Triage is serious stuff. Let's face it, any book that features the masters of horror - Laymon, Lee and Ketchum in one volume - is bound to be a triple-bill of horror and gore.
And Triage doesn't let you down.
According to the introduction by the editor, Johnson, this project started out as an idea for Laymon and Ketchum to co-write a horror novel. This could be the source of Laymon's quote that he was working on a project that, when fans heard about it, they wouldn't know "whether to shit or go blind."
Unfortunately, the work schedules for both writers meant the idea was shelved. Eventually, it was turned into TRIAGE.
Simply put, a stranger walks into a place of business with a gun. That's the opening scenario. Laymon, Lee and Ketchum write their own stories from there. It's amazing to read how three horror masters can take a simple scenario and change it into three completely different storylines.
Trust us, you won't be disappointed!
Laymon is first up with TRIAGE, the title piece. It's Friday night and Sharon's getting ready to leave work. That is, until she receives a call from a stranger who tells her he's coming to get her. And get her now. Before she can make a move, her co-workers have been blown away by the gun-toting psycho and he's coming straight for her. Can she escape his line of fire, and can she find anyone else in a deserted office building to help her?
There's no doubt this short, bloody tale has some of his most extreme cut-to-the-bone
imagery that will have the reader turning away from the page to gasp for air!
It's bloody, it's graphic, and it's a damn good read. Vintage Laymon! And it shows
you just what we'll be missing in years to come.
Ed Lee is next with IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2202. He takes the same premise and throws us into a science fiction story with enough blood and brain matter to make Aliens seem tame. In this version, Sharon is working on the C.F.S Edessa for the Christian Federate as a data integrator. Her shift is about to end, but suddenly a psycho carrying a high-amp milliwave pistol kills her co-workers and comes gunning for her. The C.F.S. Edessa is on a routine mission to Utility Station Solon, 40 billion miles beyond Pluto. Can Sharon escape the man hunting her? Is the Edessa really just on a routine resupply mission? And just what does the Christian Federate have to hide?
Lee's piece is probably a little long, but he sure seems to have enjoyed writing it. Lee is in his element here - sandwiched between two other horror greats - and he delivers the goods in a sci-fi tale which, to begin with, seems quite out of place, but has an ending the reader is just not prepared for. Horror fans will love it!
Jack Ketchum, writing under his Jerzy Livingston pen name, rounds off the collection with SHEEP MEADOW STORY. This is an amusingly dark piece dealing with the frustrations of a reader, the Ketchum favorite Stroup, working for the Cosmodemonic Literary Agency and getting little pay - and no respect. He's losing his girl, his job, and quite possibly his mind. There's no way out for him, until events suddenly overtake him and he finds himself in a situation he never dreamed possible. And maybe, just maybe, if he plays his cards right, he'll come out on top afterall.
Jack has used some of his own experiences here to weave a terrific story that is the most realistic of the three. It is also probably the most compelling. Stroup comes across as the most powerfully realised character in the whole collection and he'll stay with you for some time to come.
The reader will close TRIAGE completely satisfied. This is a terrific collection of wham-bam-stab-you-ma'am horror that deserves to be on every horror lover's bookshelf.
Buy it - NOW!
Please support RLK! by searching and ordering
your online books through the links below. Thanks!
