Rating: 
Summary: A hellish experience
Review: "The vividness of this initial memory threatens to open my emotional reservoir and spill tears of misery down my cheeks but of course, I will not allow that. If I had passed out before my eyes fell upon her, perhaps her beauty never would have taken me in and things would be different now. I would not have to undergo this pathetic soul searching just to set myself free. Alas, what's done is done and I believe the ability to cry has been dead inside me even longer than my cold and rotten heart. Violent anger, white-hot and seething in its intensity has replaced it. Pardon me while I take another drink so that I can continue."Simplicity is a visually poignant view of a man's struggle to maintain his eternal soul. His story is one of powerful emotions tempered with a desperate need to survive under the considerable forces of evil that surrounds him. Patrick is an unforgettable character with a life force that permeates through the reader's mind and heart making him impossible to ignore.
Dirschel's use of first person throughout this novel created the images and the character development that very few writers ever achieve. It constantly reminded me of reading Poe. I felt Patrick's frustrations. I heard his screams. I lived in his world of both dark and light. This novel left me spellbound. I can hardly wait to read his next one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read Book for the avid horror fan!
Review: For the fan of horror, Mark Dirshchel's, Simplicity, deserves a top spot on your bookshelf among the likes of 'Salem's Lot, Interview With The Vampire and yes, even Stoker's Dracula. In addition to weaving a strong story of modern day vampirism replite with human frailities and love, Dirshchel creates an unbelievable depiction of Hell. When I finished reading his book, I couldn't help but examine the meaning of Faith...and you will too because absolutely no one would ever want to visit Dirshchel's Hell and meet one-on-one with the likes of Pink.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read Book for the avid horror fan!
Review: For the fan of horror, Mark Dirshchel's, Simplicity, deserves a top spot on your bookshelf among the likes of 'Salem's Lot, Interview With The Vampire and yes, even Stoker's Dracula. In addition to weaving a strong story of modern day vampirism replite with human frailities and love, Dirshchel creates an unbelievable depiction of Hell. When I finished reading his book, I couldn't help but examine the meaning of Faith...and you will too because absolutely no one would ever want to visit Dirshchel's Hell and meet one-on-one with the likes of Pink.
Rating:
Summary: A story oddly I find myself still thinking about!
Review: I have to admit that I don't usually get into books of this nature, but after my husband finished reading Mr. Dirschel's thrilling tale of horror, he insisted that I at least read the first chapter of this story. I'm here to tell you that after reading only the first few pages, I was hooked. "Simplicity" held me spellbound throughout the whole story. I could not put this book down! Mr. Dirschel's talent for storytelling so effortlessly glided me with his expert choice of words into his makebelieve world of a vampire. A world of stunning horror and shocking intensity, and yet he still managed to weave in just the right mixture of beauty and romance to make his story more than just another horror story. I truly believe this is one of the best stories out on the market today. "Simplicity" is a story that oddly I find myself still thinking about almost two weeks after I finished reading the book. And now I strangely find muself looking forward to this writer's next novel.
Rating: 
Summary: LESS THAN ONE STAR !!
Review: If anyone had told me I would read a book about vampires, let alone become engrossed in the story, I would have laughed in their face. But that was before I read Simplicity. Mr. Dirschel creates a provocative tale here. The narrative was finely crafted and the characters memorable. Be warned. The subject matter is often troubling and sometimes grotesque, but that does not negate the fact that Mr. Dirschel writes very well.
Patrick has been homeless since his middle teens. A hopeless alcoholic, he considers himself to be "an invalid eyesore of a man." His crib is wherever he can find shelter for the night. His days are spent begging to buy whiskey and a little food to keep himself alive and moving. One night he sees a lovely young girl contemplating jumping off the bridge above his concrete shelter. Her blonde hair, sweet face, and soft skin stir feelings in him that he thought were long since pickled into nothingness. To his shock, this lovely vision talks with him as if he were human, treats him kindly. One night later Patrick watches Lori jump to her death from the bridge. And that is where the real story begins.
Before the moment of impact, Lori is swept away by a dark spirit - Van Pierre - and turned into a vampire. The next night she returns to Patrick with Van Pierre. Because of his soft feelings for Lori, he is rather easily turned into a creature of the night. Patrick has always believed that hatred, disgust and apathy poison man's soul. But he soon experiences hellish scenes so horrible that even a soulless vampire creature is sickened. Despite his status as human stalker, Patrick retains a bit of his softness. He lives by certain rules, refusing to kill families or children. And he still loves Lori. By night Patrick prowls for sustenance. By day he is tormented by his vile demon keeper, Pink. Tortures too graphically horrible to comprehend are inflicted in Pink's attempts to turn Patrick to Satan's way and break his spirit. Patrick writes a journal in an attempt to purge the final ghastly cries of love from his black heart. Simplicity is that journal.
