Genre: Horror
Publisher: Shadow Work Publishing
Publication Date: 13th May 2016
Pages: 44
MY REVIEW:
A copy of The
Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the
author, Thomas S Flowers in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.
This book is published by Shadow Work Publishing.
Last year I read the first two books in the Subdue Series by Thomas S Flowers. In my
opinion, they are two of the finest books I have read in years. It is a series
that is exceptional in so many different ways. In case you missed them, there
are links to the reviews at the bottom of this one.
The
Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein intrigued me purely because
it looked totally different to that series so I was very interested to pick it
up and give it a go.
This is what I thought.
Zilch is boring. He would be the first to admit that. He
leads a boring existence in a boring world with a boring job and a boring house
and even a boring car. Zilch likes boring however. It suits him just fine.
His boring life is about to be completely turned upside
down after a visit to the doctor’s office. He wasn’t expecting this change to
his normal mundane existence.
Discovering a new lease of life, Zilch starts to try
things he wouldn’t normally. Why does that clown speak to him though? Why does
he think nasty thoughts now? This is incredible.
In terms of a character, Zilch Von Whitstein is one of
those people you would avoid because he is so, well, boring. Mundane and
humdrum are two words I could use to describe his life. You know what though? I
defy you to not like him in this story. He grows and grows on you and you will
find yourself liking him more and more and really rooting for him the further
into the story you go.
There are a few others in the story but telling you
about them takes me into the spoiler direction and I am not going there. Other
than to mention the fat burger bar manager, Zilch’s asshole boss and a string
of others that annoy him more than he thinks.
The plot? Zilch’s life is boring, he gets sick and things
have to change. That is all you are getting. You really need to read this as it
unfurls to get the true feeling and effect of the story.
How does this stand up in comparison to the Subdue series? Well quite simply there
is no way you could compare the two. This is a completely different style of
story. It certainly was not what I was expecting from Mr Flowers. I am, however,
absolutely delighted that this is the case.
This is a short story, comes in at around forty-five
pages so you will have it read in a short space of time. I predict you will do
it in one sitting because you will not want to put it down. Mr Flowers has a
knack of totally drawing you into his stories. It feels like you are a very
small fish on a very big hook. Each time you come to the end of a chapter it is
left perfectly poised to force you to turn the page to see what happens next
and thus you are into another chapter and so on and so on.
As with everything else in Thomas Flowers writing, there
is an additional underlying topic in this story. Not telling you what it is,
but, he has a habit of taking a made up in his head story and putting it into
real words on a page and including a subject that a lot of authors may not want
to touch but even if they do, cannot do it as effectively as Mr Flowers. I have
read his stories before where he dealt with racism and PTSD and they truly
brought me to tears. The topic in this one is an underlying health issue that I
am sure nearly all of you reading this have been touched by in one form or
another.
Let’s face it; this book is a form of entertainment. You
are reading it to have some fun or to escape from your own mundane existence to
get away from everything. Keeping a level of entertainment, whilst dealing with
these taboo subjects can be very cringe worthy, and in very bad taste at times.
Thomas Flowers has a distinct ability to handle these subjects with the grace
and respect that they deserve while scaring the pants off you and giving you
every bit of entertainment you wanted. And more.
Everything this man writes totally blows me away whether
it be a series of novels, all interconnected to give you a story of epic
proportions, or a short story like this that will make you laugh, touch your
heart and scare the hair off your head. Tension and fear is the name of the
game Thomas S Flowers plays.
To summarise: a short horror story that is worth every
penny you will spend on it. Just buy it.
General rating:
★★★★★ fantastic!
Horror rating:
★★★★★ in so many different ways!
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein or
any other books from Thomas. This not only supports me but also lets me know
how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
Whit had done everything right, but when the world seems
against you, can good boys stay good? Whit never drank in excess, never said a
bad word to anyone, did his taxes, even called his mom on Sundays, never even
had a tattoo...until one night, the night a malicious clown turned everything
upside down.
You can read my review of Dwelling (Subdue #1) here.
You can read my review of Emerging (Subdue #2) here.
Thomas is living a rather simple and quite life with his beautiful wife and amazing daughter, just south of Houston, Texas.
And for more about Thomas, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
And for more about Thomas, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
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