Also in paperback!
“Well, Johnson has conquered this quicksand territory with astonishing ease.”
Writing this review has taken me a couple of days because it has several subjects I’d like to highlight. It’s been difficult though, to put my mind together, because I can’t reveal most of the scenes that will get you glue-stuck to the book. I couldn’t leave it, and when someone talked to me I got upset because they were interrupting my connection with the story.
Well, that said. Focus, Mar.
Marc W Johnson is on my list of “Writers Extraordinaire”. He is a screenplay writer, and you’re going to find that influence in the book. Is it a bad thing? Hell, no. The writing is agile and fresh, always keeping you anxious to find out what’s next.
I already liked the treatment of his characters in his second book LEGACY, but he has improved it in HUSKER.
Several books listed as “extreme horror” don’t affect me at all. Because blood, torture and guts it’s nothing that steals my sleep. The psychologic (psychotic, if you allow me) factor in the stories IS what turns into nightmare material.
Well, Johnson has conquered this quicksand territory with astonishing ease.
We have a confused Jennifer diving into her hurtful memories and pieces of her past with her father (who she never remembers being loved by) and her schizophrenic mother who took away her own life in a horrible way.
Amy, her unconditional friend tries to keep her pace during this trip to madness.
“I found myself several times talking to myself “it’s this one! No wait, this one! Dammit, no, then what…?” And I got it all wrong, in the end, I could only laugh saying out loud, “Chapeau, Marc!!””
What happens in this book that steals your whole attention? Ah, connected perturbing murders multiply as the ghosts of the past hunt our protagonists. The tagline “Even the wicked seek vengeance” couldn’t be more appropriate.
The gore scenes are very poetic through the voice of a very complex… character. Again, I can’t reveal. Bloody verses and caresses will create a veil before your eyes.
The scene changing can be a struggle in many books but not in this one. He crafts it without a single pause between scenes. Only a couple of times you find asterisks breaking the chapter. That is part of the shuddering element, together with the present tense, keeps you at the edge of your chair.
At the same time, we have the police officers trying to figure out what on earth is going on, followed by the phantoms of their own fathers who have a lot to do in this explosive story.
Johnson lets you think you’re the smart one and that you know how this macabre tale is going to finish. LOL, you’re not. And I’m a very difficult one to surprise, believe me.
I can imagine the author writing like “I’ve got a hundred problems but to catch the reader off guard ain’t one” *smirk*
And it is certainly not. I found myself several times talking to myself “it’s this one! No wait, this one! Dammit, no, then what…?” And I got it all wrong, in the end, I could only laugh saying out loud, “Chapeau, Marc!!”
“…impressive extreme horror, justice coming straight from Hell, with several poetic licenses that mark the story with the most important of Johnson’s prints: REVENGE, VISCERA and love for all BROKEN SOULS.”
May I be 10000% sincere? I can’t ruin the book by explaining WHY it turns into paths that will bring you such a horrific delight, I just can tell you “Believe me, and check it out by yourself.”
Summarising: impressive extreme horror, justice coming straight from Hell, with several poetic licenses that mark the story with the most important of Johnson’s prints: REVENGE, VISCERA and love for all BROKEN SOULS.
Fantastic. I had lots of fun with this book, and I honestly hope you give it a try and enjoy it as well.
