They arrive alive. They always leave dead. But first, they give me their confessions. My name is Jack Steen, and for those who arrive on my 'death' ward at the Asylum, I'm the last face many will see before they die. I am the night nurse at an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and most of my patients know me as their Angel of Death. I know them as mass murderers, rapists, and serial killers - among other things. Here's what they come on my floor, they give me their deathbed confession, and I help to make their death less painful. There's a catch, I want the real story, the one they haven't told anyone else.
The majority of these killers are expert manipulators. They could be playing their final game with me by messing with my head. Now, maybe they're messing with yours too.
Inside this book are 4 One has an interesting 'appetite'. One was the Ken to his Barbie, and he would do anything to keep her happy. Another is a Nanny, but not one you want watching your kids. The other is the sweetest soul you'd ever meet but you'll have a hard time reading her confession.
WARNING : There is swearing in this book. And some stories might be a trigger for something you have a hard time handling. But, these are the confessions of serial killers, mass murderers and such.
What a positive surprise. I thought this could be very worn out stuff but the author got me hooked from the very beginning. Here we read the deathbed confessions of patients/inmates of an asylum told from the interviews led by a nurse named Jack (alter ego of the author). He is a kind of good here and gives his patients in the death ward a decent death. There are 4 different patients with very different stories: Patent 1024 is a bout a funeral director with a strange taste of flesh. Patient 974 is about Barbie and Ken, two Bonnie and Clyde like "babysitter" murderers... Patient 871 is about Bucket, a frequently abused woman who killed all her babies. Patient 1203 features Emma, a nanny, who killed the families she was babysitting for. What is the motif of all those patients? How can Jack convince them to tell some unknown facts of their stories? I was blown away by those eerie, mind blowing, depressing and shocking cases presented here. Definitely have to read more of that series. Definitely nothing for the faint hearted. Rough stuff that sounds all too true and plausible. Highly recommended for terrible nightmares!
This could become deliciously addictive! (pun intended).
Awesome concept, not great writing, but the author does warn us in the foreword that he is not a writer. Pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it and can't wait for the next set of Confessions!
Okay so I’m not sure I’m mental stable enough to write this but here goes. This was absolutely UNHINGED and a total rollercoaster.
≡;- ꒰ °🔪 Characters 🔪꒱:-
༉‧Jack: I loved how Jack was an actual CHARACTER in the story: I thought that was a really cool idea. I also liked his characters and how he wasn’t the good guy.
༉‧Chef: My guy has some issues oml. No spoilers but if you know what he did… yikes. His story was so well developed tho and he started the book off with a bang.
༉‧Bucket: Her story was absolutely soul crushing. Jack Steen, you are a twisted man. She went through so much and I STILL think about her story. I’ve been traumatized for life…
༉‧Ken: Well Ken was… interesting. I felt the spice was needed for his section, just considering what he did, but I was disappointed when I had to skip about half the section.
୨⎯ 🪦The plot🪦⎯୧
I’m so jealous of the plot development in this book. I wish I had the amount of creativity this took to make. The writing wasn’t great, but he explained that, so there’s not much for me to complain about.
Snooze fest! This book highlights four allegedly real life deathbed confessions , but with names etc changed to keep their anonymity. There was a through line of Jack, as an attendant, going to their beds once they are near death to make a “deal” with them to ease their passing as long as they divulged their true stories, but it seemed rather pointless and superfluous.
The Asylum Confessions by Jack Steen is a great psychological horror story. I found the four different stories that make up this book well-written and captivating. Jack, the main character, enjoys studying the minds of criminals who are close to death. He offers them a deal: their secrets in exchange for a quick death. Jack relishes the power he has over the criminals under his care and often abuses it for our entertainment. I found all the secrets the criminals revealed to him to be poignant, violent, and grim. I highly recommend this book if, you enjoy psychological horror stories.
Surprisingly interesting. People in this asylum come to a certain floor when their deaths are near. It’s their chance to confess to something no one knows. I think I will read the next in this series.
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.
This book is not for lightweights. If you can handle the insane and demented madness within its pages, you are in for a wild ride!
Jack works as a night nurse at an asylum for the criminally insane. When patients are on their deathbeds, they're moved to his ward, and the fortunate ones are offered a deal. In exchange for their untold stories, he will help ease their pain during their last moments. However, he's not interested in the stories that everyone already knows. He wants to hear the private details, the stories that no one has heard before.
This book contains four chilling confessions, and it's up to you to decide if any of these murderers deserve a painless death. Read on and judge for yourself!
