Ah, yes, titles, the do or die of books, and in this one, it’s a total “do”, as the title provokes an knee-jerk-pushback-and-think reaction that captivates us to read it. “Love the sinner”, we mean, everybody loves to love, but a sinner?! And then we stop and look at ourselves and say: “hey… maybe this book was written because of the reaction I’m having…” and you get curious about it and give the book a chance. Talk about salesmanship, eh? Hahhahhahaha. Great title!
From the list of chapters or TOC, we get an impression that part of the book title was taken literally, and that part was the part of sins, as there are cha-pters named after a capital sin. Interesting…
What will you be reading? You will be reading a horror collection/anthology by Mo Moshaty , that starts with a punch! Seriously. The book starts with a journal confession that roots you to your spot and brings the atmosphere on a gloomy attention-inducing state that promises horror of unthinkable proportion on the following lines. Wow. To command the attention of the reader in the first lines and scare it, that says a lot about the quality of the author.
And delivery is given as horrors start to be shown to you in the very first lines without fanfare or interludes, but here’s the thing though, you see, when we read horror, we tend to imagine a mixture of fantasy and paranormal, or embedded in those genres to make it more palatable. Guess what? The author did not make this palatable and if you don’t control yourself, you will throw up. Amazing stuff right here. This is hardcore.
After shocking you into attention with gore, and then bringing you back to reality with PTSD, the author advances with the story as if nothing happened, and leaves bread crumbs at the reader, here and there, while building suspense in the background. Very nice.
There are certain books that you read, and enjoy, and there are others that you read and they mark you in every chapter and you have to take a breath because of how deep they go into your soul. This book is one of the latter.
The stories get darker as you read them, and the deeper into the book, the more gory they become. Imagine, imagine, going from PTSD to a vigilante that tortures, torturers, in revenge?! Like, quick escalation.
The second chapter, Wrath, shines because of how dark and creatively daring it is. You will ask yourself if the author did this, due to the details of the descriptions and how cruel the methods of revenge torture were used by the main character. The word “twisted” does not starts to describe it.
One of the loveliest traits of this book are the “prologues” of the stories. No matter how short the tale, there is a letter by one of the characters, that gives you a mood, a thought, a feeling, a plan, but most of all, an intention, and that warms you up to the story that you are about to read.
If you pay very close attention, you will see that , many times, self-centredness is a common denominator to these “sins” in the stories, and how it is mixed with raw and boiling emotion, or selfish motives that drive humans, or inhumans, to do the most brutal things, and not just in physical sense. The last story is an example of how can self-centredness make one lose it all at once. It’s beautiful and raw, and it will turn your stomach if you stop to reflect on these stories, because you will see yourself in some of them. We all will.
These stories here are so eerie at times that one only may ask if we humans are vampires or leeches. That, and “how can we humans go to such lengths to get what we selfishly desire?” It’s incredulous, yet, oh so very real to our day to day lives, that we shiver to ourselves while reading. Maybe the scariest part of this book is that we cannot deny its uncanny resemblance to reality, nor not see ourselves in these stories.
This narrative by Mo Moshaty is nothing but masterful! There’s no other way to put it. We mean, when was the last time that you read a book that the author made you feel spooked, by a conversation between two regular people? Yeah… that!
When was the last time that you read a book that dared you to blink and miss a word?! The magnetism of the narrative is impressive!
The mixture of profound insight on the fallibility of humans and the inner forces that drive us to the point of madness towards others, or oneself, create a reading experience that is… new.
If you love horror, the spooks, the complexity in the details and implications that grip you and don’t let go, well, this book is one you don’t want to miss out. A collection of gems that culminate in a masterpiece that once read, will never be forgotten. Grab you book now and start loving the sinner (*evil laughter*).
Pros:
- Masterful narrative that pulls you in and keeps your eyes racing on the pages
- Incredibly original stories with unforseen plots
- Deep dive into the twists of human psyche and sins/faults of the common man and woman
- Stunning details and atmosphere
- The depth of characters is created in so litlle time that one can only ask: how?
Cons:
None
Lesson of the book: The mind is a dark place and no sin will go unpunished.
Favourite stories: A Battle Between Boys, In the Interest of Time, Free Weight, Things are Tough all Over.
Cover score: 9.0/10
Book Score: 9.2/10
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