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Maniac
Tormented by madness, Joel Danton was trapped in the twilight world between reality and fantasy. He could hear the terrified screams of young women--his victims?--taste their blood on his lips and feel the ultimate ecstasy as they died in an orgy of horror. It was too real to be a dream, too terrible to be true. The doctors told him he was cured, but the madness within screamed for bloody release...
- GenresHorror
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 17, 2021
Paul Borland confesses to the rape and murder of four college women, even though he says he did not do it.
"He must do something authentic, something purposeful to wipe out the ugly guilt of it all, by sacrificing himself."
Everyone has a theory as to why he confessed to a crime he didn't commit; some believe he confessed, providing incorrect facts to the police, to beat them to his arrest - making himself appear innocent yet crazy, while in fact he *was* guilty yet brilliant. His lawyer thinks he may be suicidal. He simply views himself as a twisted version of a martyr.
He did not stand trial, yet he was not released either, concerned about his mental health, he is entered into a mental rehabilitation facility.
Fast forward eight years, Paul Borland is a new man - literally, now Joel Danton. He's mentally well, married, working, and has a new name, so his past can't follow him. But the night before his wife leaves on a trip, he experiences a trigger which sets him on a mental whirlwind. He begins blacking out, losing track of time, hallucinating - he doesn't know what's real. He can't remember where he is from one moment to the next, and he begins seeing the four dead college girls he confessed to murdering.
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I wanted to love this so badly but it just wasn't for me. I tried so hard to write my synopsis so it makes sense, but it was extremely difficult, because this book was so confusing I had no clue what was going on half the time. It skipped scenes every other paragraph with no explanation, like one paragraph Joel is with his wife and the next it'll be eight years ago in the mental hospital. I had to start skimming the last half of the book. I honestly have a splitting headache now and I never get headaches. The pros: it looks awesome on my shelf. The cons: literally everything else.
"He must do something authentic, something purposeful to wipe out the ugly guilt of it all, by sacrificing himself."
Everyone has a theory as to why he confessed to a crime he didn't commit; some believe he confessed, providing incorrect facts to the police, to beat them to his arrest - making himself appear innocent yet crazy, while in fact he *was* guilty yet brilliant. His lawyer thinks he may be suicidal. He simply views himself as a twisted version of a martyr.
He did not stand trial, yet he was not released either, concerned about his mental health, he is entered into a mental rehabilitation facility.
Fast forward eight years, Paul Borland is a new man - literally, now Joel Danton. He's mentally well, married, working, and has a new name, so his past can't follow him. But the night before his wife leaves on a trip, he experiences a trigger which sets him on a mental whirlwind. He begins blacking out, losing track of time, hallucinating - he doesn't know what's real. He can't remember where he is from one moment to the next, and he begins seeing the four dead college girls he confessed to murdering.
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I wanted to love this so badly but it just wasn't for me. I tried so hard to write my synopsis so it makes sense, but it was extremely difficult, because this book was so confusing I had no clue what was going on half the time. It skipped scenes every other paragraph with no explanation, like one paragraph Joel is with his wife and the next it'll be eight years ago in the mental hospital. I had to start skimming the last half of the book. I honestly have a splitting headache now and I never get headaches. The pros: it looks awesome on my shelf. The cons: literally everything else.
Displaying 1 of 1 review