Our relationship with many of the internet companies we rely on is not a traditional company-customer relationship. That’s primarily because we’re not customers – we’re products those companies sell to their real customers. The companies are analogous to feudal lords and we are their vassals, peasants and – on a bad day – serfs. We are tenant farmers for these companies, working on their land by producing data that they in turn sell for profit. Dürt Würk played hard, heavy and took no prisoners. Now she's cleaning up piss from the floor at Best Western at 3am in the morning. This was a fun book and a fun audiobook. I enjoyed the narration as much as I did the plot in this book. Most have heard about selling your soul to the devil to get ahead, but Grady puts his own stamp on it by having people's souls sold without their knowledge.

And he’s the screenwriter behind Mohawk, which is probably the only horror movie about the War of 1812 and the upcoming Satanic Panic. Dürt Würk is right on the cusp of fame when suddenly their singer, Terry Hunt, pulls out, goes solo, changes his name and becomes a mega-superstar. He leaves his former bandmates in the dust, taking everything with him, including the rights to their music. Kris Pulaski’s metal band was about to break big in the Nineties when their lead singer sold them out and went off to become a solo act sensation, leaving his old friends behind to rot in rural Pennsylvania. Decades later, Kris has hung up her Gibson and finally gotten used to being a footnote in someone else’s success story when she learns the secret to their former lead singer’s success: he didn’t sell his soul to dark forces for fame and glory, he sold Kris’s.Anyway, like I said, I enjoy some metal and others not so much, so the extent of my knowledge basically ends with whether it is a metal song or not. For the die hard fans, however, there are so many different sub-genres in metal, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I am one of those readers who does a thorough (and not always fast) read and can usually point out or spot some of the weaknesses in a story. Sometimes I can live with them and I won't mention anything in my review while others I will elaborate on. Publishers Weekly calls it "...a gloriously over-the-top scare fest that has hidden depths...explosive...poignant..." but be careful when reading their review because it contains a LOT of plot details. This year, we have had two surprising stories of technology monitoring our activity: Samsung televisions that listen to conversations in the room and send them elsewhere for transcription – just in case someone is telling the TV to change the channel – and a Barbie that records your child’s questions and sells them to third parties.

This novel was full of batshit craziness, but still managed to tell a meaningful story that even incorporated an important existentialist message, with a tinge of absurdism thrown in for good measure. This novel’s main message is that individualism ought to be celebrated and that we must fight to escape the encroaching bonds of dominant forces that seek to turn us into sheep who follow blindly where others lead. Grady Hendrix does this by using his storyline about a washed up heavy metal guitarist who is fighting against the forces that destroyed her 11 years ago. This story becomes an allegory of one's woman's lifelong journey to find her identity in an indifferent world. We Sold Our Souls is part metal, part road book, and part horror. There were some frantic moments and one of the most claustrophobic scenes I've read. I had to stop for a few minutes and burden my wife with it. Lots of crazy, gruesome, unsettling shit happens. A fast-paced ride, firmly rooted in the pulp horror tradition…Hendrix’s darkest novel yet will leave readers begging for an encore.”— Booklist, starred review Kris hasn’t even touched her guitar in over 6 years. On a quest to find out what happened, Kris decides to finally visit all members of the band Dürt Würk. She wants to know why she feels despair and dead inside!Grady Hendrix is the author of the novels Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is like Beaches meets The Exorcist, only it’s set in the Eighties. Overall, I loved Hendrix's style and the way he incorporated the band's beginning, end, and things that occurred in between, in such a manner that it all felt right--that this was the only way it could have happened. There was never a point where I felt that too much information was being thrown at me just to get it out there. Rather, the pacing was set so well that we are able to glean just as much information as we need, when we need it.

Kris isn’t the only enjoyable character, though—even some of the bad guys are pretty likable in their own way, and everyone, good or bad, feels flawed and authentic. I loved cycling through Kris’ former bandmates as she met up with each one, and learning about her memories of them, especially when she would couple in band-specific relations (things like, “like every guitar duo in metal, they were a little bit in love and a little bit in hate all at the same time”). It’s also incredibly fascinating to watch Kris piece together her broken memories as the story slowly reveals what drove apart the members of Dürt Würk, and why Kris has been an outsider ever since. The rare exorcism book that will make you cry, My Best Friend’s Exorcism is both a truly scary tale and a loving tribute to high school friendship.” Chris Pulaski is the night manager of a Best Western and she's madder than hell! Unfortunately, she's also broke as hell... Most importantly, this author puts a lot of thought into the delivery of his stories and the message he leaves with his readers are deep and complex. It's similar to 'Heavy Metal Music' and the messages hidden within the lyrics. I suppose that's the draw to the culture of this music and why readers are so loyal to this author.

Customer reviews

If this book had a feel to it, I would describe it as grunge-y. It feels dirty and grimey, but hopeful at the same time. I don’t know how the author accomplished such a feel in his writing, but he did. And I loved it. I’m no fan of heavy metal music, but I felt that I could be reading this book. years later, Kris Pulaski, former guitarist for Dürt Würk works as the night manager for Best Western, flat broke and unhappy with her life. Until she finds out that Terry’s success may have come at the cost of her soul. She sets out to collect her former bandmates and confront Terry. Their adventure leads them across the nation, ending at a dark music festival in Las Vegas. Kris’s experiences along the road prove you can’t give up in the face of defeat. Review