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There’s so many different subgenres of horror that it can be a little dizzying & confusing. I really don’t get overly caught up in trying to pin down the exact subgenre of anything, if I’m honest. Whether that’s different types of metal (like if you want to explain to me the difference between sludge, stoner, and doom metal, I’m probably just going to zone out a little), or different types of horror novels.

At the Spooktastic Book Fair last fall, there was a cool panel I got to listen to that featured Kristopher Triana (an author I’ve been planning to read soon), and he spoke at length about the differences between extreme horror and splatterpunk. I’ve since read a lot about the two subgenres & I think while it’s still a bit fuzzy for me, I get the general idea. There’s obviously some overlap between the two, but I think I can see what would make one story lean more towards extreme horror than splatterpunk. 

But certainly, horror novels exist on a spectrum. And I don’t often wade into the extreme horror end of the pool. I’ve read plenty of Nick Cutter, some Jack Ketchum, and I think Alison Rumfitt’s two amazing/grotesque novels, TELL ME I’M WORTHLESS and BRAINWYRMS deserve a space on anyone’s list of extreme horror. 

All of this is to say, Wrath James White’s RABBIT HUNT is probably the most extreme thing I’ve read to this point. 

Maybe.

And I wasn’t even sure I was going to review this book. But the more I reflected on the reading experience, I realized I had a lot of thoughts. And then I read this blog post by the author that really helped crystallize a lot of things I had felt while reading the book. And so I wanted to make some space to get some thoughts down. 

The general premise of the book (this is from the back cover): “Taking the ‘redneck psychopaths in the woods’ trope and turning it on its head”

A group of four friends, Mooky, Rashad, Steve, and Big Mike have all gone their separate ways since college. They have jobs, families, responsibilities (well, not Mooky). But they decide to “get the band back together” for a fun weekend in the woods, doing the thing that bound them all together in college: going on a rabbit hunt.

We learn very quickly that a rabbit hunt is a murderous killing frenzy, and the boys have arranged to meet up with a group of white women who sexually fetishize Black men. 

The violence starts fast, goes to places I really never imagined, and rarely lets up. 

Here are the content warnings for this book, as provided by the author: 

“This novella contains acts of extreme violence, torture, rape, sex, sexism, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sodomy, homicide, sadism, masochism, cannibalism, racism, racial violence, racial language, racial stereotypes, necrophillia, police brutality, drug-abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, homophobic language, infidelity, sizeism, classism, feces, vomiting, blood, gore, drowning, macrophillia, lies, betrayal, politics, religion, destruction of property, reckless driving, severe weather, harsh language, smoking, gluten, dairy, and may contain nuts.”

So yeah, wow. That’s a lot. And all that most definitely happens. You won’t miss any of it. Honestly, super appreciate an author that puts content warnings in their book, even with the little humorous jab at the end. 

There was so much about RABBIT HUNT that surprised me, but then my reactions were only bolstered by the blog post from White that I linked to above. Because parts of this book are fucking hilarious. There’s a huge element of satire to the whole thing, and I think if you miss that, you’ll only be repulsed. 

I mean, I was repulsed anyway. But yeah, this book is funny too. It’s also wildly progressive & overtly political, and White calls attention to some of his characters own misguided approaches to social justice. But for sure, the book also confronts racism in its many different forms, from the extremely subtle to the most direct. 

Some of the men maintain that they are doing this “for the cause,” that all this violence against white people is a form of reparations. They’re militants. Revolutionaries. But then other members of the group are just like, hmmmm, no I think we are all just fucking deranged bloodthirsty sociopaths maybe? 

So it’s…complicated? 

There’s just a lot to unpack in this fast-moving novella. The violence is so over-the-top at times, bordering on slapstick. But oof, it is deeply, profoundly disturbing. This is not something that will be for everyone.

Hell, I’m not totally sure it was for me. But also? I enjoyed it. I’m cautiously interested in reading the sequel. And I’m really impressed with the way that Wrath James White can write something so shocking, subversive, and upsetting, while also kind of taking care of his readers (both with the content warnings and the blog post). This was quite a bit outside my comfort zone, but definitely has me wanting to continue to dip my toes into more extreme horror.