It was just another routine combat mission to take a hill from an embedded force of NVA regulars. After they cleared what was a bloody fight that left their platoon decimated, they're ordered to settle in and hold the mountaintop as a staging point to hit further targets in the area.
As the soldiers keep watch throughout the night, the black sky is suddenly burning red and streaking with objects they assumed to be a meteor shower. Unknown to the small element of soldiers on the hill, these were nothing so simple.
Follow Private Zachary Barnes and Private Brad Tierney and others as they race from the horrors of an invasion that quickly absolves reality and replaces the familiarity of the jungle and its life with the unnatural shapes of creatures and phantasms that harry their advance to a safety that is always out of reach.
From nightmare-haunted bogs to minds ruptured of sanity, Jungle Rot is a cosmic horror war story that is sure to have your mind melting.
Brian G Berry is new to the world of writing. He writes everything from 1980s inspired horror, SCIFI/Action-horror, to the strange. His biggest influences are the writers of the weird including Lovecraft, Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, to the pulp horror authors of the golden age 70s/80s- and a splattering of others. Author of The Pail, A Bloody Christmas, Splatter Fiend Series, Slasherback Series, Campfire Tales Beneath a Pallid Moon, Accursed Ground, Blood Lanes, The Night Mutilator, Thanksgiving Day Massacre, and his newest: SNOW SHARK.
JUNGLE ROT is a brutal, fast-paced nightmare filled with dread, creepy atmosphere, and great writing. Berry crafted an outstanding horror story with this one. Highly recommended!
This is a great cosmic war horror! It’s starts with private Brad Tierney and company on a routine mission taking control and holding a hill top in Vietnam. As the book progresses the story gets creepy and eerie after a meteor shower. There are now strange creatures of some kind joining them deep in the jungle, slowly causing “Jungle Rot” to everything and everyone of its surroundings.
Brian G. Berry exists in an arena where horror and sci-fi battle to the death. Jungle Rot starts like the super cool Nam movies of the late 80s before the jungle is peppered by cosmic horror. The safety is taken off all weapons, and the gore is cranked up in a way that the author is rightfully held in high regard for. Berry manages to flesh out the characters when the flesh is literally falling off their pursuers. It's a difficult juggling act to perform while running and gunning, but Jungle Rot manages it every step of the way. Speaking of difficult, I have to tip my hat to Brian for writing something using some zombie "values" without it being standard zombie trope. What the author achieves here is something unique and of value. It's a real page turner, and I was invested throughout because of the great world building on display. A part of me died in that jungle because you weren't there, man! You weren't there!!
Brian Berry can write very diverse horror. Jungle Rot is a military cosmic horror novel. The story starts in 1966 during the Vietnam War. Private Zachary Barnes and Private Brad Tierney are the main characters.The characters are very well written. The story will satisfy gore hounds. Things get out of control, and Tierney and Barnes find themselves in a very bad situation. If you're looking for horror with a war setting, and love cosmic horror this novel is for you.
Berry brings the jungle and all its green inferno terrors--terrestrial and cosmic alike--to life in this novel. The level of detail, and the knowledge it takes to build this world, is impressive.
We're thrust into the deep morass of 1960s Vietnam through the POVs of Privates Tierney and Barnes on one side and Captain Thihn on the other. When night shuts in the combatants, a star-born horror falls between them, painting the night sky with crimson mist. The terror has landed. What follows can only be described as a siege of cosmic horror.
Berry achieves such an incredible atmosphere of dread and suspense that it feels like you're closed in the fold of darkness with the soldiers. That stands out in Jungle Rot: their fear is your fear. Once you get absorbed, the suspense is very real, and all this shows Berry's substantial skill as a storyteller. It's a stay-awake-and-watch-the-dark book. Excellent read.
Well at this point, I don’t think anyone can argue that Brian G. Berry can write with a flourish that few other independent horror authors can even hold a freaking candle to. If Nick Cutter and Tim Curran had a literary baby, I have no doubt that baby would be Brian G. Berry.
So yes, make no mistake Berry is immensely talented and I’ve enjoyed nearly everything of his I’ve read.
Jungle Rot is really no different than any of Berry’s other works. By that I mean it’s an incredibly well written, straight up creature feature, eldritch terror mashup of horror, chocked full of violence, gore, originality, and some of the most apt descriptions I’ve ever read. It’s also an ode to various “green hell” films before it like Predator and even Platoon.
Personally though, Rot began to lose my focus around the 120 page mark. Not because the story was boring, or because Berry’s writing failed. Rather, I started to feel that this one was maybe just a little too long for it’s subject matter and also repetitious after encountering the zombie like creatures of horror multiple times.
I also admit that my mind was not 100% dedicated to this story as I had some personal matters in my life that took precedence. Definitely not the fault of Berry.
That’s not to say this book is bad by any means. It’s still many times better than most of the junk many independent authors are publishing today. I’ll still devour anything Berry publishes, and eagerly anticipate his announcements because seriously, he’s that good.
Reading this book initially reminded me of watching Predator, the iconic Arnold Schwartzenager 80’s action movie. The characters in Jungle Rot are stuck in Vietnam during the war. Fighting the enemy on his home turf is tough enough, but when the enemy becomes otherworldly, all hell breaks loose. The men are confused, unsure if the events unfolding around them are a product of unhinged imaginations or if something far more sinister is at work as the dead come to life. What I enjoyed the most was the variety of “enemies” that the group encountered. You’d think the walking dead would be bad enough, just wait until you're up against crazed monkeys and a literal swamp monster. Jungle Rot is an enjoyable read with plenty of guts and gore to go along with an action heavy plot. Well done. I look forward to reading more of author Brian Berry’s work.
"Jungle Rot" by Brian Berry. I was sent my copy in exchange for a honest review.
Wading through the Vietnam jungle is dangerous for many reasons. The Vietcong are definitely a problem, but more so than the enemy is the sky. The rocks falling from the redness above make no sense and the mist surrounding them is just as concerning. Follow Brad Tierney and his men in this haunting tale to find out if they'll make it back home alive.
Berry creates a unique and vivid cosmic horror story set deep in the Vietnam jungle with one of our most beloved horror lovers from the horror community, Brad Tierney as my favorite character. The cosmic parts come in spurts so as not to overwhelm the reader and the ending did a great job at catching me off guard.
I was partial to one character in particular… guess which one? I really enjoyed this read. Berry did a fantastic job with the jungle and setting the scene of the horror that lurked within.