The Books of Blood
Clive Barker

Even horror has its perfection.
Even terror can be beautiful.
Even death can be graceful.
A butcher. A surgeon. A mortician. All three are artists of the body.
To a butcher, the carving of flesh is an art. He knows where to slice the muscle, how to sever clinging sinew from the bone. To a surgeon, cutting into the human body is an art; muscle and flesh his canvas, the scalpel his tool. To a mortician, the preparation of a corpse is an art. The smooth, silent exchange of blood and embalming fluid is like a symphony to be orchestrated.
Clive Barker is also an artist. He understands the body too. He knows how the nerves send impulses to a riveted brain. He knows how blood surges through veins and arteries under the thin membrane of skin. Barker also understands the brain and the heart. He knows how to plunge the reader into unearthly depths of dark horror spiraling upward to the height of dizzying madness. He knows how to make the body temperature drop to an icy chill, then make the heart pound faster and faster.

This is a compilation of Barker's short stories. Much like the rest of Barker's adult works, this book is not for everyone. If you don't like extensive gore, if you are easily offended, if you cringe at the thought of sex beyond a normal kink, and if you do not want to see what lies behind the line that most authors will not cross, then this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you're not easily offended and can take some of the most bizarre sexual and graphic horror situations there are without flinching, then chances are you will greatly enjoy this novel.

Barker is known for going over the line and pushing the limits of what his readers can tolerate. Ordinary readers would flinch at most of his works. But for those of us who can appreciate his incredible writing and his courage to go beyond the limits of what most people consider to be taste, we are well rewarded with tales that could come from no other author. Personally, I respect someone who is willing to write with no boundaries whatsoever.

None of the short stories are boring, in fact, I can't pick a favorite out of them all because they are all extremely impressive in their own way. If you're a fan of Barker, this is a must read. If you've never read him before, I suggest trying something like The Hellbound Heart (which was the basis of the movie Hellraiser) and seeing if you are enchanted or find it in poor taste. That will give you an idea of what Barker's stories are like (other than the Abarat series which is aimed at a younger audience).

But for those who don't mind the limits being pushed and reading things that are beyond anything other horror authors would dare, I highly recommend this novel. For adults and adults only.

My rating: Five out of five snails.