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This compelling piece of fiction, written with a deft hand, takes the cake for disturbing and depraved. Unwavering in his delivery, Donald Ray Pollock gives us a peek at the world, through the eyes of some gnarly and grotesque individuals. What stands out is the casual ease in which the violence and carnage is served up, sans the antics that reek of shock value, making this deliciously dark plot palatable in some strange and unnerving way. That's not to say the reality these people call life is easy to choke down, especially for those of us that have impulse control and a moral compass; so prepare yourself. Sometimes their decisions are born out of desperation and other times it's pure evil at the helm, or the devil all the time, if you will. Most disturbing of all is the twisted rationalization that tends to happen within the mind—the justification that this act, whatever it might be, is the only way to feel a connection to their maker. 

“It’s hard to live a good life. It seems like the devil don’t ever let up.�

There’s the husband with the makeshift alter, deep in the woods, where blood is spilled in the name of sacrifice. It’s the only way this devoted husband can see to save his wife from the painful end she’s staring down. And his son, forever changed by the bloody horrors he's had to witness, was the one and only character I found myself clinging to—rooting for some sort of redeeming end.

Creepiest of all, the traveling pastor that claims faith alone helped him to overcome his very real fear of spiders. Now he shocks congregations by covering his body with the eight-legged freaks (*cringe*) or eating them (*gag*) to prove his message. Have I mentioned how much I hate spiders? My fear runs so deep, my skin is crawling even writing this. And you can’t forget the pastor’s strange sidekick—a man that opted to drink poison to prove his faith, earning him a pair of shriveled legs and a bad attitude.

Then there’s the husband and wife that spend their ‘vacations� trolling the highway for ‘models�. She's the bait for the next man deemed lucky enough to sate the disgusting photographer and his relentless quest for the perfect picture.

There’s a host of death, destruction and evil deeds connecting two small towns in Ohio and West Virginia, and the way the author pieces the multiple storylines together is shocking in all its perfection. Some might even say fitting, for this dangerously dark cast.