Nang Tani by Lee Franklin

Shane is racist, sexist, homophobic, and outright arrogant in every way. Hating him and watching a female deity from Thailand force him to do vile things was immensely satisfying. I don’t care that he had a bad childhood. Boo hoo. Nang Tani doesn’t care either. The fact that she forces him to watch through his own eyes while she controls his body and mind transforms him from a stupid jock character to an intriguing protagonist.

    This is splatterpunk. And it is good. The gore is on point, and man, does it have meaning.  Franklin takes what appears to start as a simple horror story and turns it into the gory mash of female vengeance and murder mystery (for the police, not you and I, we know who did it).  

    Ray Bradbury’s “Illustrated Man” is one of my favorite books, and I love tattoo-related stories.  So, I was impressed with Franklin’s unique way of describing the tattoo coming to life. It made me want to look down at mine and say, “You better not!”

   The sequel “Rak Ruex” is out now, and I am seriously looking forward to reading it. Pick this up. It’s a one-sitting read.