Hum by Rob Ulitski

This tune will stay in my head

I found this story gripping and comfortably gruesome. I appreciate that it got to the ending without the unnecessary details and at the same time telling everything we need to know.

This tune will stay in my head

I found this story gripping, comfortably gruesome, and it got to the ending without unnecessary details.

Bruisingly brutal

Hum is bruisingly brutal. A short, sharp shock to the nervous system, it makes you realise that depraved individuals hide in plain sight. Rob Ulitski is one of my favourite short story horror writers. It’s fucked up, its mental but you are guaranteed to have a good time reading it. The visuals and the narrative take you on the biggest trip to the point if you imagine it all happened in a dream. Hum is no different, in the fact that you say holy shit a lot. Hum is a short story that leaves you traumatised. The horror as always is freaking fantastic. Descriptions of bones being stripped clean with acid; headphones being attached to your head by gory means and found footage. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to love it but I did. I enjoyed every bloody moment of it. Can we also just take a minute to appreciate the artwork that is the cover. It grabs you and draws you in. It was cover love at first sight and only vaguely hints at the depravity contained within its pages. Nina, Bobby, and George take a taxi to a music event they’re expected that. Immediately they’re weirded out by the taxi driver, Marty. He talks too much; he stares too much, and the group want to get out asap. He chatters on at them about getting a song stuck in his head and not knowing how he can work out what it is. Marty takes them to a disused warehouse and threatens them inside. What takes place next is nothing short of a sequence form the SAW franchise.

A tune you won't want in your head

I enjoyed the originality of this one, Rob knows how to grab your attention. We follow Nina, George, and Bobby as they prove you should always check before you get into a random taxi. Marty is a truly sniddy and nasty piece of work, easy to hate. Poor Nina so close to retirement and this happens, I was really rooting for her survival. As the story goes on things get more intense, more violent, and bloody. I really enjoyed the pace, the writing style and that twist at the end. Can't wait to see what Rob has up his sleeve for his next project.