Scenes of graphic violence and vampire sexuality make this book too disturbing for sensitive readers or children. I cannot recommend it for all, but will repeat that - despite the sometimes horrible depictions of Patrick's life - Mark Dirschel's writing is powerful.
Rating:
Summary: Hell: "...always so much worse..."
Review: Mark Dirschel's horror novel Simplicity is over 400 pages of a trip to hell. In this extremely well written book Dirschel describes hell in the following way: "...the time spent there never changes and no matter how much you may feel prepared to face the day ahead, once you get there it is always so much worse than your worst anticipation. That is just the way it is."
Simplicity is a story of the condemned of society being damned to hell, but in a twist of fate some are turned into vampires: "Hell is a horrible place but at least for the vampire, it does go away."
Dirschel does a brilliant job of allowing the reader to not only glimpse into the bowels of hell, according to his fictional accounting, he offers the age old story of the vampire life in a unique way; through the lives of two people who not only don't seem to fit in, they demonstrate that sometimes in hell, the "hell" they thought they'd experienced while still living pales in comparison.
This horror novel seems to be a documentary of the fallen amongst the living who fall even farther on the other side, even as vampires. Preying on the underbelly of society by night, they are condemned to a "living" hell of tortuous acts against their feeling selves by day.
At times the reader will want to read with only one eye open, much like the way horror films are often watched. The reader may even fell nauseous reading the pages of descriptions of the torture of the day because it is so well crafted.
All the senses are brought to life with the reading of this journey into hell. And yet it is a love story of a different nature, so creatively woven it defies the reader to not believe it actually took place, knowing full well that vampires do not exist...or do they?
The reader will be drained and have much to ponder about how they live their life: a poweful deterrent to not wanting to be condemned to hell everlasting is found within the pages of this phenomenal book Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Hell: "...always so much worse..."
Review: Mark Dirschel's horror novel Simplicity is over 400 pages of a trip to hell. In this extremely well written book Dirschel describes hell in the following way: "...the time spent there never changes and no matter how much you may feel prepared to face the day ahead, once you get there it is always so much worse than your worst anticipation. That is just the way it is."
Simplicity is a story of the condemned of society being damned to hell, but in a twist of fate some are turned into vampires: "Hell is a horrible place but at least for the vampire, it does go away."
Dirschel does a brilliant job of allowing the reader to not only glimpse into the bowels of hell, according to his fictional accounting, he offers the age old story of the vampire life in a unique way; through the lives of two people who not only don't seem to fit in, they demonstrate that sometimes in hell, the "hell" they thought they'd experienced while still living pales in comparison.
This horror novel seems to be a documentary of the fallen amongst the living who fall even farther on the other side, even as vampires. Preying on the underbelly of society by night, they are condemned to a "living" hell of tortuous acts against their feeling selves by day.
At times the reader will want to read with only one eye open, much like the way horror films are often watched. The reader may even fell nauseous reading the pages of descriptions of the torture of the day because it is so well crafted.
All the senses are brought to life with the reading of this journey into hell. And yet it is a love story of a different nature, so creatively woven it defies the reader to not believe it actually took place, knowing full well that vampires do not exist...or do they?
The reader will be drained and have much to ponder about how they live their life: a poweful deterrent to not wanting to be condemned to hell everlasting is found within the pages of this phenomenal book Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Bone chilling
Review: Mark Dirschel's, "SIMPLICITY" is without question one of the best written books I have ever read and flat out scared me to death. It is one book I could not put down. I found myself wandering back, just to hold the book and try in some way to figure out the hold SIMPLICITY had on me. It was like a magnet, pulling me in its direction. Stephen King's novels should take a note from SIMPLICITY. Mark's intelligence glows in graphic descriptions of his characters, spilling them forth in vivid colors, graphically seducing you into a fearful society. SIMPLICITY sends you into a nightmaring hell by day and thrusts you head long into a world of vampires by night. Patrick, a transient person is trapped by Lori and the love he feels for her. Tricked into drinking from the "masters" cup, Lori seduces and cajoles Patrick into her own suicidal hell and forces Patrick to endure an everlasting lust for blood. SIMPLICITY'S horror is more than a simple transformation of death, it is death chosen by will and by force far greater than human concept. Fire, brimstone, hatred, vile contempt and an undying love for Lori, engages Patrick to persue his aching desire to survive the undead. This book would make a great movie! 5 stars to Mark Dirschel for an outstanding book.
Rating:
Summary: Holy (blank) this is good!
Review: Mark really goes over the top and nails this one. You might want to buy some garlic and wooden stakes before you read this book. I cannot wait to get me hands on his other books.
Rating:
Summary: Mixing Beauty and Erotica with Shocking Horror! A Must Read!
Review: Simplicity by talented writer mark Dirschel is a thrilling horror story that will leave the reader anxiously turning the pages in this must read book-- Open your eyes to the horror of the day as you step inside the world of a vampire! A unique blend of beauty and erotica with shocking horror and intensity--an impact that is hard to define!
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