This was good, really eerie. I still haven't convinced myself this is fiction and not a collection of true crime stories. The third one about bucket was so sad, my heart broke for her. The first two knocked me sick. And the last one, I feel uneasy about. Would consider reading more.
I listened to this on my audiobook and wow! The narrator was very easy to follow and I was able to enjoy this book. This book is full of horror, gore and some interesting story plots. I look forward for hearing the rest of this series.
If you like stories about psychopaths, with the added bonus that the proceedings are set within the four walls of a mental asylum for the criminally insane, then this is one book that should not be missed.
The book consists of 4 individual tales whereby the patients, who all just have days to live due to natural causes, are offered a deal by the chief nurse in his death ward, for the real, or previously unknown, versions of their evil deeds, in exchange for assistance to ease the pain in their passing.
Unique and original thought in each of the cleverly constructed pieces of evil wickedness, with all guaranteed to completely immerse, fascinate and entertain each of the reading horror disciples.
Thankfully, there are a half dozen books in this series, of which I intend to read each and every one.
Not to be missed, if stories of serial killers are right down your alley.
Rating: 4.6 brilliantly told, gloriously nefarious, ‘dead-end’ stars of total insanity.
It was very entertaining but dark. Definitely not for those easy to be offended. The only problem I had with it was how everyone knew about this guy’s deal for the stories and how nobody said “hey that’s illegal”. Other than that I really liked it.
Great book all around. Really captured me in a way that made me want to keep reading just to see what more depraved things would happen. Like watching those videos where an athlete gets injured. You know it's wrong, yet you have to see it again. Also made me question if I was crazy as some things kind of made sense. Anything that makes you question reality is a good book to me. Great job would 100 percent recommended.
Four short stories in this book, all crazy and full of twists. Some are very disturbing, but will keep you on your toes of what’s going to happen next!
Reading this book was a real rollercoaster of emotions, at times kind of unsettling but yet very interesting and even parts that really left me heartbroken. An absolutely amazing read and I am looking forward to reading more of this author.
3.5 stars! The stories were good and kept me reading but the writing style was quite basic and there were also a lot of grammar and spelling errors, but otherwise it was pretty good!
This book was surprisingly interesting! It’s centered around a night nurse at a criminally insane asylum who wants to hear about the untold confessions of their inmates before their deaths. These confessions, presented as short stories, are dark and not for the faint of heart. Jack occasionally “edits” out some of the most disturbing details for the sake of the reader. However, these criminals are unreliable narrators so the reader must figure out if the stories told are factual accounts or fabrications stemming from a disturbed mind. I loved it!! I was captivated by the four inmates, their motivations, and how so many factors influenced their actions.
CW: Murder. Cannibalism. SA. Child abuse, death, loss. Incest. Pedophilia.
The chef 1/5 Ken and Barbie 1.5/5 Bucket 3.5/5 The Nanny 3/5
The chef was boring af literally, NOTHING happened there Ken and Barbie were just Bonnie and Clyde, but serial rapist i hated the whole thing, but it did give us more than the butcher did Bucket, MY BABY OMG SHES GONE THROUGH SO MUCH I CANNNNNNOOOOOOTTT The nanny idk how to feel about her, but I enjoyed it
And besides the stories, the writing was terrible, and the guy saying the same exact thing at the end of each one was genuinely going to make me flip my shit But it definitely wasn't the worst!! and I listened to this audiobook with my boyfriend, and that was fun!!!
Jack takes the stories of the criminally insane. When they are close to dying, he makes a pact with them. Give him their story, and he will help them pass over peacefully.
In this book there is: The Chef, who worked in a funeral home. He had a special recipe for the grieving, something passed down through generations in his family. Then there is Barbie and Ken, who kidnapped and killed 14 women, but have never told anyone who the first was. Next is Bucket, who's had a heartbreaking life, with her trust abused throughout her short years. Lastly is The Nanny, who decided not every parent deserved their child.
This reminds me a lot of the Dr Harper books, which I absolutely loved! They are similar but completely different, these are equally just as good!
The stories had me gripped the whole way through, fans of Dr Harper will definitely enjoy this book.
This book is surprisingly good for its genre. It sucked me in like a blackhole from the get go. The four stories featured in this anthology are riveting and not one of them is remotely the same as the other.
The author specifically mentioned that he is not a writer but I believe he is a great storyteller. I can't wait to delve into more of the other books in this series.
Wahnsinn! Im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Selten passte ein Untertitel so gut wie bei diesem Roman. Vier Geschichten. Alle schockten mich bis ins Mark. Klare Leseempfehlung für alle, die mit starken Mägen gesegnet sind