Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written by Derek Vasconi
POA, the sophomore effort by Derek Vasconi (2016’s winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Best Horror Book and the Indie Reader Discovery Award), is definitely a labor of love. Clearly a lot of research and time went into its creation.
The story itself is quite good. What appears to be a straight-forward stalker tale has a nice twist that sends it careening off in a completely different direction. It ends up as an interesting thought piece on a somewhat recent historical event. There are also many cultural references to Japan and the Japanese themselves, and I appreciated that the author didn’t feel the need to explain as he went along – it would have dropped me out of the story. That said, the glossary at the end was helpful!
What makes POA a horror novel are the over-the-top descriptions of violent death. Blood spraying, bone shattering, flesh peeling death. Mostly committed by a young woman who just wanted to please her father.
There are also a lot of graphic sex scenes. Not so much horror in and of themselves, but honestly the weakest part of the book. The main character is female and there are several scenes that were clearly written by a man.
If you’re on the fence about the sex and gore in POA, read the first two scenes in the book (the first 2-3 pages). They very effectively set the scene for what you can expect in the rest of the book.
Overall, POA is a satisfying read that made me want to learn more about the history woven into it.
POA is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. With a release date of June 25, 2026.
Review by Kristi Zilbauer.