DARK BITES

Many visitors to this blog are likely to recognize the name Barry Hoffman from his award winning, specialty press called Gauntlet Press , which hosts the release of several legendary authors in the realm of quality dark fiction. Barry has also seen a side to our society that most fear to tread let alone teach in from within the inner-city streets of Philadelphia were true life horror stories were on the sleeves of the kids trying to make it through their school days. Through Gauntlet Press Magazine , Barry ensured that every word in every article, no matter – hell, especially - if the material would fire up controversy and gave a stage for voices to be heard and perspectives to be shared. In other words, expect Barry to pull no punches with his point-blank narrative as an author who speaks from the heart on behalf of his experiences as a teacher, a father and a man with a razor-sharp point to make. With his latest release, BLOOD SACRIFICE , which I reviewed HERE , reader...

Blood Sacrifice Barry Hoffman 2017 Next Century Publishing This is easily Barry Hoffman’s most mature and polished novel to date which isn’t to take anything away from his previous works by any means. Barry has always been a champion of the minimalistic approach and with this latest offering his talent for packing a wallop with so few words has never been more evident. During the prologue alone we are taken on a journey much akin to an emotional roller coaster as we are cast into the backseat of a not yet practicing serial killer and the love of his life. Before the reader has a chance to register what’s going on, we’re careening off the road as an invisible passenger to bare witness to a scene which Barry orchestrates into something that’s as poetically beautiful as it is gut wrenching. And that’s just the first chapter. Following the prologue, we hit the streets to join partners in crime (literarily), Ariel and Thea as they arrive on scene to investigate our killer...