| Title | : | Cherub |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1945940743 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781945940743 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 82 |
| Publication | : | First published February 1, 2014 |
He wasn't like the other boys. Too rough. Even on the day he came out of Momma's belly. When Momma died, though, they sent him away to a terrible place. A doctor place... but the people there didn't act like doctors. They called him Cherub and they made him do awful things. Wet things. Hurty things. Until he met his angel, that is. She made it better and the pain went away. For awhile. Nothing lasts forever except a mother's love.
Cherub Reviews
-
SON-OF-A-BITCH!
Over the last two days, as I've been reading this book, I've planned this really funny opening paragraph for this review.
I just finished this book and I'm feeling heartbroken. :(
Was this story perfect - no.
Was it believable - not always, no.
Was it extreme - yes.
Did I get the humor - hell, yes.
Can I think of anything funny to say - I really don't want to.
This is so raw that the imperfection actually makes it perfect...
Why the fuck aren't more people reading this guy?! -
Original review posted @ B³: 11/4/25
Reformatted, converted, and demons exercised: 10/8/20
Nothing lasts forever, except a mother's love.
In every small town, in every section of the world, there is always that family. The family that is whispered about in the grocery store, and used as fodder for campfire horror stories. There is one family that urban legends are based on, and local children dare each-other to spy on in the dark.
In Brockton, Michigan, the Richardson family is that family.
In 1966, a very pregnant Marie Richardson helped to perpetuate the stories when she arrived at the hospital – she was about to become very non-pregnant, and claimed that she had never been with a man.
The things that happened during Marie’s labor, and the birth of her child, almost killed her, caused a lifetime of therapy for two nurses, and led the attending physician into retirement. Since that day, not a soul had seen the product of those horrors – until Brockton PD was sent to the Richardson place some 40 years later to investigate complaints of a bizarre smell.
What the deputies found was described as being ‘worse than the most horrible car wreck in the world’. Chained to the wall in the basement was a man of about 500 pounds. He was about 7 feet tall, balding, and could be compared to Chunk from The Goonies – on a good day.
The man was sent to the Blessed Arms State Hospital, (formerly Michigan’s official State Tuberculosis Hospital, and has a striking resemblance to ELOUISE psychiatric hospital in Westland, MI), and into the custody of Dr. Godfrey and nurse Angie Fletcher.
Cherub, as he comes to be known by the staff, quickly becomes a special project for Nurse Angie and her sinister plans for Blessed Arms.
We all know how much I love hometown authors, and David C. Hayes is one of my Michigan Madmen <3 The little details placed in MI stories always make me smile. The town of Brockton is described as a town in southeast Michigan, almost on the Ohio border – exactly where my ass is sitting right at this moment. The day that Cherub was born was a brisk autumn day in November with leaves changing color and blanketing the ground everywhere – just like today. I mentioned above, Blessed Arms feels like it is based on Elouise Psychiatric Hospital, and I’ve had an obsession with that place for YEARS. (They’re making a horror movie at Elouise now, too! Awesome!) David also mentions ‘Kroger’ – a MI based grocery store.
I highly recommend CHERUB, no matter where you live ;) The story shines some light on nature vs. nurture, and the author proves that sometimes humans are the worst monsters of all.
View my full review, and join the
Cherub discussion on BeckisBloodyBookBlog -
http://wp.me/p37DRX-1iH
One of the original videos posted with the original was no longer available, and trust me - I searched. -
I actually pitied a character in this book, which is no easy feat for me. A mentally challenged and large innocent soul is turned into something evil. Despite his lack of cognition, he has a conscience, especially when it comes to love. I don't want to say too much about the story and give anything away, but I will say that I enjoyed this story very much.
-
A big boy, bullied by life. I enjoyed all the directions this book had. The last line got me right in the heart.
Cool art work -
Five stars
When I started reading this, I wasn’t expecting to care for the characters as much as I did. I was blown away by the author’s ability of combining splatter and gore with a compelling storyline. I was rooting for the Cherub throughout the book and devastated by the violence he was forced to endure. Poor fella. He didn’t want to be bad. When he finally has enough, the Cherub earns his wings in the most brutal fashion.
This is an absolute must-read for splatter fans! I look forward to reading more of this author’s work. -
David C. Hayes has created a memorable piece of exploitative Bizarro pulp horror with CHERUB, a truly extreme tale of violence, cruelty, and vengeance with a heart of gold. You'll find your old heartstrings being tugged on one page and your dinner almost rushing out of your throat on the next. Somehow, Hayes has found an effective balance between gruesome violence and compelling story, building up the tension and the exploits until that perfect moment when everything changes.
