Horror Book Review: Savage Headhunters – Tales To Make You Vomit Book 3 (J. Manfred Weichsel)

Is there a more twisted mind writing short horror fiction right now than J. Manfred Weichsel? It’s hard to argue otherwise, especially if you’re already familiar with his Tales To Make You Vomit series.

The latest, Savage Headhunters (Tales To Make You Vomit Book 3) might be his most sickening and offensive yet. We can’t say that it has a tongue in cheek approach, even though it has, as J. Manfred Weichsel has ripped the tongue out and is doing depraved things to the cheek.

Reader beware, you’re in for a bloody rough ride.

The story begins as we meet an archaeologist about to become dinner for a cannibalistic tribe. He manages to escape, discovers an old pyramid, and heads inside to potential safety. Stumbling through the dark corridors of the pyramid, he comes to a room. One that is inhabited by an old woman and her books. She is the Librarian, and she offers the archaeologist a deal. Read one of her books, and if he can keep from vomiting through disgust, she will help him escape the cannibals.

However, should the bile rise and escape his lips, he will be handed over and be tonight’s main course.

It’s a set-up every reader of the ‘Tales To Make You Vomit’ series will be familiar with. However, in an interesting twist, the horror that the archaeologist chooses to read is one based in reality. Specifically, World War II and the battles between American and Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal.

It’s such a clever idea as there’s nothing more vomit inducing than real-life. Even more so when J. Manfred Weichsel adds liberal amounts of gore, violence, sex, racism, and horror to events. The goal isn’t just to make the archaeologist vomit but to make us, the readers feel a bit queasy too.

Savage Headhunters is not for everyone, in fact it’s for very few people. Yet, as you read it, J. Manfred Weichsel’s garish and gluttonous style starts to become more palatable as a twisted sense of humour becomes more prevalent. It’s utterly offensive but it such a cartoony fashion, that it becomes hard to take seriously at all.

Yet, there are moments where J. Manfred Weichsel clever writing style comes through. Such as how the brutalities of war are perceived at home but dependant on gender. Or how the story wraps up, a particular high point of the series so far, in fact.

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