AFRAID

As a book reviewer, I am always looking for something new, something fresh, something bold – well Jack Kilborn’s debut novel is all those things and more, far more. I must warn you that as you crack the spine of the tremendous book, you really have to have a cast-iron stomach and nerves that don’t jangle, because in this novel there is blood, and I mean a lot of blood. Although marketed as a debut novel and aimed at the horror market, ‘Afraid’ is in fact a novel written under a penname by Joe [J.A.] Konrath [the writer of the Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels mysteries]. Prior to publication, Konrath wrote in a various styles and genres, including Horror and Technothrillers. ‘Afraid’ is exactly that – an horrific technothriller that pulse like a series of exploding grenades. Another interesting fact is that it has only one chapter, so it is a seamless read, despite the multi-character viewpoints. Though again I have to re-iterate that this book like its villains, takes no prisoners, as it is probably the most violent novel I have read at a single sitting in recent memory.

The plot is just so engaging that I defy anyone who reads the back of this book not to grab it off the shelf in one scoop, and then read it in one sitting. Five serial killers under the employ of the US military and codenamed ‘Red-Ops’ are ‘engineered’ for sending behind enemy lines to terrorise and destroy civilians [a sort of homemade Terrorist brigade]. Problem is that en route to a mission, their helicopter crash-lands outside a small town ironically called Safe Haven in Wisconsin . There’s only one road in, and one road out and soon the phone-lines are cut as the serial killers do what they do best, torture and terrorise this small town. There is no escape as the US Army form a military cordon around the town preventing anyone [who may have witnessed, or survived the carnage within] from escaping.

As a horror novel, it does just that, horrify because the violence is hardcore, with the brutality written in a dispassionate style, but the strength of this bloody tale is the level of characterization not only of the hideous killers, but also of the townsfolk who try and understand the sheer scale of the calamity that they face. A worrying aspect that heaps the anxiety onto the reader is that everyone in this novel could be expendable. As the killers round-up the townsfolk in the high-school under a ruse; we soon realize that the helicopter crash may not have been an accident. Former Vietnam vet, the elderly sheriff finds himself at the epicentre of the carnage. Together with a handful of resourceful townsfolk, the sheriff realizes that these killers maybe after one of their own. A conspiracy lies at the heart of this novel, but it will take the death of hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of innocent people before the truth emerges.

I was impressed at how Kilborn manages to coordinate a large array of characters keeping them distinct, and avoiding them from merging into cliché. Firstly we have the killers, named Santiago , Taylor , Ajaz, Logan and Bernie. We learn during their journey of butchery, why they became so evil, which seems to have been accentuated by behavioural modification. The sinister Dr Stubin and his sentient monkey Mathison adds a smoky trail from the conspiracy.  Which is well worth trawling through the blood and gore to uncover the truth. Fighting the evil force is elderly sheriff Ace Streng who has to find his way to his brother; the reclusive Wiley Streng for help. Meanwhile the mother and son team of Fran and Duncan Stauffer with their mutt Woof, join with fireman Josh VanCamp only to find themselves pursued by the serial killers at every turn.

I just loved this book. At times it felt like a guilty pleasure as there are some scenes in this book that will haunt the mind like the slice of a serrated knife across the eyes. ‘Afraid’ is a remarkable thriller, and one that just oozes with stylistic violence, but once you wipe away the blood stains, it has real heart. Kilborn maybe a new name, but one that I consider will breakout Konrath as one of the most talented of the current generation of new thriller writers.