Heretical Talk by Beau Lemmerman is a cosmic horror novel spanning six decades and centered on the serial killer Needless. Once a biker in a motorcycle gang, Needless fell in love with a young woman, but his life was shattered when a demon came to town and killed her and his entire gang, leaving him traumatized and possessed by evil. He then began a killing spree that would continue across the decades. In 1984, a retired trucker and his son stumble upon an island populated by ancient demons. In 1994, a quantum physicist with PTSD finds an equation that could open the door to a dark dimension. In 2004, an astronaut who is another victim of Needless witnesses Armageddon.

I liked the buildup of tension before the battles the characters had to face. Kurt was unique because, even though he was retired, he had the guts to face monsters by himself to save his only son. Lilith was also a fantastic character. Even with the Earth facing nuclear destruction, she continued to hold on to her faith, and I liked how she kept trying to hold on as things became worse. Needless was a character who caught my attention. As a serial killer, you would expect him to be simply a mindless killer, but learning about his troubled past made me see him differently. The pacing was also good. Once the battles between humans and demons start, things move quickly, and I found myself wanting to know how each fight would end. I would recommend Beau Lemmerman's Heretical Talk to readers who enjoy cosmic horror, demons, and stories involving faith and supernatural terror.

Heretical Talk by Beau Lemmerman is, in its entirety, a monstrous horror story set over six decades, during which a horrific, demonic serial killer known across time as Needless chases down six victims connected by a mysterious legacy unknown to them (or the reader) until the conclusion. The interaction between the killer and his victims via "heretical talk" leaves his victims cluelessly seeking deliverance from the darkness that suddenly dominates their lives.

I have never read a novel like Heretical Talk before. I was three chapters in (labeled as parts 1 through 6), wondering about the short, staccato sentences that lacked standard fiction descriptives like scene setting, character, and action details, before a bit of research convinced me I could be reading narrative poetry. This wasn't a problem, since I adjusted quickly. As I read, I leaned more and more toward thinking the story read like poetry, sans rhyme, meter, and stanza, but remained big on imagery and figurative language that fit each of the characters. Dialogue, not generally (to my knowledge) a factor in the pace and readability of any poetry style, was well written and perfectly matched to the various speakers' descriptions and roles within the story. Although the six parts of the story cover the years 1964 to 2004 in ten-year increments, not in sequence, with disparate protagonists and the same antagonist in most parts, following the plotline to its surprising conclusion was sheer joy. Thanks to the author for the opportunity, especially as it included horror and reincarnation themes. Outstanding novel.

Beau Lemmerman’s Heretical Talk follows six haunting tales across six timelines, all of them bound by one primordial void. You can call it Needless or the Old Dark. In 1984, retired trucker Kurt and his estranged teen son Lachlan make a stop at Umbra Island, where the All Hallows End Festival hides an ancient species of skin-wearing demons. Lilith is a traumatized astronaut and survivor of the serial killer Needless, who watches the Earth ablaze from orbit. Quantum physicist Roger Sidis is one of Needless’ victims, who discovers the equation for a dimension older than the universe itself. He opens it, unleashing the unimaginable. A former addict turned nun-in-training, Melanie, finds her newfound faith tested when Needless walks into her confessional with dark secrets. The biker outcasts known as The Needless are all that stand between their town and a shapeshifting demon in human skin. An orphaned patient, Scarlet, teams with an imprisoned Needless to stop a mad doctor and the demon haunting Newgate Asylum.

Perfect for horror fans, Beau Lemmerman crafts stories that give readers the chills, each bleeding into the next, with escalations of trauma and horror. Heretical Talk features unforgettable characters, such as Kurt’s gruffness, tempered by his tenderness. Melanie is genuinely flawed, and her shattered faith had me sympathizing with her. Alex's arc moves from “Nothing. Nothing at all” to the triumphant closing, “I choose life.” The pacing is relentless, moving briskly from a cigarette 'breadcrumb trail' through dark woods to a Winnebago turned bomb, to Granny's speaker-wired jaw croaking. The detailed worldbuilding dazzles with elements like Umbra's cave carvings of a cursed tribe and the chilling Phantom Equation itself. The author skillfully writes about fatherhood, faith, and survival, asking what remains when God is dead. The imagery is imaginative, delivered with dramatic effect, from wicked smiles to fireflies and souls adrift. Equal parts grindhouse gore and aching lyricism, Heretical Talk answers the void with something fiercely, tenderly human: each other.

Heretical Talk by Beau Lemmerman is an adult horror novel told in six parts across six decades. Each part follows someone marked by a cursed serial killer called Needless, whose unconventional talk leaves their minds scarred and searching for faith. Each story takes us into a different decade and the lives of different characters. A retired trucker and his teenage son land on demon-infested Umbra Island, an astronaut watches the Earth burn, a quantum physicist with PTSD opens a dark dimension, a nun-in-training hears the killer's confession, a biker gang fights a skin-wearing demon, and an orphaned patient teams up with an imprisoned Needless. As the stories link together, the truth behind the killer slowly comes out while leaving readers breathless with what they discover.

Beau Lemmerman made sure readers were lost in the sinister atmosphere and genuinely terrifying stories. He created a bold, creepy, and very ambitious narrative where the connected timelines elevate the plot. I absolutely loved watching six unrelated stories link together, and that each one had its own purpose. Each story was unique yet still connected by Needless. My favorite was “Firefly Ashes.” The descriptions of the void were unsettling in the best way. Making the killer and the gang share the name was a clever way to make readers look for Needless in places where they would least expect it. I loved that the characters were not perfect, but they were easy to connect with. They were all very human, and that made everything happening to them scarier. I enjoyed how the jump between timelines is effortless. Heretical Talk is the perfect story to read this October and set the mood for Halloween.