BOOK REVIEW: BROKEN ON THE INSIDE BY PHIL SLOMAN

One of the downsides to being a reviewer is the fact that there is always a cycle to reading for review, your ride high on some great books, then out of nowhere, you start to get jaded and bored of the genre.  It's not that what you are reading is inherently bad; you get as the title of this book suggest Broken on the Inside.  You end up getting unmotivated, and after a while a little down when nothing comes along that sparks your passion.  

However, when that special book comes along, a book that encapsulates everything that makes the horror genre so great, you end up riding a wave of renewed vim and vigour and start devouring books with the passion that first got you into the reviewing game.  

Phil Sloman's Broken on the Inside is one such book.  This collection of five short stories is both a perfect introduction to one of my favourite writers and an ideal introduction to what makes horror such an essential and thrilling genre.  

The five stories on show here all share the similar theme of mental anguish, and Sloman handles each tale with a deeply sympathetic ear, even when the subject matter is somewhat lighthearted,  Sloman manages to balance the humour with a thoughtful and honest look at the pressures and effects that suffering from mental health can present.  

In Broken on the Inside, Kira Jones is suffering from a debilitating condition that leaves her in chronic pain and feeling lethargy, conventional medicine and numerous specialists have been unable to find the cause of her suffering let alone offer her a solution.  When she is offered the chance to take part in a clinical trial for a new nanotechnology-based therapy, she jumps at the chance.  Initially, the treatment seems to work, hooked up to a sort of neural network with her version of a Google Assistant, her chronic pain, and sense of lethargy have vanished.  However, when her "Google Assistant" suddenly develops a severe case of the Hal 2000 syndrome things take a decidedly dark turn.  What follows is an alarming and harrowing account of a person going through a complete and total mental breakdown. 

Sloman's account of Kira's breakdown is chilling and more importantly believable.  Kira's journey is heartbreaking, and just when we think we can see where the story is going Sloman delivers a massive double gut punch to your psyche and heart.  The skill involved here in, for want of better a word,  hoodwinking the reader is the mark of a first-class author.  But what makes this story so special is not just this excellent twist, that wouldn't be out of place on the best of The Twilight Zone, and it's the sheer humanity and heart of Sloman's writing.  Horror works best when the reader becomes captivated with the characters and their story, the best horror has a heart buried in the centre of the narrative and Broken on the Inside has a strong and powerful heart beating right through it, so much so that when the reality sinks in you cannot help but feel  emotionally shattered.

Discomfort Food has a decidedly different tone, played slightly for laughs it sees a disgruntled employee doing what so many of us have only dreamed about doing.  Laying its cards on the table form the start with a scene involving talking burgers and onions rings Discomfort Food is taking a more lighthearted approach, that's not to say that this isn't both a somewhat upsetting read or another profoundly sympathetic look at mental health.   There is a small plot hole that might get under the skin of some readers with regards to what happens when the truth of the situation is revealed, but this a very minor point in what is another excellent story, with a final paragraph that will send a cold shiver down the spine of even the most hardened horror reader.  

Any smiles or wry smirks that may be clinging on to you will quickly be rubbed away by the next story, The Man Who Fed The Foxes, is a powerful, angry depiction of the mental deterioration of a man broken by the actions of his unfaithful wife. This dark tale takes the imply rather than show approach to delivering an extraordinarily off-putting and harrowing story and with another Sloamntastic killer final act The Man Who Fed The Foxes must go down as one of the best short stories ever published. 

There Was An Old Man, takes its cue from that somewhat disturbing children's poem, and ramps up the disturbing levels to the max.  We all have our personal  fears, hell I have a crippling fear of nuns, but for the protagonist of this tale his fear is flies, and when he thinks he has done the unthinkable and actually swallowed one, he begins a never ending downward spiral of desperation to get the offending fly out of his system.  With a similar comedic tone to Discomfort Food, this story expertly manages to balance dark humour with some disconcerting imagery.  What makes this story so special, is once you look past the dark humour and the horror layers, what you are left with an affecting look at the extremes that people go through once they have become trapped within their own version mental hell. Sloman's sympathetic handling of the core issues of this story marks him as a writer with a great deal of heart. 

The final story Virtually Famous is a nihilistic sci-fi horror mind-bender of a story, told from multiple viewpoints and multiple timelines, this unrelenting look at the self-destructive nature of mental health issues and how those who are afflicted by them cannot, despite knowing they are in bother break the cycle of repeating their actions.  Brutal as hell, with a deliberately perplexing  narrative, and  a wonderful open ended finale, Virtually Famous  will leave you messed up inside.  

​Broken on the Inside, is a magnificent collection of stories, writing about mental health issues is never easy, it can result in some clumsy, heavy-handed writing that does nothing to address the issues that the writer is trying to address, but to attempt this within a genre story, that demands the inclusion of certain aspects and themes makes this task even more daunting.  Sloman has more than risen to the challenge, all of the five stories transcend the trappings of the genre to deliver a set of intelligent, heartfelt, and haunting incursions into the broken minds that so many of us suffer from.  If this book doesn't win awards this year then there is something seriously wrong with the world. 

if  YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT PHIL, AND GET SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE INSPIRATION behind THIS collection THEN CLICK HERE FOR OUR INTERVIEW  WITH Phil. 




 


Become a Patron!