Nick Kolakowski steps aside from his usual gritty pulpy noir writing, and jumps into the world of horror, bringing us a dark psychological thriller sprinkled with a bit of sci-fi horror. Mistaken identities, mysterious bosses, and people coming back to life make up this fast-paced game of survival.
I should point out though the people coming back to life are not anything like zombies. So don't allow that to turn you away.
And for those who are worried a horror book from Kolakowski won't have his usual crime feel, you'll be happy to know that feel never fades.
Here is the set-up. We have a bunker. A doomsday bunker by some mysterious billionaire. We have a woman, Julia, being paid to keep it nice and tidy for the secretive billionaire. We have Julia’s ex-boyfriend, Alec, who was injured from a Russian bomb. His injury is to his ass. His buttocks. His backside.
We have another group of mysterious characters showing up at the bunker, bloodied, clinging to life. And poof, just like that, everyone's life changes.
What we get right from the beginning is a dark twisted story in the present day, mixed with humorous flashbacks, involving certain kinds of rings, used on certain body parts, used during certain activities. And there is this one death scene that is grotesque. It’s vile. It’s sickening. I enjoyed it.
You will have questions. The answers to the questions are a little hidden, but enough digging you will see the puzzle start coming together.
Beach Bodies is a fast read from the get-go. It mixes the home-invasion thriller genre with the dark psychological and sci-fi genres. There are several moments of violence, followed by compassion. Kolakowski throws in a handful of detours, throwing us off the proper trail, only to chop us at the knees with outrageous acts of violence.
Title: Beach Bodies
Author: Nick Kolakowski
Publisher: Final Round Press
Publication Date: October 31, 2022
Pages: 139
Language: English
Format Reviewed: eBook