A place for sinners review

A Place For Sinners by Aaron Dries

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


With A Place for Sinners, Aaron Dries has crafted an exceptionally well written novel that defies being placed into a horror sub-genre. There are a lot of elements of horror on display here, and instead of becoming a dumpster fire, Dries manages to craft a masterpiece.

A Place for Sinners follows Amity and Caleb, two siblings who decide to break the chains holding them back in their Australian hometown. What better way to to do this than go to Thailand. An awesome adventure turns into the vacation from hell. The writing in this book is phenomenal. Dries has written a book that is equal parts beautiful, atmospheric, brutal, and disgusting. This book starts of simple enough, but the further in the book you go, the more complex it gets. Dries writes with a voice that weaves together all of these elements to the story, different sub-genres within horror, and multiple plot threads in such an immaculate fashion that he makes it look easy, yet a lesser writer could have easily botched this. There are plenty of gross out moments here, more gore than you could ask for, and savagely violent scenes that will leave your jaw hanging. After reading this novel, I’m not sure that I want to travel to other countries ever again.

Another slam-dunk for Dries are the characters. All of the characters in this book are well developed. They have layers upon layers of depth and feel like real people, whether you love them or hate them. The characters here have real flaws and deal with emotions the way you’d expect people to. Susan Sycamore may be one of the most terrifying characters I’ve read in a long time.

What Aaron Dries has done with A Place for Sinners is written a masterpiece. This book has some of the best written prose I’ve ever seen in the genre. There are times when the story gets complex, and instead of losing the story Dries weaves an intricate tapestry of horror excellence. A Place for Sinners has made Dries a must buy author for me.

5/5 Stars