‘Defilement and Other Stories’ is a collection of six queer horror short stories. Each of which entirely different tone and pace from the previous. And a large cast of diverse characters with a wide age range. 

I appreciate the preface and the list of trigger warnings the author gave for each story, but as they said it wasn’t an exhaustive list and boy did I add a tonne more. 

Without spoiling anything, because each story was so different from each other and not particularly connected, I decided to rate them all separately. The first story, Digging, I gave only two stars as I felt this one took too long to get into it and ended very abruptly. 

The second story, Deathshed, I gave 4 stars and I must say I really enjoyed this one. I love the whole conspiracy theory plot and I do love sapphics so this was a top read for me, but I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of a satisfying conclusion to the story. 

The third story, Garage Doctor, I gave five stars and this one was my favourite. This one was a truly horrific depiction of conversion therapy with a very satisfying revenge plot and was very well fleshed out. Loved it, although it was definitely the most terrifying due to how realistic this kind of thing is. 

The fourth story, Petting Zoo, I also gave a five stars. I loved the fat ace rep, although there is heavy talk about weight and dieting which is always uncomfortable. This one was very well fleshed out, it had a great plot and had me very on edge. 

The fifth story, Torture Device, was my least favourite and I gave this only one star. This one was so boring and I really did not see the point of it at all. 

And finally the last story, Defilement, was a four star read. This one was kind of confusing because it does take a while to get into but is pretty cool! I quite enjoyed this one, definitely not a favourite but still enjoyable. Very very creeping and gorey. 

Overall, I quite liked this. I don’t know if I’d ever re-read it as horror isn’t one of my top genres but still enjoyed the time I spent on it! I would heavily suggest you check my list of trigger warnings before you pick up this book though because a lot of horrific and disgusting things happen throughout it. 

Representation - Amputee (leg) (MC); Asexual (MC); Asthma (MC); Black (MC); Depression (MC); Fat (MC); Gay (MC); Lesbian (SC); Middle Eastern (MC&SC) Muslim (MC&SC); POC (MC&SC); Sapphic (MC); Sapphic Relationship (MC)

TWs/CWs - Ableism; Alcohol Consumption; Amputation (leg); Arachnid Monsters; Beheading; Bestiality (inferred); Blood; Body Horror; Bug Consumption (forced); Child Death; Child Endangerment; Child Neglect (inferred); Corpse; Corrective Rape (inferred, not depicted); Cussing; Dark Web; Death; Death by Cancer (off page/mentioned); Death of a Parent; Decapitation; Disturbing Imagery; Drowning; Drug Reference; Excrement; Exorcism; Extreme Conversion Therapy Methods; Extreme Nationalism; Fatphobia; Fire/Fire Injury; Force feeding; Gaslighting; Gore; Gross Topics; Harm of a Child; Homophobia; Hypnotism; Inferred Islamophobia; Infidelity; Kidnapping; Military deployment (discussed); Mind Control; Murder; Necropholia; Nudity; Paranoia; Physical Torture; Porn; Psychological Torture; Racism; Religious Extremism; R-slur; Self-Inflicted Torture; Sexist Comments; Skeletal/fossil bones; Snuff Films; Stressful Situations; Tar Monsters; Transphobia (graphic); Urine; Violence; Vomit (mentioned)