
Hello, horror fiends! Dustin here again with another edition of Recent Reads. Well, it’s just Read this time. Your boy’s kind of been in a reading slump. Okay, and a writing slump too. But you know what? It’s nothing a little horror fun can remedy.
Division X by August Hill
I’m always in the mood for something fun and bloody. After a hot and heavy experience with The Damnation Game, I was, ahem, game for something lighter but still satisfied my cravings, which is why I’d like to thank August Hill and Tina Hill for getting a review copy of Division X sent my way. Seeing that I loved Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield, they figured I’d love Division X too, and they figured right! It is a book that takes you on a gruesome adventure that matches wit, horror, and heart.
Just published this year alone, Division X is a horror-adventure-thriller written by August Hill that tells the story of a young woman who finds herself afflicted with a werewolf curse after experiencing a vicious attack. Soon after, she finds herself captured by a mysterious organization that solves paranormal threats. A cure for her curse is promised but she must do work for them or face experimentation.
Right off the bat, I’m going to go ahead and say I loved this book. At first, I was trying to feel what it was going for after the first few chapters. Oh, the beginning chapters were absolutely amazing. It’s gruesome bloody, violent werewolf stuff that’s easy to read through. The prose is more practical than flowery, which I appreciated, especially for what the book is going for. It’s not like extreme horror levels of depravity — I know some of y’all reading this read more intense stuff than me — but I was shocked at times during these opening chapters.
Throughout the rest of the book, Mr. Hill’s prose is just as practical but another thing I want to touch on is how witty it is. It’s very tongue-in-cheek. I didn’t laugh out loud but I was smiling deep inside, but I’m not a person who laughs a lot anyway. Okay, so yeah, the dialogue is pretty snappy but not annoyingly so. Like, it’s the fun kind of banter that I’d easily picture being cinematic. The characters are all very distinct and it was easy for me to picture every one of them, even the supporting characters. I liked how the author is able to craft these characters that are easy to know without really going super deep into their backstories. We know our main character Randi wants to be a writer, we know she has a good heart and all that.
With the supernatural organization stuff, with Randi being partnered with a guy named Briggs, with the episodic feel of the book, it reminded me of The X-Files but with a bit of a sharper edge. Now, I’ve never seen more than, like, 3 episodes of the show but that’s definitely what I pictured. I say that there’s an edge to it because, despite the humor and amusement brought about by our characters’ reactions, the book still finds ways to catch me off-guard with the horror. Like I said, August Hill is good at snap characterization so you could get to know a newly introduced character really quick and like them, then bam they’re killed without much fanfare. Some of the horror elements introduced are also messed up, especially in the first case that Briggs and Randi handle as partners. The rest of the cases still had their shocks but I found this to be a bit disturbing.

Speaking of the cases, I also enjoyed how Mr. Hill shows his appreciation for the horror genre with references to known works in the horror zeitgeist. It’s a mix of callbacks to popular stuff and more obscure horror content. This is actually one of the things that made me feel like the novel had X-Files inspirations, especially with that first case. It reminds me of this infamous episode of the show that I read got banned from TV. If you know, you know.
That said, I liked that it references these other works without seeming like he’s just aping off of them. He finds ways to incorporate them into the plot that feel distinct and unique instead of derivative. The last case in the book is a testament to this as our characters have to solve a case that may be supernatural, extraterrestrial, or both. This last case is probably my favorite as it changes things up. Previous cases established that we’ll be getting a Briggs and Randi dynamic, or that the organization will be heavily involved. In this last one, we focus on people who are truly unprepared for what they’re dealing with. It’s a mix of familiarity and unpredictability that kept me on my toes. Not only am I racing through the pages to figure out what was happening, but I was also hoping against hope that my favorites make it out alive.
When I look back on my experience reading this book, I don’t have any major complaints, really. However, I feel like the way things ended was abrupt. I realize that this is the first part in a four-book series but I wanted a bit of closure to all the things we’ve established in previous events. I guess that will be covered in the upcoming books so I will stay tuned!
That is going to be it for this round. Keep your eyes peeled, dear readers for I got the opportunity to talk to Division X‘s author, August Hill. Watch out for my next post! In the meantime, check out Division X for yourself by getting a copy on Amazon.
More Book Reviews
Sinister Legacy (2023) Book Review: An Erotic Horror Novel
Harleigh Beck’s 2023 novel Sinister Legacy came highly recommended as the go-to title in horror erotica, a strange subgenre that is not quite dark romance and not quite pure horror….
Night Tastings Part One: The Ingress by Bervi Adams – Book Review
Night Tastings: Part One: The Ingress is the first part of a trilogy of books by new author, Bervi Adams. Set in the 19th century, Night Tastings: Part One introduces…
THE DEEP (Book Review): Ocean-Deep Body Horror!
To me, there’s nothing scarier than big bodies of water and what lies beneath. Naturally, this gives author Nick Cutter’s book, “The Deep”, an advantage in scaring my pants off….
The Shards (2023) Book Review | This Means Nothing To Me
Published while he was still in college, Bret Easton Ellis’ debut novel Less Than Zero (1985) established themes of isolation and excess still present in his work today. The narrator,…
Death Ward 13 Book Review – Horror Director Todd Nunes’ Movie Novelisation
Death Ward 13 is a 2023 horror thriller novel, written by horror author/director Todd Nunes. The book is a novelization of Todd’s upcoming film of the same name, currently in…
THE SILENCE Book Review: Deafeningly Intense
I love me a unique creature feature book and what better one to plunk down and read than Tim Lebbon’s The Silence? You might have seen the Netflix adaptation that…

Dustin is a horror fan and sometimes short story writer who hails from the Philippines. He likes a lot of the horror genre but usually goes for slashers and arthouse/slowburn stuff. Currently, he’s trying to make up for lost time in the horror literature world by digesting as many horror books as he can.