WE SOLD OUR SOULS – Grady Hendrix | Looking For a Good Book

In the 1990’s the band Dürt Würk, a heavy metal band, looked like it was going to sky-rocket to success until the lead singer, Terry Hunt, left the band for a solo career, where he achieved tremendous success as Koffin. His bandmates have had nothing but misery and rotten luck since he left, despite their talent and drive.

Some twenty years later and Kris Pulaski, one of Dürt Würk’s original band members, currently working as a night manager at a Best Western, learns that Terry’s success may have come at a price – if what she’s heard is true, Terry sold not just his soul to the devil, but he sold all the band members’ souls in exchange for his success.

At one of the largest metal music festivals in the world, Hellstock, Kris wants to confront Terry and get her soul back. But getting to Terry isn’t going to be easy. On the other hand, what more could Kris have to lose?

Gary Hendrix is one helluva terrific writer!

I requested a copy of this book based on my enjoyment of Hendrix’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which took me by surprise and which I truly enjoyed. This book is also a really fantastic read.

Aside from building a dark, horrific story with careful precision, letting each moment sucker-punch us and then moving on, Hendrix gives us some characters we kind of like, despite being dirty and grungy and part of something that’s foreign to us (how many of us have been in a metal band?), we can identify with these people.

Horror is difficult to sustain in novel length, though Hendrix doe it very well and I think a large part of that is on the strength of the characters. There’s a solid story here – there’s a goal, there are obstacles, and the journey is fraught with peril, but because we bond with these characters – and I can’t help but find it strange that we do, and yet … we do … the journey becomes something that we invest in.

It is such a strength of Hendrix’s that he can take subjects that I would have sworn I would have no interest in reading about (here we have heavy metal music, and in My Best Friend’s Exorcism we had teen girl bff’s) and gets me interested and involved. That is powerful writing.

Looking for a good book? If you thought you didn’t like horror fiction, you need to try Gary Hendrix. If you already love horror fiction, you’ll want to read We Sold Our Souls.