The Resurrectionistby Wrath James White
Synopsis: Dale McCarthy has a unique and miraculous ability. He can bring the dead back to life, though the resurrected have no memory of their deaths. But not every miracle comes from God, and not every healer is a saint. Dale sure isn't.
2 words.... holy %$@*! This is just a brutal read. I read an interview with the author, a kickboxer, where the interviewer had this lead-in:
"Reading his fiction is like stepping into the ring with him; it is a brutal, intense experience that will leave you gasping and defeated, shocked and beaten. Like a fist of fury his words pummel you beyond recognition until you have to go crying home to Mommy."
I got a chuckle out of that as it seems like the typical over-hype nowadays that's used to try to draw attention. You can see a label on the front of some horrible DVD that says "scariest movie ever!" or a movie poster for a pathetic film that says "the movie of the year!" and it all means nothing anymore.
Except this time. This interviewer hit the nail right on the head, and this book is my first example (of many I must add) of how this Mr. White's mind works. And it's absolutely a place where the majority of readers are going to be offended, shocked and repulsed to go. Guys like Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Richard Laymon and Brian Keene set and continually push the bar up in horror and then along comes somebody like Wrath who takes the bar off, covers it in blood and shoves it up your... well, let's just get on to the book itself.
The premise is cool, sick, twisted and original...a kid discovers he has the power to bring back the dead and heal their wounds. Problem is, this guy is a creepy little evil bastard and he grows up to be a creepy, perverted evil bastard. But he can't get a woman, so he rapes and kills them (sometimes in that order, sometimes not) and brings them back to life so they don't remember it. He also tortures some of them and their husbands and even puts one through a Ned Beatty scene. He moves in across the street from a young couple and becomes obsessed with the wife, who somehow figures out what's going on... and all hell breaks loose.
Yes, it's all as sick as it sounds and he goes over every last detail. There's a whole lot of sex and gore and it goes to some very taboo areas. It's very fast-paced, intense, has a lot of OMG moments while not backing down one inch. It's just scary as hell to immerse yourself in, which you can't help but doing because the characters are all so everyday type people (well, except for the psycho I hope) and believable. He does a good job of establishing them with back stories and making them feel like normal folks in an abnormal situation.
There's also a whole other subtext of why would God give a power to such a person and a real question of faith and faithlessness.
And there's violence. Tons of violence.
I would only recommend this book to a few of my friends who I think would feel the same way I do about it as big fans of horror literature, and also who can stomach it. Most people are going to want to just whistle and walk past this in the book store. Trust me, it's hardcore and it won't leave your brain anytime soon as you finish it. Wrath James White is the real deal.
9/10
