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The Executioner

Jay Bennett

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Jan 16, 2017 Kate rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, age-ya, 2017, vintage-ya

I found this gem in a used bookstore and the cover was so familiar I had to read it to find out if I had read it before. I'm almost certain I had, but there were no details that really jumped out at me as being unique. Maybe I just saw this book on the shelf at the library and never read it.

Bruce is back at home after what he calls the "crackup" - a term I would use for a mental breakdown. Bruce also uses this term to refer to a mental breakdown later on, but for now he means the car accident t I found this gem in a used bookstore and the cover was so familiar I had to read it to find out if I had read it before. I'm almost certain I had, but there were no details that really jumped out at me as being unique. Maybe I just saw this book on the shelf at the library and never read it.

Bruce is back at home after what he calls the "crackup" - a term I would use for a mental breakdown. Bruce also uses this term to refer to a mental breakdown later on, but for now he means the car accident that claimed the life of his best friend Raymond. With his new face (apparently a lot of plastic surgery was needed) and a cane, Bruce wanders around town having flashbacks of that night, when he was a drunk asshole and made Raymond drive off the road while grabbing for Ray's stupid hat. Also in the car, passed out drunk, were Ed and Elaine, who Ray and Bruce picked up after a few drinks at Carlson's. Because, you know, high schoolers have no problem getting drinks down at the local bar - I have a feeling this book was originally published in the UK, because even in 1982 the US legal drinking age was 21.

When Ed tells Bruce that he received a threatening phone call from a preacher who the police claim is dead, and then promptly dies in a fire in the boys' locker room, Bruce is alarmed. Who could the murderer be? Is it the creepy preacher? Is it the owner of Carlson's, who had to close down after the accident? Maybe it's Raymond's older brother Oliver, who is "hard to read"? (And by the way, have you ever heard that phrase, "hard to read"? Because, if you read this book, you might think no one has ever used this phrase before, given how several pages are devoted to explaining it and how it's super unique that Raymond and Oliver's father uses it.) OR - could the murderer be a mysterious executioner who wants to see justice for Raymond's lost life? A mysterious executioner, who apparently has to access a safe deposit box three times to make sure he's killing the naughty teen alcoholics off "By fire, by water, and by earth." There also a pretty heavy possibility that the killer is Bruce himself.

I had a pretty strong feeling who the killer was, and I was right. And yet I still didn't quite understand the safe deposit box situation. Who, exactly, put these instructions in the safe deposit box? Could the executioner really not remember the instructions after one visit? There was a complete lack of gore, but lots of tension, with short chapters ending on cliffhangers. Bruce was all mopey and consumed with his own guilt, and most of the characters were fairly flat, in the style of the times and genre, where everyone is a suspect. It seemed like any character could burst into a screaming sermon about how Bruce and his friends were sinners, including, but not limited to: Janet (Ray's girlfriend), Oliver, Reverend Dunn, and Bruce himself. Overall this was a fast-paced read and a decent thriller if you ignore the giant plot hole of the security deposit box. ...more

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