Wretch: A Novel

by Jeremy Wagner

"If you only read one more horror novel this year, make sure this is it.” —Edward Lee

Wretch is a relentless descent into crime, horror, and vengeance. A brutal unflinching thriller for fans of organized crime sagas, dark detective fiction, and monsters born in the shadows of science.

Chicago is choking under the hottest summer on record, but the true heat comes from the blood spilled on its streets.

Detective Donnie Lynch trails a killer who shouldn’t exist. Mob boss Tico “The Meatgrinder” Tortellio has stepped out from the shadows of his empire with a personal vendetta to avenge his daughter—and nothing short of blood will settle the score. Both men are hunting the same man— if “man” is still the right word…

The elusive killer, Derek Hoffman, is a steroid-abusing-sociopath twisted beyond recognition whose body and mind have been grotesquely transformed after his participation in a clinical trial for an experimental ED-arousal-drug called, LIBIDONAL. Hoffman has become something monstrous, a predator driven by lust, rage, and a thirst for blood.

With the city becoming a killing ground for a new apex predator, Lynch and Tortellio race toward the same target. But who will reach Hoffman first? And when they do, can bullets or brutality be enough to stop him?

Genres: Horror, Fiction

376 pages, Hardcover

Published February 24, 2026

About the author

“RABID HEART maintains a sharp, persistently moving narrative…an endlessly entertaining zombie tale that checks off genre conventions with style.”
— Kirkus Reviews

"RABID HEART evokes a mix of Misfits lyrics and grainy VHS horror classics. The plot draws parallels to Cormac McCarthy's The Road..."
— Publishers Weekly Author Spotlight

"Zombies and the end of days don't stand a chance against true love. Jeremy Wagner's RABID HEART is good, clean apocalyptic fun."
— Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger

"RABID HEART. This book is sick and sweet, and I say that with respect!"
— Peter Blauner, NY Times bestselling author of The Intruder and Sunrise Highway

"RABID HEART is Wagner’s finest work to date. Exciting and near-addictive. A page-turner that avid horror aficionados will be drawn to with glee.”
— Dead Rhetoric Magazine

“RABID HEART is a next level opus that raises the stakes considerably. And good goddamn, is it a white-knuckle thrill ride.”
— Decibel Magazine

"Wagner debuts with a highly entertaining blend…of heavy metal and hardcore horror…
Electrified by breakneck pacing, a cast of over-the-top characters and memorable lines...this thriller neatly exploits the considerable shared fanbase of apocalyptic fiction and Apocalyptica."
— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“THE ARMAGEDDON CHORD is like The Da Vinci Code with a heavy-metal soundtrack!”
— Katherine Turman, Co-author of Louder Than Hell

“Combining the world of heavy metal with malevolent supernatural forces Wagner has created quite a fantastic read… a riveting thriller that is sure to keep readers glued to the pages until the very end…
The unique blending of ancient history, religion and heavy metal make this book unlike any others I have read…. if you're a reader of horror or fiction novels or if you're a musician, then THE ARMAGEDDON CHORD will be right up your alley. I know it kept me up turning pages into the wee hours of the morning.”
— PURE GRAIN AUDIO

“THE ARMAGEDDON CHORD is a quick, enjoyable read full of action, violence, hell-spawned (and human) monsters and original variations of scenarios common to end-time thrillers.
— DECIBEL MAGAZINE

“Jeremy is a pretty impressive dude.”
— PETER STRAUB, New York Times Bestselling Author, A Dark Matter, Ghost Story

“Jeremy Wagner is an up-and-coming voice in the realm of horror fiction.
His talent shines through this debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what his next offering will be.
A real page-turner, THE ARMAGEDDON CHORD strikes just the right note!”
— YASMINE GALENORN, New York Times/USA Today Bestselling Author The Otherworld Series

“THE ARMAGEDDON CHORD is a wild phantasmagoric thrill ride that will satisfy lovers of the darkest fantasy fiction and the heaviest of metal."
—PETER BLAUNER, New York Times Bestselling Author, The Intruder, Slipping Into Darkness

In this youth, Wagner would find himself writing several short stories. The hobby grew with him as he combined his love for stories with his songwriting as guitarist in the band Broken Hope.

He found that he enjoyed writing horror lyrics and that this process helped him become a better writer as a whole. Wagner began writing short stories based on his lyrics, and began to have his stories published. In the mid-'90s, Wagner started writing his first unpublished novels. Through the combination of his writing with his knowledge of music, Wagner came up with the basic idea for THE ARMAGEDDON CHORD.

Wagner has written lyrics to more than 70 published songs along with recording six albums, two MTV videos, and touring in 16 countries with his bands, Broken Hope and Lupara. Wagner has been published in RIP, Terrorizer, Metal Edge, Microhorror magazines and works of short stories through Perseus Books, St. Martin's Press, and Ravenous Romance.

Wagner's most recent published works include the short story, Romance Ain't Dead, which appears as the first story in the zombie-romance anthology Hungry For Your Love (St.

Reviews

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, Fun, Fenomenal!! Such a straight forward and simple read and yet so so captivating. I read this thing so fast and enjoyed and savoured every moment of it. At night when I couldn't sleep I would think of it and be so tempted to get up and read more of it in the middle of the night. Again very little notes required if any but man what a blast of a read!

So this book was a kind of welcome twist. Again pretty straight forward and you can easily see what's coming but man the author Jeremy Wagner still pulls it off. There are some very twisted extreme horror and sexual things in it so be forewarned but man oh man he injects so much humour to boot. I laughed throughout.

So our main character Derek Hoffman is a rhoid head six foot nine 330lb body builder filled with hate and rage. All the steroids and recreational drugs he abuses do not help obviously. Abused as a child he starts to take his anger out on others as a child and ends up in punitive home for boys where things do not get better as he is further raped and abused there. It is there to prevent the bullying that he turns to weights and gets stronger and stronger to get even with those who abuse him.

