'It’s a mean old world, isn’t it?'

Beginning in 1953 The Incurables by Jon Bassoff is a character driven tale with its heart set in madness and its thoughts desperate for tranquillity amidst the Incurables of society.

Thirty-two hundred lives he’d saved, give or take, and he wasn’t done yet. The famous Dr. Walter Freeman, the pioneer of the transorbital lobotomy but when his time is deemed over, there's no going back so he kidnaps his latest patient and it’s time for pastures new.

'Without hesitation, he grasped the ice pick and jammed the point into the tear duct. He then gripped the hammer and struck the ice pick, once, twice, causing an audible crack. Back and forth, back and forth he cut. Then, with a twisting movement, he withdrew the ice pick, all the while pressing his gnarled fingers on Edgar’s eyelids, preventing hemorrhaging.'

And that is a transorbital lobotomy, Woah WTF, this apparently, effectively treats patients with a history of anxiety, depression, insomnia and bouts of homicidal mania. Dr Freeman and Edgar find themselves on the carnival circuit wanting only to help those in need. And with a sign.

'The Amazing Dr. Freeman and his Transorbital Lobotomy. Ending Mental Anguish Today.'

Durango Stanton, sixteen year old Messiah, is also on the carnival circuit with his father, usually found sat cross-legged on a homemade throne, wearing a crown of thorns while dear old Dad preaches all the truths the sinners don't want to hear. And then there's Scent, a young woman who sells her body to survive, her Mother has loads of money hidden away, waiting for her lover to return, forcing them to live in poverty. So we have one crazy Father, one crazy Mother and as if sent from heaven, the good doctor.

“It’s the town. Out here in the middle of nowhere with all them ghosts whispering from beneath the bloody dirt. A town full of incurables, a town full of sinners, a town run by the devil. And wherever the devil is, God is sure to follow.”

The Incurables sees Jon Bassoff back to his best following a slight stutter with Factory Town, Scent was easily my favourite character, seemingly a fragile young thing with a dark side desperate for reparation but will she get what's due? In a place where insanity blossoms amongst the hopeless and faith doesn't mean a thing, only death.

I received The Incurables from Darkfuse & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and that’s what you’ve got.

Also posted at http://paulnelson.books.com/post/...2015-books-read darkfuse25 s Mark MatthewsAuthor 23 books378

The Incurables is an excellent addition to the Bassoff universe. I say Universe, because there seems to me an unspoken link between Bassoff's books, and the author has become an 'auto-read' for me with his distinct characters, dialogue, and style. The Incurables tackles a subject I deal with everyday in my day job; mental health treatment, and a doctor who's on a mission to cure others with his lobotomy techniques. You want proof the lobotomy works? well, he's brought along a patient to prove it. They run into a small town, where a potentially psychotic man believes his son is the savior. The son, however, falls in love with the town hooker, who has her own plans which include using a lobotomy on her mother for her own scandalous means. A great read, told with incredible skills. The cure may indeed be worse than the disease, and faith and lunacy may indeed be identical twins.

Also, here's an interview with the author from a few months back
17 s (shan) Littlebookcove152 71

Oh man. Where to start with this!

I'm a new fan of Jon Bassoff, his style really sets the scenes for his tales. It wasn't too slow and the plot was awesome set in the 1950s you really get a feel your almost there watching the whole story unfold. A range of emotions hits you while reading this and has defiantly made me want to read more of his works. Without getting too in depth with this review, I really, really recommend this as a read. Jon Bassoff has so made a new fan of me thank you Darkfuse :o)17 s Krystin | TheF*ckingTwist529 1,808

Book Blog | Bookstagram

"Because faith and lunacy seem to be identical, don't you think?"

I'm struggling with this one. I feel I missed the point.

The synopsis sounded good to me, but damn this was so bleak and all over the place in the execution. Everyone and everything was so twisted, so dark, and so uncomfortable - my skin should have been crawling, in a good way, but I just felt annoyed. There was absolutely nothing neutral or redeeming or good or likable about anyone or anything; nothing and no one to root for. And the ensuing plotlines between the three main POVs were just ridiculous.

I literally wanted everyone to die.



