Book Review #33: Twelve Hours on the Block by Jerry Harwood

Hello Dear Reader!

Welcome to another indie book review! Today, it’s on my very first horror novel with some really unique fantasy aspects mixed in, so if that’s something you feel like you’d be into, stick around!

But I will put in a bit of a warning here. There is some somewhat graphic gore and some sexual themes in this book, so if that’s something that doesn’t bother you, awesome! If that’s something that does bother you, then be wary if you end up wanting to give this book a try. I’ve never had my gag reflex triggered by reading a book before… until this book. So, if that’s telling of anything, now you know!

Before I get into the review, here is the summary (from Goodreads):

Eli hoped to do his time and get back to living life outside prison. However, that hope faded when he watched a prisoner rip a guard’s heart out and toss the body over the railing onto a funeral pyre of burning mattresses. The landscape of the prison begins to change as more and more strange characters strive for dominance in the anarchy that follows. Eli and his new friend, Tay, must navigate the chaos as the gods of the Aztec creation story emerge over the next twelve hours on the block.

End of the summary, now let’s get into the review!

Main character Eli is a young man thrown into a very unfortunate and gory situation full of creepy chanting, sickening gore, dark magic, and disturbing magic, so kudos to him for keeping his sanity throughout this entire book. In fact, I think this entire book just shows how level-headed and calm he can be during a series of crises, which is something I always admire in a character of any kind whether it be a villain or a hero. He’s also a pretty funny guy, shown through his many conversations with minor character-turned-best-friend Tay, who’s also a really funny guy, because his outbursts easily make up a grand majority of my favorite moments of this book.

Speaking of minor characters, there are a quite a few of them, including a buff female wrestler, a witch girl, a cool old man, and two girls who become the love interests of Eli and Tay. The one who stood out the most was the main antagonist of this book, Hummingbird. The name Hummingbird probably isn’t the most intimidating villain name ever, but he’s a pretty terrifying man. Without spoiling anything specific, he’s the reason why my gag reflex was triggered at the very start of this book. Take that however you wish, but just keep that in mind if you do decide to read this book.

As for the setting of this book, it takes place in a prison in the real world, but it pulls a lot of its magical aspects are inspired by the Aztecs and their creation story, just going off of the back-cover summary. A lot of the magic is really creepy, including witchcraft, living shadows, and shape-shifting tattoos. For me personally, it was the most fascinating aspect of the book because of how different it was.

This is usually where I put the things that bothered me while I read the book, but because this book is so different, this is more the things that I just wasn’t used to. The main thing that stuck with me that I wasn’t used to was that I was kind of confused the entire time I was reading it, mainly because I didn’t read the back-cover summary before I read the book (because the author sent me the book for an honest review, and I didn’t think to read the back-cover summary). Now that I’ve read the back-cover summary, things make so much more sense, but I’m still left feeling confused about something things. Some other things that stuck with me just a little bit was the romance in this book. For me personally, it wasn’t the best executed romance, especially since it happened so quickly, but it’s a short book, so there wasn’t a lot of room to properly develop a romantic relationship. Still, despite these things, I enjoyed reading this book, and I’m happy I was introduced to the horror genre by reading it.

So, Twelve Hours on the Block rating:

8/10 and I recommend, especially if you want to try something different. Just beware the gore and sexual themes, just in case those things bother you.

Thanks for reading!