We are first introduced to Derek while working out in a gym. A guy who has a restraining order against him as Derek went nuts on him for being with Derek's ex shows up. Derek loses it, beats the hell out of him and ends up further in jail. Jail costs money and he needs to put up money to get out of jail and he does but this is all costing him. He has something on his brother and uses that card to get $3000 from him. Yet the brother who is a lead doctor for a drug trial knows he cannot pay him and comes up with a plan to have Derek be part of a drug study concerning a Viagra type drug called Libodanol. Derek insists he cannot stay the full two weeks of the trial but enrolls as it pays $5k and tells his brother he better be out in two days. The brother is going to cover and fudge the trial for Derek and this to work. There are 20 guys in the study and on the first day Derek sneaks in his daily rhoid dosage along with all kinds of rec drugs which he plans on selling to the participants in the study for quick cash. He has tons and tons of drugs snuck in and as a couple of workers involved in the study get friendly he takes a whack of libodanol drugs from the abandoned cart. This cleverly avoids any thoughts that he was on placebo's. So while socializing and hopped up on this sexual stimulant drug there is an older guy who flirts with Derek who makes it clear to stay the f away from him. Soon within hours the effects of the libodanol drug take place on the non placebo members. They are walking the halls with erections and stroking themselves and ejaculating as well and doing so repeatedly. The older guys again hits on Derek and ejaculates all over Derek, who as a result ends up almost killing him. The security team chases and hunts down Derek but prior to being captured he needs to hide all his drugs he has brought in. He ends up taking the whole whack of them ingesting them all including all the libodanol he has stolen. Clearly a recipe for disaster, like what an overdose. Derek's brother Sid is able to convince security that he will deal with all consequences of the severe beating Derek deployed on the guy and though they argue with Sid, Derek is ultimately let go. Big big mistake! My wife who just hates the genres I read was laughing her ass off as I described how the trial went haywire. Sid's comments that "I told you we were not ready for trial, remember the monkeys", lmao.

So Chapter two deals with Derek. Chapter three deals with the mob and the head of it Tico Tortellio who wants his twin sons to take over things but they are not real mobsters and more akin to believing the crap seen on tv. They are glamourizing the business which needs to stay low and be as ruthless as Tico is learning it from his father. The author deploys the Italian language here and there throughout and being Italian I could understand what he was writing and man it was also hilarious. Sadly his daughter is soon struck by a drunk driver and is in a coma at the same hospital that Derek is taking his drug trial. After being let go by his brother Derek all hopped up on this sexual psycho drug sees Tico's daughter in coma and strapped on the bed. He annihilates the mobster security there to protect her and rapes her comatose body. This sets up the logical outcome of the mob being after Derek and they will be after his brother as they have all kinds of police snitches and of course they will be after the drunk driver who struck the daughter and started all this. I think I loved the mob storyline the best!

Meanwhile the book started out with a murder and intro to our hero Detective Donnie Lynch and the murder he investigates will soon be tied into to Derek as well. So we have a roundabout of action. Derek going mental. His assault on the study participant and raping of the mob daughter are a very slight beginning to the horrific and sexual crime spree that continue by Derek who is basically now in a state of excited delirium, a real and very dangerous condition where the victim is stronger and crazier than hell. Having dealt with it several times I wish no one to confront such an individual. He is so hopped up sexually and aware of all kinds of smells and sexual odours coming from people, even animals, luckily one ferocious dog is lucky enough to escape being a real life sex toy for him. This is the kind of insanity that goes on and much of it though quite disgusting has that element of humour cleverly worked in - like a dog running and escaping a sexual predator man, lmao. So it's a lot of fun. Derek and his insane sexual crime spree. The mob dealing with all those they need to deal with and Det Lynch aware of Derek's insanity and the fact that the mob is in play. Just so much fun. Again not much thinking either.

I can see many seeing this as too straight forward but to me I think the timing of the read was perfect. A very good friend who I trust dnf' it, full disclosure. I had just read a history book for the first time and it was heady in a way. This was such a welcome change and just full of all kinds of action and fun. Some good ethical points as well believe it or not. When I first saw some of the arc reviews of this and man that cover I just had a feeling it was for me and man oh man was it ever. Highly recommend and an easy five stars. Enjoy!!

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like watching a train wreck and being unable to look away, except the train is actually a roided out sociopath who's on so many drugs he becomes an unstoppable force of mayhem and depravity.

Wretch is definitely not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It's gross, it's disgusting, it's gory. It takes place during a hot and humid as hell Summer, so everyone is pissed off and miserable and you know all that gore stinks especially bad.

Massive content warning for sexual violence with this book. Hell, basically need content warnings for most things in here. I'd say that if you're not okay with horror and crime fiction that leans way more than a bit towards the extreme side, you should probably give this one a pass.

Though, as I stated before, I could not look away. (Even though sometimes I definitely wanted to.) The characters are compelling (and a few of them are downright despicable), the premise is completely gonzo, and I feel like I need a scalding hot shower after reading this. A freaky, disgusting, horrific thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dead Sky Publishing for the review copy!

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A violent, roided, lust filled psychopath goes on a drug fuelled rampage. He's out for blood and ASS, nothing will stop the God of Fuck

Derek is honestly one of the worst characters I've read about, on multiple occasions I found myself wishing I could jump into the book and kill him myself. He has no regard for others and truly is a monster, not sparing anyone from his wrath

I was either strongly rooting for or against most of the characters, all the povs were interesting and compelling, the writing was great, and the cover is gorgeous. I did think the book was a little too long and some of the dialogue was cliche, but I wasnt all that bothered by it

Definitely recommend if youre into DARK crime/mystery novels, don't need ultra realism and can handle a crude story

[Chastity]

I went into this not knowing if I was going to like it, and after getting about 150-ish pages in, it just wasnt for me. After reading the synopsis, and seeing there is an experimental ED drug involved, I knew there would be a sexual theme to it, but I really did not like the direction it was going and I just couldn't finish!

[Daniella · Rating 2 out of 5]

No, just no.

This book did have some strengths. The writing is sharp, the pacing is tight, and the characters are anything but cardboard. Derrick is a complete disaster of a human being, but he’s written with enough depth that you understand the forces that shaped him without ever excusing what he does. Tico, ruthless and feared, is grounded by his devotion to his family. Even Lynch, the detective, brings emotional weight without dragging the story into procedural territory.

Despite the decent writing, this book just crosses a line from dark and impactful into excessive. The violence and sexual brutality escalate to a point where it stops feeling like it’s serving the story and starts feeling like it’s trying to outdo itself. It becomes overwhelming rather than tense, and instead of being pulled forward, I found myself wanting distance ( and a long shower).

By the end, what stayed with me wasn’t the strong characters or the tight plotting, it was just a heavy, unpleasant feeling.

I don’t mind dark content. I am not squeamish or triggered easily. After all, I read thrillers and horror regularly. But there’s a difference between something that’s disturbing with purpose and something that goes too far, and for me, this crossed that line.

[✩｡°⋆ Lala ⋆｡°✩ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review of advance copy received from Netgalley. Thank you to Dead Sky Publishing for the advanced copy!

Wretch is... chaotic, but not in a good way. Derek gets this new experimental drug, Libidonal, and goes full-on madman, and Detective Lynch, who only has one testicle and is understandably bitter about it, is basically the only halfway grounded character. I wanted to hear more about the drug itself. There really wasn’t much depth to any of the characters, which made it hard to care about what was happening. The marketing was misleading in my opinion, and the content wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. Also some of the writing was very cringe. It definitely needs way better trigger warnings.

