THE ASYLUM CONFESSIONS (The Asylum Confession Files Book 1) [2020]
My Review 4.2 Stars
This was my first brush with author Jack Steen, and Book 1 of his “Asylum Confessions” was the assigned group read by popular vote for the month of November. I would like to thank the EGW Horror Book Club for this opportunity to experience the writing of a new author and some intriguing new material. Relative to ratings, this novel rated 3.9 on Goodreads with nearly 5,000 ratings in the sample. It fared somewhat higher on Amazon at 4.2 with approximately the same sample size.
The concept for this novel and its numerous subsequent installments is an original one. The First-Person Narrator is Jack, and he is employed as the night nurse at an Asylum for the Criminally Insane. There is a caveat though that ups the ante since Jack is in charge of the “death” ward at the Asylum, where all patients who are terminally ill or dying are transferred for end-of-life care. Jack explains that his is the last face many will see before they die, and he offers that most of his patients know him as their “Angel of Death”.
Jack further explains in the marketing blurb that if they give him their deathbed confession, in return he helps to make their death less painful. But Jack is quick to stress that he wants the real story, the one they haven’t told anyone else. Now, Jack characterizes the majority of the patients in the asylum as mass murderers, rapists, and serial killers.
I was impressed with the hype. The author (Jack the “Angel of Death”) characterizes the asylum as an old decrepit institution that should have had a wrecking ball taken to it ages ago. His descriptions of the place, feelings, smells, sights, etc. all are designed to give the reader the “creeps” and he largely succeeds. There is no modern forensic psych unit to house dangerous or criminal patients in this book.
There are eight (8) volumes I believe, and each book contains a total of four (4) “DeathBed Confessions”
The first story is entitled “CHEF” and no spoilers. Oh, and before I forget, Jack enjoys tossing in appropriate little dark homilies or pithy comments whenever possible. I am going to give high marks to the first confession. The story is in my opinion very original and creative, always welcome. The story was actually about the eldest son being groomed to assume his role in the family funeral business. Chef was a funeral director in life, and it was a calling that was passed down from his family over the years. His family owned one of the first crematoriums in North America in 2013. Chef was caught and convicted of practicing his family’s funereal traditions. He said to Jack “Ever heard of the term Death Eater?” Rated 4 Stars for creativity and originality.
The second story in this volume is “KEN”. Jack elucidates about the famous couple they had in the asylum. The staff called them Barbie and Ken. This story relied primarily on a modicum of gore and some tamped down eroticism. It had a gross factor courtesy of Barbie’s tongue. Ken I am afraid was simply disgusting. It was my least favorite. Rated 3 Stars for trying.
The third story (confession) was entitled “BUCKET”. It was the most disturbing, the most gut-wrenching, and the unremembering might prove hard. It was well written in the voice of the confessor, word choice, pauses, expressions, etc. It was by and away the most original deathbed confession in this installment of the series. Jack’s sympathy and tenderness was credible, and I think I had a lump in my throat. When has infanticide or patricide ever been the just and right thing to do? When is poisoning guests the perfect plan? Bucket answers these questions for us and Jack as well. I should be admitted to the asylum if I did not rate this one a full 5 Stars for outstanding.
The fourth deathbed confession is entitled “The Nanny” and Jack misleads the reader initially, but perhaps unintentionally. “Call me Sweet Emma” is thought to be a sociopath, a master manipulator, and a consummate liar and chameleon. We know that she murdered four families in cold blood. She wants to debate the familiar and never-ending nature vs nurture argument. I swear before she and Jack were done, I was confused and was vacillating between positions. In any case, her deathbed confession was NOTHING like I expected. It was a really good story and quite original plus some mystery thrown in for good measure. Who was “the man” or “Was there really a man at all”? That kind of flummoxed. This one was definitely another 5-Star home run.
My rule of thumb with story collections are to rate each one independently and then average the rating. I liked all of the stories as you can discern from my notes above. "Bucket" blew me away as the most disturbing and tragic. I found the final entry "The Nanny" the most intellectually stimulating and captivating.
This was a book of deathbed confessions worth reading. I enjoyed it. Thanks again to the Moderator and savvy voters.