This book touches on how faith without reason, just blind faith in anything, can leave a person with a broken moral compass, set on a destructive path without thought to those around them, but jeeeeeeeez does it ever get there is the most unsubtle way imaginable.

The writing lacked finesse and purpose, and I felt beat over the head with all of the depressing, messed-up shit that was happening to these terrible characters. Moreover, I kept waiting for the author to address how horrible mental health treatment used to be - giving hysterectomies for postpartum depression or sticking an ice pick into the frontal lobe of anyone who is kind of sad - but that gift-wrapped concept was never unwrapped.

Missed opportunity in my opinion. These characters never learned a damn thing.



In the end, everything is just terrible for these people and the ready-made point about blind faith and mental health is never actually made, it's just hinted at. And there is literally no conclusion. It just ends.

But, hey, maybe that was the intention. It just didn't work for me.

?? | 2 stars

book source: Darkfuse Publishing through Netgalley2-stars challenge-2016 dark-and-twisty ...more13 s Frank Errington738 59

Review copy

Jon Bassoff was born in 1974 in New York City and currently lives with his family in a ghost town somewhere in Colorado. His mountain gothic novel, Corrosion, was called "startlingly original and unsettling" by Tom Piccirilli, a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, and won the DarkFuse Reader's Choice Award for best novel. His surrealistic follow-up, Factory Town, was called "A hallucinatory descent into an urban hell" by Bram Stoker award-winning author Ramsey Campbell. For his day job, Bassoff teaches high school English where he is known by students and faculty a as the deranged writer guy.

Bassoff's third novel is filled with characters with few, if any, socially redeeming qualities. The Incurables is set in the early 1950s, and Dr. Walter Freeman's nearly thirty years at the same mental institution are about to come to an end. Despite his many successes in treating the most insane of patients through a process he developed called a transorbital lobotomy, the times are changing and the institution's board is eager to move on to more humane treatments using modern medications to modify the behaviors of the asylum's residents.

Instead to changing his ways, Dr. Freeman sets out on his own with his most recent success and travels the country preaching his cure for many mental conditions. At the same time there is a father and son team of a preacher who is convinced his son is the Messiah.

If you your horror dark and violent, The Incurables is most definitely for you. It's a book where once you start reading, you won't want to put it down. There are no heroes in this tale filled with delightfully despicable characters. Personally, I found the work to be a criticism of both science and religion, and whichever you put your faith in, there is no redemption to be found.

The Incurables is published by Darkfuse and is available in both paperback and e-book formats. If you subscribe to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited you can read this work at no additional charge. Plus, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read this book for FREE as your monthly selection from the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Recommended.12 s Kimberly1,788 2

Jon Bassoff's latest novel, THE INCURABLES, is the third book I have read from him. Here we have the great Dr. Freeman--known for his "dubiously successful" ice pick lobotomies--and his assistant, a "cured" patient. They soon find themselves in Burnwood, Oklahoma, where the town is ripe with sinners and diseased minds NEEDING to be cured . . .

Among the main characters here, we find Durango (who's father thinks that he is the Messiah), and Scent, a teenaged girl prostituting herself to get money to support both she and her "delusional" mother.

Jon Bassoff does a great job with his characterization here! I felt their pain, anger, confusion, envy, and resentment so clearly. Their situations were all horrible, and even momentary happiness could be best described as a slightly less pitiful existence than usual. For them, and all the inhabitants of Burnwood--including Dr. Freeman:

"Faith was a poison that, if ingested, led to delusion."

This was a depressingly bleak tale, brought to life by some very memorable characters. If you're looking for love and happiness look elsewhere. If you're looking for a character driven novel to challenge your sense of normalcy, this could be just the right book for you.

Recommended!

*I received an e-copy of this novel through NetGalley and the publisher, DarkFuse, in exchange for an honest review.*darkfuse-imprints netgalley11 s Bill1,647 122

*As a member of the DarkFuse NetGalley Readers Group, I received an advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Burnwood, Oklahoma is a bit of a sad sack town. Desolate, lonely, poverty stricken. Sinners run amok. Luckily for them - Durango the Messiah and The Ice Pick Savior are coming to town to save them all. Or send them all to hell. I’m betting on the latter.

