Here is part 2 of book nine of the Hot Blood series, a little reading project to go through a 13-book series of erotic horror short stories. Here are links to my previous reviews:
Book 9, part 1
Reviews for book 9 will be divided into two parts. I will briefly review every short story, and also include the length, the level of the sex of each story and then a rating for the story. At the end of part 2, there will be a summary of the whole book. Let’s continue with part 2 for book 9 – Crimes of Passion.
“Some crimes go beyond the laws of nature… Be consumed by wicked fascination as a young woman exploring the soul learns the horrifying lesson that some answers a re not meant to be revealed. Witness an unfaithful husband who plays the ultimate game of seduction. Follow a beautiful predator as she captures her unwitting prey, only to play with it before the bitter end.”
Loving Delia
Melanie Tem
A mysterious little story that doesn’t really reveal anything, guess it wants the reader to take a guess. It’s about Delia and someone that lives inside of him. It’s either something supernatural, or some hidden identity. But the sexual nature of their… affair, would be quite odd. The sex isn’t explicit or there wasn’t a lot of it but somehow… it’s quite beautifully written in an eerie way.
Length: 9 pages
Level of Sex: 2/5
My rating: 7 out of 10
Necros
Brian Lumley
Long, quite well-written build-up. All about vampire-like creatures that instead of blood, suck up the youth. But, the author seemed to have forgotten that he was writing for Hot Blood, and the fact that there was no sex, even a hint of it, is unacceptable.
Length: 22 pages
Level of Sex: 0/5
My rating: 5 out of 10
Tricks or Treat
Jeff Gelb
A pretty straight-forward homicide solving story following two cops, albeit a little unrealistic in how they approach it, definitely unorthodox. And as usual, for Jeff Gelb, the author of this story and also the long time editor of the whole Hot Blood series, his tone is usually quite harsh and might be turn-off-y for some people. And sometimes his stories don’t feel like Hot Blood at all.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 2/5
My rating: 6 out of 10
Curs
Tom Piccirilli
Finally, a story that feels like Hot Blood. It really dived into the horror part, creating a really claustrophobic and panic-inducing atmosphere, with the bitterness of past relationships, sibling rivalry, jealousy and other goodies sprinkled in generously. I wish the author could have elaborated with the erotic part the same way, cos he really opened up some really interesting boxes, like sadomasochism. This is the story I wish would have been a full novel.
Length: 18 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 8 out of 10
Quick
Robert J. Randisi & Marthayn Pelegrimas
A nice short story with some rough sex in a blood bath. Quite literally. I like that in a short amount of time, the story reveals the horror that’s going on, painting the bloody picture quite vividly.
Length: 4 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 8 out of 10
The Trouble With Hitchhikers
Michael Garrett
Too long, and the premise of an aging man pining after young girls and then ended up picking one up from the highway… the story as old as time and nothing really that surprising happened. No sex either, just some nudity. The ending was uninterestingly vague and confusing.
Length: 23 pages
Level of Sex: 1/5
My rating: 5 out of 10
Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon!
Joyce Carol Oates
Classic femme fatale story set in Las Vegas. Way too long, wasn’t really worth it in the end. Dislikable characters, both the leading man and the leading lady.
Length: 38 pages
Level of Sex: 3/5
My rating: 6 out of 10
***
Review of the whole book
Crimes of Passion was very average, just like the previous one. Half of the stories were pretty good (7 or 8), but another half was pretty bad. The most noticeable thing about this book was that the amount of sex and the explicit nature of it was pretty abysmal. Four books left in the Hot Blood series, hopefully the next one would be better.
14 stories
Average rating: 6,57
Stories with a rating below or is 6 out of 10: 7
Stories with a rating 7-8 out of 10: 7
Stories with a rating 9 out of 10: –
Best stories: Madame Babylon, Curs
Most erotic story: Madame Babylon
Most memorable story: Curs, Quick
Slap Ass For Motivation 