The Centipede Literary Supplement | July 8, 2008
Book Review | Norm Rubenstein
The Scrubs
Written by Simon Janus
Bad Moon Books, pub; 2008 ISBN: 978-0-7869-4858-1 $130
Bad Moon Books is set to imminently release a new horror genre novella by Simon Janus. Simon Janus is the pen-name of the award winning Mystery/Crime/Thriller author, Simon Wood, whose latest thriller, Paying the Piper, was released, to excellent reviews, by Leisure Books/Dorchester Publishing last November. The author is no stranger to the horror genre, and has previously published numerous horror genre related short fiction.
The author's new foray into novella-length horror fiction is titled The Scrubs, is eighty-four pages in length, and includes both a wonderful Introduction by another gifted author currently tearing up the horror market, Weston Ochse, and an afterword by author Janus/Wood. The novella also features great cover and interior art by noted artist Alan Clark. Roy Robbins and his Bad Moon Books press have been publishing some top-flight horror genre novellas over the past few years, as well as their auspicious novel debut, Gregory Lamberson's excellent Johnny Gruesome, released earlier this year. The Scrubs, as with their earlier novellas, will be released in two versions, a softcover signed limited edition chapbook in an edition of two hundred for $15 and a very handsome signed, leather-bound deluxe lettered Hardcover edition of twenty-six copies for $130.
The title of the new Simon Janus novella, The Scrubs, refers, in one sense, to the Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, England where the novella is set. This is a fictionalized version of the prison, as the author is quick to reassure the readers. The titles also refers to another, even more literal interpretation of the prison's name, with a decidedly different meaning, and one of crucial importance to the plot of the story. In the novella, the reader is quickly introduced to inmate, Michael Keeler, a convicted child murderer, in a bank robbery gone very sour. It seems as if there has been strange goings-on over in the newly converted and restricted north wing of the old prison, and some very hush-hush scientific research is taking place behind some very secure steel doors. An offer of an official pardon has been made to a small number of convicts in the prison, in exchange for agreeing to allow themselves to be used in the secret experiments. Keeler has just decided to accept this offer, despite the disappearance of the two prior convict 'volunteers,' Lefford and Allard. Worse still, the north wing is known to be the current home of the notorious and frightening serial killer, David Jeter.
Jeter is an accomplished sociopath who killed well over thirty people prior to his capture, and indeed, no one knows for sure just how many persons he actually tortured and killed, as he has never 'talked' and has refused to reveal any of his secrets. Jeter has one extra little talent that makes him someone who could make even Hannibal Lecter cry like a little girl, he has psychic powers. The cruel and possibly psychopathic warden of the prison, O'Keefe, thinks he has managed to harness Jeter's powers, and is upon the verge of harnessing some new discoveries that will make him a very wealthy man. He is therefore very willing to utilize a prisoner, especially a 'worthless' child-killer like Michael Keeler, as a human guinea-pig in the ongoing experiments upon Jeeter, in order to try and perfect the process by which he will secure his millions. However, Keeler has his own ideas, and is secretly being aided by a 'mole' that the British government has planted in the prison to spy upon the not entirely trustworthy Warden O'Keefe. However, the one person that no one is taking proper account of is the seemingly restrained and controlled psychic sociopath, Michael Jeter, who has plans of his own.
The Scrubs is a rousing, fast-paced tale that keeps the reader engaged while off-guard and guessing throughout. Author Janus/Wood is a master of mood and word, and conveys more with a half-sentence than many authors can accomplish in a half-page. This is one novella that is easily read within a single greedy sitting, and packs a punch that will stay with you long after you've finished the story. If it seems as if the author finishes with a bit of a cliff-hanger which leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next, this is no mere coincidence. In his afterword, author Janus/Wood reveals that there are some sequels to this novella already in the works. This is great news, as one could not ask for a more exciting or compelling introduction to a great new villain than The Scrubs. I'll be looking forward to reading these forthcoming sequels, and I'm certain that once you have read The Scrubs, you will, as well. If you like your horror to be fast, hard-hitting, and unflinching, you will love The Scrubs.