Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

(Titan Books, 2023)

Reviewed by Harry Slater

The forbidden basement has always been the horror genre’s most heavy-handed metaphor. Beneath the above-ground facade lurks a horrifying truth that the antagonist is trying to hide; plumb the depths of their psyche and you’ll discover severed limbs, swinging rusty chains, fluids of unspeakable origin.

There are interesting ways to handle this trope, avenues that can be explored that shift the expectation of the reader. Or it can be tossed at them like a lump of heavy flesh, subtle as a cleaver. Bloom, by New York Times bestselling author Delilah S. Dawson, is a twee romance that stumbles towards its inevitable subterranean bloodbath with a lazy gait, never really seeding the horror it intends to unleash, and once it arrives delivering it with an unsatisfying squelch instead of a glorious arterial spray.

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Review from BSFA Review 23 - Download your copy here.