The Rot

The Rot #1

by Stephen Cooper

Something sinister is happening in England.

A wave of horrific violence and depravity sweeps the country without warning. A Rot. An evil presence with no boundaries, causing carnage, chaos, and gore, wherever it manifests. An ominous voice, pushing people beyond their limits to commit extreme acts, while dragging their morals and ethics straight to hell.

The Rot feeds off hate, and it’s never been easier to manipulate and use that hatred for its own nefarious purpose. The Rot has a hold on the country; the country just doesn’t know it yet.

Due to the very nature of the story, this book contains extreme horror, disgusting language, and an array of trigger inducing situations. If you are easily offended, then maybe read something else, but if you think the world’s going to hell and want a gruesome vile time reading about it, then welcome to The Rot… You have been warned.

Genres: Horror

135 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 24, 2023

About the author

Extreme Horror Author

Reviews

[LIsa Noell "Rocking the chutzpah!" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and repetitive. DNF.

[Carrie Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my senior year of high school, we read a collection of poems from Edwin Arlington Robinson about the residents of Tilbury Town. I loved the poems because they exposed the conflicts and suffering of characters such as Richard Cory, who had it all according to the townspeople but was privately suffering and ..."𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅."

When I read this collection by Stephen Cooper, the memories of those poems came rushing back. THE ROT is a collection of the stories of a dozen people all affected by "The Rot." While it's never exactly clear what this rot is, the effects of it are disastrous. An interesting question to ponder is does The Rot 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 this aberrant behavior, or does it 𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 what is already there beneath the surface? As I read these fictional accounts of characters committing gruesome acts of violence against their fellow man, I couldn't help but think of the global mental health crisis, mass shootings, incels, human trafficking, and countless other real horrors.

Stephen Cooper is one of my favorite writers in this genre. Check out his other titles as well!

[Brian Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visceral, Brutal, and Brilliant!

Cooper can't miss, in my opinion. This one is relentless and leaves you wanting more. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel next. Highly recommended for fans of extreme horror!

[Daniel Lorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of despicable acts command each chapter as The Rot corrupts the minds of its chosen victims.
Although I read the first half wanting to know a bit more about The Rot, I ended up accepting that it was cool that it’s just there influencing all the unspeakable acts and finding its place in the world, hopefully in preparation for a sequel.
Stephen must be commended for yet again trying out something new here.
Another dose of infectiously fun extreme horror, and this is definitely his most depraved and vile story yet!
This will be a huge hit for fans of EXTREME HORROR.
WARNING: I lost count of the number of trigger warnings within this book. The bottom line is that if you love EXTREME HORROR, this will be right up your street.

I really enjoyed this one - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

[Horrorlover86 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rot is PURE insanity, PURE barbarianism and PURE evil. This book has an evil that wishes only for the uttermost deplorable acts to be inflicted upon humanity. What makes this one unique, for me at least, from other insanity virus based stories is the way it also describes the aftermath once The Rot leaves its host. Definitely one to check out for oneself.

[D.E. McCluskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boss book this… it’s like a series of short stories with a linking theme.

The rot is bad… it’s very bad… it’s dips into your deepest darkest thoughts… and tells you they are OK.

What is it?

Evil, that’s what

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Rot by Stephen Cooper was a great, quick read. A viral epidemic has swept across the country which materialises with a rot-like break out appearing on each of the sufferers face. This then manifests a demonic voice that sounds eerily like the victim. It tells them to do things they'd not normally do. That first scene with the new mother and her newborn will be seared into my memory for a long time.

The writing is great, the death scenes creative with dark humour constantly running through the back bone of the story. The only issue I truly had was feeling bored toward the 70-80% mark, with all the pov's. I wanted a deeper POV, I wanted to see what was happening to the rest of society, how it was being investigated and received. I just wanted something a bit more.

[DA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rotten!

Rotten in the best way! I enjoyed the format, it almost read to me like case files, each chapter featured a different victim. Very clever story. Besides each story having a similar plot, each one was unique in how the "victim" of The Rot handled their encounter.
I also liked how the author made you think, is this just an evil presence making people do bad things, or do it's victims secretly deep down want to do these things? Very much looking forward to the sequel!

[stwdscrwdntat2d · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the rot

[Milt Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One would have thought that a book with an unexplained premise (mysterious evil voice corrupts people morally from the inside, rotting their faces temporarily and forcing them to kill their loved ones) would leave the reader unsatisfied; yet Cooper turns this into a captivating read, full of gore and shocking psychological insight. The eponymous chapters feel like mini-character studies, providing an anatomy of a character's fears, insecurities, and longings. What's more, one can relate to the ways of thinking the Rot tries to enforce on its carriers: who hasn't felt a bit stressed by their kids or their relatives, sometimes even going so far as entertaining ways to get rid of them? The Rot builds on such non-serious thoughts, producing savage killers, amorally violent. And the Rot itself may not be simply a narrative device: religious people will probably take it for some kind of Satan, politically-minded readers as an allegory for 21st century capitalism, making the book a very timely cautionary tale. All in all, 'The Rot' is a very good read.