So since they didn't.. Fair warning: this is splatterpunk/extreme horror. It’s brutal, gory, and one scene is especially rough. If that’s your thing, maybe check it out.

[Harry Jahnke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying that at no point was I ever bored reading this. Also, I got to the end of this story and had no notes. Do I think it's good? Not necessarily. Is it bad? Certainly not. But I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend that you read this at least once. 


I don't normally include spoilers in my reviews but in this case, I think it's important that readers should know what they're stepping into. This is the story of Detective One-Ball, a hard boiled detective with only one testicle and a habit of mentioning that fact at every opportunity, and Tony Calzoney, an overwhelmingly Italian mob boss to the point where he actually says "fuhgeddaboudit" in the story, and they're relentless hunt for Derek the Boner Monster.


Without giving it all away, Derek is a deeply traumatized individual with anger issues out the wazoo and instead of dealing with his problems, he took enough steroids to become the Hulk. One thing leads to another and he overdoses on experimental Viagra which causes him to turn into the Boner Monster and he begins raping and killing everything in his path.


This book gets full points for creativity, if nothing else. It's also one of the most bizarre things I've ever read. And that's saying something. This book was a ton of fun even if it's not necessarily high literature. I wouldn't classify it as horror per se but I definitely don't regret making it my last book of the year.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Northeast was prepping for a blizzard this weekend so I got to snuggle down with this novel ahead of its release, and I’m glad I scored a copy: Wagner tackles the Viagra/BlueChew hype the way The Beauty wrestles with society’s obsession with GLP-1 drugs and Botox. However, where Murphy keeps things relatively family-friendly, Wagner pulls no punches (don’t read this out loud at story time, kids). A fantastic mashup of gritty crime noir, social commentary, and extreme body horror, Wretch is for every horror reader with a strong stomach. Don’t expect to like any one of the characters: they are all deeply, terribly flawed; and yet, you won’t be able to look away. I devoured this in two days.

[The Blog Without a Face · Rating 3 out of 5]

BWAF Score: 6/10

TL;DR: Wretch is a sweat-soaked Chicago splatter-crime nightmare where a human trial at a pharma lab turns into body horror with a hard-on for chaos and collateral damage. It lands as loud, fast, and grossly committed, best for readers who want their thrills blunt and bloody, and don’t mind the prose leaning into repetitive excess to keep the pedal down.

Wretch starts at a dead sprint, swearing in your face like it’s trying to fog a mirror. “Fucking Mondays,” Detective Donnie Lynch thinks, inching through Chicago traffic toward yet another body, already simmering in road-construction misery and the everyday nihilism of the job. The voice is blunt, hyper-masculine, and committed to grime. You’re not here for tasteful dread. You’re here for heatstroke, bad decisions, and a city that feels like it’s being cooked from the top down.

Lynch is a Chicago detective carrying personal wreckage, including the aftermath of testicular cancer and a marriage that didn’t survive the slow poison of fatigue and shame. In parallel, Derek Hoffman enters a pharmaceutical research situation at Peithos Labs, a “week-long program” to make money as a human guinea pig, and the “what if it goes horribly wrong?” premise ignites. The novel crosscuts between cops, criminals, and Derek’s accelerating transformation as lust, violence, and bodily breakdown spill into the streets.

The structure is an escalation ladder in the purest sense: 46 chapters plus a “Post Pandemonium” coda, arranged like a long fuse with multiple ignition points. At first, the tension is procedural and personal. Lynch’s headspace is crowded with regrets and bodily anxiety, rendered in unglamorous detail. The cancer backstory isn’t subtle, but it is specific, and specificity is often what keeps this kind of book from becoming pure cartoon. Then Derek’s sections kick the volume knob. The heat becomes oppressive, the senses “enhanced,” the palette turns red, and the book starts running on a chemical engine that keeps feeding itself.

This is third-person that rides close to its characters, and it’s especially interested in Derek’s interior monologue as it degrades into appetites, fragments, and mantra-like thoughts. You get the sense of a mind being overwritten, which is effective horror on its own, even before the body-horror fireworks. Lynch’s sections, by contrast, lean into cynical competence and pain, with a steadier tonal line. The tradeoff is that dialogue and internal narration can tilt into the same gravelly register across different characters. When it hits, it feels like a chorus of broken people. When it misses, it can feel like everyone is shouting from the same barstool.

Character work is functional, sometimes surprisingly human, sometimes aggressively pulpy. Lynch’s contradictions are clear: he’s capable, he’s bitter, he’s self-aware enough to call his own wallowing “bullshit,” and he’s still stuck inside it. Derek is less a “mystery” than a pressure vessel, and the novel shows you exactly what kind of monster it’s interested in building: a man driven by sensation, aggression, and compulsive seeking. Side characters like Tyrell pop in to widen the social panorama and to demonstrate how the city becomes a hunting ground once the predator is loose.

Chicago is rendered as hot, dirty, and increasingly unreal, with “record-breaking temperatures” and streets that radiate “infernal heat.” The atmosphere mechanics are blunt-force, but they work. Heat makes everyone meaner, hornier, stupider, and the book uses that as accelerant. The recurring motifs are bodily: sweat, stink, hunger, erection, waste. Sometimes it’s grotesque in a way that’s almost comedic, like a dare the book is making to itself. Sometimes it’s just gross. Either way, it’s committed.

Wagner understands “shown vs implied,” but he mostly chooses shown, and shown means you are going to see some shit. The chainsaw scene reads like splatterpunk theater, complete with blood mist and exhaust, and it tells you early that the book won’t flinch. Derek’s spiral is choreographed through episodes of pursuit and consumption, where the disgust is the point, and the aftermath is often a quick reset into the next compulsion. There are also explicit sexual menace beats, including threats of rape and non-consensual framing, which the book uses to underline Derek’s danger and the world’s vulnerability. If that’s a hard no for you, it’s a hard no.

Under the gore and libido, Wretch is obsessed with the body as fate and the body as weapon. It’s about masculinity as wound, as performance, as chemical imbalance, as rage you can buy in a lab. Lynch’s storyline drags shame and identity into the open through illness, divorce, and the fear of being “less of a man,” while Derek’s storyline turns the same fear outward into predation and domination. Layered on top is distrust of corporate systems and the idea that “miracle pills” have shadow costs, and once the cost is paid, the city becomes the checkout counter.

