Stranger Still by Michaelbrent Collings ( Amazon.com )

Written Insomnia Press, 2020

ISBN: 978-8615415890

Availability: Paperback, Kindle

Two ordinary people (young newlyweds, of course) are abducted by a psychopathic torturer-killer who plans to take them somewhere and make mincemeat out of them, for his own fiendish pleasure.  You’ve seen or read that plot a million times, probably more.   It takes a writer with the skill of Michaelbrent Collings to take an old plot, jazz it up with a few twists, and make it seem totally new.  Chalk this one up as another success for him in the horror/thriller genre.  If you’ve read Collings before, you know exactly what you’re getting into.  It’s the usual rocket-sled ride of excitement. Each chapter is a dopamine hit that leaves the reader wanting more, leading to another chapter…and another…and another… until you’re done with the book and start waiting for him to publish another one.  It’s a good thing he writes fast!

Danielle and Alex Anton are a newly married couple, driving across the remote highways of America on their honeymoon, when they are waylaid and abducted by Sheldon Steward.  This Sheldon is no lovable dork like the one on The Big Bang Theory. He is a sociopath of the highest order, with zero concept of right or wrong, and is equally adept at dealing pain or using chemicals to prolong agony.  However, Sheldon has made the mistake of abducting Danielle and Alex in view of the central character of the book, a man (or is he?) known as… Legion.  Legion is a sociopath also, but he’s like The Boondock Saints, he only “kills for good”. With his ability to withstand pain and destroy enemies in seconds (often in a wonderfully bloody way), Legion makes John Rambo seem like a sissy-pants.  Legion’s abilities are on full display in the first chapter, when he intercepts a convenience store stick-up.  One of the robbers is shot dead, the other gets her jaw ripped off.   As noted earlier, when Legion teaches people the error of their ways, it’s usually quite messy.

The basic thread of the story is Sheldon and Legion on a collision course, but as always with a Collings novel, there’s a slew of curveballs in the plot.  Without giving away the rest of the story, it involves the Russian Mafia and meth labs, plus Alex Anton may not be quite the person he seems.  It adds an edge of unpredictability to the story, and keeps the reader guessing while turning pages.  That’s what makes horror/thriller novels by Collings so much fun; they never stay on the straight and narrow path.  They always veer off to add new elements, and that’s what keeps the reader hooked.  Add in all the quirks of his characters that keep them from seeming mundane, and the whip-crack speed of the writing, and you have a book that’s hard, if not impossible, to put down

Like Stephen King and the tag team of Doug Preston and Lincoln Child, Collings is truly remarkable for two reasons:

1. he produces a high quantity of output (seems like he gets out at least one a year)
2. it’s always high quality

There aren’t many authors like that, they’re hard to come by.  Collings is one.  When he releases anything new, it’s a red banner day, and this book is definitely cause for a red banner.   Highly recommended.

Note: this book is a sequel to his 2014 novel Strangers, but it can be read as a stand-alone.

Contains: profanity, graphic violence.

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson