Body of Christ

By: Mark Matthews

Narrated by: Rick Gregory

Length: 1 hr and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

After his first Holy Communion, a boy secretly builds his own Jesus out of communion wafers and the flesh of his dad.

On Halloween night, his Jesus shall rise.

After a tragic death, a girl tends to the Cemetery of the Innocents, a memorial to the holocaust of abortion and children killed before their time.

On Halloween night, the children shall live, and they need to be fed.

The Holy Spirit comes to life in this shocking, transgressive story of Christian horror

©2018 Mark Matthews (P)2018 Mark Matthews

Intense and satirical

I was aware that this was not going to be your run of the mill horror book. There are two main characters in this story: Keagan, who lost his father in a violent way and is strangely obsessed with communion wafers and the possibility that they may bring; and Faith, who is experimenting her first menstrual cycles and believes that she needs to grieve about those lost eggs.

This is not a book for squeamish people. It is not the gore or the horror, but more the putrefaction and the smell that will almost make you vomit. It is also highly sacrilegious, so stay away if you can’t stand others satirizing your Bible. For the rest, it will be a hilarious and horrific story that will not leave anyone indifferent.

I have to clarify that this is a short novella, just over an hour an a half, who can be listened to in one go. It’s highly intense and there is not a moment of boredom. In a way, I was glad that it was a short one, since it could have been difficult to keep the level for a long time, and these strong stories usually work better in this format.

Rick Gregory’s narration was absolutely fantastic, not only delivering excellent character interpretations, but also providing with subtle variations in style and tone so that the listener was able to identify the characters in dialogs. I wonder how hard narrating this book might have been for him, and how many times he had to stop to take a breather. I’m sure this wasn’t an easy book to narrate!

It was a great listen, although a very weird and irreverent one. One of those books that I’ll never forget.

I received a copy of this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

Creepy and disturbing.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This book is disturbing on so many levels. And it is creepy. One of the most unique story's I've listened to this month. If you don't want to listen to something that will keep haunting you for days, you shouldn't listen to this.

What about Rick Gregory’s performance did you like?

His voice was the perfect match for this book. Voice that sends chills down your spine. He grabbed my attention from get go and kept me freaked.

Could you see Body of Christ being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

A netflix mini series maybe.

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook for free from the author / narrator / publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

Disturbing!

When I finished this book, initially I was like... what the heck did I just read, but the story stayed with me and I realised this was a very disturbing read, but oddly compelling and touching too. My heart shattered for the two kids!!

So this deals with 2 different kids, a girl whose mother passes just before she starts the journey of womenhood. Her father goes into himself and she has no one to talk to about things. She gets her first cycle and things just get weirder from there!! Then we have a boy whose mother is....crazy is the only word I can think of for her. She is deeply religious and the boy is near his time for his first communion. His father tells him to never eat the body of Christ, to never swallow the wafers. He takes that to heart after his father commits suicide by police shooting. You have to read the book to understand!!

As I said, my heart broke for those two kids. Both are deeply affected with what happens them. All I wanted to do was give them both a hug!! I'm still reeling from this, even after finishing it about a week ago. It's definitely a story that will stay with me for a long time.

Rick Gregory did a great job with this. He showed emotion and it really brought the story to life. He is clear and easy to listen to and gave each character their own tone.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts

Seriously warped

Looking for something really dark to while away an afternoon? Read Body of Christ. This is a mind-bending, awful, disturbing, and thought-provoking story. The narration was well-done, and even had a couple of cool effects thrown in, which helped make it extra creepy.

Good Lord This Is A Crazy Book

4.75 out of 5 stars

Well... where do I start?  First and foremost, I did not know that Christian Horror was a sub-genre.  And, as terrible as it sounds - the first and only book that comes to mind is the Bible when I hear that name. 

Body of Christ tells the story of two young kids who are coming of age after tragedies.  Both are raised by religious parents but that is where their similarities stop.  The boy's mom is a devout (and definitely crazy) Christian married to a man who is very hurt. The boy's dad decides to commit suicide by police shooting.  The girl is coming of age without her mother who died of a terminal illness. 

This book is messed up on so many levels.  Now, that doesn't mean that I didn't like it because I did.  But seriously, the content matter of this is so messed up.  There is a lot I want to talk about but almost everything feels like a spoiler. 

