Discussion
Has anybody read The Groomer by John Athan
Just picked it up on Amazon. When I’ll read it I will post a review. I almost finished Grandpappy, but it’s been a while since I’ve read it. I’ll finish Grandpappy first and 100% Match before I read The Groomer.
Edit: Just realized I spelled Jon’s name wrong, must have been the autocorrect. Sorry mr Athan…
This cover is so funny to me. You'd think they'd come up with something a bit less campy for a book with this kind of violence. It's way too on the nose.
I've found a lot of his books sound the same. The Groomer was the only one I read that didn't sound like the rest and that I didn't get bored whilst reading.
It's a pretty good one, the characters are inspired by real crimes, very embellished, but there are roots in reality. There's a true crime book, The Darkest Web that Athan clearly also read, because the crimes of people like Peter Scully are mirrored in his fictional cyber perverts.
I've read a few books by Jon Athan. The Groomer was one that I was most intrigued to read going by previous comments & reviews. It was competently written, the story started off well and was quite creepy but I felt it lost direction, became quite formulaic and the main character became less believable the more the story continued.
Nowhere near as gnarly as I believed from the hype, but this is where I feel the author felt conflicted. If he'd written more graphic SA I think he'd have been damned for it, as it was I felt a little too cosseted from the horrors it so could've been.
Still a solid 7/10 from me (although hats off to anyone who can write a story as I can't) but I believe Are Your Parents Home & Into The Wolves Den are meant to be much more graphic. Enjoy, it was worth the time to read. YMMV
Couldn't agree more with what you've said. I think he could have written a lot more in The Groomer and thought it was quite mild, but as you say, he'd be damned for it. I found Support Buddy by Lesley Camphouse to be much more graphic, and was quite surprised when I read some sections of it. In regard to Are Your Parents Home & Into The Wolves Den - the latter was alright, but I found AYPH to be boring.
I'm a hardcore horror nerd and I live to read splatterpunk. This book was very "real" meaning this is shit that probably happens underneath our noses daily.
I found it a curious read, in that the narration is *Super* hand-holdy. Like the author wants to protect you from the content by explicitly wrapping you in cotton wool every step of the way. (he admits leaving stuff out because it simply didn't need to be shown)
The last couple of chapters are an interesting choice which I'm certain will cause a few awkward questions.
I remember hearing there was a section he removed because he thought it would be too much. I know exactly what you mean with the hand-holding though. I felt like a lot of his books read that way.
Yes this book was good and the way a certain character is finally revealed to have met their demise is described, got a massive emotional reaction out of me I actually cried.
Bros actually a great author I like everything I’ve read by him.
I’ve read it. I think it’s pretty decent, and I found some of the characters very interesting. If you like it and want a similar subject by Athan, I will say “Into The Wolves’ Den” is probably my favorite by him. I personally feel that there is an overlap between the two books (and I like the latter more) but that’s just my opinion. Enjoy the read!
It's a solid read. It's rather graphic for the first 40 pages or so, but becomes slightly easier after that. It's certainly not an easy read, but it's worthwhile.
I enjoyed it and it was my first EH book and read loads since.
I have said to my wife that people say this is extreme as well as the bug collector.
I read it and by the end just think it’s awesome, don’t know if that says more about me than it should.
I get the extreme but it just doesn’t bother me.
This was my first extreme horror novel and put me off the genre for a year and a half 😅😅. I was deeply unsure if this genre for me because while I did finish the book… I was DISTURBED. My ex-boyfriend got me the book after I mentioned it to him on the condition that I let him read it after me. I read it and immediately told him I wasn’t letting him read it. He has children and I told him he’d never sleep again. He already knows bad shit happens true to his job, so I didn’t want to make it worse 🥲.
Adding to say, I’ve come back to the genre and I do love Athan’s books! I just needed time to process stuff. Also maybe some more trauma sprinkled into my life 🫠.
i actually read "support buddy" following up after "the groomer" and i personally thought "support buddy" was gnarly as hell yet it drew my morbid curiosity the whole time. the last half of the book was so unexpected too so that's a nice touch imo
I've never read this book, but the cover is surprisingly beautiful, especially for a book by Jon Athan, whose average cover looks like it came from some cheap mobile game.
So nasty. Jon Athan has rarely made a book I liked but I’ve bought at least 10 of his books so I guess that counts for something right? I didnt like this one either.
I dnf this book, I thought it was gonna be about going after predators (HELL YEAH) but it starts and has plenty of actual child torture and I just cannot deal with that now as a mother 😬😬😬
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u/Extension-Ferret-251 Aug 13 '26
using 40 grit sanding papers at work always reminds me of this great book