Review: Hunger Pangs by Scott J. Moses

 Disclaimer: I received a copy of Hunger Pains from the author in exchange for honest reviews. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hunger Pangs first drew me in with it's cover and title. It is even better than I thought it would be from the praise I was hearing from those who read it before I did.  It doesn't feel like a purely horror novel or even a novel of solely dark fiction.  It is undefinable, both haunting and beautiful.  Scott's work is clearly a labor of love: the writing is tight and clean, excellent editing, and the design work is flawless. I really loved the addition of the introductions to each story in the collection-learning what was the impetus to each story as well as learning more about the author's frame of mind while writing it.

There are monsters in this book of every kind- ghosts, vampires, lycanthropes, and yes, even man himself.  The stories are stories of loss and hunger which are universal to us all:  be it the loss of love to death and the desire to bring it back at any cost, the hunger to obtain power and evil for oneself, bargaining with God to spare a life in exchange for your own, and even driving away those you love most for their own protection.

While I loved the book as a whole, some stories stuck with me more than others and a few made me put the book down all together because they broke my heart. My personal favorite stories in the collection were: Nowhere, Louisiana, Blues Exorcist, What's In Your Name, There's No Going Back to Absit Gorge, and the title story, Hunger Pangs.  I won't write synopses for the stories, you will want to experience them for yourselves.

Scott is a very talented writer. You can feel the care he put into his work in this book. I have no doubt that he will be a writer to watch out for.

5/5 Stars