Robert Brouhard's Antics in the Review Zone

Monster Town / The Butcher of Box Hill by Logan Savile (Bad Moon Books, 2010)

Reviewed by Robert Brouhard

First off let me say this (in case you don’t know): Logan Savile is a pseudonym for Monster Town / The Butcher of Box Hill’s co-authors, Brian M. Logan and Steven Savile. Also, this book’s binding is referred to as a tête-bêche, flip-book, or double (after the Ace Doubles that were popular from the 1950s to the 1970s). Meaning that there are two complete stories in it, but you have to literally flip the book over, top-over-bottom, 180° after you’ve finished one story to be able to read the other. Both sides have unique cover art on the dust jacket so you can tell which book is which (and if you remove the dust jacket, the titles are also stamped on the book itself).

Even though it is a little gimmicky, I enjoyed the concept and experience of this flip book. It also has an exceptional cool factor, but I can only imagine that it was probably a pain in the neck to get printed. Sure they could have just printed the two stories in a regular book, but this book is quirky and deserves to be unique. Bad Moon Books did a great job putting this book together, and readers should have fun with it. It has original illustrations and cover art by Darryl Elliott, and they don’t distract from the story at all (which is a plus). Sadly, the book is only about 115 pages in total length (including the “About the Authors” section and other various bonus pages), and it, therefore, consists of just two short novellas.

Before I received this book, I did a bit of research on it to figure out which story to read first. The answer I got was: Technically, “The Butcher of Box Hill” comes first chronologically, but they are separate stories and it doesn’t matter which one you read first.

Let me tell you now that this is not true!

I, being of a forgetful nature sometimes, started reading the “Monster Town” side first when I received this. I quickly noticed my error upon reading page 22 and 23 of the book. On those two pages, in two paragraphs, a nearly complete, spoiler-filled synopsis of “The Butcher of Box Hill” is given. After smacking my head and kicking myself hard, I flipped the book over and read “The Butcher of Box Hill”…

Yes, some major plot points in the story were spoiled for me, but it was still a fast movie-in-my-head non-stop action read. In many ways, because I had started “Monster Town,” “Box Hill” felt like a flashback sequence. This really worked for me. In fact, I recommend reading “Monster Town” through mid-page 22… up to the point where Maloney says, “Those monster freaks have long memories, and ain’t none of them ever going to forget Box Hill,” (talk about a nice lead up for a flashback… or flip-back in this case), and then flipping over the book and reading “The Butcher of Box Hill.” All that’s missing is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-esque, “To read more about ‘Box Hill,’ turn the book over and go to page 7. To continue reading ‘Monster Town,’ read the next paragraph.”

After flipping and finishing “Box Hill,” I flipped the book back over and finished my trip into “Monster Town.”

Both stories concern a man named JD Enron who is a Monster Wrangler by profession. The stories are set in the future, and this is a future where energy weapons are used instead of the bullet filled guns that we are used to nowadays. Don’t worry, this book doesn’t scream “sci-fi,” and it does have a touch of yummy horror blood and guts (just a touch). It’s also a future where monsters exist, and the government doesn’t seem to really want them to. So, to keep society safe, the government uses their Monster Wranglers to put them in a concentration camp called Monster Town. Monster Wranglers are a group of people, some working for the government and some freelance, that go out to find and capture Monsters… using deadly force if necessary. Oh, and by “Monsters” I mean the classics: Trolls, Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, and many more including a few I had to look up.

“The Butcher of Box Hill” is about a Monster Wrangler Task Force operation against a nest of monsters that have hidden themselves away in a remote community. To be honest I was really glad that I had started “Monster Town” first because I liked the JD Enron that was described in it...I liked where he was in life. I didn’t like the JD Enron in “Box Hill.” He changed a lot between the two books. His character grew. It was a nice thing to see where he came from though. Also, with “Box Hill” being a military operation story, the idea of it didn’t thrill me that much. I did enjoy it a lot more than I expected, and it flew by. By reading “Box Hill” before “Monster Town,” you will get to know where a lot of the characters are coming from, and you will better understand their motivations. “Box Hill” is also a lot shorter than “Monster Town” (being about 40 pages compared to the 74 that make up “Monster Town”).

“Monster Town” feels like a private detective noir story at first. Complete with the mysterious hot dame hiring a man to do something. It eventually evolves into what could be interpreted as a horror version of a Mission Impossible movie. It has a lot of action and very snappy writing. I laughed a little too loudly on more than one occasion while reading this tale. Some of the humor is just plain fun. Some of it is very un-politically correct. You want an example of the humor? Sure, here you go: JD runs into a couple of hookers in an alley… zombie hookers who offer him a ahem “good time.” JD responds to the offer-he-can-refuse with, “Thanks ladies, but I prefer my women to have a pulse…Though having said that, I did have sex with my ex-wife… so what the hell do I know.”

You may choose to read these stories as an allegory of some modern political prisoner news story or even concentration camps of the Holocaust, and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing to do…. But please don’t get bogged down in that. It is not the purpose of these stories. This book is F-U-N, and not a High School literature class assignment.

I really enjoyed these fast paced stories, and I am very happy that there’s a full-length novel coming soon (details are unknown at this time). Stories that you experience almost more than just read are favorites of mine. Since this book reads like a quick, fun, and quirky film, I loved it. So now, the only question left in my own mind is: Is Monster Town / The Butcher of Box Hill worth $65 (USD) for the signed limited edition hardcover? Um, it is hard to say yes…especially since I don’t know if the upcoming novel will contain all (or any) of the elements in this book. This is, however, a suburb story and a very cool looking book. So, if you have the money, are a fan of novellas, and love great fun stories…yes, get this book. Plus, if they make a movie of it (and there is some buzz about that), than it could be a really cool and possibly valuable collectible. It is limited to only 100 signed and numbered copies and available only at Horror-Mall.com, and at the time of this writing there are only a few copies left.

Have fun when you do read it. Just remember my recommendation to read all of “The Butcher of Box Hill” before getting past all of page 22 in “Monster Town.”

For the purposes of full disclosure, I purchased this book with my own money. I am not getting paid or receiving any other sort of compensation to review it.

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