Pedo Island Bloodbath – Duncan Ralston

3.5 stars

Pedo Island Bloodbath was both what I was expecting and not. There’s pedos, there’s an island, and there’s definitely a bloodbath….but there’s also a few things beneath it all that really keeps you interested in the book.

The underlying theme of child sex trafficking is horrifying in and of itself and is something that isn’t talked about nearly as much as it should be. Duncan did a really good job of highlighting this here and of showing the effects it has on those involved and their families. It’s so tragic and adds another layer to this book beyond just being a horror fiction.

This story was very reminiscent of over-the-top 80’s horror flicks, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. The cheesiness helped to break up the heavier parts of the story and provided some much needed relief from the gore and sensitive topics.

I did think that parts of Pedo Island Bloodbath were pretty slow. Those parts didn’t keep me as interested and felt like a bit of a slog to get through. All of the elements didn’t feel as cohesive to me as I thought they could have. The vampire element almost felt like a separate storyline than what the Jackmans were doing despite it being a central piece of their story.

Overall, I liked this read. It was my first of Duncan’s work, and big shoutout to him for providing me a copy, and I’m definitely intrigued by him. I’ll happily dive into his other work!