Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson
Bad Moon Books, 2007 (Limited)
Medallion, 2008 (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: (Trade) 978-1934755457
Available: New, Used or Limited

Johnny Gruesome is what you might get if you took all the emo out of J. O. Barr’s The Crow and replaced it with hardcore, attitude-filled metal. Johnny Grissom is not a good person. He’s your familiar wayward angry youth with an alcoholic father, a dead mother and a serious problem with the way life is treating him. When he ends up dead, Johnny’s determined not to take it lying down and instead decides to make a mark on the world by kicking the ass of the little town of Red Hill where he lived and died.

Overall the book has a familiar feel, but it’s too well written and enjoyable to be cliché. It is, in many ways, a classic slasher flick in book form. Science and logic are fudged at times for effect, but it’s a fun romp through rage and blood and zombies, and would be a solid addition to private and public horror collections.

Contains: Violence, drug use, sex, language