NOTE: I won't spoil it for you, but there's a particular part of the book involving a spork that will be sticking with me for years to come (for better or worse).
And that guy on the cover (such a cool cover, right?), the gigantic Cherub, is a true piece of work. You get to know him and feel some pretty strong emotions regarding him in terms of how others treat him, of what pushes him to the edge, of what makes his heart open wide. -
A tale about finding love through pain, and kindness through cruelty, CHERUB is quite an incredible bizarro read. The book was surprisingly deep with a heartbreaking tone of sadness. The cruelty in this book really could have been done not only sloppy but carelessly without giving any substance to the characters. Hayes, has definitely written these characters with a lot of heart or lack their of for the more horrific sorry excuses for humans.
I was super hesitant about this book. I was pretty positive I was going to be put off by the character of Cherub and even the synopsis kind of put me off. I was sure there was going to be large amounts of violent, vile rape and more than likely a dash of incest. So it begs to be answered, why would I pick this book up for review in the first place? I like to broaden my tastes when it comes to reviews. I may not like the content but I can still review a book positively based on the author’s plot and overall concept and delivery. So I decided to grab a book that I was sure i wouldn’t be able to get through but at the same time wanted to test my own boundaries. What I read in CHERUB not only shocked me but made me feel all the feels. David Hayes gives you a terrifying look at human nature at it’s absolute darkest, most vile state where you are not only disgusted but touched by the cruelty in a way where you, as on reviewer had put it, walk away seriously affected. You are not likely to forget the people in this book and the trials and tribulations they are put through.
CHERUB opens up with a very difficult very painful birth of Marie Richmond’s baby boy. Having just barely surviving the birth, Marie attempts to shelter the beast of a child from society and as he grows bigger and bigger the only thing she can think of to keep her boy safe is to confine him to shackles in the basement of their home. When Marie doesn’t make her usual stop at the market for her special occasion card which always sported a chubby winged cherub, red flags begin to rise in the small town. After complaints of a foul smell coming from her home, officers are dispatched out to the house and what they find will forever be burned into their minds.
The giant man child was found sobbing, naked and frightened with the corpse of his mother who had taken a fall. Due to no longer having a care taker, he had to resort to eating her and the pile of excrement was unsightly as it was unbearable to smell. So pathetic this creature appeared to be, that it brought the responding officer to tears. He would have wept harder for the beast had he known what laid ahead for him.
With no one to take care of him and no other name to go by than Cherub, the simpleton along with his only possessions being the cherub cards given to him by his Momma, are sent away to be looked after at Blessed Arms Sanitarium. The sanitarium is far from blessed and the mortality rate is high among it’s inhabitants. However, there is a glimmer of hope for the place when young enthusiastic Dr. Godfrey comes onto the scene with plans to turn everything around and make Blessed Arms a place where all get the care they deserve. Well sadly, this screws with nurse Angie Fletcher’s dreams of running the place under her cruel dictatorship of using the mentally disabled patients as sweatshop workers for her meth smuggling operation. She is one of the most deplorable examples of the human race and her manipulative self righteous attitude gives her the unjustified entitlement of power over Cherub once she realizes she can use him as muscle to take Dr. Godfrey down and claim her throne at Blessed Arms.
The way Angie goes about befriending Cherub, reminded me a lot of the opening in The World According to Garp, when Jenny lays with the brain damaged soldier in order to have a child. Angie’s intentions towards Cherub is to gain his trust while using that trust to destroy anyone in her path. The best way to do this is to make him believe Dr. Godfrey, and anyone else who may be in her way, is a bad bad person bent on hurting Angie and the other patients. She convinces Cherub that Godfrey has forced himself upon her and hurt her. Before she can be sure that Cherub will do as she says, she sets the janitor up for his demise when she runs in the room screaming Javier had hurt her. Cherub immediately comes to her rescue and crushes the poor man to death. Feeling satisfied that she now has the loyalty of her dimwitted patient, Angie decides to reward Cherub with a blow job that brings the most epic (albeit super gross) ejaculation from a human penis. Doing this seals the deal that Cherub will annihilate the doctor and remove him from messing up Angie’s plans. The blow job description made me cringe, but I was still happy for the big guy considering he really truly does think he is doing good things despite knowing he’s hurting people. The emotion that conflicts Cherub is sad makes you hate Angie even more.
Worse than Angie, is fucking Clint! That goddamn piece of shit is absolutely the worst! He’s there to help Angie with her meth operation and to bang all the retarded pussy he can imagine which just that is horrifically ghastly. So Clint is basically Angie’s little bitch but thinks he’s the big man on campus cause he does whatever the pleasure fuck he wants. He enrages me, more so recently, because I have been watching a lot of Willowbrook Asylum documentaries, and Hayes really honestly is not too far off on how mentally ill people are or rather were treated at a time when they were cast away and hidden from society. The treatment Clint and the other orderlys inflict on the patients there is very reminiscent of that time.
