The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

Synopsis:

New York City, 1990: When you slip through the cracks, no one is there to catch you. Monique learns that the hard way after her girlfriend Donna vanishes without a trace.

Only after the disappearances of several other impoverished women does Monique hear the rumors. A taloned monster stalks the city’s underground and snatches victims into the dark.

Donna isn’t missing. She was taken.

To save the woman she loves, Monique must descend deeper than the known underground, into a subterranean world of enigmatic cultists and shadowy creatures. But what she finds looms beyond her wildest fears—a darkness that stretches from the dawn of time and across the stars.

Edition:

Paperback ARC

A great big shout out to Off Limits Press. Thank you so much for the review copy of The Worm and His Kings – I will treasure it!)

My Thoughts:

Have I mentioned before that I love Hailey Piper? I mean, I don’t know her, so I guess it’s more her writing that I love, but I LOVE HER WRITING SO MUCH.

If you’ve been around for a minute, you probably know that I have already reviewed two of her other novellas, as well as some anthology work that I absolutely loved. You can check out my reviews of Benny Rose and The Possession of Natalie Glasgow, as well as the anthology Worst Laid Plans at your leisure. So when Off Limits Press (a VERY exciting new indie horror publisher – I’ll link my prior OLP review at the bottom, as well as my other HP reviews) announced that they were going to be sending out ARCs of The Worm and His Kings I jumped at the chance. I mean, I veritably threw myself at them.

I’m such a sucker for cosmic horror, and Piper delivers it on a grand scale. She fucking DE-LIVERS. That would have been funny if there was some liver-removal connection to the story – there’s not, I’m sorry. Instead, it’s just awkward, but I needed to emphasize).

I loved Monique. She had a rough time of it, because her family refused to accept her for what she was. I think to some small degree at least, this is something that every single person can relate to (right? that’s normal, right??!). Piper does such a good job of placing the reader directly into Monique’s shoes throughout the tale. And let me tell you – being in her shoes gets intense. The dread starts to build right from the start, and it never lets up. Not even when the story ends.

This book is so full of monsters – human monsters, taloned beasts, and even an incomprehensible cosmic horror!

About the Author:

Hailey Piper is the author of horror novellas The Worm and His Kings, The Possession of Natalie Glasgow, and Benny Rose, the Cannibal King.
She grew up in a patch of haunted woods that filled her imagination with ghosts and monsters. Now she lives with her wife in Maryland where she haunts their apartment making spooky noises. In addition to the works listed on Goodreads, she’s a contributor to Daily Science Fiction, The Arcanist, Flash Fiction Online, Planet Scumm, Blood Bath Literary Zine, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, and more. Find her on Twitter via @HaileyPiperSays or at www.haileypiper.com. (from the author’s Goodreads page)

Rating:

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The Worm and His Kings
By: Hailey Piper
Off Limits Press
ISBN: 057877979X
Published: November 15, 2020
Paperback, E-book
124 Pages
Author's Website
Publisher's Website