Jon Bassoff can definitely write a bleak and twisted tale. There aren’t any warm and fuzzies going on in this one, that’s for sure. It’s a very dark story from the start and only gets darker as it progresses.
10 s Kenneth McKinleyAuthor 2 books271

Every once in a while, a book comes along that has a subject matter that really stick with you. The Incurables struck that chord with me. I'm kind of a sucker for horror with a historical setting. Bassoff's offering is set in 1953 and uses a real character with a sordid legacy, Dr. Walter Freeman. Dr Freeman created his name in the history books by being the physician noted for the controversial psychiatric procedure, the lobotomy. In fact, he streamlined the surgery by foregoing the traditional methods of exposing the brain with an incision in the skull and developed the trans orbital lobotomy. If you're not familiar with that procedure, it involved an ice pick and inserting it in the tear duct of each eye socket, using a mallet to break through the soft bone behind the eye, and scrambling the patients gray matter by wiggling the pick around inside the brain. Freeman was a carnival barker- salesman with his new procedure and would often "advertise" it as a cure-all to whatever ails you. By the early 1950s, Freeman had performed his lobotomy on thousands of patients, including the infamous Rose Kennedy.

I have to admit, I didn't know much about lobotomies. Oh sure, I'd heard the term and knew it had something to do with messing with the brain and that it turned many people into drooling vegetables. What I didn't know was the history of the procedure and how prevalent it was in society for so many years. I also didn't know anything about Dr. Walter Freeman. While reading The Incurables, I found myself looking up all sorts of information on the internet about the subject and I found it chillingly fascinating.

Bassoff uses this sordid character and macabre nugget of American history and weaves a captivating tale involving Freeman being fired from his position and forced to take his carnival act on the road across the United States. He paints a chilling and vibrant tale of horror in a seedy small town in Oklahoma where Freeman preys on the desperation of bleak town rife with mental illness. The writing style is smooth and easy. The characters are well fleshed out and memorable. If there is a down side to the story, it would be that there really isn't a sympathetic character in the whole bunch. They're all various degrees of train wrecks. However, I found The Incurable to be an extremely enjoyable read and found that it left a haunting and lasting mark in my psyche.

4 1/2 Bloodied Ice Picks out of 5


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https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...horror own-kindle9 s Michael HicksAuthor 36 books460

Well now, this was a dark read!

Set in the 1950s, Dr. Freeman is a self-avowed pioneer in the field of psychiatry, exuberantly prescribing lobotomies to cure all that ails. After being fired he absconds with one of his veggie- patients, Edgar, who slaughtered a family prior to his institutionalization. They find themselves in a Podunk factory town, which Freeman is convinced needs his help and his special brand of medicine.

What follows is a broody bit of noir replete with a money hungry femme fatale and a handful of unsavories. Author Jon Bassoff uses this as a platform to explore a variety of psychological extremes - greed, ego, religious fanaticism - as his characters descend deeper into their vices.

The characters aren't exactly the type you want to rally behind and root for, but their stories certainly are compelling.

Note: I received a copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley for review.9 s Benoit LelièvreAuthor 6 books148

A guide to reading THE INCURABLES (or any Jon Bassoff novel, really) and enjoying yourself.

1) It's a slow novel. One that unfolds moments with great precision and drama. There is a two-year jump at some point, but otherwise the entirety of the events happens over a couple days.

2) Embrace the conceptual aspect. THE INCURABLES is about the fight between religion and science for the heart of the American people in the 1950s and the no-win situation it was for everybody. Bassoff thinks beyond his characters and should be read as such.

3) It's sometimes bleak for the sake of being bleak. I tried to read it the same way I would read a Southern Gothic novel. It is actually, quite gothic.

4) The character of Scent is troublesome, but adds another layer of human desire to the religion vs science angle. I can't say I was too crazy about who she was in particular, but she's a necessity.

5) Embrace the inevitable. You will most ly guess the ending 100 pages before it happens, but I saw it as a fatality and not necessarily a twist.

