ARC Review: Heckled by Valarie Kinney

Title: Heckled
Author: Valarie Kinney
Published: Jan. 9, 2016
Pages: 177
Genre: Psychological thrillers
Review: ARC copy provided by author
Buy Links: Amazon, Amazon.uk 

Drinking. Drugging. Cutting.
Exxel Jensen has spent his life finding ways to rid himself of the Heckler, and failed miserably.
On the surface, his future is bright: a beautiful wife, a child on the way, and a career he loves as a stand up comedian.
Beneath the surface lurks the darkness: crippling depression, anxiety, and alcoholism.
Helena Jensen has seen her husband spiral downward before and feels helpless to stop it as she watches him falling again.
She would do anything to help him, anything to diminish the pain that plagues him.
Exxel knows she would, and he also knows she can’t.
Because the person fueling his depression and addictions is someone she can’t see.
And how can he explain the Heckler to anyone, when he doesn’t even understand it himself?

I received this book to give an honest review.

When I first started reading this book I kept thinking it was like a modern day Jekyll and Hyde 

but as I read it on I realized she was touching a very dark subject. Depression something that probably almost everyone goes through at least once in their life. Some more severe than others as was the case with Exxel. Exxel has it pretty much all a loving wife, soon to be child, job, family and his best friend but what he deals with personally is a demon within him. Exxel calls him the Heckler and no one else can see him but him. We see how Exxel deals with it all along with his wife who I have to say is a pretty strong woman, I love the dedication she has to him and their marriage.This book is not suitable for those under 18. There is sex and drugs within this story. 

When we got to the end of the book all I could say was WOW....I wasn't expecting that at all. I thought something else would have happened instead. I think the author did a terrific job with the characters, how they handled situations to overall the entire plot. 

Valarie Kinney is a writer, fiber artist and Renaissance Festival junkie with a wicked caffeine addiction. She resides in Michigan with her husband, four children, and two insane little dogs. Author of Heckled, Slither, and Just Hold On, as well as the short stories Copper and Ailith in the KAPOW! anthologies from 7DS Books. Editor and narrator for Dragons of Faith.