Jeremy Wagner is a long-time death-metal musician associated with the band Broken Hope, and his author platform often intertwines extreme music culture with horror and crime fiction sensibilities. Prior novels including The Armageddon Chord and Rabid Heart, alongside short fiction and craft-writing contributions, which helps explain why Wretch reads like a veteran of high-intensity genre pacing rather than a newcomer. In an interview with Rue Morgue, he’s discussed moving between music and horror fiction, and that cross-media aggression shows up here in the set-piece mentality and the willingness to go maximal on sensation.

The book wants fallout. It does not quietly resolve. It pushes toward a “pandemonium” crescendo and then gives you an afterward-shaped exhale, which feels consistent with a story built on acceleration rather than puzzle-box closure. The ending feels more like a scorch mark than a bow, and while that won’t satisfy readers who want justice neatly packaged, it fits the novel’s thesis that some systems, once breached, do not snap back into place.

The commitment is real, the momentum is often excellent, and the atmosphere is sweaty as hell. But the prose can get repetitive in its emphasis on bodily fluids and arousal-as-engine, and the shock tactics occasionally flatten nuance. Still, if you like crime-forward splatterpunk with a monstrous-lust premise and you want your horror loud, nasty, and moving fast, you’ll have a good time. If you want restraint, tenderness, or a more psychologically varied cast, you’re going to feel pummeled.

Read if you want crime fiction that gets mugged in an alley by body horror and asks for more.

Skip if you prefer dread and implication over explicit, messy, body-forward carnage.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

E-ARC provided by Netgalley and Dead Sky Publishing.

Lord have mercy, what a wild ride that was!
I finished this mere moments ago and am immediately compelled to leave a review.

This read like a literal movie, the sheer amount of action kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

Wretch follows the undoing of Derek, a 'roided up meat head, through multiple flawless character perspectives, each with their own individual storyline.
Tones of action and splatterpunk give Wretch a solid plot paired with plenty of gore.

The novel presents themes of gender inequality, Mafia culture, cop culture, complex parent/child relationships and physical and psychological trauma.

I absolutely recommend that anyone who's drawn to any of the above give this a read.

[Peyton Stich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wretch by Jeremy Wagner pushes the limits of fictional horror and thriller to its absolute boundaries. The concept of a Viagra-like erectile dysfunction drug (Libidonal) wrecking absolute mayhem on society is something I'd never thought of before--and will certainly fear in my foreseeable future. Wagner plots a tangled web of characters that are so unlikely to be related together, and it's a difficult craft that he accomplished. From Chicago gangs to police force to experimental drug laboratories to innocent family members and crazy consequences, this novel certainly makes for a wild ride.

However, I will say that the pacing could have been quicker to the middle and end. I felt like the novel could have been shorter (the middle-end didn't grip me as much as the beginning.) I also wish there was more mystery unveiled regarding the Libidonal drug involved. If you're expecting to see revelations about the drug throughout the novel, it's not there. While Derek's actions are proof enough, I wish I knew how long Libidonal stayed in someone's system, and if the Derek's brother wanted to uncover more about the drug and follow his brother around. There's also some repetitive gore scenes, and it made me want to skip some parts of it altogether.

I will say that the perspective of Derek (the main perpetrator) was the most interesting because it was a perspective I haven't seen much in this genre. How Wagner is able to channel the psychotic, testosterone-driven killer is impressive. If you want carnage after carnage, gore, disgust, and horror (without having issues with ANY triggers, since this book hits all of them), then this book is definitely for you. I definitely slapped me hand to my mouth and gasped more times than I can count during my read. I think I had nightmares after one of my reading sessions? Wagner's imagination is unfathomably creative, and he added a great addition to the genre. However, this novel is not for the traumatized or light-hearted. Read your triggers. Be careful. Enjoy the horror of this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dead Sky Publishing for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

[Joshua Tatum · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is of an ARC provided by NetGalley. Much love and appreciation to NetGalley and Dead Sky Publishing.

I first read about Wretch on the list of upcoming horror releases that someone from the Tor Nightfire staff publishes every month. The description read:

“A brutal unflinching thriller for fans of organized crime sagas, dark detective fiction, and monsters born in the shadows of science.”

My respectful opinion is that it is none of those things. It’s a splatterpunk/extreme horror novel that features a detective and an organized crime figure. I read that description and I was imagining something in the vein of Samantha Kolesnik’s True Crime, maybe mixed with some of Laird Barron’s horror-noir. And that’s probably my fault for assuming. I didn’t do any additional research on Jeremy Wagner; I just took the blurb at face value. I realized pretty early into my reading that I was not going to get what I had initially envisioned, and I also knew that the book was not going to be for me. But I wanted to finish it because I appreciated Net Galley/Dead Sky hooking me up with advanced copy and I didn’t want to do a DNF review. And since it’s not fair to judge a book on what I wanted it to be rather than what it is, I’m evaluating it as a splatterpunk/extreme horror read. And by that standard… I still did not like it.

- I found the writing to be almost unbearably repetitive, particularly in the Tico Tortellio storyline. If you isolate Tico’s first person narration, I would venture to say that over 60% of it is Tico ruminating about how his sons are fumbling the bag on maintaining the family business. It’s the same pontification, over and over and over. And what amplifies my frustration about that is that the sons are not developed at all. They have like eight lines of dialogue between them, and most of those are like, “Hey, Pop, take it easy!”
- The detective’s narrative is a mess. Way too much going on. He’s divorced and misses his ex. He had testicular cancer and had to have an orchiectomy. His partner is dying of cancer. He is an LGBTQIA+ ally who corrects other officers when they use improper pronouns. And like, all of those things are fine, except none of them is explored in enough depth to feel like they actually motivate his actions. He seems mostly motivated by his physical discomfort due to the oppressive heat (which is also commented on constantly yet also has no direct bearing on any of the action). The testicular cancer angle particularly feels tacked on and superfluous, which pretty much leads directly into my biggest gripe:
- Dick joke armageddon. So. Many. Dick. Jokes. I get it - the antagonist is a hyper-masculine ‘roid-rager who takes some meth’d-up viagra and becomes a sex-crazed lunatic. But brother…you DO NOT have to make a “come/cum” pun EVERY SINGLE TIME the opportunity presents itself. I hate to sound holier than thou or whatever, but the shit is sophomoric.
Here’s the thing - I don’t know how serious this book is taking itself. If it’s meant to be over the top in a tongue in cheek way, if the characters are deliberately written as caricatures and hollow archetypes, then I maybe give it a little more flex. But from what I gather, between the press rollout and Wagner’s notes at the end of the book, it takes itself fairly seriously. And if that’s the case then I’m sorry but it drastically misses the mark.

