Name: Hammers on Bone
ISBN: 9780765392718

Cassandra Khaw

John Persons is a private investigator with a distasteful job from an unlikely client. He’s been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid’s stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable. He’s also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he’s hunted gods and demons, and broken them in his teeth. As Persons investigates the horrible McKinsey, he realizes that he carries something far darker. He’s infected with an alien presence, and he’s spreading that monstrosity far and wide. Luckily Persons is no stranger to the occult, being an ancient and magical intelligence himself. The question is whether the private dick can take down the abusive stepdad without releasing the holds on his own horrifying potential. Hammers on Bone is a new novella from rising author Cassandra Khaw.

Hammers on Bone

Cassandra Khaw bursts onto the scene with Hammers on Bone, a hard-boiled horror show that Charles Stross calls "possibly the most promising horror debut of 2016." A finalist for the British Fantasy award and the Locus Award for Best Novella! John Persons is a private investigator with a distasteful job from an unlikely client. He’s been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid’s stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable. He’s also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he’s hunted gods and demons, and broken them in his teeth. As Persons investigates the horrible McKinsey, he realizes that he carries something far darker. He’s infected with an alien presence, and he’s spreading that monstrosity far and wide. Luckily Persons is no stranger to the occult, being an ancient and magical intelligence himself. The question is whether the private dick can take down the abusive stepdad without releasing the holds on his own horrifying potential. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Justin Ferrell

Well written and a very cool idea but the execution didn’t really land for me.

Maggie Gordon

Hammer on Bone is a Lovecraftian noir story featuring a PI that's more than what he seems. The world that of today, but our protagonist is straight out of the 1940s, and the monsters are from an endless time. The prose is driven, visceral, and oh so creepy. My only complaint was that the novella form didn't allow the author room to really let the world and the story spread out. Still, another excellent offering from Tor's novella program.

Sunyi Dean

Received a free promotional copy of this novella. It's noir meets cthulhuesque mythos meets grimdark future London, with a possessed and twisted gumshoe investigating a family domestic that soon spirals into something bigger and darker. The voice and grimness were well realised and the story was gripping if sad. I lost track of the worldbuilding at times.