Hum by Rob Ulitski

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head for so long, that it felt as if it was burrowing deep into your brain? Marty Jenkins has, and after trying - and failing - to discover the origins of a track for weeks, he kidnaps three music industry workers and puts them through a harrowing ordeal to get to the bottom of the mystery. But no-one could have predicted what came next...

Hum is bruisingly brutal.  A short, sharp shock to the nervous system, it makes you realise that depraved individuals hide in plain sight.

Rob Ulitski is one of my favourite short story horror writers. It’s fucked up, its mental but you are guaranteed to have a good time reading it. The visuals and the narrative take you on the biggest trip to the point if you imagine it all happened in a dream. Hum is no different, in the fact that you say holy shit a lot.

Hum is a short story that leaves you traumatised. The horror as always is freaking fantastic. Descriptions of bones being stripped clean with acid; headphones being attached to your head by gory means and found footage. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to love it but I did. I enjoyed every bloody moment of it.

Can we also just take a minute to appreciate the artwork that is the cover. It grabs you and draws you in. It was cover love at first sight and only vaguely hints at the depravity contained within its pages.

Nina, Bobby, and George take a taxi to a music event they’re expected that. Immediately they’re weirded out by the taxi driver, Marty. He talks too much; he stares too much, and the group want to get out asap. He chatters on at them about getting a song stuck in his head and not knowing how he can work out what it is. Marty takes them to a disused warehouse and threatens them inside. What takes place next is nothing short of a sequence form the SAW franchise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rob writes visceral, concept-driven horror stories, anchored by complex characters and offbeat narratives.

Born in Portsmouth, UK, he received his bachelor of arts in Film Production from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. Having trained in filmmaking, and working as a director and producer on everything from music videos to shorts to feature-length anthology films, Rob’s official writing journey started in 2020.

When not writing, he can be found watching cheesy 90s films, baking cakes and haunting local bookstores.

Rob Ulitski