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3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Brilliant, Sexual, Unpleasant Sep 09, 2002
Wounded is provocative and disturbing, like a tortured Robert Maplethorpe self-portrait: brilliant, sexual, unpleasant. Although the subtitle serves as ample warning, it sells the book short. "Collected Tales of Horror and the Grotesque" implies a collection of unrelated short stories, but in fact, the book is a well-crafted, complex, and cohesive weave of story lines that intersect and collide. The humanness of the characters compels you through the jarring, erotic, and horrifying scenes as they unfold. But if you crave resolution and redemption in a story, Wounded will tantalize, then disappoint you. With evocative, oddly gratifying, and often excruciating detail, the book touches on many challenging themes: male and female rape, domestic violence, bisexuality, alcohol and drugs, murder, torture, necromancy, and Catholic contradiction. With a few rough edges, David Saliba weaves a provocative narrative that swirls with vivid images and acid-trip snapshots, which lead the reader into the psychotic mind of a demonic killer who intersects the lives of six men and six women in the environs of the Santa Cruz mountains. Tremors occur and faults appear not only in the earth at ironic moments, but also in the psyches of each character as Saliba stitches the limbs of his tale together with the thread of earthquakes, brutality, humanity juxtaposed to inhumanity, and carnal sex against the backdrop of the Santa Cruz mountains and the fissures that run through them: the San Lorenzo River and the San Andreas fault. Through his characters, Saliba strides boldly into the contradictions of human nature that are normally repressed. And although compelling in their humanness, the characters are difficult to like. Each has his or her Achilles heel, which is invariably sexual in nature. Saliba gets inside the heads of his female characters with remarkable consistency and detail, although many of them tend toward stereotypical bitchiness. The men are either sexist, violent, testosterone-engorged brutes, or sensitive, vulnerable, and coquettish. All are powerless over their compulsion toward (or revulsion of) the animal savagery of sex and/or violence. In the end, is the killer a manifestation of the protagonist's session with a pen, a legal pad, and too many kamikazes? Or is he really a demon spawned from the Earth's bowels by the mysterious power of the San Andreas fault? Either way, standing in a doorway is no protection from the raw and carnal power of Wounded.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 From the depths of depravity Jul 29, 2002
This book is not for the squeamish. Its scenes of horror are matched only by the depths of the depraved minds that commit them. Wounded has a fascinating plot line that keeps you thinking, scenes of horror that repulse, and scenes of debauchery and sex that tantalize. Saliba's deep dark mind makes for a fascinating read. Watch out Koontz and King; another great evil lurks within your literary circles.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Where Does Reality Begin? Jul 28, 2002
If you want to read a novel that will give you that warm, happy, feel good feeling, then by all means do not read this collection of tales of terror. If however, you want to be shocked with dose after dose of horror and wave after wave of fear, then "Wounded" is the book to read. One may want to spend their weekend gardening, going to the theater, watching sports on TV, or partying with friends but if you want to spend your time reading this spellbinding work of terror, it will be time well spent. Keeping the lights on and pulling the sheets over your head will be helpful if you decide to sleep after finishing this book. But, I wouldn't guarantee that sleep will come easily, for these stories will kick your imagination into overdrive and take your dreams beyond where reality and illusion meet.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
This is not your father's Stephen King Jul 24, 2002
If this collection of peculiar tales does nothing else, it will certainly hold your attention, pique your curiosity, and arouse your libido. The brutality and viciousness of some of the stories will betray your confidence in yourself as a seasoned reader and seriously offend your sensibilities. The method these tales employ for getting you to witness the horrors you never thought you could stomach and keep you reading is exactly what makes them so effective. Each tale is like a drug. It captivates you with a rhythmic unfolding of sensory pleasures. Then it hypnotically draws you into its own perverted world of "wounded" characters. Once you're in, the virtual reality of the story takes over. You see something of yourself reflected within a character or a situation and you react. Your reaction is not always favorable and not always pleasurable, but it's your reaction that makes this reading experience unforgettable. It takes you for a roller-coaster ride and definitely precipitates disturbing dreams. I don't recommend reading this before bedtime.
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