Speculative Fiction Junkie

Joseph D'Lacey

I've been hearing about the work of horror writer Joseph D'Lacey for some time now. His name is often mentioned in the same breath as friend and fellow author Bill Hussey's is, and the works of both men are published by Beautiful Book's excellent Bloody Books imprint. Sadly, neither's work is generally available in the United States. In what is hopefully a harbinger of change on this front, Mr. D'Lacey's forthcoming novella, The Kill Crew, will be published by California-based Stonegarden Publishing. When I got an opportunity to review The Kill Crew I decided that now was as good a time as any to familiarize myself with Mr. D'Lacey's work.

The Kill Crew tells the story of a diminishing number of people trying to survive in the wake of an unknown apocalyptic event that turned the remainder of the population into zombie-like people called "Commuters." The unaffected survivors, including the main protagonist, Sheri, live in the buildings occupying a single city block, which they've dubbed "the Station." At night, those who are chosen in the lottery to be one of the seven members of that night's "kill crew" go out on patrol to hunt Commuters. While everyone is required to put his or her name in this lottery at some point, people like Sheri volunteer more than others.

This premise sounded pretty routine to me when I first heard it and so I wasn't expecting too much from this novella. The first few pages--told in the first person by hard ass Sheri--seemed to confirm the appropriateness of my low expectations and suggested that this would be a fairly boring read. Surprisingly, though, by the time I finished The Kill Crew, it had become one of the best books I've read this year.

The reason I liked it so much is because it works on so many different levels. As an initial matter, it works in the fundamental sense that it is a thoroughly interesting story. While there's plenty of zombie killing goodness of the sort you would expect in a book like this, a number of things distinguish it from other post-apocalyptic tales I've read. The most salient aspect of the story's early pages is its focus on the psychological isolation of the survivors rather than the cataclysmic event itself. Mr. D'Lacey does a great job of conveying a sense of the despair of the Station's occupants as they struggle to understand what's happened to the world, try to convince themselves that hunting Commuters is a worthwhile pursuit, and fight the ever present siren call of suicide. Other aspects of the story that distinguish it from similar works are the nature of the malady affecting the Commuters as well as its focus in the later pages on the relationship between Sheri, her despicable boyfriend of convenience, Ike, and the emotionally damaged eleven year old girl, Trixie.

The second level at which The Kill Crew operates is the emotional. That may sound like a silly thing to say in a review of a work about zombie-killing survivalists, but it's worth mentioning because it's another aspect of the book that sets it apart from similar works and makes it more than your ordinary zombie story. As alluded to previously, one of the ways that Mr. D'Lacey explores characters' emotions and dilemmas is through the relationship between Sheri, Ike, and Trixie. Each has both internal and external struggles and these lend the story a dynamic that is both interesting in and of itself and serves to flesh out the characters' personalities and dilemmas. Beyond this, however, Mr. D'Lacey also succeeds in infusing each place with its own emotional tenor. When in the Station, the reader feels the isolation of being stuck there. Similarly, when outside of the Station, the reader can feel the increased sense of freedom even while the feeling of terror at being in the realm of the Commuters is present. In other words, the reader feels what the characters feel--the silences, the hollowness, and the fear that haunts these people--and this adds a whole new dimension to the story.

In my opinion, however, by far the most interesting thing about The Kill Crew is the nature of the malady afflicting the Commuters. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I'll speak in general terms, but suffice it to say that one way to interpret the significance of the Commuter's affliction is to view it as nature reasserting itself against the unnatural way of life lived by pre-Apocalypse society. When viewed in this way, the holdouts in the Station become the unnatural anomaly, not the Commuters. This same theme is contained in many of the subplots that occur throughout the story and it is this dimension that really makes The Kill Crew stand out.

The Kill Crew exceeded every single one of my expectations. Within its mere 80 pages, Mr. D'Lacey has proven himself to be a master of writing complex, multidimensional horror stories that simultaneously scare us and make us think. I wish that more horror was like this. I will definitely be reading his other works. I've had a copy of The Garbage Man sitting around unread for a while and I will also have to track down a copy of his debut novel, Meat.

Rating: 10/10

The True First

The Kill Crew will be published by Stonegarden Publishing on August 10, 2009. You all will have to forgive me for posting this review before the release of the book, a practice that goes against accepted wisdom.

On a related note, I have to take this opportunity to bemoan the lack of availability of what will surely be a prized collectible in years to come. Recently, Bill Hussey, Mathew F. Riley, and Mr. D'Lacey released a signed, limited edition chapbook of original short stories to those who attended their tour. Sadly, however, this book was not made available for sale and was nowhere available outside of Great Britain. Unforgivable, Sirs!

[This review was based on a review copy]