Hell's Teeth (The Vetala Cycle Book 3) - G.R. Yeates

Title: Hell's Teeth (The Vetala Cycle Book 3)
Author: G.R. Yeates
Genre: Horror
Published: 2012
Formats: Ebook

Available at:
Amazon
Amazon UK

Review:
“Hell's Teeth “by G.R. Yeates is the third book in the Vetala cycle, a rather dark and quite surreal collection of horror novels. Again Yeates has focussed on WWI but this time he has decided to use the Eastern Front as the basis of his story with the Anzac forces being pushed back by the Turks at Gallipoli. In this chaotic place is Tom Potter who must deliver messages between the various commanding officers. However, on one mission he finds himself lost and enters an underground lair where the Vetala are waiting. Whilst Tom manages to escape his respite is only temporary and before long his own personal nightmare begins.

So, the first thing I noticed about this book is that it felt less structured than the previous novels. The reader is dragged quickly into a story that loops back on itself multiple time and jumps between different points in the protagonist’s life. As the story can become rather surreal and quite intense in the visions of horror it portrays it wasn’t always easy to know where I was in the story. The reader really has to concentrate and stay fully engaged with the story or they could easily get lost.

As with the other books in the series, Yeates has created a very dark and bleak world in the novel. It is incredibly atmospheric and the rather surreal and confusing feel of the plot helps to enhance the feeling that you are watching a real journey into hell. I will admit that by the end of the novel the constant barrage of dark horror along with the concentration required to understand what was actually going on did leave me feeling a bit drained.

The writing itself is very poetic and descriptive which has become a sort of hallmark style of Yeates. The beauty of his writing wonderfully supplements and enhances the very dark and terrifying story he is telling. Without doubt Yeates’ prose has been a real plus point to this series and his writing has at times reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft.

Overall, this is another dark atmospheric horror story from Yeates that competently completes the Vetala cycle of novels. I have to say that the rather unstructured nature of the book meant I didn’t enjoy it is as much as the other novels but it was still entertaining enough. Once again, if you enjoy dark and surreal horror novels then I am happy to recommend this this book and the rest of this series.