If there are two things which are difficult to get right in horror fiction, they’re probably vampires and the concept of “extreme horror”. Todd Sullivan’s novella Butchers comes incredibly close to nailing both, but just barely fails to stick the landing. The novella follows several members of the Gwanlyo, a vampire-policing secret organization that offers its members a life of safety and relative prosperity provided they submit to strict rules and heinous tortures under the guise of training. High school student Sey-Mi has been forced into the organization against her will because of her ties to Cheol Yu, a vampire who has gone rogue and kicked off a series of events that lead to an ultimate confrontation with the Gwanlyo.

Butchers is immediately engaging, with a visceral and subtly informative introduction that proves the author’s skill, especially in regards to action sequences. The first half of the novella does such a good job at building up the Gwanlyo as a mafia-like and all-powerful entity bent on controlling its vampiric subjects and protecting itself at all costs. These are vampires that aren’t afraid of grime and gore, and it makes them that much more interesting than the average depiction of bloodsuckers. In particular, I found the description of Hyeri’s torture at the hands of the Gwanlyo harrowing and unique– this is a truly vile form of torture which could only exist among the undead, which makes it not only more creative than most extreme gore but more horrifying as well.

Unfortunately, the book kind of loses track of what sets it apart about halfway through. Fair warning to those who are not familiar with the extreme horror subgenre, sexual violence and trauma are almost always present in this type of work, for better or for worse.  That alone wouldn’t be enough to put off a reader who knows what to expect, and fans of authors like Charlee Jacob and Jack Ketchum aren’t going to find much they haven’t seen before in some capacity. The real problem is that the world which Sullivan began to build and set an expectation for in the first half quickly diverts in the second. Where before we had a shadowy organization that was willing to gruesomely torture its own in ways a human couldn’t hope to survive, the second half of the book tears back the curtain to reveal a pack of supernatural rapists with motivations that feel too crudely human compared to what came before.

Granted, the point is clearly that hierarchies and governing bodies are quick to dehumanize and break their subjects, and that tonal shift from the mystery of an outsider to the grim reality of the situation lends itself very well to the message of the book. It’s just that the focus of the writing lingers on allusions to those acts of violence for longer than is productive for the story, and that makes later plot points feel just a bit too rushed. Butchers would have benefitted greatly from being expanded into a full-length novel, which would have given Sullivan more time to explore the characters and the genuinely great concept. As is, this one is a bit difficult to recommend to anyone who isn’t already a fan of extreme horror, but I’d definitely recommend keeping an eye on Todd Sullivan’s future work because his conceptual storytelling and descriptive writing are both very strong.

Rating 7 out of 10 bone saws