[Shaun Filion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was trying to think of the best possible way to describe this book. I would say it is basically all meat, with none of that boring mashed potatoes or broccoli that may get served with your meal. Meaning there were no boring parts you had to get through to get to the good stuff. There are roughly a dozen tales, concerning the same affliction. And I easily could have read a dozen more! This is the first book by Stephen Cooper I have read, and will definitely not be the last.

[Sara Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could you imagine?!

To get through the crap fest that is Covid-19 just for this new, strange, INSANE, and DEADLY epidemic to start spreading around is a pretty good example of “Life isn’t fair.” Haven’t read anything like this yet and I definitely enjoyed it. I can’t wait to read part 2.

[Holly Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo, Stephen, this is some dark, messed up shit. I liked it 😈

[Sahreth Bowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book features twelve stories about twelve unfortunate individuals who fell victim to the rot, a strange sort of sentient virus that briefly takes hold of people to manipulate them into atrocious behavior. At first the voice of the creature is clearly not their own nor has their best interest in mind, but as it sinks deeper into the brain, it convinces its victim that it is in fact aligned with their deep desires.

For the most part, the rot takes core details about a person and twists them into their most perverted form. For example, the politically correct protester who it convinces is at his core racist like his family and for all his trouble deserves to have that beautiful Black woman he saw at the store. It takes the loving young mother beginning to overcome postpartum depression and amplifies those feelings into pure hatred. These feelings cannot be shaken aside and forces them to be acted upon in the most brutal and depraved manner.

However, there are a few cases where the rot surprisingly has found people who are truly as depraved as its whispering. Included int this is a woman who has been blind all her life to whom the rot grants her sight. As the story goes along, the rot’s sentience becomes more obvious. So does it start to voice how it is learning more of its own capabilities along the way, such as giving such gifts.

The rot is accompanied visually by spreading a decaying, deformed look across its victim’s face. Outwardly, this is the only tell-tale sign that the individuals have not simply lost their minds. Once they’ve completed their massacre, the look fades and their senses return. Sadly, none are believed as to what happened. It takes until the end of the book for society to take the presence of such a heinous creature as fact. But is there anything that can be done?

‘The Rot’ is legitimate nightmare fuel. I don’t mean in the sense that I’m going to go to bed and see gross violent things in my sleep (though I might). I mean it this way: Just imagine yourself, who you love, what things you support and even fight for, your lifelong wishes…then imagine some horrid alien creature with the ability to shift you into the exact opposite.

You love babies? Suddenly you’re a mass baby murderer. Your spouse means everything to you? Suddenly you’re so jealous you’re stabbing him in the face for snoring. Civil Rights activist? Nope! You’re now using racial slurs and raping minorities. The worst part of all this is during the event, you believe it’s what you want, what is fair, but directly afterwards, you’re returned to your normal self with not so much as your best friend believing it wasn’t you who did those things.

This book also highlights how underneath harmless, kind demeanors, an evil may be lurking. And not just with those I pointed out as not needing much convincing from the rot. At some points it is unclear whether the rot has manipulated some of these people or if that evil was just a bit deeper down.

[Bryan Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories with each story focusing on a single individual. The connecting thread is The Rot and the things it makes each person do. The first story is vile, intense, and extremely disturbing and sets the tone for everything that comes after it. Each story is paced flawlessly and embraces extreme situations, buckets of gore, and adding new scars to your psyche. Nothing is off limits, and you almost want to peek through fingers covering your eyes as The Rot manipulates every day people into doing things that would make Bundy blush. A fantastic book that has me near salivating for the sequel.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wild ride this book was! Each chapter has a different character affected by “the rot” and from the start, it is just brutal and grotesque. If you love gore and extreme horror, you’ll probably love this one. NOT from the weak, this brings up lots of situations that could be triggering to others.

[Rachal Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting concept as you follow several different people and their circumstances leading up The Rot as it takes over their subconscious and demands mayhem which Cooper delivers in his unique style. Terrifying to me because The Rot is unknown and can strike anywhere, anytime and anyone.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic story , well written , very gory and violent , just a great read

[Vantriani Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una voz perturbadora que te obliga a matar con la amenaza de pudrirte lentamente si no lo haces... Stephen Cooper tienes mi atención.

[Linda Strickland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book, now on to part 2!

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very pointless, no plot at all.