how they arrived.
There are no obvious exits. No escape from the city. A city without end, with no official name, known to the Kids only as Punk City. Where the Kids can't tell the real Adults apart from the Projections... or between sobering reality... and darkest fantasy.
But when a repentant member of HBK called Ghost learns of a group named the Outsiders that may know a way to escape, it threatens to reveal the city’s true purpose; and that is something neither Abraxas, nor the Powers That Be he serves, can allow.
A transgressive mixed bag of crime, horror, dark fantasy, and suspense, "The Hell Bound Kids" is "Lord of the Flies" meets Sol Yurick's "The Warriors" and Thomas Tryon's "The Other."
Rampant crime.
Ruthless gangs running wild in the streets.
Welcome to Punk City...
An urban nightmare of endless twisting streets, glowing skyscrapers, and war-torn ghettoes under a perpetual moonless and starless night; the city of the Hell Bound Kids—one of the many gangs warring for control of Punk City’s hellish streets.
The iniquity within Punk City is purposeful, orchestrated by its mysterious ruler, Abraxas, and his corrupt City Management. Through the use of devious social experiments, they manipulate the Kids and keep the gangs at each other's throats, thereby maintaining the status quo that keeps Upper Management in power.
Yet it is a precarious control.
City Management and their police force number a few thousand Adults compared to the hundreds of thousands of Kids. And more and more Kids flood into the crime-ridden city on a regular basis. Kids sometimes as young as eight, but never older than nineteen or twenty. A steady flow of them appearing every month, with little recollection of how they arrived.
There are no obvious exits. No escape from the city. A city without end, with no official name, known to the Kids only as Punk City. Where the Kids can't tell the real Adults apart from the Projections... or between sobering reality... and darkest fantasy.
But when a repentant member of HBK called Ghost learns of a group named the Outsiders that may know a way to escape, it threatens to reveal the city’s true purpose; and that is something neither Abraxas, nor the Powers That Be he serves, can allow.
A transgressive mixed bag of crime, horror, dark fantasy, and suspense, "The Hell Bound Kids" is "Lord of the Flies" meets Sol Yurick's "The Warriors" and Thomas Tryon's "The Other."
- GenresHorror
255 pages, ebook
First published May 1, 2022
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 22, 2022
Do yourself a favor and read this with a synthwave soundtrack in your ear. Every beat of this novel, and the vignettes that follow, felt like a VHS classic.
Written with the flair, vigor, and poignancy of graffiti, The Hell Bound Kids: Wild in the Streets is a blast. The prose is well crafted with slashes of the poetic (and that goes for the main novel by Manson and the tales by Anthony Perconti, Sebastian Vice, and Joe Haward), the characters defined, unique, and interesting, the dialogue quick and crisp, and the setting incredible.
Let's get to the setting because Punk City comes to life in the book. As the Kids cruise through a chain of lights under a black sky, you can feel it, hear it, smell it, live it. You're there. The grime, the despair, the profane, and the sacred. All of it. That's one thing these writers excelled at: slashes of exposition, slashes of world-building, slashes of insight, all with the delicacy of a scalpel rather than a shovel.
You'll follow the HBK, meeting Adults, Projections, the Architect, Abraxas, and other gangs like The Stoners as the narrative envelopes. Amad and the unfolding secrets of Punk City emerge as the central narrative.
Like the best speculative fiction, HBK has some insightful things to say about the world in which we live: the wealth gap damnation stood out, but the messages resonated with me in other ways, too. The book connects emotionally and intellectually.
The Warriors is a good comparison for HBK, but this work is no pastiche. This is a unique book and well worth your time. Get lost in Punk City.
Written with the flair, vigor, and poignancy of graffiti, The Hell Bound Kids: Wild in the Streets is a blast. The prose is well crafted with slashes of the poetic (and that goes for the main novel by Manson and the tales by Anthony Perconti, Sebastian Vice, and Joe Haward), the characters defined, unique, and interesting, the dialogue quick and crisp, and the setting incredible.
Let's get to the setting because Punk City comes to life in the book. As the Kids cruise through a chain of lights under a black sky, you can feel it, hear it, smell it, live it. You're there. The grime, the despair, the profane, and the sacred. All of it. That's one thing these writers excelled at: slashes of exposition, slashes of world-building, slashes of insight, all with the delicacy of a scalpel rather than a shovel.
You'll follow the HBK, meeting Adults, Projections, the Architect, Abraxas, and other gangs like The Stoners as the narrative envelopes. Amad and the unfolding secrets of Punk City emerge as the central narrative.
Like the best speculative fiction, HBK has some insightful things to say about the world in which we live: the wealth gap damnation stood out, but the messages resonated with me in other ways, too. The book connects emotionally and intellectually.
The Warriors is a good comparison for HBK, but this work is no pastiche. This is a unique book and well worth your time. Get lost in Punk City.
April 21, 2022
I had no idea what kind of book I was getting myself into with this one. As the synopsis states its one-part Lord of the Flies and one part The Warriors.
The Hell Bound Kids is one wild ride. A place called Punk City. A city run by kids running wild. The Hell Bound Kids are just one of the cities ruthless gangs that are vying for control. Murder, robbery, sexual assault, and the harvesting of psychotropics from those tortured to death (if you know the name of these psychotropics then you've been paying attention for the last few years).