Jeremy Wagner seems like a good dude. In the off-chance that he comes across this review - brother, I mean no disrespect. Keep doing your thing. I’m probably just not the audience for this book.

I would say that if you’re a fan of Wrath James White or Kristopher Triana’s extreme horror, you will probably dig this one.

[Cara Ready · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley for the advanced copy of this title. The issue I have with this book is one I have with a lot of books similar to it. The premise and underlying themes could have been more effective if it were not a splatter punk book. This was mostly well written but a lot of the dialogue was cringey, there were a lot of tired stereotypes, and NO fleshed out female characters. Ultimately not for me!!!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is absolutely horrifying. I have never been so uncomfortable reading a book in my life.

A gruesome tale of the horrors of toxic masculinity and big pharmaceuticals obsession with creating ED medications. Couple with effects of childhood trauma....and the disaster that is Chicago.

[Coffee_Booze_and_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this early. I was very intrigued by the premise, but was a bit let down. The story is all over the place. While I enjoy stories that swap character perspectives or journey back and forth through time, this story felt very disjointed. It all came together, but it took me awhile to get through it. Has great potential and I'm sure others will love it, but wasn't for me.

[Scoundrel J. LaRelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most important factor for me when reviewing a novel, short story, anthology, film, streaming series, etc. is ultimately, “Was I entertained?”

That said…take this 2 cent grain of salt as an “I wouldn’t hit you if I didn’t care!” borderline-abusive bit of tough love directed at the author…
Despite possible repetitive/redundantly heavy-handed beating-me-over-the-head-with-intended-message(s) and/or points an author wants to convey…a few less-than-well-rounded characters…a little (but thankfully not much) telling instead of showing…occasional soap-boxing…overuse of tropes…caricatures in place of (more) believable characters/stereotypes instead of archetypes…mild virtue-signaling and/or pandering to the ‘modern audience’ (instead of winning them over by virtue of story strength & fully fleshed out, multidimensional, memorable characters)…several instances of ‘forced’ dialogue that distracted my suspension of disbelief…or any of the myriad mistakes a writer can make that may unintentionally cause eye-rolling, or induce cringing, wincing, or second-hand shame… (ok, now I’m just getting mean…not my intent, so disregard that last bit).

If an author succeeds at keeping me entertained, I’m very forgiving of faults…and…

Entertained, I absof#€%inglutely was!!!

Which is why I say this with love; because while guilty of each disorderly persons or indictable writing offenses listed above —on one or more occasion(s)— this particular story has the potential (if gone over with *one* more draft pass & extra coat of polish) of being one of the better splatterpunk novels I’ve read in a while…AND a potential contender for 2026 awards (zero exaggeration).

Which is why said sins burn my ⩜⃝$$…It’s SO damned CLOSE to “there” that I wish I were editing it personally, to trim down the more overt, unnatural/unnecessary dialogue (& internal monologue) choices; trim the forced-feeling fat, with the key advisement being, “Trust that your readers will get it the first time - subtlety will elevate both the story and your strength as a writer, especially given the premise…cut back on overselling the authenticity of both the cop -Lynch- & ‘outfit’ boss -Tico- they’re MORE than fine without the repetitive (bordering on excessive) preaching (i.e. Lynch’s progressivism as a Chicago cop) & oversaturation of olive oil & Italian dressing (see: South Side Soprano Tico; he’s The Meatgrinder, not a ‘Gøddamn Kids These Days’ Whiner!)

With a villain as morbidly fun & extreme as (let’s call him ‘Super Steroider’ to avoid spoilers), less is definitely more re: the amount of verbal paint used to illustrate those particular two aforementioned POV leads.

Enough with my tough love —& apologies if it comes off as abusive; not my intent! If my honesty’s a tad brutal, it’s because I really want to see this book $ucceed & shine! Jeremy Wagner hit the mark in truly entertaining me.

Well-earned/deserved praise:
I love how unafraid to ‘go there’ he is with the gloriously repugnant ultraviolence!
Bonus points for the commitment (& caring enough) to have put in the sheer amount of time, legwork, & having subjected himself to (I can only \imagine/ the hours of ear-bending by those who undoubtedly relish in the nostalgia of recounting their misbehavior & boasting of transgressions-past).
Mr. Wagner put himself in potential danger to get things right in achieving the authenticity he undoubtedly sought to inject into this diamond in the rough/hopefully not TOO hidden gem of a damned good read. If only for having gotten “outfit” correct - it was worth it, & I respect his commitment,
& appreciate him having properly entertained me in the telling of the tale deliciously disgusting, delightfully disturbing tale.

I’m rating this ARC (thanks NetGalley & Dead Sky Publishing!) as if none of my overly critical nitpicking were worth mentioning.
WRETCH is SO close to an ‘A’ or 5th star it pisses me off…
I wish my unsolicited suggested tweaks carried the weight of a ‘somebody’ in horror so they’d be taken into serious consideration before publishing.
Not because there’s anything lacking in this novel — I t’s easily a 3.5-4.5, imo — it’s because this bloody brilliant book deserves as many eyes on it as it can get.

I wish Jeremy Wagner & Dead Sky the best of luck (& I shall be checking out both of your bands, good sir).

Edward Lee ain’t lying in his advance praise — I agree, & encourage all who enjoy their horror extra spicy & M for Mature to give this a shot — it’s well worth your time.

[Thanks Again to NetGalley & Dead Sky Publishing for the ARC - it was a hell of a satisfying read!!!]

[This Nurse & Her Parrot Pooch Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, thank you to NetGalley, Jeremy Wagner, and Deadsky Publishing for early access to Wretch in exchange for my honest review.

The short and sweet: this book just wasn’t for me. I was drawn in by the first couple sentences of the book’s description, “if you read one horror book this year,” and “Wretch is a relentless descent into crime, horror, and vengeance. A brutal unflinching thriller for fans of organized crime sagas, dark detective fiction, and monsters born in the shadows of science

It sounded like it would be right up my alley because I do enjoy horror, thrillers, crime dramas, etc. However, IMO, Wretch is nothing but horror torture porn. That’s the best way I can describe this book. I enjoy horror, but I like scary horror more than whatever this was. I was drawn in by the title and the cover, and the bit about the mafia, so I thought it would be great. Ultimately, absolutely not for me.

The first 40-50% of the book felt incredibly slow to me, and every character pissed me off at that point except for Tico Tortellio (my phone autocorrects it to Tortellini, and if I’m being honest, I read it that way a few times too lol), he was just your stereotypical old school gangster stuck in a new age world.

His counterpart, Lynch, was your stereotypical detective and a whiny bitch about his divorce throughout. Yes, you had testicular cancer, and you lost a nut, but then you took it out on your now ex-wife and turned to booze and pill popping. Sure, he turned his life around, but the way he kept up with the “poor me” was just getting on my nerves after a while.

