The only things that matter are the actions of his character and the horrors they inflict on one another.

A story about a man made into a messiah because he was not a flincher, and he was able to take things into his own HANDS. Kline then turned on a nearby oven, cauterized his hand himself, turned around and, calmly, shot his attacker in the eye.note: Figuring out what amputation(ish) painting would be appropriate here was an interesting, in not rewarding, exercise. His relentless Last Days is a stark existential noir from hell inspire by Hammett’s equally relentless Red Harvest and the art of Joel-peter Witkin and Odd Nerdrum and more than equals its influences. Especially if we read them as alien and grotesque, and I would suggest that Kline’s encounter with the Brotherhood, at least in part, can and should be read as an overreaction by someone fundamentally alienated by what he regards as Other. While trying to figure out how or even if the crime in question is committed, he is confronted with a really odd hierarchy and also loses a limb or two during his quest. I kept thinking of that line throughout this book and all the hard decisions the protagonist faced with no clear cut right or wrong options.

Este libro con esta portada tan sumamente brutal llevaba ya tiempo pidiéndome a gritos ser leído y por fin le hice casito y lo elegí para la última conjunta del año con mi querida loca de los libros. These things, along with a list of cohesive elements that includes biblical violence, hilarious dialogue, and descriptive passages that will satisfy noir fans as well as fans of hardcore horror, come together to create the kind of narrative that slithers under the reader’s skin and fill his or her head with questions that can only be answered by continuing to read. But it is entertaining and has moments of genuine humor that sort of lightens the load, but not by much. And who could ever forget poor old Lawrence being forced to hack through his own foot in the original Saw movie?If you took Kafka's The Trial and morphed it with Palahniuk's macabre sensibilities and sprinkled in the Book of Revelations, you might could get within spittin' distance of Brian Evenson's writing. The brotherhood reads his motivations in a slightly different way, mostly because they assume that all amputees, on some fundamental level, share their beliefs. Peter Straub has penned a 11 page introduction, in which he discusses the novel at lenght, but also reveals major plot points and events, along with the conclusion. That is when we lose our humanity and to continue the quote posted above "Or is it the moment you begin opening doors, showing each man behind each door the head of his spiritual leader before killing him with a cleaver tucked into your belt? Finally, I want to give a shout out to Maciek and his spectacular review without which I never would have picked up this book, and that would have been my great loss.