Host by D J Doyle

An extreme horror novelette with a suitable warning. Not a good idea to read this while you’re eating your dinner.

Lucy left work early to go on a date, but after being abducted by a psychopath, she ends up as one of his experiments instead.

Can she escape and save the other test subjects before she too is experimented on?

Whether it’s Saw, The Human Centipede or the unnamed parasitologist in Host, these guys make me extremely angry. Their twisted experiments and near preternatural powers don’t frighten me, they fill me with rage. If I were Dr Bruce Banner, I’d be in full Hulk smash mode by now.

There’s not much more to this short tale than to make the reader squirm, which Doyle does to great effect. I’d hope that humans couldn’t survive for long in the conditions she describes, but I know what tortures people have really endured so who’s to say that they couldn’t?

Lucy is likable and the other characters are given enough depth that I cheered them on to escape.

If you like extreme horror and reading about characters getting humiliated and tortured, you won’t want to miss this.

I found Host engaging, with some interesting ideas. A little bit funny, a little bit gross and a little bit infuriating, I award Host…