Review: Irresistible / Author: Raven Gregory / Artist: Raven Gregory / Publisher: Zenescope/ Release Date: Out Now

The ability to become irresistibly attractive to the opposite sex is an adolescent fantasy many of us are familiar with. Irresistible is a horror/thriller about exactly that, and it explores the notion that not all wishes should come true. Sadly, it does so in a way that is so filled with clichés and poor execution that this intriguing notion is lost in the noise.

The problem with the book is the main protagonist, Allen Keeg. We are meant to feel sympathy for a man who loses his one true love and then lucks into the supernatural ability of seducing any woman he meets. Sadly, the character is hollow and whiny. Even if this is intentional (and it probably is), this means we have a story told by someone we really don’t like. This does not engage the reader and becomes boring. In addition, his ability to charm the clothes off any woman he meets is handled in a mildly titillating way and this is where we find the book’s core stumbling block; there are no sympathetic or interesting women in Irresistible, which is a problem. After all, this is a story about women getting used and manipulated by a schmuck who has been granted powers beyond his understanding. Though this is meant to be more a horror story than a sex comedy, the entire premise is icky and not terribly fun. An attempt is made to give the whole thing depth toward the end of the story but this is too little too late, and adds nothing to the overall work.

The artwork is also below average; it’s the sort of simple fare that you see in a lot of American books; all the men are tall and slender, all the women are leggy and have unlikely waists. It’s actually hard to differentiate some of the characters from each other and the whole thing looks pretty workmanlike.

Over all, this is an interesting idea handled badly; it’s not so bad that it’s offensive, and the core idea (and main motivations) are certainly interesting ones. Alas any momentum built up at the start is squandered on too much bare flesh and an over-reliance on shock horror.