Last Days

B r u h

Okay, so this isn't my first time reading Evenson; I read Song for the Unraveling of the World earlier this year, but that was a short story collection. Last Days is a single novella-length story, which worked much better for me. This was a story and protagonist I'm glad was given the time and attention to be fleshed out, because it was one hell of a ride.

Typically with a three-act layout you have the protagonist with some kind of major character flaw who eventually learns to overcome it and you see them progress and change by the end of the book. Kline absolutely was changed by the end of this story, but he was changed because he never kicked the trait of being curious to a fault. He never learned his lesson and after everything I saw about him, it'd be weirder if he did. It was rewarding to read a work that managed to intentionally and successfully buck the trend; not everyone gets a happy ending, and that's not always a bad thing (for the reader anyway).

This is also an extremely violent book. But it's not written in a way where the violence is the point, or the thing you're supposed to be looking and squirming at - it's not torture porn for its own sake. Rather it's more of a tool the characters use to achieve their goals, and it's approached with such a casual attitude that towards the end you start becoming as numb to it as the people carrying it out. A faceless, nameless security guard could be introduced and murdered in the same sentence and it makes sense within the prose. In that way, the latter half of this book reads almost like a shoot-em-up action movie, but instead of fun or campiness there's a pervading sense of desperation and anger.

The prose was tight and sparing, only giving you what you needed without embellishment. The pacing worked well and there was consistent momentum that had me constantly pushing to squeeze in one more chapter. And there was one twist near the two thirds point that had me physically putting the book down feeling like I'd just been slapped (in a good way). Everything here just worked for me.

(Side note: If you get the version with the introduction by Peter Straub, maybe skip it until you finish the main story because it had some spoilers in it.)

Wow, what a bizarre tale this book, which contains 2 connected novellas, tells! I think the title of the first one will give you a hint - The Brotherhood of Mutilation. It tells the story of Kline, who recently left the police force after a criminal forced him to chop off his own hand, which he then "self cauterized" it and proceeded to shoot the villain with his left hand. This makes him a bit of a legend in the brotherhood, so they call him, reluctantly, in to investigate a murder.

But is it really a murder? And what does the Brotherhood really want with him? And although it seems like he can checkout whenever he wants, but can he actually leave?

The Brotherhood story ends with a cliffhanger and then begins the slightly longer story, Last Days. This describes his escape attempts, Pauls, and oh so very much violence. And it ends in a, well, orgasm of violence, with Kline carrying around a severed head, using it as a kind of talisman against the Brotherhood. Yowza!

At first, I didn't think I would get very far into this book. But the more I read, the morbid fascination of just where these stories was leading me kept me glued to the pages. For the first time in a while, I stayed up late reading, as I would say just one more chapter. There's not much of a mystery, but it certainly is, as one blurb writer calls it, "a darker shade of noir". There may be a few too many escapes, but in the end, that's kind of what the story is about. Kline begins to think of himself as unkillable and you can see why.

I really enjoyed this after all. I am not sure what it was trying to say, but it sure was an interesting way to say it. Stay far far away if you are at all squeamish, as there are plenty of gruesome scenes. But there are also lots of morbid dark humor and Kline never really figures everything out, so I suppose if I didn't either, it should be expected.