Jon Bassoff write a bleak and hopeless brand of gothic/horror. It's one of the most unique things we got out there. He deserves to be read!7 s Kate487 17

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Disgraced doctor, Walter Freeman, thinks he has perfected the Transorbital Lobotomy, a simple procedure he feels will cure a vast majority of his patients at the psychiatric hospital he has worked at for over thirty years. The other doctors do not agree and he is dismissed but decides to 'liberate' one of his successes, Edgar, a murderer who is now as meek as a kitten thanks to the procedure.

Walter decides to take his 'success' on the road and they tour town after town speaking of the positives of the procedure and how people can be saved.They come to Burnwood and there meet a variety of troubled and manipulative characters. Durango and his preacher father and Scent, the young prostitute who is desperate to get her hands on money hidden by her mother. Their stories converge into a violent finale where Walter is shown the real cost of his procedure.

The author has again brought together an amazing array of characters for his novel, Walter with his almost blind faith in the power of his procedure. This is mirrored in the story arc of Durango and his father, his father convinced that Durango is the messiash and can perform miracles and raise the dead. Scent's character was complex with the initial set up of her being a sweet girl who is hooking because she has no other options. She is soon revealed as someone violent, calculating and manipulative but her love for Durango seems pure and she is convinced this is what's needed to change her life, along with her mother's money of course.

The novel is set in the 50's and scratches the underbelly of america, showing the violence and poverty that confront people on a daily basis. It's fascinating and disturbing in equal measures but well worth the read.

Recommended.znetgalley-read-and-reviewed zreading-challenge-20155 s Mike180 58

First off I have to say I really enjoyed reading The Incurables. Not sure if it was the story line which was a little dark. Or the great cast of characters. Or that I got to sit down and read the book thru in only a couple of days because of the holiday. I think it was a combination of all these. It starts out with three story lines. The first was the doctor and his patient. the second was the father and the son and third was the daughter and mother. I d the way Jon brought these story lines together at the end. Even thou the end was a little predictable. I don't want to say too much and ruin it for someone. I enjoyed reading Jon's books this being the fourth of his that I have read. Out of the four I would put this second behind Corrosion which I gave 4 1/2 stars. I gave The Incurables 4 stars.


I received an e-arc of this book from DarkFuse/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.7 s 11811 (Eleven)662 152

This was a damn fine read. Equating a doctor who performs lobotomy surgery with messiah figures, faith healers and other Saviors was a clever tool and on its own made the story worthwhile. I think this is my second read by this author and I am yet to be disappointed.

The character of the doctor was particularly well fleshed out as a firm believer in the righteousness of the controversial service he performed. Well done. 6 s Rob Twinem885 42

Reading The Incurables is akin to being on the set of a wild west frontier town production movie possibly under the direction of one of the greatest directors of all times, John Ford and starring two of his favourite protagonists John Wayne and Victory McLaglen....”She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” comes to mind. Now if we add to this the language and character interplay in a Quentin Tarantino production such as Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta discussing the finer parts of a quarter pounder...”Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris? They call it Royale with cheese”....then perhaps you have some idea just how just how colourful and direct this character driven novel by Jon Bassoff is.

Doctor Walter Freeman offers hope to the ill and insane with his transorbitol lobotomy and he should know as he has performed over 3000 successful operations. When however he is sacked from his job at the hospital and he travels to the town of Burnwood “a debauchery-filled meatpacking town with plenty of history but not much future.” with his faithful companion Edgar (himself a recipient of transorbitol lobotomy) his patience and his faith in his ability will be sorely tested.

In this Oklahoma backwater he meets an assortment of odd, demented and violent cast of characters; Durango the next Messiah driven by his god fearing father Stanton...”Stanton had made prophecies before and none of them had come true. But Durango couldn’t help but believe, just a little bit. Not because he thought him to be a prophet, but because he was his father.” Scent the local working girl “Scent and the fat man drove in his badly rusted, badly dented Ford truck toward the Lullaby Motel over on Front Street. His calloused hands rode up and down her leg and she didn’t try to stop him. The radio played static-filled doo-wop. And out on the streets a heaping of destitution and debauchery.”.....Grady, Vlad and Kaz murdering psychopathic brothers out for revenge, and all this set against a town captivated by the charismatic salesmanship of Dr Freeman.

