Brandon Ford's Open Wounds #Review

Brandon Ford is a horror author of scary stories I've enjoyed in the past. Open Wounds is different, but that doesn't make the story any less horrific. The book shines a spotlight on abuse: emotional, physical, sexual. It's a spotlight many of us would rather go dark, as the subject of abuse is so very hard for so many. However, it needs to shine brightly to bring awareness to something which still happens far too much in our society.

The story is set in 1981. I was thirteen that year and I am so thankful I did not have to endure what Kate did. Ford was smart setting the story in this era because these kinds of abuse were even less recognized back then. Often, if a girl told what was happening, no one would even believe her. We're seeing this come out in the present time...that abuses were going on back then and no one believed.

I'll be honest. This story is very dark. I sometimes found it hard to continue because it was so disturbing and distressing. Plus, I listened to the audio book which made it even more real. The young voice of the reader made it seem like Kate was really relating the story. I had to keep listening though. I had to know how it would all end.

I love stories that draw me in, while still teaching a lesson along the way. I warn again...it's very dark, and those who are triggered by stories containing subjects of abuse and self-harm (though not suicide) should probably avoid. For others, read it. Learn why it's so important to believe when someone tells you something bad is happening to them. If they're lying, fine, but if they're not, you just might save a life.

About the book
The first cut brings a wave of calm that immediately washes over her. The second, an incomparable bliss. The third, euphoria in its purest, most absolute form.

A twisted and often unsettling glimpse into the mind of an unwitting victim, OPEN WOUNDS tells the story of a young girl’s battle to maintain her safety and sanity after she is preyed upon by a savage predator. She finds only the slightest comfort in scrawling the details of her horrific tale onto the pages of a leatherbound diary. But when her living nightmare becomes more than she can bear, the only comfort she finds is beneath the blade of a paring knife. Night after night, she slices into her own tender flesh, while praying for some escape from a world filled with anguish and torment.

Before long, those leatherbound pages are dripping with crimson and soon, open wounds become ripples of scar tissue.

About the author

Brandon Ford (b. August 28, 1981) grew up in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started writing at the approximate age of 8 and spent a lot of time testing the waters with various genres. He wrote dramas, comedies, essays, plays, and, of course, thrillers. There were few things he took pleasure in crafting more than a good old-fashioned scary story. Throughout grade school, as well as high school, he continued to build his portfolio with various works (mostly short stories and novellas, but a few plays here and there). He’d pass around these manuscripts to friends and teachers for feedback. Knowing others enjoyed his work and craved more inspired him to keep going.

A few months shy of 23, he sat down to pen his first novel, which became Crystal Bay. Arctic Wolf Publishing, a small press based in Georgia, picked the book up a few years later. Shortly thereafter, he completed Splattered Beauty, an ode to his favorite Scream Queens. In 2009, he teamed up with Alan Draven and Jessica Lynne Gardner for Creeping Shadows (Pixie Dust Press), a collection of three short novels. Ford’s contribution, Merciless, was heavily inspired by a real-life kidnapping that took place in California in 2002. In March 2010, Arctic Wolf released his third novel, Pay Phone. Ford has also contributed works of short fiction to several anthologies, including Abaculus 2007 and Abaculus III (Leucrota Press), Sinister Landscapes (Pixie Dust Press), Raw: Brutality As Art (Snuff Books), and The Death Panel (Comet Press). Some of his biggest influences have been writers like Jack Ketchum and the late Richard Laymon. In his spare time he enjoys reading, watching bad TV, and all things horror. He still resides in South Philadelphia. (From Goodreads)

Read my review of Creeping Shadows (a collection by Brandon Ford, Alan Draven and Jessica Lynne Gardner).