Last Days
by Brian Evenson
Publisher: Underland Press
ISBN: 9780980226003
Rating: 6/10
Body modification. Even if we disapprove of it, we likely know someone who does. From tattoos to piercings, the practice of altering one’s body to stand out-or blend in-is timeless. But what happens when a group of practitioners clash violently with an outside world that sees them as little more than freaks? That’s the crux of Brian Evanson’s Last Days, a mystery-horror novel about the near future.
Meet Kline, former homicide detective, alcoholic-and amputee. Thanks to an encounter with a ne’er do well in an abandoned flat, Kline’s right arm is history, literally. Being one-handed has been hell ever since, and his taste for liquor doesn’t help matters any. Enter the Gous-Ramse-Bouchert sect. Led by a mysterious figure named Aline, the group of religious extremists, take Matthew 5:29-30 literally. Almost all of them are missing a limb or maybe more, depending on their rank in the cult hierarchy. When Aline is found murdered, Kline is recruited to find the killer. There is just one problem-Aline isn’t dead. But the only way Kline is going to get at the truth is with a bullet and cleaver…one body and limb at a time.
This being a detective novel, the action of the story focuses less on Kline than the cult’s interactions with its rivals and the outside world. As Kiline navigates-quite violently, one might add-the murky world he finds himself in, the novel becomes less about him and more about the supporting cast, a complex group of characters each with their own agendas, from police to rival cults. These aren’t cardboard cut-outs. Despite being alien, in their own way they are uniquely human, all too human in fact.
While the ultra-violence might be a turnoff for some readers, with its dark, ethereal tone and dystopian society, Last Days is one of the more unconventional novels to come out of the horror genre.
At $13, this is one novel that is worth losing digits over.
John Winn – Staff Writer
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