So now that the good Doctor is dead, the board has allowed her to take over the directorship of Blessed Arms and she has staffed the place with scum like Clint and basically any other second rate goonie that’ll take a paycheck and look the other way. Cherub is told to do more bad things to good people under the manipulation of Angie who just wants to be rid of those who cross her path. This brings Cherub to moments of sadness for hurting others but wanting to protect Angie, who he does genuinely feel is only trying to help him and in return, he must do the same. As long as he has his cards from Momma, Cherub will be alright, but what conscious he does have keeps him aware that something isn’t right about these killings. With the introduction of a very intriguing new patient, Cherub finds that he can find love without pain but that only lasts as long as Angie allows.
Vena, is much like Cherub in size and mentality. The poor dear has only known abuse and keeps her head down as much as possible to not draw attention to herself. But it’s her similarities and kindhearted nature that draws Cherub straight to her and they instantly become what can only be described as soul mates. Vena explains to Cherub that it is Angie who is bad, and that he can not continue to be bad, that he must do good and stand up to Angie. Well we all know at this point that Angie isn’t going to let Cherub go so easily so she has Clint kidnap the two tortured lovers and makes Cherub watch as he sexually abuses Vena and then does something that made me livid and on the verge of angry tears (read it, you have no soul if you have no reaction. So thanks Hayes, you basically evoked every emotion appropriate for this scene…good on you Hayes, well played). Cherub has not only been beaten and traumatized but he has lost his only love outside of his mother and that is a mind shattering event to have happen to even the most intelligent of people. What he lacks in intelligence, he makes up for in is unconditional simple way of loving and wanting to do good and BE good. (Ugh, I’m hating on Angie so hard right now in my head!!)
Once the initial agony and sorrow of watching his love die subsides, all that is left is a burning hatred for the staff of Blessed Arms and the other patients feel this shift in power too. What ensues is a bloody battle ground of destruction and no part of the staff is safe from Cherub’s vengeance.
His final stand off against Angie brought me to tears and I hate David Hayes for that. I was seriously invested in the character of Cherub and the books final blow to him is quite moving. I loved the character development and insight into all of their actions. Most of them are part of the staff and are just god awful humans, but Hayes does five them substance past the abuse and that to me is great writing. I have yet to be disappointed with anything David Hayes has written but I think this is the first book I’ve read that was just him and not a collaboration. I am impressed. -
Full Review
I would recommend this highly to fans of horror fiction, especially to fans of authors like Richard Laymon and Edward Lee. -
"David C. Hayes is back with Cherub. If you are familiar with his previous work, you know what you're in for. If not, then get ready for a ride through the absolute worst in human nature. Hayes has the unique ability to convey the most sickening acts in a way that will have you laughing between retches. Once the book closes, you'll need to shower and after that you'll wonder what it says about you that Hayes managed to touch so deep and dark. You will be affected." - Kevin Moyers at CinemaHeadCheese.com
He wasn't like the other boys. Too rough. Even on the day he came out of Momma's belly. When Momma died, though, they sent him away to a terrible place. A doctor place... but the people there didn't act like doctors. They called him Cherub and they made him do awful things. Wet things. Hurty things. Until he met his angel, that is. She made it better and the pain went away. For awhile. Nothing lasts forever except a mother's love. -
A strong piece of extreme Bizarro horror, Cherub is about a giant-sized man with a severe intellectual deficiency, who after the death of his mother finds himself under the ruling of an ambitious nurse in a hospital for the criminally insane.
The story, for me, had a slow pace. It read like a teapot on the fire, and we just can't wait for it to wail when the boiling point is reached.
There's a scene involving a spork that's a thing of literary beauty.
The main character is someone for whom we start nurturing mixed feelings. And believe me, this book will make you feel, for better or for worse. -
Not far into the story at all you start rooting for cherub. Deep down he is a good guy who doesnt want to hurt anyone. Some unfortunate events and some bad people put him into bad positions. Untill he finds love! .. Yeah it's that kind of story...but quite brutal to. The ending is no suprise and you see it coming... but you want it to happen. Really enjoyed this story and could connect with the main character.
-
I became a fan of David C. Hayes when he and Mark Scioneaux teamed up on Cannibal Fat Camp. When I saw that he was releasing a new solo book, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a read. What I found was that his masterpiece, CHERUB, far exceeded my expectations.
