Horror Book Review: Tribesmen by Adam Cesare

“As wrong as the feeling was - and it was wrong - he agreed with the voice.” 
         
​          -Tribesmen, Adam Cesare

Adam Cesare’s Tribesmen, a novella, is one I devoured in less than a day. The story revolves around six characters and each chapter switches between each character's perspective. Cesare’s story mechanics of alternating perspectives is beautifully written and he makes it simple for the reader to keep pace of the plot, leaving more time to enjoy the gore and terror that erupt at an increasingly fast rate page after page. 

It’s not easy to develop and write six characters into a story where each one brings some type of value but Cesare pulls it off. Each character is unique in their appearance and disposition while offering just the right amount of ingredients to the story. The reader hates the right ones and loves the characters that need to be loved. 

It starts out as a semi-normal situation for a film crew and all goes terribly wrong at an alarming pace. Chapter 5 begins the bone chilling visuals that will stay with you while you fall asleep at night. Chapter 12 is when shit gets real, and real fast. 

As I read this book, I was reminded that there is a dark and conspiring voice in all of us. The one that urges us to think about the worst we can do. The voice that diverges us off a sane path. Most of us allow this voice to run through us and then we decide to do the right thing. But, what if we didn’t? What if we listened instead?

There was a point while reading, when I thought to myself: This is literally crazy.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Tribesmen:

“It was now a couple of years later and the girl from the theater was long gone, but the smack habit had stuck around.”

“Sweat dripped between his shoulder blades and his hands shook as he bounded through the jungle, ducking under branches and stopping in his tracks every so often to listen for voices in the distance.”

“Jacque took her by the filthy hand.”

“The wind brought with it the fresh smell of the sea, and a gentle howl.”

“His semi-flaccid bloodstained manhood flapped against his thigh as he marched around the base of the tree in circles.”

“As wrong as the feeling was - and it was wrong - he agreed with the voice.”

“There was no going back from dead.”

Check out other works by Adam Cesare by visiting his website. 

Thanks for tuning in, 
Sterp