Then you have Derek, the main antagonist. All torture porn, and roid rage. He had a rough childhood, and I really tried to empathize with him, but he turned into a monster early on, and then escalated to demon status IMO. His younger brother Sid? Can’t say I’m surprised at what happened to him in the end. Derek manipulated him and blackmailed him, and he had no spine to stand up and do what was right….

I honestly kept rooting for Tortellio and frankly felt the world would have been a better place if Lynch just said fuck it and let him have Derek. There’d probably be less gruesome deaths, and IMO it’s a win-win.

Overall, it’s 2.5/5 stars for me (rounded up to 3). The story dragged on, with the same thing over and over; it could have ended much earlier than it did. Read if you enjoy endless gruesome torture porn, multiple POV switches, a sprinkle of police procedural/crime and some mafia bits sprinkled in. I don’t know why, but in my head I had it pegged for mafia and gangster type reading, so maybe I set myself up for failure here, but it just wasn’t for me.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... fine. I've been dubbing it "babies first splatterpunk" when talking about it. It's very readable, and the pacing is quite good. The writing often veers into repetitive, and overly tell don't show territory. The main character had cancer, and misses his ex wife. Don't worry if you forget since it doesn't really impact any of his decisions, because he is going to tell you the same information each chapter that he is the POV for. The writing can also be pretty cringe inducing when talking about how characters feel about things like for example, the wild swings between wanting to be PC when talking between cop characters and some cops who "just don't care" is exhausting. I actually agree with most of the respectful politics that come up, but it's so surface level and heavy handed. Long diatribes about a character preferred pronouns that feel like they were copied form a wiki article, followed by "yeah, but fuck HIM" just feel clumsy and added in. Characters motivations are also shallow and basic, and the events of the story play out in a way where nothing that happens changes the characters at all. our main character even gets a cliché reconnect with his ex-wife on the way to a big set piece conversation, and then he immediately puts himself in harms way after talking about how the thing most important to him in his whole life is reconnecting with his wife. I also desperately wish some of the themes were more fleshed out and lastly I was a bit disappointed with the villain as a "monster", he never changes into some kind of hideous abomination that is hinted at for the cover, I definitely expected some kind of mutant monster that became malformed and grew extra limbs like it crawled out of the set of The Thing base don the cover art. In the end, I read it quickly, had some fun with it, but it left me feeling like it was a couple revisions away from being great, which is almost more disappointing than just being bad.

[CloseTheClosetDoor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note for fellow horror readers: The Closet Door Rating System

Because I read mostly horror and psychological thrillers, my dark walk-in closet has become part of my review system. If a book is disturbing enough that I have to shut the closet door before bed so I’m not staring into the void during a midnight bathroom trip, it earns a 5/5 Closet Door rating. The lower the score, the safer I felt leaving it open… even if my husband “accidentally” did.

Closet Door Rating: 2/5 — Book Rating: 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Dead Sky Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Is a violent psychopath born from nature or nature? In Wretch, we see someone who is an amalgamation of both. "Pat man, part chemistry experiment."

In Jeremy Wagner's Wretch we're taken on a drug fueled rampage perpetrated by Derek, a wholly unlikable meat head who loves to see how many roids and drugs he can consume on any given day. Add in a paid trial for an unknown ED drug, and Derek is feeling colors... and more violence than ever before... and that's saying something. Protagonist Detective Lynch is put on call to follow, solve, and stop the murderous rampage while dealing with his own burden of addiction and grief.

The tone of the book is bleak, oppressive even. I'd call this closer to a gore/splatterpunk book than a regular horror novel. Luckily, that's my thing. If it's not yours then you might not enjoy the read. I think overall the tone, pacing, and characters are enjoyable (eh... to observe, that is) to make it a worthy horror read.

What didn't work for me was scare factor was still overall pretty low. If you're not terrified by gore an pscyhopaths, you won't get too much of a scare from this novel. One other demerit was given for the dialogue __ the slang and some of the dialogue was cringe worthy at times. No mobster in any story should ever again say "capisce" unironically and the spelling out and use of "brah" was hard to read.

Overall, solidly worth the time to read. It's not breaking boundaries but it's worth your time if this sounds up your alley.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars…I'm disturbed but in a way that makes you keep wondering what is going to happen next…a car accident you can't look away from…

Once again, picked it for the cover. I'm not much for detective/cops stuff, nor am I into organized mob stuff in my books. I have always struggled with multiple POVs. Most certainly, I don't care about body building in the slightest. BUT, here we are.

The story centers around three men: detective, mob boss, and musclehead. We also get the POV of the people that are caught in the crosshairs. My biggest compliment is to the multi-POV writing. Each character, even the ones we only got a chapter with, were unique and I could imagine being in their head (save, muscleman, Derek, which I don’t think anyone wants to be in). I can't think of another book that has such depth of multiple characters recently.

I also thought the writing style was very easy to digest (even if I wanted to vomit after the gross sh*t). There was clearly effort in editing and creating a well crafted story AND crazy amounts of gore. That being said, this is not a book for the faint of heart.

The trigger warnings are countless but think in the vein of sexual assault especially. I’m talking, using bodies (alive or dead) for some of the most foul things. Likewise, a lot of toxic masculinity…which tends to trigger me.

My biggest issues are with some of the depictions of characters. Some of them had harmful stereotypes often associated with them. If you read Wagner's Afterwords you can get more insight into those depictions and he does mention his thought process during writing.

However, if you like faulty drug studies that lead to horror, the Sopranos with a healthy dose of True Detective, men becoming monsters, characters who all are terrible people and are picking whether to be worse or better, and knowing that there is only one way for all this to end which is mutual destruction this might be the book for you.

The ending is what got that 0.5 up in stars. I was going to be mad if there was any missing carnage/justice.

[Milt Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a recommendation by Ed Lee, it was impossible for me not to pick this up for review. Though unevenly paced and occasionally too introspective and wordy, Wagner's "Wretch" reads like a horror hymn to the city of Chicago, touching on an astonishing range of themes, from cop life and Big Pharma to the local drug scene and the mob. Many years in the making and branded as extreme horror, the book does include certain situations which might unsettle some (brutal sexual assault, horrific killings, child abuse, extreme male toxicity), but there's a significant lack of detail, and the story leans more toward crime thriller or horror comedy or even splatterpunk rather than outright horror: extreme horror veterans won't find much to write home about, and the horror is mostly body horror than extreme horror as such. Its strengths lie definitely in the portrayal of Chicago life, the political and social commentary, the detailed depiction of the characters' moral complexities, and the wry displays of the vileness of psychopathy and revolting toxicity.

