Flame Tree Press Blog Tour - We Are Monsters

Join me today as I take a look at Brian Kirk's We Are Monsters.  Make sure to check out everyone's else's posts as well.  Many thanks to Flame Tree Press, the author and Anne Cater for organizing this!

TITLE: We Are Monsters

AUTHOR: Brian Kirk

PUBLISHER: Flame Tree Press

PUBLISHING DATE: January 16, 2020

FROM GOODREADS: Nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Some doctors are sicker than their patients. When a troubled psychiatrist loses funding to perform clinical trials on an experimental cure for schizophrenia, he begins testing it on his asylum's criminally insane, triggering a series of side effects that opens the mind of his hospital's most dangerous patient, setting his inner demons free. 

MY THOUGHTS: This book was originally written in 2015 and it was a very ambitious undertaking for a first novel.  I think Kirk did a good job weaving a complex tale of medical treatment, mental illness and sanity which for me worked at times and during other times, confused me.

The novel is divided into three different sections.  The first two focuses on character development and a look into the medical workings of an asylum and into the complex and controversial world of mental health treatment.  Dr. Adam Drexler has been working for years to develop a cure for schizophrenia.  His funding and experimental sources have run dry, so he takes a chance and experiments on his own brother.  Dr. Eli Alpert runs the Sugar Hill Asylum and believes that treatment should focus more on the strengths of the people suffering from the disorders he treats rather than numb them and their actions through medication.  As expected,  the two eventually clash.  Dr. Drexler dethrones Dr. Alpert but will his experiment on the infamous Apocalypse Killer bring him success or be his downfall.

I actually found this book fairly enjoyable.  I never really liked the characters, but even that worked for me where it usually doesn't. I don't know that Kirk was really trying to make any of the characters endearing.  Instead, he paints a vivid portrait of sanity vs. insanity.  The novel was progressing rather nicely until I reached the third part.  That's when all hell broke loose and I started to question what exactly I was reading.  During this part I found myself somewhat confused.

I also have to mention that there is a rather sudden animal death in the early stages of the book.  Dr. Drexler runs over his wife's precious dog Popeye coming home for work one night.  While I felt he was a tad inconsiderate and heartless during the situation, my opinion of him was solidified when he then brought his wife and brother Popeye's takeout a few days later.  Just saying...

Plenty of people like books featuring asylums and tackling mental health issues so I can see a lot of people who love horror giving this book a whirl.  Kirk's take on the setting and issues definitely showed the scary side of treatment and did manage to humanize people other's often consider "monsters" and actually showed that there are "monsters" on both sides of the treatment.

RATING: 3 PAWS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brian Kirk is a Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of dark thrillers and psychological suspense. His debut novel, WE ARE MONSTERS, was released in July 2015. In addition to being nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, WE ARE MONSTERS was optioned for film development by Executive Producer, Jason Shuman.

His short fiction has been published in many notable magazines and anthologies, most recently Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories alongside multiple New York Times bestselling authors.

Visit his website for more information, or just to chat. Don't worry, he only kills his characters.