Jack Killeen is done killing. The Detroit hitman has grown disgusted with his job and wants to turn his life around. Unfortunately for him, it’s too late: A mad surgeon has created a monster from the bodies of Killeen’s victims and the creature is animated by the damaged brain of Jack’s final target, Victor Moravian.
Now the Mob wants him dead, the cops want a piece of him, and his hard-nosed parish priest refuses to grant him absolution until he atones for his crimes. Complicating matters, Jack is in love with Marlene, Moravian’s widow, who wants him to use his particular set of skills to find her “missing” husband.
Jack’s only ally is his closeted factory worker brother Marty, whose homosexuality has strained their once close relationship and complicated the hitman’s relationship with his Mob bosses. Together they navigate the city’s underbelly and bitter racial divisions as they track the beast through the post-apocalyptic ruins of late ’90s Detroit.
It’s remorseless killing machine vs. ruthless professional killer as Jack struggles to protect his family, destroy the monster, and somehow achieve absolution for his crimes.
Dark bleatings, my…counting(?) tribe! Here today with a novel that’s part crime fiction, part Frankenstein retelling, and wholly fun.
Jack is a hitman that is battered with the world’s largest, most cruel dose of karma imaginable when he makes the morally bankrupt decision to comply with taking out his latest target. He’s no stranger to being the murderer, but finds himself in the position of surviving people he loves. The shoe, as it were, is on the other foot. I think the shoe in question might be that glass slipper that hacks up everyone’s feet in the original tale of Cinderella.
Overall, this story was a lot of fun, in terms of the horror. I loved the parallels to Frankenstein (and I especially love that the monster is called Victor!). I know it’s blasphemy to say this but while I appreciate and acknowledge Frankenstein as a world-changing, sci-fi creating, masterpiece of fiction, it’s also not really one of my favourites. However, I really enjoyed this contemporary take on the main themes of the original story, and found the monster fascinating to follow.
The author made a ballsy move in giving us someone like Jack as a protagonist. He is not likeable, nor relatable (to the vast majority, at least!). He’s hated by his ex and has been a deadbeat dad for most of his kid’s life. He’s hated by the woman he loves. He’s chosen professional murder as a career choice. He’s layered – I mean, he’s not a complete sociopath – but he’s what I would call an objectively bad dude. However, I think this decision worked in favour of the story, because it added a complexity to the themes and how I perceived all of the other characters. Where is the line that takes you from flawed to unforgiveable, and in whose eyes, and how responsible for your actions are you if your agency has been stripped, either by the mob or by your compulsion to please someone you love, or by a mad scientist? Maybe Jack deserves a horrible fate, but his daughter doesn’t deserve to lose her dad, does she? So what’s the “right” outcome here? Who should win?!
I suppose if I have a criticism it’s that there’s an awful lot going on. I think if the author had really locked in on the hitman vs monster aspect, it could have drawn out the horror a bit more effectively. I was a lot less interested in the mob stuff (there’s not an egregious amount though), but it was an important character detail. A hired gun is probably easier to root for than some guy who kills a guy just because he’s with the woman he wants.
That said, I found this thoroughly entertaining and an engaging read, with characters that all had a lot of personality, and high and shifting stakes throughout.
I’d recommend this to horror fans, especially people on the hunt for contemporary retellings of classics. If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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