Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite

In Hellbound, author Su Halfwerk presents to readers three dark and disturbing stories regarding human nature and the place that no sane mind wants to be – Hell. This novella starts off with The Deadening. Bart is a greedy morgue attendant that steals from the dead and receives a worthy punishment for his act. In the second story, The Substitute, fake medium Stan Malcovich is happily cheating people through phony channeling sessions, but his meeting with a woman named Joanna Stark is about to change that. Scorned is a story about Troy and Jenna. After seven years of marriage, the seemingly heroic Troy becomes abusive, but Jenna has a secret way to get even with him.

Simply put, it is excellent. Hellbound is effortlessly engrossing and enjoyable; a well-written horror fiction set around a hellish theme. The prose is strong and straightforward at the same time. All the main characters in each story are well-fleshed out. Halfwerk does not rely on the gore technique for her story. All of them are more psychological, which is the main strength of Hellbound as a whole. The clear lesson here is that karma should be taken seriously. In a way, these stories are also about the degradation of morals and ethics in society.

I’m sure that fans will be delighted to know that one of the most terrifying beings in the genre, Lilith, also appears in one of the stories. All in all, a quick, gripping, and compulsive read from Su Halfwerk. As a fan of the horror genre, I’m very satisfied and hope that my fellow readers with the insatiable hunger for great, dark, twisted stories won’t miss this one.