The first two thirds are a slow burn, the last third goes quite fast and the last few pages are merely descriptive, more akin to an overview providing closure rather than a detailed ending. As the story progressed, I became more interested, more intrigued, more involved, though I never felt fully invested in the story. The villain (a mod boss) is unlikeable, cruel, selfish, and morally weak, almost what one might expect a villain to be; the good guy (a cop) is self-critical, patronizing, and always reasonable and well-grounded; the monster (a jacked up man exploding with roid rage under the influence of an experimental sex drug) has no redeeming features and is annoyingly lurid and brutish any chance he gets - even to the point of absurdity.

The atmosphere is close to cop movies of the 90s, and the horror is more grotesque than scary. I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys good storytelling, urban noir, and splatterpunk.

[Rochatra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wretch delivers a fast-paced descend into the violent case of a drugged killer on the run. Due to the influence of a special drug, the already violent and aggressive Derek goes on a hunt to test out that new prescription he got from his brother. Meanwhile, a mob boss is angry at Derek for causing a lot of trouble on his turf, and detective Lynch is right on Derek's trail to put and end to all the violence.

I wished this story went a bit deeper with the drug, maybe tells us more about it, and the background of Derek's brother. The description made me expect a more grotesque transformation happening with Derek, more body horror perhaps, so I must admit that left me wanting, though this is partly on me too. I would have also preferred Tortellio and Derek to get more character development, because this exact point brings me to the praise I want to give this book...

...and that is detective Lynch. Despite my issues with the book, I loved Lynch. In all the extreme horror books I've read, he stood out, not because of his job or appearance. Lynch acted human, something I feel lots of main characters in the subgenre are missing. He genuinely cared for people and was understanding towards others. These little moments made the madness in this story more balanced. His POV was always fun to read. The pacing was also great, there is no boring chapter in this book.

Wretch is a book that I only recommend to those who are ready for all the triggers and brutality found in the extreme horror genre. One scene of sexual assault was especially cruel, so take this as a warning before diving into this book. If you like the genre and this book caught your interest, you should give it a try for the detective and hopefully have fun with the chaos found within.

Thank you for the ARC from Netgalley. This review is purely my own opinion. I also want to wish the author much success with this book, since I love seeing indie books on the rise.

[Mike (Hail Horror Hail) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up.
Just finished Wretch by Jeremy Wagner (Dead Sky Publishing) and damn… this thing is feral.
First off — how deep did Wagner go on the mafia research? The Chicago crime undercurrent feels legit. Tico “The Meatgrinder” Tortellio isn’t just a backdrop villain — he’s grief weaponized.

The setup is savage. Detective Donnie Lynch starts the story already stripped down by cancer — physically and emotionally. He’s emasculated, grieving his partner, barely holding it together. Meanwhile Derek Hoffman is chemically rebuilt into something obscene after piling steroids, pharmaceuticals, street drugs, and stolen trial pills on top of each other. Scientists aiming for libido enhancement accidentally engineer a predator.

There’s a brutal parallel running through the book: Lynch loses a testicle to disease while Derek gains monstrous sexual power and biological excess. Disease vs. mutation. Decay vs. grotesque amplification. It’s ugly in a deliberate way.

And back to the Meat Grinder. No spoilers — just know Wagner does not flinch.
The drug concoction angle is wild. Because of Derek’s pre-existing abuse and the mountain of substances he consumes — including the experimental LIBIDONAL — the transformation feels chemically plausible in a grindhouse science-gone-wrong way. I’m genuinely curious how much research went into stacking those compounds and their interactions.

Tone-wise? This reads like lost 90s pulp crime-horror — think Rex Miller energy — fused with splatterpunk/extreme nastiness but with modern crime-thriller pacing. It pushes hard when it needs to, then pulls back just enough to keep it from becoming parody.

Hot, violent Chicago streets. Organized crime. A chemically engineered apex predator. A detective with nothing left to lose.

Mean. Sweaty. Unapologetic.

If you like your horror tangled up with mob vendettas and broken detectives, Wretch absolutely delivers.

[Rhiannon Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see why some might say this is extreme horror, and it is! But I thought it was more of a body horror posing as a commentary on horror in ultra-masculinity. Although the violence is incredibly brutal and absolutely ramps into the extreme category, it was also more grounded in gritty reality than mere shock value when compared to traditional extreme or splatterpunk.

The first third is spent setting up the distinct main characters – we have a cop, a mafioso boss, a scientist testing new drugs and an already supremely angry, roided out dude who gets amped to the nth degree by those experimental drugs and is now running loose through the mean streets of Chicago. The characters are all pretty much men with the female roles seemingly secondary and are mentioned tangentially or as victims of the violence inflicted. It feels like this was a deliberate choice made by the author?

Despite this, I thought Wagner’s setup of the main cast was well thought out and gave me enough to be interested in them and how they would all come together in the plot. There’s a lot of commentary on male masculine behaviour and traits, with some developing or ruminating in interesting ways and others maybe not so much?

This will sound odd, but it was almost like reading a classic Greek epic through the lens of our action-packed, ultra-violent modern time. In fact, the main villain of the piece frequently refers to himself as a god. This is also emphasized by the choice of Roberto Ferri’s excellent “Ecate” as the cover. Vengeance and hubris, extreme violence and tragedy abound in both the classical Greek era and our own current age.

An entertaining, fast-moving novel that kept me hooked right to the end.

My thanks to NetGalley and Dead Sky Publishing for the ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

[Lena Reads Everything · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a sweltering Chicago, Detective Donnie Lynch and mob boss Tico “The Meatgrinder” Tortellio are hunting the same elusive killer. Derek Hoffman, warped by a failed clinical trial for an experimental drug called LIBIDONAL, has become something monstrous - an apex predator driven by lust, rage, and bloodlust. As the city turns into his hunting ground, Lynch and Tortellio race to find him first, unsure whether bullets or brutality will be enough to stop what he’s become.

What a ride! Knowing Wagner has a background in television writing makes so much sense as the pacing is razor-sharp, balancing breathless action with perfectly timed moments of reflection and tension.

The sexual violence is super confronting (massive trigger warnings for this), absolutely gory, monstrous and bat shit crazy. There were a lot of moments I was sickened by the actions of Derek but it was like watching a slow-motion train wreck, unable to look away, not wondering if he’ll be caught but how far the destruction will go before it happens.

While organised crime isn’t usually my go-to, the mafia thread genuinely elevated the story, adding grit and emotional stakes to what could have been solely a science-gone-wrong thriller (which is typically more my lane). That said, I would have loved more detail around the drug itself, its manufacturing, extended testing, and the repercussions that followed, as that element felt ripe for deeper exploration.

