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Book Review: To Dust You Shall Return by Fred Venturini

cover art for To Dust You Shall Return by Fred Venturini

To Dust You Shall Return by Fred Venturini

Turner Publishing, 2021 (release date June 21)

ISBN: 9781684426348

Availability: Paperback, Kindle Bookshop.orgAmazon.com )

 

If you only have the budget to purchase one book for the entire year, this is the one to buy.  To Dust You Shall Return is superior to everything else out there, might as well just hand the author the Stoker award for best horror novel of 2021 and skip the drawn-out nomination process.  It’s that good: other authors will be hard pressed to equal it.

 

Most of the story is set in Harlow, one of those Children of the Corn-type Midwestern towns you could drive through and not know if anyone actually lives there.  Curtis Quinn, an aging ex-Mafia hitman with a price on his head, is led there while on the trail of whoever butchered his beloved wife into pieces.  He suspects it’s a revenge hit to get to him, but what he finds in Harlow is much more sinister and terrifying than anything the Mafia could have dished out.  Harlow residents live in fear of the Mayor, a sadistic madman (or is he?) with inhuman powers.  The residents’ only hope is the legend of the Griffin, an outsider who may one day come to deliver the townspeople from the Mayor’s grasp.  Could Curtis, a cold-blooded killer, be that man, and is it somehow connected to his wife’s murder?

 

The story scores unbelievably high on every possible level, but the excitement and originality are the two best points.  After a brief prologue, the story shifts into high gear right away, and, in 352 pages, doesn’t let up.  There’s never a hint of a slowdown: this is the type of book you will keep reading well into the night, until exhaustion sets in.  For originality, Harlow itself is one of the most intriguing fictional towns ever invented; it’s an unusual cross between a communist community and Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines.  Residents are provided for and given jobs, but the cost is never being able to leave the town, exceept for a forays lasting a brief hour or two.  The town is surrounded with razor wire and various traps to keep the people in.  If they do escape, rangers track them down and return them to Harlow, where they are ritually slaughtered in front of the townspeople in extremely painful and bloody ways.  This causes the book’s gore factor to run high at times, but it is always in service to the story, never gratuitous for the shock factor.  That said, some of the killings are as hardcore as anything Jack Ketchum ever wrote and will make readers cower in fear, praying to forget what they just read.

 

The characters and plot also sell themselves by their unpredictability: the story does not go where you would expect.  Numerous characters double-cross each other, and the book becomes a guessing game,  keeping the story engrossing.  The legend of the Griffin also helps drive the story’s unexpected twists and turns, as most stories with a creepy little town rarely use the “savior” angle.  It’s just another example of what sets this story apart from all the competition.  Bottom line: just buy this one, and prepare to be blown away.  You won’t be disappointed.  This is beyond highly recommended.

 

Contains: blood, gore, profanity, cannibalism, ritualistic torture.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Book Review: The Heart Does Not Grow Back by Fred Venturini

The Heart Does Not Grow Back, by Fred Venturini

Picador, 2014

ISBN: 978-1250052216

Available: Print (new and used) and e-book form

 

Venturini has explained in interviews that he wanted the wrong guy to get the superpowers. In this darkly comedic tale, Dale Sampson is definitely the wrong guy. We meet Dale as a lonely, nerdy, sixth grader. Unexpectedly, he is befriended by Mack Tucker, the most popular boy in the school, and they begin a close “bro” relationship that lasts through the next decades. Over the years, Dale realizes that he heals much faster than other people. Then, tragedy strikes at a high school graduation party when a sociopathic student goes berserk, killing Dale’s dream girl, Regina, and badly injuring Dale and Mack. Although Dale loses an ear and some fingers, they miraculously grow back within days. Dale’s mom views this as a miracle from God, but Dale isn’t so sure.

After graduation, Dale continues his lonely existence until he runs into Regina’s twin sister, Raeanna, and immediately falls for her, even though she has an abusive husband. Just as with Regina, Dale’s “love affair” is all in his head. He never discusses his feelings or his plans with Rae and is soon faced not only with her rejection, but with her husband’s violent vengeance. Dale tries to sell his organs for as much cash as possible, but once again, his plans backfire, and when the government gets wind of his regeneration abilities, Dale flees to California.

Dale is soon the star of his own reality show on which he donates limbs and organs to needy people. Even as he becomes famous, he realizes that he is still the same social misfit he always has been. Usually, a superhero heals instantly, with seemingly little pain or discomfort, but not Dale. Venturini forces us to watch as Dale suffers through excruciating pain as limbs and organs regenerate, emphasizing the fact that Dale isn’t your ordinary superhero.

When Rae unexpectedly shows up at his door, Dale falls back into his pattern of unrequited love. There are several twists at the end, and the finale leaves Dale with a new opportunity to regenerate his life—his inner life, if he can just pull get out of his head and in touch with reality—true reality, not TV reality.

This is a fascinating novel with an inventive take on the superhero persona. Dale is a fully realized character, as is Mack, and their close relationship is a highlight of the book. Unfortunately, the women in Dale’s life are stereotypical figures who serve primarily as catalysts for Dale’s worst decisions, and they suffer the most from the destructive aftermath of his attentions. Venturini’s plot construction is masterful, except for an out-of-nowhere scene involving a gun battle and a car crash. But even with these characterization problems and minor plot issues, Venturini’s fast-paced story kept me engrossed all the way to the very end. Dale Sampson is a fresh and welcome addition to superhero fiction.

 

Recommended for all libraries.

Contains: profanity and moderate physical violence

Reviewed by Patricia O. Mathews