Butcher

Chaingang #5

by Rex Miller

Once again, Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski is on the loose. After a seemingly endless term in prison, he is hungrier then ever to get his teeth into some bloody violence. The opportunities for mayhem were pretty limited in the maximum-security prison where he was being held for so long. Now that he's out, his keeper, Dr. Norman, is anxious to put him to work. He has given Chaingang an important task: hunt down and destroy the one man who is more savage than himself. Doc Royal has been living quietly in rural Missouri, successfully hiding his secret youth as a death-loving nazi. However, his past is about to come and haunt his present, just when Chaingang arrives to distract him from his troubles . . .

Genres: Horror, Thriller

288 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Rex Miller Spangberg was a DJ and horror novelist, best known for his "Detective Jack Eichord" books.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last 'Chaingang' book by Miller, the title Butcher could be either Chaingang himself, or the antagonist here, an old Nazi doctor that has been laying low in the US since the war. Miller wrote five novels starring Daniel 'Chaingang' Bunk0wski, but I would not call this a series per se; rather, each features Chaingang on a different adventure. Hell, Chaingang even died in the second or third one! One thing besides Chaingang unites these novels-- the experimental prose, with LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS on occasion, run-on sentences, etc. Interestingly enough, this aspect is really toned down here, giving this a more 'conventional' feel.

in Butcher the story starts once again in Vietnam, and while Chaingang is around, the focus is Ray, another member of the black-ops squad. Ray is one of four surviving members of that squad (we already met one other in a previous installment, and of course, Chaingang) and now lives in the 'bootheel' of Missouri, scratching out a living as a farmer, but making most of his cash via arms deals. Our antagonist, the Nazi doctor, now renamed Dr. Royal, has served as the local doc in town since the war. Around 70 years old now, Dr. Royal is semi-retired; he still loves to inflict pain and such, but has the reputation of something of a godsend in town. One day, however, a concentration camp survivor, who also lives in town, spots him and sets in motion an entire chain of events. She calls a Nazi hunter who lives in Kansas City just before good ole' doc Royal offs her.

Well, it seems the US, or at least some dark level of government, knew about Dr. Royal, but when his identity is in danger of becoming public, they want to off him before Mossad finds out. Well, maybe Chaingang can be 'induced' to the task!

Marketed as horror, I never found this series very scary. Chaingang, almost 7 foot tall and weighing in at 450 pounds, certainly knows how to kill people, and does with pleasure, but usually the people he takes out are nasty folks-- child abusers, animal abusers, lowlifes, etc. The depiction of his awful stench, disabling farts, 'mossy' fat rolls, etc., is just so OTT it makes me laugh. This, the final installment in the series, I found to be one of the better ones. You can read these as standalones. 3.5 stinky stars, rounding up!

[Mikepottz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bunkowski 6 feet 9 inches, 460 pounds, abused and tortured as a child, a talent for destruction and a number count of taking out life for every pound of his weight. Doc Royal a sick, sadistic, Nazi doctor experiments on child and animals during the war, escapes, gets cosmetic surgery, enhances his Language proficiency, steals an identity and gets into a small community as a kind and loving doctor. An old Jewish patient will recognise the evil doctor and start a chain of events to put him on trial. During his prison stay Bunkowski would hide things in his mountain of surplus fat folds, he would never wash there and mouldy green scum of toxic tummy jam would fester giving off sewer pungent perfume. Bunkowski will conduct open heart surgery the only way he can. This lacked the usual gore and Bunkowski was not in this enough.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe time has dimmed the earlier Rex Miller style in my brain, but this book seemed a bit more...mainstream...in the writing. I remember a certain fondness for Miller run-on sentences and descriptives that were both hard-hitting and, somehow, touching. The former wasn't in this book, and hopefully not just in my memory, but the latter was still there. So, overall, a solid 3.5 stars with a rounding up to 4 just because.

Although this is definitely a "Chaingang" book, he's more a secondary character, and that works rather well.

One more Miller book closer to the end. :(

(He being dead way too early)