On January 16, 2014, Jim Goforth released the horror fiction book, Plebs. Jim Goforth is a horror author currently based in Albury, Australia. Happily married with two kids and a cat, he has been writing tales of horror since the early 90s. After years of detouring into working with the worldwide extreme metal community and writing reviews for hundreds of bands across the globe with Black Belle Music, he returned to his biggest writing, love, with the first book Plebs published by J. Ellington Ashton Press. Plebs is a bone- chilling read that will have you on your toes filled with suspense the whole time.

The novel follows three young men – Corey Somerset, Tim Hayworth and Lee Hunter – as they have a night of chilling events. Celebrating a friends birthday leads to drunken debauchery. While intoxicated, wanting to keep the party vibe alive, they stumble far out of civilization and encounter a band of fugitive vixen women, armed with mysterious weapons.

The trio soon learns that this level of partying comes with a price. They are challenged with a task and learn these women are Plebs. The boys are recruited to rescue two of the Plebs’ members who have been kidnapped by the degenerate Plebs who live in a settlement on top of a remote hill. This dangerous quest kicks off a series of frightening adventures that include desperate and deadly battles with other Plebs and a group of sadistic outlaws who have taken up residence in an abandoned church. Death, torture and more abound as the protagonists fight for survival against formidable odds and the body count rises. A simple night of bad decisions escalates into an expedition of terror. I really liked this book. The vivid writing gave me a clear movie in my head. It was really well-paced, not too fast, but not too slow.

While having to deal with the various horrific and life threatening situations, Corey finds strength in himself that he didn’t know he possessed. Goforth has developed this character from a bystander in the cool crowd to the person who is able to take charge when the need arises. The bittersweet love that grows between Corey and Desiree is skillfully woven into the story, and beautifully written while never straying from the plot of the story. You are rooting for them and hoping they make it out alive and make it together.

I was drawn to Lee the most, and although he was the spliff-head, he seemed to have more common sense than the others. Tim I disliked simply because he was so sexist, but it’s good to dislike at least one character. It gives diversity. It was a definite page turner from start to finish.