Another great novella from Darkfuse. I find myself stopping whatever I am reading to read these on the day they are released.

Hells' Door is a dark and horrific painting in a noir frame. DeLuca is a writer and a painter--or a painter who writes? Actually after having read a few of her works, I think there can be no separating the two facets of her talent. She has a painter's eye for detail, color, setting, and composition. Her stories feel complete, organic, and natural. And dark. So very dark. You may find yourself turning away from the pages a few times; but there is beauty on the bloody canvas.

A story of a race against time to capture a horrific murderer before they strike again. Tense. Riveting. Set in and around a steamy club that caters to its client's darkest desires, which in many ways reflects the internal conflict of the detectives investigating the case. How deep can you go into the netherworld of vice and depravity and remain unchanged? Hell's Door is a great detective story, a character study in madness, a horror thriller, and a great work of dark fiction.

Highly recommended. ( )

I sat down last night to tackle this new novella. When I looked up it was after midnight and my world had been rocked.

Hell's Door is a combination of police procedural and mystery, which is very different from Sandy's previous works. This is the story of Lacey, a police detective that has problems following the rules. As a result, she has moved around the country a lot. Now in Providence, Rhode Island, she is partnered up with John to track down a serial killer working out of a club called Hell's Door.

What goes on in Hell's Door? Pretty much everything. It's a combination strip club, drag queen hangout, and all around home to sexual differences and degenerates. The back rooms are dim and filled with people exploring their dark fantasies, no matter what they are.

The scene is set for you. Will Lacey and John discover the identity of this sick and depraved serial killer? You will have to read it and see. If this sounds even remotely interesting to you, go pay your $2.99 right now and buy this novella for your Kindle. You will not be disappointed. This crime noir/mystery/dark fiction story will knock your socks off. Highly recommended!
( )

This book raised one big question that I always have a hard time answering: when exactly should I give up on a book and just put it down unfinished? I hate giving up on a book but at the same time, if I'm not enjoying the journey, then what's the point? In this case, I did finish the book.

Detective Lacey Powers and John Demmings are partners in Providence. Their current case is to find the sadistic killer roaming the streets and leaving bodies scattered across the city. The top suspect is Ramsay Wolfe, the owner of a nightclub named Hell's Door. The detectives do their best to catch Ramsay in the act but the body count increases until the very end.

One of the problems that I had was that I never connected: with the characters, the story, or the book. It felt very disconnected and disjointed. Nice visuals but not a smooth story. Then the logic made no sense. The detectives had a suspect (Ramsay) but no evidence to make her a suspect. When the detectives found some witnesses who put Ramsay close to the scene of the deaths, they say not enough evidence. No bringing her in for questioning. Just "we have to catch her in the act." To accomplish this, Lacey and John go undercover in the Hell's Door nightclub; a club that has women stripping, hookers turning tricks, blatant and public sex, bikers, drag queens, bored housewives looking for some adventures, and more. I'm not saying I've been all over but no club that I've been has had that much of a mix. Anyway, the detectives personally witness enough sex crimes to consider telling Vice officers but "not until we finish with Ramsay first." Really? Why not arrest Ramsay for the sex crimes and then use the warrants to search for clues to the killings? Those were top-of-head. Other incoherent moments include all the major characters wanted to have sex with Lacey Powers, clues that should be handed over immediately are delayed before passing to Lacey, while other detectives know of the serial killer only Lacey and John are trying to find the killer. At the end of the book, DeLuca has a short bio and mentions that she has written and published some poetry books. This helped explain the book a bit since it did paint pretty images. But as a story that flowed, it failed in my mind. ( )

A serial killer is stalking Providence, killing mostly prostitutes. Detectives Lacey Powers and John Demmings have a pretty good idea who's responsible, but lack evidence to make an arrest. They go undercover to keep a close eye on the proprietor of Hell's Door, Ramsey Wolfe, a notorious pimp who rules her territory with an iron fist.

DeLuca does a wonderful job of keeping the reader guessing at the truth right to the final pages with an ending I never saw coming.

The mood of the book is dark, the horror is palpable, and the trips inside the killer's mind are nothing short of brilliant.

"Hello Detectives,

I admire the work you do. We all have jobs to do...some more unpleasant than others.

There are so many of you in this city and I've always wondered just who is looking for me. I imagine what you might look like, and what you might think of my work.

I left something special for you, because I knew you'd come. How many times have you asked yourself why I do what I do?

Please understand that I am a savior, taking away pain and loneliness, cutting off all paths to self-destruction. I am good, so much like you, but you can't see it now. And their blood, their flesh--remnants of all those girls...the souls of the ones I become...give me the strength to go on...to save others.

So, see you around, I've got killing to do. I have several names, but for now I am...

--Azrael

Well-written, dark, yet at times lyrical, Hell's Door slowly builds to a crescendo with a climax I dare you to see coming.

Hell' s Door is published by Darkfuse and is available now at Amazon.com. And, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for free through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

This is horror at its finest. Highly recommended ( )

I think, perhaps, one has to be in a certain frame of mind to fully enjoy a story by Sandy DeLuca. I have read several short stories and novels by her over the last eighteen months or so, and while I can clearly recognize that all the parts of an excellent story are present (mood, characters, mystery, horror, etc.), for some reason they never come together quite right for me. I don't fault Ms. DeLuca for this, I think we are just operating on slightly different wavelengths.

That said, Hell's Door was certainly a fun little story. It's a dark police story, straddling the line between horror and thriller. A serial killer is preying on prostitutes (at least, initially) in Providence. In a nice change of pace (at least, to me, though admittedly I'm not a huge reader of crime thrillers) the reader is offered glimpses into the mind and past of the serial killer. The police investigating the murders have a very clear idea of who they thing is responsible, they just aren't able to find any hard evidence. There are hints about the truth throughout, but there are several pieces of information that fog things up. The big reveal, I feel, was well done.

The actual ending, though, left a bit to be desired. It ended in largely the same way that every Sandy DeLuca story I've read ends. I can't claim to have read everything she's written, but what I have read has always ended in the same general manner. That's not to say it's a bad ending, but it's gotten to the point that when I pick up a novella by DeLuca, I already have a pretty good idea about how things will end, even if the specifics are still a bit fuzzy. ( )