The city is ruled by a corrupt city manager by the name of Abraxas. Punk City, a major, sprawling metropolis of unending twisting streets that loop back to the city with no end and an ocean no one can cross or access. Trapped. Trapped by drugs, violence and death. In a city that is at war, not only with itself but with the powers that be, is there any hope for escape? There are adults but they are either police, social workers or what they call "projections", what I'm guessing are something like holograms.
All the gang members have nicknames. Ammo, Pusho, Mimic, etc. One member of the HBK gang, is starting to realize this is not the life he wants. Ghost hears rumors that another gang, the Outsiders, may know of a way out of the city. A way to escape. Abraxas and the entities that he serves can never allow this to happen as it will reveal the cities true nature.
Like I said above I had no idea what I was getting into with this book. As a fan of The Warriors and having read Lord of the Flies, I was intrigued. As I got into the book, I noticed certain things that parallel topics that have come to light over the past few years. If you've been paying attention for the last two years, then you know what I am talking about. The harvesting of a chemical from people, and a certain island that has nefarious things happening on it and the revelation that powerful family's control much of our world. Some might read this and see fiction but there is definitely some truth to much of this story. An interesting read for sure and I'm more than curious as to where the story will go from here. I received this book free from Booksirens for an honest review.
The Hell Bound Kids is one wild ride. A place called Punk City. A city run by kids running wild. The Hell Bound Kids are just one of the cities ruthless gangs that are vying for control. Murder, robbery, sexual assault, and the harvesting of psychotropics from those tortured to death (if you know the name of these psychotropics then you've been paying attention for the last few years).
The city is ruled by a corrupt city manager by the name of Abraxas. Punk City, a major, sprawling metropolis of unending twisting streets that loop back to the city with no end and an ocean no one can cross or access. Trapped. Trapped by drugs, violence and death. In a city that is at war, not only with itself but with the powers that be, is there any hope for escape? There are adults but they are either police, social workers or what they call "projections", what I'm guessing are something like holograms.
All the gang members have nicknames. Ammo, Pusho, Mimic, etc. One member of the HBK gang, is starting to realize this is not the life he wants. Ghost hears rumors that another gang, the Outsiders, may know of a way out of the city. A way to escape. Abraxas and the entities that he serves can never allow this to happen as it will reveal the cities true nature.
Like I said above I had no idea what I was getting into with this book. As a fan of The Warriors and having read Lord of the Flies, I was intrigued. As I got into the book, I noticed certain things that parallel topics that have come to light over the past few years. If you've been paying attention for the last two years, then you know what I am talking about. The harvesting of a chemical from people, and a certain island that has nefarious things happening on it and the revelation that powerful family's control much of our world. Some might read this and see fiction but there is definitely some truth to much of this story. An interesting read for sure and I'm more than curious as to where the story will go from here. I received this book free from Booksirens for an honest review.
June 13, 2022
Punk city is an engineered urban hellscape run by horrifically bloodthirsty gangs of children chasing the next high and their next kill. The titular Hell Bound Kids or HBK are one such gang, and the main characters happen to be members. In the middle of their bloodthirsty gang activity one member, Ghost, finds himself feeling things that are not conducive to continuing on with being an active member of the gang. Specifically lines started appearing that he wasn't willing to cross or allow to be crossed, and he started pushing against them and longing for life outside the bounds of Punk City. Considering the city is an engineered hellscape and exists on purpose, the idea of someone being able to escape is not acceptable by the powers that be, so something has to and will have to give.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
June 24, 2022
These minds are diabolical. This read is not for the faint of heart. It's dark in a great way. If you like thrills and darkness with your crime reads, this is for you.
I liked the cohesiveness that was accomplished. There are several authors who come across as one voice.
Don't expect shiny characters, these bleed darkness.
I can't wait to read more from this world. It's a dark world they have created and a great start to the series.
I liked the cohesiveness that was accomplished. There are several authors who come across as one voice.
Don't expect shiny characters, these bleed darkness.
I can't wait to read more from this world. It's a dark world they have created and a great start to the series.
June 24, 2022
This book is really a mesh of many genres. It surprised me how the authors really did hit on each and every one of those. It’s such a crossbreed and wholly unique. The Horror aspect was my favorite and so very well done, so Horror fans, read this stat!
There was a certain level of intrigue, world-building, character development, and flat out amazing storytelling in this first in the series and I can’t wait to see how the authors build on that.
There was a certain level of intrigue, world-building, character development, and flat out amazing storytelling in this first in the series and I can’t wait to see how the authors build on that.
June 26, 2022
These authors have a gift for finding the humanity within the inhuman, and showing the inhumanity in abundance in mankind. A highly immersive dark horror with a fantastically imagined premise.
Detailed characters, a twisting plot, and a heavy dose of gory darkness.
This first book in the Wild in the Streets series has a rising plot arc, one that has in no way reached its climax, but has placed all the pieces ready for a rollicking second book.
Detailed characters, a twisting plot, and a heavy dose of gory darkness.
This first book in the Wild in the Streets series has a rising plot arc, one that has in no way reached its climax, but has placed all the pieces ready for a rollicking second book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews