Bash

by Mike Bartos

BASH has been updated and republished as  Love, Madness, and Murder  by Michael Bartos, Now available on Amazon

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2012

About the author

I am a psychiatrist who recently worked at a large state hospital for the criminally insane, Napa State Hospital, where I was the Medical Chief of Staff. My inspiration and ideas came through my experiences, although the Bay Area State Hospital (BASH) is totally fictional.

Currently I live in Napa California, but the hospital I write about is set near Charleston, SC, a place where I lived and worked, went to school, and got married.

Reviews

[Lengy Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun reading. It's the mix of fiction and reality.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a copy of "Bash" by the author Mike Bartos in exchange for an honest review. This is story is truly an amazing one!!!
The story takes places in the Carolina's and has all the southern charm-i it tells about an newspaper man by the name of Ashley Roper who own the "Charley Town " paer with his wife Sally J. the paper hasn't been doing very good, when a major story breaks at the BASH- Bay Area state Hospital. they have recently had a murder, an escape of patient.
Ash gets this idea that to save the paper he will go under cover just for one day as a aptient long enough to get information about BASH. Then get out. CaptainDawkins, the head of security has offered to help him. He gets him inside the hospital. While Ash is inside as a patient under a different name. Dawkins dies suddenly of a heart attack!! Now no one but his wife Sally J knows his real name and who he is. What happens to Ash?? will he get out?? Oh yes I forgot to tell you his wife Sally J is in love still with her former boyfriend ; who is now their attorney Roswell. So now will Sally J stay faithful to Ash?
You will need to read this book to find out all these anwers. This book so so amazing. I could hardly put it down!!! I give it a 5 plus rating. The characters and scenes come alive. You feel like you are right there with them.
I would deffinately refer this to a friend an if there is a follow up to this book I am looking forward to reading it.
Mark you are awesome!!!!!

[Jo Reason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven´t read a book with this subject before, the author writes about a hospital for the criminally insane, with all it´s ups and downs, there is some dark humour in the book as well as some good descriptions of the hospital and what goes on inside, some of which could be real, although the book is fiction.

There are various characters some of whom have large parts and some just small ones. This was a little confusing at times as some where introduced later on and too some time to figure out what their part was. Each character was introduced with just the correct amount of background, not too much and not too little, this was great, I really enjoyed this.

The writing style follows shifting perspectives, parts are written in the 1st person and parts in the 2nd person. It is written in the present. There is frequent medical talk which the author explains well. The story was rather predictable in one part.

My favourite character is Ash along with Doc Kerrigan. The Doc strikes me as a decent person who is trying to help another despite what might happen to him and Ash is trying his best to keep his business above water which could seem normal in this day and age.

My favourite part was the passing of the hurricane, I have never experienced a hurricane myself so the author did a great job with the descriptions, made it seem real to me. The story takes place in South Carolina and the area around Charleston, I enjoyed the way the author wrote in the southern accent, it made me feel as if I was actually listening to someone talk: “Well, how in the hay-ill am ha supposed to know how he´s doin´?”

The book is certainly a change from what I normally read, I recommend this book to anyone wanting a different subject.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four star story ruined by two star punctuation. I generally don't write up actual reviews, but a short complaint-review-explanation of three stars seems warranted.

I don't know how I came across this book, but I'm glad I did. Reading the back of the book (Amazon description) lead to interest without knowing what I was delving into. It turned out to be a fun read overall, with caveats.

Mingling first person with third person is a neat idea had it worked out better. Very interesting idea that is not often used, but seems out of place here. The main character is by no means the first person character, and I took the first person voice as that of the author. It felt disjointed to go into the mind of a secondary character that does play a critical role to the story, but still a character that is on the fringes.

Secondary problem is simple punctuation errors repeated to the point that it feels like I was being punked. Missing or. misplaced periods are, abundant with occasional "floating commas, and the worst "offender being seemingly" random quotation, marks, my count by the end of the book being greater than 45. See "what I, did there with the "mistakes?"

The punctuation took me right out of the story. During conversation heavy pages, there would be multiple errors per page. Oddball quotations would show in normal paragraph structure, lost in descriptors rather than the conversation where it belongs. I read the Kindle version so I cannot speak to the physical book, but the ebook version is broken. Possibly some sort of formatting errors when converting to electronic format. Possibly nobody gave the book a once-over prior to publishing. I don't know. I do know that for such a fantastic story overall, it deserves better than it was given.

[Bobbie Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced, interesting characters, and disasters both man-made and natural make up this riveting book. It follows the residents of the Bay Area State Hospital, a mental institution, as well as several characters on the outside. Ashley Roper is a writer who decides to go undercover to get a story for his floundering newspaper, and while the plot twists were predictable, they were nonetheless entertaining. Among the psychotics, the violent offenders, and those who have finally given up on life, he uncovers a thriving drug trade and the story takes a turn from the daily life of the mentally unstable to the drug world.

If I have any criticisms here, it is that the author could have given his characters more depth. I found them to be roundly two-dimensional at best, and several did not even reach that far. All in all, I enjoyed this book.

[J.w. Haymer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a riveting novel about a South Carolina mental hospital called Bay Area State Hospital - BASH for the criminally insane. Bartos does an excellent job telling the story of Ashley Roper's (man) infiltration into BASH to get a story for his small newspaper. what is meant to be a one day excursion turns into a much longer one. The author has a fine command of the narrative and his depiction of characters and their development is a work of art. It is a must read and would make a great TV series ala "Breaking Bad" or "Sons of Anarchy".

[Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I'm not sure if my favorite character is Ash or Ginny. Ash is the quintessential newspaper man. He goes undercover for a story and comes out with a completely different one. Ginny is the Southern lady who wants to make sure everyone gets enough good food to eat and to take care of her grandson. I'm not sure why Alyse is in the story, but other than that I LOVED it.

[Nathaniel Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike crated interesting characters and a creative plot. The story pulled you along until all is revealed. The author has real life expedience working with the criminal insane and he bring that background to his book. It was an enjoyable read.

[Garrett Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Fascinating and lively characters, compelling story with some great twists and turns and plenty of insight into bureaucratic hypocrisies bristling with sharp ironies and then swept into a mad scatter with the force of a hurricane. Highly recommended.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

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