Mark Tullius

24 Tales of Madmen, Monsters, and Misery. A tantalizing blend of horror, suspense, and crime stories; each unique but all dark, disturbing, and violent. Between the covers lurk: A tarot card reader who makes house calls. A disabled man in a miserable marriage who is regaining the use of his arms. An ex-con who can't resist carrying out one last home invasion. Bickering business partners that resort to unconventional mediation to solve their problems. An alcoholic pedophile forced to spend time in the desert. A troubled university student who goes on a bloody rampage. An alert detective who makes an unorthodox decision when he finds himself in the middle of an armed robbery. And many more.

An Assortment of Violence

Untold Mayhem

Natali Topliff

Firstly I want to thank Netgalley for allowing me to read/listen to this book. 

It is a very rare thing for a collection of stories to score higher than 4 stars as there is usually a weaker story that lets it down, but I genuinely liked every story in this 24 story horror collection. I wouldn't go so far as to say I enjoyed every story, as some really lived up to the tagline 'An Assortment of Violence', but each was well written and intriguing. Mark Tullius definitely has a gift for the macabre, finding it in even the most innocent of places.

The choice of an assortment of narrators was a fantastic choice, especially with the dark tone throughout, hearing a different voice at the start of each story helped by adding new energy to the listening experience.

The stories that I particularly loved were:
In the Cards This was a solid intro into the book, letting you know exactly what to expect.
The Hole This story gave me serious goosebumps vibes, and I loved it!
Exposed Exposed kept me guessing throughout, which is impressive in a 14-minute format.
No Service This was a brilliant story that I kept thinking about after.
The Season I loved how this was unwrapped to the reader.
Dead Spot This particular story gave me CSI vibes, which is a favourite T.V show of mine.

Alongside violence against men and women, some stories contain terms that could be considered (or are outright) fatphobic, racist, and misrepresentative of mental health. Whilst they work within the confines of the stories, a warning should be in order if any of the above makes you severely uncomfortable. 

Overall I will definitely look to pick up something by Mark Tullius again in the future.

Untold Mayhem An Assortment of Violence

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