D.O.A II: Extreme Horror Collection, edited by David C. Hayes and Jack Burton

Blood Bound Books, 2013

ISBN 978-0-984978274

Availability: paperback

D.O.A. II continues the extreme horror begun in the first anthology … and I am an unashamed lover of extreme horror.

Some of my favorite stories included:  “If Memory Serves” by Jack Ketchum, where a therapy patient with Multiple Personality Disorder was horribly abused and tortured by her parents and the Satanic cult they belonged to; “Anointed” by Lynn Smith, about a clogged baptismal font and the hapless plumber who attempts to unclog it, only to become possessed for his trouble; “A Scalene Love Triangle” by Kerry G. S. Lipp, which deals with a love triangle that comes to a horrible end; “Slice of Life” by Thomas Pluck, about two very damaged people who meet and the results of that meeting; “One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale” by Robert Devereaux, in which a father and son reincarnated together and suffer an intriguing aftermath; and “STD” by David Bernstein about an especially nasty sexually transmitted disease.

D.O.A. II is, overall, an excellent collection of truly horrid and disturbing stories, and if that’s your thing, then I highly recommend this book. As with any anthology, however, there are a few stories that I wasn’t crazy about. They weren’t bad stories, I just found them either boring or confusing. As I said, though, I love extreme horror and there is plenty of that included here. Recommended.

Contains blood, gore, violence

Reviewed by Colleen Wanglund