It takes a lot to disturb me. I’m disturbed. And that was from reading the author’s note before the first chapter. Besides disturbing me, it also made me more keen than ever to read the Father of Lies trilogy. Because disturbing me definitely doesn’t equate to stopping me coming back for more.
This is one of those books where I would recommend you read the content warnings. I’ll be quoting them at the end of my review. Had I read them first, I probably would have baulked at the “scenes depicting sex and sex acts”. Even now, my brain is interjecting, ‘Or whatever the hell that was!’
Despite wanting to scrub those images from my mind, I enjoyed this read. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say enjoyed. Do you enjoy depravity and gore? Do you admit it if you do?
Psychologist Dr Rachel Hoggendorf has a new patient, David. If you believe him, though, he hasn’t been new for a long time. Not for centuries, in fact.
“He’s an interesting case.”
It’s not clear when Rachel meets David but I assume it was a few decades ago because Dissociative Identity Disorder is still known as Multiple Personality Disorder. David’s story is … let’s go with disturbing.
No matter how ick, ew, I’m not sure I want this image permanently etched in my brain thank you very much, the urge to keep reading won. If this book had been written by pretty much anyone else, I wouldn’t have even ventured past the content warnings, but it’s a Steve Stred book.
Steve’s taken me hiking in the Canadian wilderness. He introduced me to Bruiser. I’m so many books behind but he’s already cemented his place in my must read list. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially when it’s uncomfortable.
This book is absolutely worth all the stars. For the ick. For the what the fuck did I just read. For the disturbance.
Also, that cover is incredible! I would have read this book even if it wasn’t a Steve Stred book.
“Be careful. If it gets out … just be careful.”
Content warnings: “This story features themes and scenes depicting mental health issues, excessive gore and violence, scenes depicting sex and sex acts, self-injury, cosmic horror, and cult situations.” I would also add sexual assault and mention of abortion.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and DarkLit Press for the opportunity to read this novella.
Once Upon a Blurb
Dr. Rachel Hoggendorf has seen it all. An accomplished psychiatrist, she’s always prided herself on connecting to the patients who’ve been brought to the facility, no matter how difficult or closed-off they are. That is, until David arrives.
At first, she listens to what David has to say. How he claims to be four hundred years old and possessed by a demon. She diagnoses him as having multiple personalities and approaches his treatment as such.
But as their time together continues, David begins to share details he shouldn’t know and begins to lash out violently. When Rachel brings in her colleague Dr. Dravendash, David’s behaviour escalates and it’s not long before they begin to wonder if David just might be telling the truth. That he’s possessed by a demonic presence… and it wants out.
A visceral, edge of your seat novella, When I Look to the Sky, All I See Are Stars is everything you’d expect from 2x Splatterpunk nominated author Steve Stred. Frantic pacing, hooves and horns and the growing dread that what lies beyond this plane is a land filled with ash and a place we never want to visit.
Schizanthus Nerd 