Jon Bassoff creates characters that “crackle” with electricity they can almost be viewed in 3d as their bawdy and colourful temperaments consume the reader from the opening paragraph. His directness and style in many respects reminds me of the writing of Donald Ray Pollock (The Devil All The Time) I shall look forward to reading future publications by Mr Bassoff as I know his best work is still to be written.
5 s Rob Twinem885 42

An author with an unique and dark style of his own.... Reading The Incurables is akin to being on the set of a wild west frontier town production movie possibly under the direction of one of the greatest directors of all times, John Ford and starring two of his favourite protagonists John Wayne and Victory McLaglen....”She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” comes to mind. Now if we add to this the language and character interplay in a Quentin Tarantino production such as Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta discussing the finer parts of a quarter pounder...”Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris? They call it Royale with cheese”....then perhaps you have some idea just how just how colourful and direct this character driven novel by Jon Bassoff is.Doctor Walter Freeman offers hope to the ill and insane with his transorbitol lobotomy and he should know as he has performed over 3000 successful operations. When however he is sacked from his job at the hospital and he travels to the town of Burnwood “a debauchery-filled meatpacking town with plenty of history but not much future.” with his faithful companion Edgar (himself a recipient of transorbitol lobotomy) his patience and his faith in his ability will be sorely tested.In this Oklahoma backwater he meets an assortment of odd, demented and violent cast of characters; Durango the next Messiah driven by his god fearing father Stanton...”Stanton had made prophecies before and none of them had come true. But Durango couldn’t help but believe, just a little bit. Not because he thought him to be a prophet, but because he was his father.” Scent the local working girl “Scent and the fat man drove in his badly rusted, badly dented Ford truck toward the Lullaby Motel over on Front Street. His calloused hands rode up and down her leg and she didn’t try to stop him. The radio played static-filled doo-wop. And out on the streets a heaping of destitution and debauchery.”.....Grady, Vlad and Kaz murdering psychopathic brothers out for revenge, and all this set against a town captivated by the charismatic salesmanship of Dr Freeman.Jon Bassoff creates characters that “crackle” with electricity they can almost be viewed in 3d as their bawdy and colourful temperaments consume the reader from the opening paragraph. His directness and style in many respects reminds me of the writing of Donald Ray Pollock (The Devil All The Time) I shall look forward to reading future publications by Mr Bassoff as I know his best work is still to be written.darkfuse4 s Nev Murray448 32

"This is written in a way that I am slowly coming to realise, Jon Bassoff writes extremely well. I wouldn’t expect normality in his writing. I wouldn’t expect straight forward plots that are easy to determine from the outset. What I would expect though is a mesmerising story that will keep you glued to every single page and have you turning them as fast as you can to find out exactly what is going to happen next."

The Incurables

100-200-read 2015 2016 ...more4 s Bob918

Excellent novel peopled with unable characters. I totally enjoyed this story about a lobotomist, a certifiable preacher and his son and a 17 year old psychotic hooker in an Oklahoma backwoods town of degenerates, all played out against the backdrop of a seedy carnival sideshow. Would make for a helluva Carnivale-type movie. Very highly recommended!2 s Kelly298 36 Read

Full review to follow at Hellnotes.com.horror noir3 s Dianne6,786 582

Hard to imagine that in 1953, decades after the infamous snake oil salesman that one disgraced doctor could travel the countryside promising cures for mental disabilities by driving an icepick through the orbital socket into the brain, only far enough to do damage to the precious area that controls many of the traits that make us who we are. And. People. Bought. Into. It. Desperate people, poor people offered up a family member to as a patient. Want to watch, no problem. And then he entered the town of Burnwood, where a preacher thinks his son is the Messiah, and a twisted and greedy young prostitute wants her mother’s hidden treasure, at any cost. Perhaps the doctor’s treatment will loosen her mother’s tongue?

Enter, but only if you dare. Jon Basssoff wields a wickedly sharp pen as his tale unfolds in bloody layers, revealing the depths people will go to and how easily they can be bought, fooled or tricked. Mr. Bassoff doesn’t ask us to his characters, few are truly redeemable, but he does command one’s attention with his bone chilling tale. Not for the squeamish or someone looking for a light read, this is dark fantasy, nightmarish fantasy in all of its hideous glory!
Brave enough to take a walk into a tale that almost breathes evil and exposes the demented minds of those the commonfolk believe in? Meet The Incurables and you decide, were they cured or were the wrong people lobotomized?

