Go Down Hard - Ali Seay

 

This horror/thriller follows Meg and Jack. Meg is moving in to a house next to Jack's farm and Jack is instantly intrigued with Meg - she's beautiful and, more importantly, alone which makes Jack think she'd be the perfect new victim.  Meg is looking for her own private area to go about her work undisturbed.  After a traumatic event in her childhood, she's decided to become a guardian angel, of sorts, and turn the tables on predatory men.  When Meg's most recent victim escapes and run's to Jack's house for help, she's sure she'll have to kill her new neighbor as well.  But when she barges in on Jack cleaning up his most recent victim, they realize they have more in common than they initially thought.  They have an electric attraction to one another, but the only question is: do they want to kiss or kill?

TW/CW: rape of a minor, abduction, torture, gore 

I picked this up because I've heard it pitched as a horror/romance and I was intrigued as an avid romance reader and a growing horror reader. I even read it as part of a Dark Romance Readathon.  And while I really enjoyed this read, I do just want to clarify for any other genre-romance readers out there that this is not a "capital R" genre romance.  It does not fulfill the technical requirements of the Romance genre.  I'd categorize this as a horror with some really great romantic-ish tension between the characters, but that's about it. 

The pacing is fantastic.  This was a shorter read (166 pages) and the story really only takes place over a few days so we are full speed ahead from the beginning.  I would absolutely recommend setting aside an afternoon and reading this start to finish.  I selfishly wanted more of the cat-and-mouse dynamic over a number of different situations because every interaction between these two were just crafted so well.  When I take a step back, I think this story included everything it needed and nothing extra.  I didn't feel myself getting bored or annoyed at any part.  We get reveal after reveal in pretty quick succession and then we're flying toward the inevitable conclusion of what happens when two serial killers meet.

The characters are fantastic and Seay was able to really walk the line between making them likeable enough but not too likeable. They're both oddly charming and charismatic but we also see both of them hunting and killing on page and we get their inner monologue explaining how satisfying killing is for them. I found myself rooting for them each at different times during my reading and, for a brief moment, I was actually hoping they'd end up in some sort of weirdly loving relationship. This is told in dual POV which really helped solidify the characters considering the book is so short.  It felt more like a 70/30 split between Meg and Jack's POVs so we do get more from Meg.  I really liked the choice to make Meg's backstory told through flashbacks because it made those traumatic experiences so much more vivid to the reader rather than just having Meg make some off hand comment about it down the line. 

The tension was a really great mix of danger and sexual tension.  I really loved the choice for both of them to find out at the same time that they are both serial killers so it really feels like all the cards are on the table.  We get some inner monologue from both of them that this is a new feeling for both of them and they really aren't sure if they want to kill or kiss the other person.  They end up in this sort of holding pattern for a bit while they are both trying to figure out what they want to do next while at the same time being a little cautious because they know what the other person is.  I loved that, since we're so in the character's heads, the reader also doesn't know if they're going to end up killing each other or not or maybe if they'll have one night together to get it out of their systems before getting onto the killing part. 

The gore was really effective and really well written.  Seay does a great job of giving the reader just enough details to really sell it but it never crossed the line to gratuitous for me.  Seay also managed to keep up this balance even in the more action-heavy thriller portions of the book. The gore level reminded me of a really well-balanced slasher movie where we certainly see and get the gory details, but it was never so over-the-top.  

Overall, I'm absolutely in love with this book and it gave me everything I wanted. Fantastic tension, dynamic characters, and a thrilling 3rd act. Would highly recommend reading in one sitting.