It's been said that there is a fine line between genius and madness; Jon Bassoff walks that line like an acrobat at a circus. He writes the type of prose
that will have you seek out his picture so you can have a visual answer to who
in their right mind would come up with these ideas. His latest book, TheIncurables, is a masterpiece and just may be the best book I read in 2015.
The
book takes place in the 1950s, during a time when the old guard of
psychiatric practices were being forced out by a more humane and practical
manner of dealing with mental illnesses. Dr. Walter Freeman believes in
performing lobotomies with an ice pick and a hammer and his contemporaries are
forcing him out of the hospital he has worked at for many years.
Freeman
believes his dismissal is an injustice, but an injustice that may benefit mankind--as he now has
the ability to travel the country looking for those who need his help. He
promises to take the most violent and deranged patients and cure them just by
inserting an ice pick into their brains and pounding it with a hammer a few
times. As proof his methods work, he travels the country with a patient of
his, a former violent criminal, now reduced to a drooling slow-witted man.
Freeman
enters the town of Burnwood, which has a cast of characters all begging to get
an ice pick to their brains to cure what ails them (at least that’s how Freeman
sees them). As Freeman attempts to save the citizens from the evils that rage
inside them, the town itself is being pulled apart by a crazy preacher, his
would-be messiah son named Durango, a local whore named Scent, and a
whole cast of others with revenge on their minds for wrongs committed against
them.
Bassoff
is one of the premier authors being published today. His books ooze darkness
and despair in a manner few can duplicate. He doesn’t just write books, he
offers journeys into depravity for his readers. His prose is a display of
beauty, yet calls to mind decay and rot. To attempt to define his work by
putting it into a specific genre is an effort in futility. It is best just to
say he is a genius with words and his work will knock you on your ass.
This
book called to mind one of Stephen King’s best works. The manner in which
Bassoff allows his characters’ minds to slowly rot and slip away is something I
haven’t been so awed by since I read The Shining over twenty years ago. I am
convinced that Bassoff will only get better with each new book. In the same way we often see current day authors being labeled as the “Next Stephen King”, I
think in twenty years we will be looking for the “Next Jon Bassoff”.
Anyone
who is smart enough to pick up this winner should be prepared for a sleepless
night; they won’t put it down until it's completed. Bassoff deserves to either
be locked away in an insane asylum or at least put on their “Must Watch” list.
At the bare minimum he should be on everyone’s “Must Read” list because he just
might be locked away very soon. Enjoy him while you can.
Highly,
Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Derrick Horodyski
