Coil - Ren Warom

Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.


There’s a twisted serial killer on the loose in the Spires. City Officer Stark needs the best mortician he can get and that’s Bone Adams. Except Bone is not part of his jurisdiction, so Stark has to find a way to get Bone in on the case before more bodies pile up. Once he accomplishes that, they are off and running, but it seems like the serial killer they’ve named Rope, is always steps ahead of them. In the course of trying to find Rope, Stark finds out more than he could possible believe, about his city, his old friend Burneo, and about Bone. What is seen and known, cannot be unseen or unknown.


Set in the distant future, this is one twisted and dark Sci-Fi story. I wish I could say that I came away from it with that deep euphoria one gets after finishing a really good book, but I can’t. I was confused for most of it and the writing just isn’t my style. It seems like everything is a simile or metaphor. I have nothing against these things when used judiciously, but when I can’t read more than a page or two before the entire thing becomes entire passages of symbolism…well, it just gets tiresome. For me anyway. And that ending? Totally didn’t get it and I feel like I missed something huge. There is a lot that I did like: the descriptions of the city and the people are fascinating. Stark and several other characters are pretty good, but I couldn't get a handle on Bone. I thought I'd love him, but I didn't. Rope is terrifying. What I brought away from this is the future is pretty damn bleak. I hope we can avoid that particular path.