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David Bernstein
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Relic of Death Paperback – November 15, 2015

by David Bernstein (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 28 ratings
When two mob enforcers take care of a hit in the suburban countryside, they stumble onto a seemingly abandoned house. While searching the place, they find a simple leather briefcase full of what they think are priceless diamonds. But things are never as they appear… For the briefcase is a bringer of death. This ancient evil, once contained for centuries, is now unleashed. Those who come in contact with it will be granted their greatest desires at the even greater cost of their lives. “David Bernstein delivers a fast-moving tale of desire and destruction that gives new meaning to the words, “Be careful what you wish for.” Relic of Death twists reality and will leave you reflecting on your own personal Achilles heel long after you finished reading…” —Allan Leverone, author of Mr. Midnight “A fascinating, unpredictable, ever-shifting tale of greed and desperation. Highly recommended!” —Jeff Strand, author of Pressure “Relic of Death doubles as a powerful parable and a terrifying story. Proving himself to be a prodigious new talent, David Bernstein creates a blood-soaked canvas where dreams change to nightmares and hope transforms to dread.” —Jon Bassoff, author of Corrosion
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  1. Print length
    158 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    November 15, 2015
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    194404406X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1944044060
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Bernstein is originally from a small town in Upstate New Yorkcalled Salisbury Mills. He now resides in NYC and misses beingsurrounded by chainsaw-wielding maniacs and wild backwoods people thatlike to eat raw human flesh. He's grown used to the city, though hidingbodies is much harder there. He is the author of Amongst the Dead,Damaged Souls, The Tree Man, Witch Island, Relic of Death, Apartment 7Cand the forthcoming Episodes of Violence. David writes all kinds ofhorror, from hair-raising ghost stories to gore-filled slashers andapocalyptic tales of terror. He loves hearing from his readers. You canreach him on Facebook, at facebook.com/david.bernstein.3. Visit himat his website: davidbernsteinauthor.blogspot.com emaildbern77@hotmail.com, or on Twitter at @Bernsteinauthor.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sinister Grin Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 15, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 158 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 194404406X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1944044060
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 28 ratings

About the author

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David Bernstein

David Bernstein

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I am a dark fiction writer, a horror writer. I write the gamut, from atmospheric horror to extreme gory horror to dark fiction and dark thriller, oh, and the occasional bizarro tale.

Gory: The Unhinged, Damaged Souls, Witch Island, Apartment 7C, Amongst the Dead

Extreme horror: The Unhinged (you were warned)

Horror with a twist: The Tree Man, Apartment 7C

Zombie fiction: Machines of the Dead trilogy. Amongst the Dead.

Darkfuse horror: Relic of Death, Surrogate, Skinner (coming July 2015)

Dark thriller/supernatural/ action: Tears of No Return, Toxic Behemoth

Monster horror: Toxic Behemoth (Deep Sea/Kaiju book)

Bizarro/Gross out/funny horror: Fecal Terror

Please visit me at davidbernsteinauthor.blogspot.com for more about me and my work or on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/david.bernstein.3

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
28 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's story entertaining, with one noting how each scene flows seamlessly into the next. The pacing receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as well-written and excellent.

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7 customers mention "Story quality"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the story entertaining, with one customer noting how each scene flows perfectly into the next, creating a great thread of interconnected scenes.

"...Great story and highly recommended. 4 1/2 Temptations out of 5...." Read more

"...Very well written and kept me wanting to read more. I liked the ending and how everything came together...." Read more

"...Each scene leads perfectly into the next, giving you enough information about each of the individuals involved to become "invested" in..." Read more

"...While the story is entertaining, I wish the author had included more of a backstory for the case...." Read more

5 customers mention "Pacing"5 positive0 negative

Customers praise the pacing of the book, with one describing it as a brisk novella.

"David Bernstein's Relic of Death is a brisk novella that has an interesting setup...." Read more

"...Only that the briefcase plays a big part in the story. Very well written and kept me wanting to read more...." Read more

"...sudden enough to get my attention and impress me with a very well-rounded novella. I will be looking up more from David Bernstein...." Read more

"...Go ahead and open it. You know you want to. Written and paced well, Relic of Death is a solid novella from David Bernstein and Darkfuse...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • David Dickey
    4.0 out of 5 stars Brisk, interesting, and a devastating chain of events.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    David Bernstein's Relic of Death is a brisk novella that has an interesting setup. It follows a single briefcase from one "owner" to the next, forcing people to confront their inner demons, so to speak. Not all of the characters are black and white though. Some just want a better life, and what they see in the briefcase will help them achieve that goal. But things just don't play out to their aspirations. In the paperback, the text is double spaced so you really glide through the story at a fast pace. And honestly this tale could keep going on forever, but Bernstein wraps it up nicely at the end to give a little more insight on this cursed object and it's dangerous chain of events. I'm really starting to enjoy this author a lot and I like his imagination and the direction he takes with his narratives. Look forward to reading a lot more from Bernstein in the future.
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  • Kenneth A. McKinley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Tale of a Briefcase From Hell
    Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    When two mafia hit men have their luxury SUV breakdown in rural upstate NY after disposing of a body, they come upon a house on a dirt lane. They beat on the door to no avail. No one is home. The door is reinforced and won't budge. They try to shoot their way in. No dice. They end up bludgening the door open with the blunt end of a splitting maul. Once inside, they find a safe that is just begging to be cracked. Inside, they find only a briefcase. However, this briefcase is full of diamonds. What the hit men thought was their lucky day only turns out to be the beginning of death and destruction for all who possess the briefcase.

    Bernstein takes us down a rabbit hole where the naughty briefcase goes from person to person in a roller coaster ride of mayhem that will remind you of shades of the Twilight Zone, Tales From the Darkside, and Friday the 13th the Series. Great story and highly recommended.

