“100% Match”, Patrick C Harrison III
Published December 30, 2022
Bart is thirty. He is bald. He is overweight. He wears glasses. He is a fry cook. He hates cats. And kids. Bart occasionally does very bad things. He is looking for his perfect match. He has done his research.
“That night, to celebrate a successful date with Sara, I smear my own feces across my naked body then violate the officer’s corpse with her nightstick while I watch a documentary on extreme body modification.”
100% Match came to me in a Reddit forum about weird horror/splatterpunk books, so naturally, I had to pluck this title up from Kindle Unlimited and got to reading right away. For such a short book, it manages to pack in a gut-punch of atmosphere, body horror, and psychological dread that feels icky. The intro sentence alone assured I would not be putting the book down until I hit the last page: “0.001752% of relationships end in homicide.” Bart is a nightmare of a man, incel-like, searching for love in all the wrong places, and always spouting off random statistics like “69% of women prefer the ‘dad bod’ as opposed to a chiseled physique” and “100% of vegans are snooty and attention-seeking, and they’re impossible to please.”
What stands out is how PC3 balances the grotesque subject matter with a simple but tight, compelling narrative. Yes, the topic is revolting (this is extreme horror, after all), but beneath the shock factor. As much as one could squeeze into <100 pages. The pacing is relentless, the prose is sharp, and the horror is unflinching. It’s the kind of story that makes your stomach churn and your brain keep turning—a rare combo that only works when the writing is this strong. 100% Match isn’t for everyone, but if you’re into unsettling, taboo-breaking horror that isn’t afraid to go there, it’s a quick and nasty gem worth checking out.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
animal cruelty • murder • gore • body horror