The boy's mother might be one of the craziest people I've ever read about ever. But sadly, my wife works at family court and probably knows of at least one person who is similar. She's constantly berating her son with "you should have died that night too" and "you're next" will haunt me for a long time. 

The boys collecting of random (and almost always creepy) things is also an incredible cry for help.  He needed so much therapy it's insane.  But without help, there wouldn't be a story!

The girl is also another kind of crazy - one who thinks that the eggs that she bleeds out during her time of the month are real and need protecting.  I'm rarely left speechless but that did it.

If you think this is going to be some sort of heartwarming Christian story you couldn't be further from the truth.  But if you like horror books that are super unique and will leave you cringing at almost every scene, check out Body of Christ.

I don't know if Matthews is a religious person or not since there were scenes that make it obvious he's been to a Catholic mass before but then - this story lives in such a dark and disturbing place I'm not sure if it's something that he was mocking or something that he's taken a lot of time to analyze and come up with from all of the dark stories out of the Bible.

The narration was done by Rick Gregory and I thought he did an awesome job.  I don't know how he got through narrating this but thankfully it was under 2 hours so hopefully, he's recovered! I thought that Gregory added a nice touch to an already good book.

Final thoughts: what the eff did I just read? I'm definitely going to be thinking about this book for a long time. 

I was voluntarily provided with a free copy of this book. It has not affected my review in any way. If you enjoyed this review, please vote for it! Every vote helps.

Creepy as communion wafers in your cereal bowl

Let us not play games. The description of the book details that it is going to be dark, disturbing, and spiritually debilitating. This is not a book made for children to read or listen to, but it is designed to make us think, to dig into our cores and test our resolve not to sleep with the lights on.

I like that in spite of the fact that this is a short story, there is a lot packed into it. Yes, it has horror aspects, and it can seem sacreligious, but it is designed to make you step back and consider just what these people are going through. I had to snicker a little bit, a s the girl's issue with her time of the month brought to mind a story called The Haunted Vagina. The menstral cycle has long had ties to various religions over the centuries, and it is interesting to see how it is played out here.

Gregory does a great job conveying this tale, I enjoyed his narration immensely. He fits this tone quite well and adds to the tension that builds as the book moves on. Excellent work that makes you think long after you are done.

Phenomenal...

This was described as Christian horror, but I thought it was straight postmodern literary. Very dark. Theme, message, craft, all taken into consideration. Very worthwhile listen. Great narration. Highly recommended.

Creepy and disturbing!

I really hope people read the description before buying this book! Don't let the title fool you. This is horror! It's a very disturbing story of two teens and their tragic lives. Keagan loses his father to suicide by cop and his mother wishes he we're dead as well. Faith lost her mom when they had to pull her off of life support from a bad accident. Keagan finds solace in his dark closet where he keeps unusual things such as a piece of his father after he was shot to death, and every communion wafer he was supposed to eat at church. Faith is hearing voices of the dying, including her eggs each month during her cycle. Both tales are equally disturbing. Excellent narration by Rick Gregory!

Deeply disturbing

Every now and then I listen to a horror story and think wow that was really messed up. This is one of those stories. It isn't really scary, just bizarre and disturbing. Bizarre like David Lynch's Eraserhead, and disturbing like something out of the mind of Rob Zombie.
The first trick 'r treat scene was my favorite. Loved the lines "Her mouth was stuck in a smile. A big red painted smile that covered her face." The whole scene was fantastic and in my mind made the book.
Rick did a great job. His voice lends to the disturbing nature of the story.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Solid all the way around - story and narration

I may have have given this one a pass based on the title, if I hadn’t already been familiar with and enjoyed Mark Matthews work.

I couldn’t resist, however when I was given an opportunity for a review copy of the audiobook from narrator Rick Gregory whose work I have also enjoyed in the past.

Glad I gave it a go because it was good. Really good. And not what I thought it was going to be at all.

I had no idea what to expect from this short tale. Rick nailed the narration as usual and it must have been an interesting one work with because the story was just flat out nuts.

Daddy in a baggie, buried egg napkins, Jesus Jewjewbes and the wafer golem.
How can you resist all that?

Strange and bleak with some heavy dark undercurrents woven throughout and a few pleasant surprises thrown in as well. Very nicely done. A soild 4.5 Amazon Stars and Highly Recommended.