Monday, 5 October 2015

REVIEW: Greg F. Gifune - Devil's Breath

Genre: Horror
Publisher: DarkFuse
Publication Date: 7th July 2015
Pages: 190

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Devil’s Breath by Greg F. Gifune from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Also this book is published by DarkFuse and you generally cannot go wrong with anything they put out to the masses.

I have read a few things from Greg Gifune in the past. I have loved every single one of them. It’s been a while but I was hoping he still has that same dark and brooding writing style I loved previously. Man has he still got it or what!

Stan Falk is living a life he would probably rather not. He lives in coastal Sunset near Cape Cod. It’s a mundane life working as a dishwasher in a diner and drinking nearly every cent he makes. It’s better than his old life though. It was a dark, dark place that neither his body nor his psyche wants to return to.

He wakes up one morning with the mother of all hangovers. He can’t really remember what he did the night before. He seems to remember a lot of blood and gets visions of horrific proportions. It must have been a nightmare.

People tell him they saw him the night before but he can’t remember. His bank account was emptied by someone. He really needs to find some answers.

Unfortunately the answers he finds are not what he wanted to find. It looks like he has entered a world unknown to many. A world full of old gods and devils. A world full of darkness and evil. He’s been touched by the Devil’s Breath.

Greg Gifune is a man that has a lot of books out there. Each one is different in so many ways. The one thing that is consistent throughout is the fact that his style of writing is superb. Each and every one of these books is overflowing with a masterfully dark atmosphere that completely immerses you in the particular story you are reading. If you were handed a section of pages to read, not knowing who wrote them, you would immediately know his style if you have read him before. Not many authors can do that these days. This is what makes him an absolute master of this genre.

In Devil’s Breath there are not many main characters to concentrate on. We have Stan, a troubled individual with a past he would rather forget. We learn about this past as the story goes on. It’s not pretty but it doesn’t put you off Stan as a person. If anything it makes you like him more. Sophie is someone Stan works with. He starts to get close with her but realises he is in trouble and doesn’t want her to get involved. She proves to be a strong one that won’t take no for an answer. Duane is a homeless dude that Stan gives food to sometimes. He seems to be a soft sort of a guy but has a lot of secrets.

Then we have a host of other characters on the “evil” side of things. I can’t tell you anything about these ones because I refuse to tell you anything more about the story. Rest assured though, they are horrible, horrible people.

The plot in this book again is quite unique. It has a few different themes within the main plot that may seem familiar from other books you may have read but they are all combined in a way that I have certainly never seen before. You have mysterious old drugs that, when used in the correct way, give you over to the devil. You have ancient rituals and worshipping of a god/demon/devil that is part of everyday life but no one really pays attention to. Apart from the people in the strange cult. You have signs all over the world that are in everyone’s line of sight every day but no one knows what they mean. You have crime and you have corruption. To top it all off you have horror. Dark mysterious horror that Greg Gifune is so very good at writing.

This one switches between what is happening in real time and flashbacks to what Stan can remember of the fateful night. In the beginning this can be a little confusing because you are never really sure where it’s going to go but as the story progresses, it becomes perfectly clear what is happening. The thing I love about Mr Gifune’s writing and Devil’s Breath is that you believe it. There are elements in this story that are fact but you lose yourself in the story so much that you end up believing everything that is happening. That is what makes it so scary to me.

To summarise: A horrific tale of corruption and cults and ancient rituals all culminating in a modern day horror for one man and you, the reader. It’s Greg Gifune. Need I say more?


General rating:

★★★★ really good read.

Horror rating:

★★★★ creepy as hell.


If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer then please consider using the links below to buy Devil’s Breath or any other books from Greg or indeed anything at all from Amazon. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.




Book Synopsis:

In a dying coastal town near Cape Cod, Stanley Falk lives a quiet and unassuming life as a dishwasher. A shell of what and who he once was, Stanley is a man with a dark and violent past who does his best to forget by drinking it all away. But one morning he awakens to find his meager bank account emptied and his memory of the drunken evening prior wiped clean.

Vague memories and terrible nightmares of evil gods, distant planets and a hideous room where torture has been practiced and blood flows like water haunt his every waking moment. Something depraved is intent on dragging him back into the same pit of darkness he’s fought his entire life to crawl out of, and now there are others, in the shadows, watching his every move and luring him closer to a truth beyond comprehension...beyond evil...beyond anything he’s ever imagined possible.

You worship what you do not know.


Called "One of the best writers of his generation" by both the Roswell Literary Review and author Brian Keene, GREG F. GIFUNE is the author of numerous short stories, several novels, screenplays and two short story collections (HERETICS and DOWN TO SLEEP). His work has been published all over the world, consistently praised by readers and critics alike, received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and The Midwest Book Review (among others) and has recently garnered interest from Hollywood.

His novels include CHILDREN OF CHAOS, DOMINION, THE BLEEDING SEASON, DEEP NIGHT, BLOOD IN ELECTRIC BLUE, SAYING UNCLE, A VIEW FROM THE LAKE, NIGHT WORK, DRAGO DESCENDING, CATCHING HELL, JUDAS GOAT and LONG AFTER DARK. Greg resides in Massachusetts with his wife Carol and a bevy of cats.

He can be reached online at: gfgauthor@verzion.net

And for more about Greg, visit his site or find him on social media:


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