4/13/2025 1:01 PM CST

Dear Reader,

It is another indie horror review Sunday for this week’s blog.

Before we get to that, though, I would like to address the upcoming month of May. May 4th is the official release date for “Killer Mike and the Blood Slugs – Grandma Got Run Over by a Psycho,” and with that being said, I am merely inches away from having the files ready to be on the lookout for ARC readers. When all is said and done, Grandma will be approximately 10,000 words, and you could probably read it in a sitting if you were so inclined.

Also, most likely coming in May, my horror short “The Bloodwitch” will be featured as an audio play on Wilhelm’s Frightening Tales, a horror podcast with a great host.

This brings me to my point. “Killer Mike and the BLOOD Slugs?” “The BLOODwitch?” This wasn’t intentional. I promise. It also wasn’t intentional that the Blood Slugs and the Bloodwitch happen to share certain proclivities. They were written so far apart, I swear. I came up with both ideas very spontaneously and organically, and they both just happened to lead to the same obvious conclusion.

The Blood Slugs came first from a very deep part of my unconscious, whereas the Bloodwitch came from a very silly impulse that I couldn’t NOT see through to completion. I promise that not all of my work will center around antagonists with an obsession for consuming blood.

I hope I haven’t given away too much about “The Bloodwitch,” as I think it is going to be a great time, and I can’t wait to tell you when it is out.

Without further ado, here is a review of what I am going to call an extreme religious slasher!

In Absolution, the Second Coming Delivers an Unexpected Rapture

Review: Absolution – K.L. Allister

My Verdict: A Splendor of Rage and Gore, Part Religious Subversion, Part Dark Comedy

 

I see ARC requests go out all the time, and I often want to participate, but when I see the deadline they need a review by, I think about my current to-dos and various TBRs, and I usually pass. I have a habit of overextending myself in these kinds of things.

But one day I saw Allister requesting ARC readers for his story Absolution. I saw the image of Jesus on the cover, radiating like a blood sun, saw that it was an extreme horror story, and said, “Well, I think I have to review that.” So, I signed up.

Immediately, I regretted putting the extra pressure on myself. Another obligation?! Why did I do that? I must be a glutton for punishment. Days went by. I never saw my ARC copy. Allister released Absolution. I figured that I wasn’t chosen as a reviewer or got lost in the shuffle.

Cue about a week ago. Two weeks? For a reason I don’t remember, I checked my spam folder, and lo and behold, there was my ARC copy of Absolution. Now, I was a traitor as well? I pictured Allister, stewing behind the mask, plotting my death for not living up to my end of the bargain.

Ok, enough stalling. This book is messed up. Like really messed up. The basic premise is that Jesus has come again. He’s a full-grown man, he is pissed, and apparently has been pressing iron because he has no problem dismembering people with his bare hands. Jesus is mad at God, mad at the human beings; hell, I don’t think there was anyone in this story he wasn’t mad at.

Absolution is a gonzo slasher on steroids where Jesus is the killer. The only begotten son of God goes on a psychopathic rampage through a city, Sin City, on Christmas, where there is no shortage of gore and darkly comic moments. More than once, I was tricked into thinking, “Oh hey, this must be our main character(s).” Only to have those characters totally eviscerated minutes later. This kept working on me, to my amusement. Allister would provide me just enough to start becoming invested in some new character, then pull the rug. Honestly, hilarious.

I also would really like to note Allister’s effortless poetic depictions of gore. The prose has the beautiful intensity of the macabre down pat. There were many times during my readthrough that I thought, “Golly, this gore really reads beautifully.”

All of that was fun and good, but Absolution really pulls it together in the final third. I don’t want to give away what happens. I wouldn’t really call it a twist so much as the inevitable, but I was still pleasantly surprised with the way things played out. Let’s just say a couple other heavy hitters show up to the party.

As I finished, I thought, “Well, that was a bit of blasphemous fun, wasn’t it?” But the more I think about it, I think the story has done something quite clever. It’s a near-perfect subversion of the story of Jesus we all know, and yet somehow faithful to the original tale, just twisted. I don’t want to overexplain it, but Allister did something pretty cool here.

If you like both extreme horror and religious horror and you wish those two genres had a baby that felt like a 70’s exploitation film, this is going to be your jam. Even if you really like Supernatural but you wish the show was way more hardcore, this is for you. Go check out Absolution.

“Man’s reckoning has come, and I deal in the business of Death.”