There are a few books where you know you’ll not recommend lightly, but it was a fantastic read that you know it will live in your head for a long time (example, Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter and The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum). This is one of them. A grotesque, suspenseful and stomach churning read. 4/5

Thanks to Dead Sky Publishing and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Available from the 24th February 2026.

[Ege]

I can not thank Dead Sky Publishing and NetGalley enough for this ARC!

Wretch is a dark, uncomfortable read that doesn’t pull any punches. Jeremy Wagner leans fully into psychological horror, exploring obsession, shame, and the ways pain can twist a person over time.

I went into this completely blind, and honestly, that made everything better. The only thing I`ll say from the blurb is:
Wretch is a relentless descent into crime, horror, and vengeance. A brutal unflinching thriller for fans of organized crime sagas, dark detective fiction, and monsters born in the shadows of science.

This is everything i want from a psychological horror.

The story follows three different characters: the head of an organized crime family, a detective, and a man named Derek. Each of them is dealing with their own kind of suffering, and what worked best for me was how human the horror felt. The fear isn’t just about what’s happening on the surface — it`s rooted in what’s happening internally. The characters feel raw and exposed, and the book isn’t interested in making them likable or easy to understand.

The plot weaves together organized crime, law enforcement, and personal obsession as three perspectives spiral toward violence, shifting the tension from mystery to something far more brutal.

The atmosphere is tense and oppressive throughout, and the story keeps pushing you deeper into that discomfort.

This isn’t a book you read for relief or hope. It’s intense, unsettling, and emotionally draining — but extremely effective at what it sets to do. Wretch sticks with you because it forces you to sit with the darker parts of people and doesn’t offer an easy way out.

This could easily be one of the best psychological horror novels I`ve read :)

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Dead Sky Publishing for the ARC.

📝 Short Summary
A violent psychopath tearing through everything in his path. Dark crime horror that does not hold back. Not even a little.

Review
Okay. I finished this and honestly just sat there trying to process what I read. This book is violent. Not casually dark. Not thriller dark. I mean, extreme, gritty, in your face violent. It’s one of those stories where you feel like you need a shower afterward because the atmosphere is so heavy and ugly and intense.

Jeremy Wagner can write. That’s not the issue. The writing is sharp, controlled, and very deliberate. The pacing moves and the tone never wavers. He commits fully to the darkness and I respect that. The world feels oppressive, almost suffocating, and you can tell the author knows exactly what kind of experience he wants the reader to have.

For me though, it was a lot. The psychopath at the center of this story is truly horrible. Not charming. Not layered in a way that makes you empathize. Just destructive and cruel. And while that absolutely works for extreme horror readers, I personally struggled being in that headspace for long stretches. It stopped feeling tense and started feeling exhausting.

That doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s not. It’s well written, brutal, and unapologetic. It just leans so hard into the violence and bleakness that I had trouble connecting beyond the shock factor. I like dark, but I also like a little emotional anchor somewhere. This one stays in the chaos.

Three stars from me because I respect the craft and the commitment, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed sitting with.

✅ Would I Recommend It?
Yes, if you love extreme horror that goes all in and does not soften the edges.

[Dave Lizotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wretch is an interesting read as it is merges a few genres and pushes the boundaries of how far any one of those genres can go in regards to violence and gore. With a compelling format of intersecting character stories which culminate in one of the goriest, craziest endings you could ask for.

One of the highlights of this story lies in what is presented as the main character, Det. Donnie Lynch. Lynch's character development showcases a man whom has had his own personal struggles outside of what is sure to become one of the worst days on the job. Lynch is a sort of anti-hero in ways, a man who lost his marriage due to his inability to overcome his own ego. As we meet Lynch he has come to grips with himself and what caused his life to crumble as he navigates the challenges of his job, all while longing for the life he lost.

As the plot progresses we see what started as a crime fiction transform into a mob drama and then shift into splatterpunk territory. It's honestly a mash-up that only a mind as twisted as Wagner's could make work as he seemlessly crafts together the chapters, keeping the action going while not forgetting to tie loose ends along the way and provide the details need to take this beyond just a splatterfest.

This is a crazy read that had my attention through out and at times made me wonder how the hell we got to this point. This is a graphic and grotesque read, so if you are not up for the challenge, don't pick it up. But if you like to be pushed, then let this one take the reigns!

[Rhea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: SA, Extreme Violence, Gore, Drug use, explicit content

Horror fans, you need to brace yourselves for this one. ’Wretch’ is a straight-up descent into the darkest, most unhinged corners of the genre. If you like your horror visceral, gory, and totally disgusting, in the absolute best way possible, then stop what you're doing and pick this up.

The novel weaves together three separate threads: you have a gritty detective, a mob boss named Tico, and a truly feral, drug-fueled bodybuilder named Derek. When Tico’s daughter is killed, his quest for vengeance against Derek kicks off a relentless race against the clock, with Detective Lynch hot on both their tails.

This is not a story for the faint of heart. The ride is packed with gory details, primal deaths, and explicit sexual content. The author doesn't hold back, but honestly, that's what makes it so effective, so naturally visceral that tugs at the primal chord in all of us.

The pace is perfect, it grabs you and doesn't let go till the last page, the writing is enthralling, even in the most disturbing scenes. The characters are real, you’ll care about them, whether you like them or hate them, you’ll most certainly feel something and won’t stay indifferent.

Many, many thanks toJeremy Wagner, Dead Sky Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. This is a voluntary review, reflecting solely my opinion.

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.75 Rounded up

Though I do enjoy a well done crime family story, I am not usually one who reads detective/cop novels but the premise for Wretch just pulled me in so I had to give it a read.

The story is fast paced and is a bit all over the place in some places in the story. This made it a bit taxing to keep up with at times but I suspect the chaotic aspect was intentional. It seems to fit with the graphic and frenzied horror the author delivers. For fans of extreme horror Wretch delivers a visceral, unrelenting ride with vivid writing and deeply disturbing scenes. So casual readers of horror beware you have been warned. Wagner delivers a hybrid of crime fiction and extreme horror that is savage, furious and at times shockingly grotesque. In a way that you cannot stop reading but at the same time you are questioning your own morals for continuing. Yet you continue.

There is an underlying message to the story that speaks to the decay of society, the use or abuse of power and control, and the moral lines people are willing to cross to protect their own. Can vengeance truly masquerade as justice?

Bottom line it this story is not for the weak so if your squeamish, check your trigger warnings but its a must-read if you love horror that pushes boundaries and aims to make the reader completely uncomfortable.