From what I saw on the cover, I expected to read about a large, baby-like maniac, that murdered his victims with his bare hands. I was definitely intrigued. Upon reading the prologue, I was sure that I guessed correctly. However, David's writing style drew me in, so I continued.
As I read further into the first chapter, I was disgusted by the beast that was presented to me within the pages. I knew that he would be the worst of the worst, with no morals, no feelings, and no clue as to the pain he would wreak upon the world. Then I found out that I was wrong. I found out that the "beast" that I wanted to hate so much was really one of the most loveable characters that I have ever read about. Sure, he does some bad things in the book, but they aren't quite his fault. Although Cherub is essentially the bad guy in portions of the book, I look at him more as the protagonist in the end.
I won't give away the plot, nor any secrets within. However, at the end the unexpected happened. Maybe I was overly tired. Maybe my wife was chopping onions in the next room. Whatever it was, I found that tears collected in my eyes, and a single refugee escaped down my cheek, splashing down upon the screen of my Moto Xoom. As the last word was absorbed into my eye, I uttered two words under my breath.
"Dammit, Hayes"
If you are a fan of the somewhat bizarre, the unexpected, and don't mind a few feels as you read, I overwhelmingly suggest CHERUB, by David C. Hayes. -
A word of warning for those not familiar with the author's particular brand of humor and horror, this book is not for the squeamish nor the easily offended. It deals with the mentally challenged, the warehousing of the mentally ill, love, desire, and the need for acceptance in stark, often brutal ways. There is gore, there is abuse, and there are sexual situations.
In short, this is not the book to bring to Kiddie's Story Time.
What sets Cherub, as well as Hayes' other works, apart from many writers is that the gore, abuse, sex, and brutality are never there for their own sake. Certainly there are times that they are used for comedic affect (which would leave the reader feeling guilty if they weren't so damn funny). More often than not, these scenes are used to illustrate the plight of the various characters.
The titular Cherub is a giant of a man with the mind of a small child, picture Lennie Small if his mother had been doing drugs throughout her pregnancy. Through a series of unfortunate incidents, the Cherub ends up in an institution for the criminally insane run by a Machiavellian head nurse. He ends up as the head goon for her and...to say any more would give away important plot points.
Well written, grotesque and touching, Cherub is a good addition to your collection. -
4.5 Stars
Picked by one of my Facebook groups for a group read, Wow!.
What a amazing bizarro horror story indeed.
Cherub is about a giant-sized man with a severe intellectual deficiency. After the death of his Mum he finds himself in a hospital for the criminally insane.
''A doctor place... but the people there didn't act like doctors. They called him Cherub and they made him do awful things. Wet things. Hurty things. Until he met his angel, that is. She made it better and the pain went away. For a while."
The author writes this story in a way to make you mixed up about your feelings for Cherub. The cruelty he endures in a place where he should be protected is so very sad but then the violence and brutality he exhibits is outrageous but is this only because he's been manipulated?.
The development of the characters was so good even if most were disgusting people.
One minute you will feel sick reading this and then the next you will be touched.
It's brutal, extreme, violent, sexual and gross but then it's gentle, tender and loving.
For some reason I kept thinking about "The Green Mile' whilst I was reading this.
Lots of points to discuss with the group.
A story I enjoyed very much. -
Gross, gross and did I mention.......gross?! This story is disgusting and gory in all areas.........and I LOVED IT!!!
The book actually had me cheering for Cherub. But poor Vena. I hated what happened to her. Everyone else got what was coming to them. Go Chreub!! -
(I would have given this 3.5 but you can't give 1/2 stars).
This is the first work I have read by David. And though I thought I was prepared for the gruesome nature I was sure lay within its pages, Cherub knocked me on my ass. The violence and rage that washes over the entire story (from Cherub and the monstrous humans he encounters) is savage and breathtaking. Literally, I gasped dozens of times at the cruelty portrayed by the supposed caretakers in the book and Cherub's brutality. I also sobbed at two distinct points in the story because anyone with a soul can only witness so much pain and sorrow through Cherub's eyes before her heart crumbles into dust. But even in the midst of all that David allows us to see the light in the darkness, love surrounded by hate, and that all living creatures deserve a chance at happiness. Except maybe Angie. Fuck that bitch.
The only issues I really had were the typos. Nothing misspelled but a letter dropped off here and there or an extra verb that was probably meant to be deleted would mess up the flow of a sentence or a description. And for me, personally, I would have liked more story with Cherub's mother. She seems like such a sad character but still strong enough and capable of love for her giant offspring. -
FEAR AND LOATHING IN THE MADHOUSE.. AND REVENGE. "I will have the Cherub stick that giant hand so far up your ass you’re going to need to shit in a bathtub, do you understand me?”