    4 1/2 Temptations out of 5.

    You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
    [...]

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  • mdh4
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I like this book so much that I bought another one of his books(The Three Man) to read next month. The story start out with two hit men coming off a job and their SUV lost power. They get out and walk, come to a little dwelling and find out nobody's home and the doors locked. Once inside they find a safe in the basement. They open the safe and find a briefcase full of diamonds. Will stop here don't want to say too much. Only that the briefcase plays a big part in the story. Very well written and kept me wanting to read more. I liked the ending and how everything came together. Kudos to DarkFuse for bringing new authors to me that I probably wouldn't have come across. I gave Relic of Death 4 1/2 stars. Can't wait to read Surrogate in October.
    One person found this helpful
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  • K. A. Y.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great thread of interconnected scenes!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    4.5 stars, rounded up!

    This novella was my first read from David Bernstein, and I was very pleased with the purchase! The story is a series of "scenes" involving different characters that come into contact with this mysterious relic. Each scene leads perfectly into the next, giving you enough information about each of the individuals involved to become "invested" in their outcome. The relic, naturally, is the central theme that binds them all together.

    The separate story lines woven together in this way made for a very fast-moving novella. The ending, while not entirely unpredictable, was still sudden enough to get my attention and impress me with a very well-rounded novella. I will be looking up more from David Bernstein.

    Highly recommended!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kelly Robinson
    1.0 out of 5 stars Misses the Mark
    Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2014
    Cursed objects are a well-worn device in the horror genre. From the dusty artifact in "The Monkey's Paw" to the spooky sponge in It Came From Beneath the Sink, a multitude of diverse authors have put their own spin on the trusty trope. There's nothing inherently wrong with trotting out a cliched theme, but without adding something new, it's just that--a cliche. In Relic of Death, David Bernstein revisits the idea of an enchanted object, but fails to add anything new to the idea, while bungling what little is there. The result is a mangled mess of a book that misses the mark in multiple ways.

    Relic of Death begins with a couple of organized crime thugs fresh from a cold-blooded kill, headed back home before they can be connected to the crime. Things go awry when their car breaks down, which is when things go awry for the novella as well. The hit men don't seem to know what they're doing from one minute to the next, despite seeming like pros when they make their kill. They're not meant to be dolts: the plot is just out of the author's control, and the rest of the sequence makes little sense. It's a mishmash of a chapter as the characters and the author battle it out. Nobody wins.

    Bruno won't let his partner use his cell phone to call for help, insisting that they walk. Once they encounter a house which they suspect is a drug den, they break the door down, despite remarking earlier that they don't want to call attention to themselves, then put on gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints around the house only after they've used an axe. Their main focus then is on finding a phone (now it's okay to make a call?), so they can "sit and relax" until help arrives. (Because a drug den you've broken into is a safe place to kick back?) They turn off the lights so they'll have "the element of surprise," hoping, I suppose, that the drug lord won't notice they've chopped down the door. The thugs comb the house for valuables--the professional hit men now ostensibly petty thieves--and find a briefcase full of diamonds, the death relic of the title.

    Like most cursed objects, the briefcase spells trouble for anyone who encounters it. Bernstein puts the relic in new hands for each chapter of the novella, introducing us to a parade of cardboard characters, each more cartoonish than the last. The smacked-out junkie, the unemployed single woman, and the lecherous landlord are devoid of any realistic features that aren't hackneyed (though several of them have poor bladder control). Even the minor players seem straight from the funny pages of 1930. "You no make your home back here," says a Chinese shopkeeper to the addict, before he attacks him "with the speed of a striking cobra."

    The writing style is as clunky as the plot, with awkward phrasing ("Interest captivated--for why he did not fully understand--he watched the woman...") and jumbled sentence construction. "Sal's shoulders slumped," Bernstein writes, "His breath feeling as if it had been knocked out of him." (Breath has feelings?) The axe from chapter one, perhaps out of a superstitious fear of word repetition, is referred to as the "wood-splitting tool." The fear of word repetition doesn't apply to a set of keys, though, which he feels the need to say are illegally made about 92 times in a row. It's laughable.

    "He also had copies of all the apartment keys, having made the copies illegally."

    "He grabbed his ring of copied keys..."

    [Okay, not so bad, but then immediately after ...]

    " ...he found Sandra's apartment and stuck the illegally made copy into the dead bolt lock and opened it."

    [Then ...]

    "He put his ring of illegally copied apartment keys in the desk drawer."

    At this point, seriously ... can he just say "keys?" (Perhaps "door-unlocking tool" would be more to his style.)

    Even more awkward are instances where the author uses profanity. It may be that Bernstein is a very young writer, but the words come off like wrong notes. If you've ever heard an adolescent trying a "bad" word for the first time, it's a similar effect. The crude or sexual passages read as if they've been penciled in because the author thinks they have to be there, but he's reluctant. (A supposedly explicit text message reads: "I long for you to fill me.")

    Every DarkFuse title can't be something like Bassoff's Corrosion, but I'm a bit surprised to see them publish something of this caliber. I hope that their recent successes with some of their titles don't make them get too anxious and become lax about what they choose to put their name on, but it appears that they may be publishing too much, too fast. With more careful curation, they could become a big name in horror.

    With some serious--and I mean serious-- editing, Relic of Death might be worthy of inclusion in a self-published anthology. As a stand-alone title: it's just not up to snuff. DarkFuse can do better.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Craig Saunders
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable horror, well worth a read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Enjoyable, as all of Bernstein's work that I've read. I liked it. Kind of set out like a series of interconnected vignettes, which worked just fine for this story. Good stuff.
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