I received this copy from DarkFuse in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Date: October 24, 2015
Publisher: DarkFuse
ISBN 9781940544861
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Print Length: 181 pages
Available from: Amazon
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

author-requested-review dark-edgy horror ...more2 s MajankaAuthor 72 books409

Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net//...

In The Incurables by Jon Bassoff, excellent writing meets with an intriguing set of characters. Dr. Walter Freeman travels the country in 1953 after being fired from a psychiatric hospital. He promises to end depression, catatonia, psychosis, and so on, with nothing but an ice pick and a hammer – lobotomy. But when he enters Burnwood, his own sanity is about to be tested. A delusional, degenerate cast passes by, each of them unique, crazy, and testing his sanity.

The characterization was amazing. Bassoff succeeds in making all his characters, no matter how ridiculous and over the top they sound, feel real, existing people. The crazier they are, the more he succeeds in bringing them to life. The story is bleak, dark, depressing, but it challenges the reader to question what it means to be sane or insane, and how thin the line between both really is.horror -january-20162 s Chris RhatiganAuthor 31 books41

Holy shit this book is incredible. It doesn't fit into any particular genre--somewhere close to bizarro but with elements of crime, literary, and horror mixed in. It's both deeply weird and affecting. Go read it. 1 Elizabeth A.320 30

The setup of The Incurables, the latest offering from Jon Bassoff, is both incredibly straightforward and wonderfully disturbing.

In the early 1950s, after decades of treating patients and pioneering the transorbital lobotomy, aka the “icepick lobotomy,” Dr. Walter Freeman is put out to pasture by the board of directors of the facility where he works.

Seems they’ve finally realized Freeman’s method of “curing” patients suffering from mental illness—inserting an icepick into the corner of each eye socket, hammering it through the orbital bone with a small hammer, then moving it around in order to sever the connections of the prefrontal cortex— isn’t the most humane.

Crushed that his work is being cast aside for newfangled measures and meds, Freeman decides to take his show on the road, and absconds with his last patient in the process. Going from town to town, Freeman “preaches” the power of the transorbital lobotomy to cure what ails you, or a loved one. He uses his patient, Edgar, as living proof of the miraculous power of the pick.

All was going well until Freeman and Edgar rolled into Burnwood, Oklahoma, a town so collectively down on its luck and bereft of hope it seems the entire populous could use Freeman’s cure. Problem is, another preacher has already set up shop in Burnwood, a man named Stanton who’s offering salvation via his son, Durango, the new Messiah. Seems a little showdown of faith vs. science is the order of the day. Add to the mix a temptress in the form of a young, violent, seemingly conscienceless prostitute named Scent whose mother, Baby, is rumored to have a hidden fortune, and The Incurables has all the ingredients for high drama.

On the surface, The Incurables is an indictment of blind faith, in religion or science. It’s an unflinching examination of the reality that people, by nature, must have something to believe in, to look to, in order to keep putting one foot in front of the other, especially in places Burnwood where conditions are achingly hollow and stunted. And ultimately, it doesn’t matter if their chosen talisman, science or faith, fails them, because a new self-delusion is always waiting just around the corner to take the place of the fallen—meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Lurking just beneath the surface of The Incurables, however, is an equally scathing take on family, the ties that bind, and how that shapes us as people. Each of the main characters is dealing with, in fact driven by, a family member suffering from mental illness. Freeman’s wife has clearly been driven mad with grief over the untimely death of their son, and has piled alcoholism on top of that. And in a story he relays to the near-catatonic Edgar, it seems clear Freeman’s wife is not the first woman in his life who shaped him through her mental illness. In fact, Freeman’s entire immersion into the world of psychiatry has arguably been driven by the desire to help/cure the world as a penance for his inability to help/cure those closest to him.

