First a warning: Do not read the introduction by Peter Straub. It will give everything away. This is not a book that you want to know much about before you read it. The brief Goodreads description is even more than you might want to know. So I'll try not to indulge in giving away any more but relate to you my feel on this unsettling novelActually the novel is really two novellas. The Brotherhood of Mutilation (Geez! Even the title is a big hint!) was written as a stand alone in 2003 and Last Day...

Rating: four horrified, repulsed, goosepimply stars of fiveThe Publisher Says: Intense and profoundly unsettling, Brian Evenson’s Last Days is a down-the-rabbit-hole detective novel set in an underground religious cult. The story follows Kline, a brutally dismembered detective forcibly recruited to solve a murder inside the cult. As Kline becomes more deeply involved with the group, he begins to realize the stakes are higher than he previously thought.Attempting to find his way through a maze of...

I don’t write reviews. And I don’t usually read graphic horror, especially the kind which sells itself on the shock value. Am I getting old? Yes. Does that matter? No. It turns out I read this as a novella (The Brotherhood of Mutilation) many years ago. (I can’t recall where. Perhaps an anthology called The Weird). The images stay with you. However, it didn’t make enough of an impression at the time for me to recall the name Evenson. It was creepy and felt very cutting edge (no pun intended). No...

"How many whales do you suppose God will deign send to swallow you? When does God run out of whales?”- Last Days, Brian Evensonnote: Figuring out what amputation(ish) painting would be appropriate here was an interesting, in not rewarding, exercise. My good friend Keith is pretty sure (on good authority) one of the paintings referenced in the book is an Odd Nerdrum, so I'm going with one of his.Amazing. Brutal. Funny. Dark.Absurd.This is hard-boiled horror. Cult Crime. Brian Evenson is writing t...

When I started reading this, I was struck by how much of a traditional mystery tale it was. You know, mean streets, investigation, quirky/disturbing personalities. Of course, by Evenson's own reckoning, he wanted to take traditional elements and put the knife to them.In that regard, and thinking of this novel as an experiment really helps.I mean, diving hand first into a mutilation cult is WEIRD.Sorry, you fans of mutilation-cults. It's me, not you. But as for me, it was both absurd and disturbi...

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee... And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. - Matthews 5:29-30Talk about dark. This book is dark, this story is dark...weird, horror, violent, out of this world. Not for the 'faint-of-heart'! I've know this writer from Immobility, brilliant intriguing book and The Open Curtain, this one... wew... a bit too dark and gloomy for me, but still, good. Brian Evenson has a minimalist way of writing, strai...

Item # 1: This is a hardboiled detective novel set in the world of religious fanaticism, with more amputations and mutilations than a Civil War field hospital. Now, if your reaction to this is: …than you may want to just quietly back away from this review. This is not going to be your cuppa. On the other amputated hand, if the plot teaser intrigues you, please continue on to Item 2. Item # 2: Despite incorporating both the cadence and the tropes of hardboiled crime fiction, the surreal, exis...

Former undercover cop Kline is at rock bottom, depressed and missing a hand, when a religious sect forcibly drafts him into service, ferreting out the killer of their leader. But is the leader really dead? And what sacrifices will Kline have to make to finally learn the truth?This was one powerful little book. I devoured it in one sitting while waiting for car repairs, wondering how the rest of the patrons weren't shaken up by the events within.It starts simply enough. Kline is at rock bottom wh...

I blasted through this book in a two days, starting deep into the night and finishing just minutes ago. I would have finished it during the night but I had to go to sleep. This has turned out totally against what I was expecting - a mediocre mystery thriller - and became something different entirely. I don't know if enjoyment is a right word in this case, but I was barely able to tear myself away from it and couldn't wait to be able to get back to it and read to the very end.Sure, the thriller e...

This is my second time through this story, and I cannot recommend the audiobook narrated by Chris Patton enough!! His voice definitely elevates the chaos and darkly comedic vibe of the story

This novel of the noir and the bizarre examines cults that worship their gods in different manners.  The mutilates remove body parts, focusing on "what (is) severed rather than what remains."  They are willing to trade limbs for knowledge, "the most valuable of commodities."  The Pauls, on the other hand, believe that one must lose oneself in order to find oneself, thus sharing a single name.  Their god choses their paths - one's destination is already provided for them.  Humanity has no choices...

This is the kind of book I wish there was an extra star for. While I'm not sure that I trust anything I've read, it's really cool no matter how much I twist and turn it. There is obviously a lot of anger directed towards organized religion in LAST DAYS, but there is a lot more to it. There is a borderline taoist exploration of existence, separating variables into balanced opposites: flesh/truth, knowledge/faith, confusion/purpose. It's why the mystery aspect of LAST DAYS is so gripping. The book...

5 StarsIf you like your fiction to be dark, gruesome, bizarre, and disturbing, then you should shuffle on down to the store and buy  Last Days by  Paul (Brian Evenson) immediately.     ----Paul"Angel of destruction...he thought...like a thief in the night...not with an olive branch but with a sword..."Hot damn, I am a believer now, so please call me Paul. This is one sweet piece of in your face bizarro, cult loving, and mutations galore. A story about a man made into a messiah because he was not...

"How do you know the moment when you cease to be human? (view spoiler)[Is it the moment when you decide to carry a head before you by its hair, extended before you like a lantern, as if you are Diogenes in search of just one man?" (hide spoiler)]Oh boy... where do I begin with this one? Last Days is a horror noir, and a very peculiar one. The plot follows a man named Kline, a detective who had his hand severed by someone we only see refered to as "the gentleman with the cleaver". He receives a c...

Been searching for a joyful, heartwarming story to get you into the holiday spirit? Boy, have I got the book just for you! Actually, heartwarming may not be the best way to describe it. How bout gut-churning, bone-chilling, nerve-racking, gruesome little slice of horror noir? Yeah, that’s more like it! “And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee . . .”—Matthew 5:30 But why stop there?Mr. Kline’s descent into madness begins with a rather innocuous phone call offering him...

I first discovered writer Brian Evenson after reading his reprinted short story, "Any Corpse," in Gamut Magazine: Issue One. The story is a bizarre and dazzlingly original sci-fi/dystopian/horror that really defies explanation. It led me to seek out more of his work. This novel is just as original and it's actually rather startling in it's boldness and novelty. Last Days is about an undercover cop named Kline who's deep in depression after his hand is chopped off by a bad guy. He's then approach...

For those of you that have read this book you will understand why I feel the need for a hug.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.I only know about this author because of his book on Robert Coover. Now I want to read every word writ by him.Highly recommended. Just don't read while eating meat cooked rare.

Wow! What a darkly disturbing yet strangely delightful romp of a book. Last Days is a marvelous mash-up of hard-boiled detective noir, literary mystery and straight-up horror that never comes across as messy or confused. Evenson's prose is sooooo tight; not a single word is wasted, the narrative action propelled along at a break-neck pace, every other chapter ending on a nail-biting cliffhanger, the dialogue smart, snappy, and at times very funny. I blew through its 200 pages in no time at all,

What in the David Lynch/David Cronenberg madness was that?!?! Remember the movie Romeo is Bleeding? In that movie Gary Oldman describes hell as, "the time you should have walked, but didn't." 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. Do you leave well enough alone and hope things work out, or do you step back into the shit and try to make things right on your own? Ugh!This short novel comprised of

Very once in awhile there is an author who is connected to and praised by writers I hold close to my heart and whose own work looks interesting, but I still ignore them. Then I discover them and end up kicking myself and putting aside other reading projects so I can mainline their work. Brian Evenson is a prime example of such an author. 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 Nerd...