Kill Switch: Final Season

by Sean E. Britten

Digger Dundee is a former member of the Australian special forces, on the run since an unknown type of mutant got inside his head and forced him to kill several members of his own unit. Haunted by demons, determined to prove himself, and fuelled by hate for mutants and genetically engineered supersoldiers, he’s a perfect Slayerz contestant. America’s favourite bloodsport pits fifteen teams of two against one another in a fight to the death with the catch that if their partner dies, they’ll be killed too.Naturally, Digger is partnered with a kid who’s meant to represent everything he despises. But Homo Superior No. 11, or Homer, is quiet, unassuming, and seems like a dud in the superpowers department. Is it a misfire on the part of the Slayerz producers, or is Homer more than he seems?After the disastrous end of last year’s season, the network behind Slayerz are desperate to make sure everything goes right this year. But forces are at work to make sure that doesn’t happen. Either way, they’re going to have to survive Nazi supermen, African warlords, failed science experiments, cage fighters, mercenaries, assassins, terrorists, clones, snipers, hackers, mutant animals, mechs, and more, and the only rule is, the team that slays together, stays together.

430 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2019

Reviews

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

KILLSWITCH: FINAL SEASON is the latest installment of the popular Kill Switch series that is a spiritual homage to Running Man (the Arnold version) with a bit of Twitchstream and Paul Verhoeven-esque satire thrown in. In the future, a collection of colorful psychopaths culled from the worst of a cyberpunk future's prisons are gathered together to hash it out on camera. This is the third book in the series and each one is a collection of megaviolence punctuated by hilarious satirical commercials that are the highlights of the book.

This installment has an Australian Special Forces soldier paired with a mutant boy in an attempt to drum up some easy ratings due to the fact said soldier hates mutants more than anything. Howeverm things go off the rails (as they always do) and it may prove to be the final season (title drop) of Slayerz.

These books are just plain fun and while they're a grand guginol Smash TV/Battle Royale/Death Race 2000 B-movie in print form, that doesn't make them less entertaining. It's available on Kindle Unlimited too so there's really no reason not to give them a check out if you want to enjoy something over-the-top like a Frank Miller comic from the 80s (when he was still good).

9/10

[Allan Batchelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Britten delivers a dystopian story with the action cranked up to eleven, plenty of dark humor, loads of weird characters, and bad guys who absolutely deserve what they get. This time around, the Slayerz competition is infiltrated by an outside force that will, as the title indicates, end the series once and for all. I've read a lot of Britten by now, and I still can't figure out how he manages to keep the action going non-stop, but you'll enjoy every bit of it. I recommend the whole trilogy, which comes to a most satisfying end here, while still allowing for the potential of spin-off series.