Soze Says

I'm so, sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo far behind on my reviews here. Forgive the way they'll roll out over the next day or two as I try to catch up.

*****

Sick, nasty, sadistic, twisted, and just plain wrong, Jackpot by four of the bigger up and comers within the horror genre is nevertheless an excellent read.

It starts out graphically and gets increasingly over-the-top as serial killer Booker wins the powerball and instantly becomes rich (and then some). Within days a sleazy lawyer is seeking to represent him, and soon thereafter Booker realises every one of his sick fantasies can be fulfilled by the money he has just won. If only he can keep it out of the hands of the family of murderers who have gotten a whiff of his windfall ...

Let me be clear. There is not a likable character within the pages of Jackpot. Virtually everyone is either a horrendous murderer or someone looking to take advantage of others. Of course, this is completely deliberate on behalf of Bernstein, Cesare, McKenzie, and Rufty. If their characters are all stains on the underside of humanity's shoe, then the reader won't mind too much when terrible things befall them. In fact, they might just be hoping for said terrible things to occur.

The writing here is quality. I could not distinguish one chapter from another in terms of which author wrote it, meaning the editing is either top notch, or the four gentlemen deliberately emulated each other as closely as possible. Either way, it works.

Here's to a return to the world of Jackpot in the not too distant future, or at the very least, these four writers sharing their combined talents again soon.

4 Numbers Carved in Flesh for Jackpot.