Brandon’s Reviews > Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three > Status Update

One of the first stories I've ever read by Barker was from a later Book of Blood, about knots of string that summon monsters when unwound. It was very creative in its bizarreness, and stuck with me for twenty years. This "Shroud" story is quite similar. Who else could conceive a story about a dead man willing his spirit to possess the shroud laid over him at a mortuary?

"Rawhead Rex" is certainly among the most straightforward of the stories collected here. But I like how he doesn't understand the power of fire very well, and fucks himself up quite a bit.

"The only women who appreciate cinema are overweight." - Clive Barker, paraphrased

"New Murders" is very good as well, but now that's two bestiality stories in a row lol

"The Skins of the Fathers" has an interesting feminist subversion of judeopatriarchal demonology. It's blackly humorous how Davidson just gets fucked over for no reason.