Synopsis/blurb….
"WHEN
WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL is as crazy as its tormented protagonist. Hard as
nails." -- Jack Ketchum
Home, he thinks, Where the heart bleeds freely.
A hell of a boxer, he earned the nickname 'Fist' back in the day. But during the past eight years, he's transformed into somebody he no longer knows—a weak, pitiful, and passionless office drone.
Barely hanging onto the last thread of his self-respect, he returns home one night to discover Hell has truly crossed its threshold.
And Hell has lessons to teach him through what fragments remain.
Slivers of dark light.
Knowledge in blood.
Forgiveness, clarity and redemption in commitment.
Home, he thinks, Where the heart bleeds freely.
A hell of a boxer, he earned the nickname 'Fist' back in the day. But during the past eight years, he's transformed into somebody he no longer knows—a weak, pitiful, and passionless office drone.
Barely hanging onto the last thread of his self-respect, he returns home one night to discover Hell has truly crossed its threshold.
And Hell has lessons to teach him through what fragments remain.
Slivers of dark light.
Knowledge in blood.
Forgiveness, clarity and redemption in commitment.
A shortish December read from another new author. 50-odd
pages which comprised the title piece and a bonus short story – Beneath the Weeping Willow.
When We
Join Jesus in Hell starts out dark and very quickly turns darker still
and doesn’t particularly lighten up at any point. Fist, our main character returns
home to find his wife being sexually attacked by an intruder, who has already
raped and murdered his young daughter down the hall. After a brief Mexican
stand-off our intruder kills Fist’s wife and flees after a fight.
Fist having disappointed and failed his family, once too often
in his eyes, pursues Jesus our perpetrator, intent on revenge. Rather bizarrely in my eyes his dead
family accompany him on his mission, talking and signalling to him as he tracks
Jesus first to his aunt’s house and another confrontation with a relative
before a brutal and bloody climax at an abandoned warehouse.
Tense, tight
and gripping on the whole, but not completely sold and convinced on the “dead
talking” bits. Perhaps I misinterpreted the story and these episodes were
hallucinatory on Fist’s behalf.
I probably
enjoyed the bonus story a little bit more if I’m honest. Hardly a barrel of
laughs either though. A fractured family – mum, dad, two boys - one with autism….
arguments, abandonment, resentment, cruelty and tragedy.
Would I read
this author again in future? Probably yes, but I would need to be feeling quite
upbeat before descending into Thompson’s dark world.
You can catch up with the author here at his website.
4 from 5
Bought
recently for kindle at Amazon UK
I want to buy a copy of this book just to have that title on my shelves - love it - but you haven't convinced me to actually read the book. No rainbows and unicorns there :)
ReplyDeleteHaha.....no fairies or fluffy animals of any description. There is a small lizard though - would that swing it for you?
DeleteCol - I have to agree with Bernadette: that title of something else! This isn't my sort of thing (I'm with you about the talking dead people), but I'm glad you enjoyed the story overall.
ReplyDeleteMargot - great title, agreed, it certainly gets your attention! I think I'm definitely sceptical when it comes to supernatural elements in my reading, overall enjoyable though.
DeleteYup, Bernadette nailed it. What she said.
ReplyDeleteNot too many takers for this one then!
DeleteCol, I'm with everyone else. I, too, would read this book on;the basis of the title alone which in a way is a compliment to its author.
ReplyDeletePrashant, I'll look forward to your take on it if you ever get around to trying it!
DeleteAgreed, the title is great, but if you found it too dark, would probably not do it for me either.
ReplyDeleteYes, I would hesitate to suggest it to you Tracy.
Delete