Durango is similarly dealing with madness as a cornerstone of his existence, though in his father’s case it was guilt not grief that drove him over the edge into the abyss. And just as Freeman’s journey into psychiatry and the “miracle” of the transorbital lobotomy can be looked at as one of self-salvation, so too is Stanton’s crushing need for Durango to be the Messiah…and to absolve Stanton of his sins. Meanwhile, Baby’s slow and steady break from reality has left Scent in the position of having to both raise herself and to form a shell of armor around herself so thick it has distorted her view of everyone she comes into contact with and left her incapable of having a normal relationship—everyone is either a user or there to be used.

It’s not a pretty picture, and combined with the indictment of blind faith it makes for a rather oppressive atmosphere throughout. Make no mistake about it, The Incurables is the ultimate slow burn read. Bassoff layers the grief, despair and desperation on with a steady hand, exquisitely writing his characters into corners from which there is only one way out. And when he finally puts match to powder keg, the resulting thought-provoking, deeply disturbing explosion is one for the ages. 1 Colleen Marie Zukowski137 25

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

I will be honest and say that I was not sure what to think of this book when I started it. The story follows the lives of several highly disturbing individuals, the main characters of this story, who live in a town full of odd and unbalanced people. The main characters seem to be strangers in the beginning, but over time we see how their lives inevitably intertwine. There is the doctor who “cures” people by performing transorbitol lobotomies with an ice pick, a preacher who swears his son is the messiah, the son trying to live up to being the messiah, and a prostitute whose upbringing has made her deranged and dangerous. The Incurables contains a cast of characters straight out of a dysfunctional nightmare. At first the book disturbed me and made me cringe, and at many times shocked me, but it was not long before I came to terms with the fact that I loved this macabre book.

The Incurables was creepy. Not in your typically scary, horror story way but in a way where it forces you to see the worst in humanity and really think about it. The storyline and incidents were exaggerated (in a good way) but everything in the book had an underlying truth to it. Bassoff touches on subjects that exist in the real world, which people sometimes choose to avoid analyzing, because they are considered touchy subjects to broach, such as religion, sex, morality, etc. The book shows both the ridiculousness of so many of our actions and the devastating consequences that often times come of them.

One of the things the book shows so brilliantly is the tendency the human race has to just follow the pack and believe almost anything that is told to them. It shows the scary truth that with enough influence people will believe anything, simply because they are being told by a large number of people that it is the right thing to believe. The Incurables depicts “following the masses” quite befittingly.

The character development in the book is not as in-depth as it could have been, in my opinion, but Bassoff still manages to evoke enough feelings towards the characters and you are made to both love and hate all of them. He found a way to make you feel compassion for each person, no matter how sinister their actions, but then also makes you loathe them at the same time. I found such brilliance in this and it made it hard to really, truly despise anyone completely throughout the book.

I am not going to pretend that this book is not highly unsettling at times and it really does force you to take a deep look into the dark parts of the human race. There are many disturbing moments throughout The Incurables and it is clearly not the right story for everyone, but as far as my opinion goes though, I really did enjoy this book. When I had that moment of clarity while reading, where I saw what Bassoff was doing with the story and what he was trying to show, I was so impressed in how highly intelligent the book really is.

Overall I thought The Incurables was a wonderfully creepy book that kept an ominous atmosphere the entire time. If you are squeamish or do not enjoy horror then this might not be your ideal read, but anyone who s sinister noir stories should give this book a go, because you will not regret reading it.

"There would be no more words at all...but what happens when the night is too black, when the moon is crushed to pieces, when screams are the only sign of life?"
my-horror-obsession netgalley1 Holly (epiloguebookblog)171 5

I hardly know what to say about The Incurables. Its implications and complexity strike me as much more far-reaching than something to be read merely for entertainment. It seems something I’d have read and studied in a literature course, which I mean as the utmost compliment to the author.

And, yet, I did read this for entertainment. I sought out The Incurables on NetGalley because I was in the mood for a dark read—Halloween and all that—and this novel didn’t disappoint. Instead of featuring one main character, this one features none. Or more than one—I can’t decide. Either way, the subject matter is dark and haunting in a “this-could-really-happen” kind of way.

Some fiction is scary because of supernatural effects. On the contrary, the characters and situations in The Incurables are alarming because of their humanity, perhaps the scariest subject matter of all.

On a similar note, historical influences served the novel well. Medical experimentation—specifically the lobotomy—fascinates me, as do TV series and movies featuring the same (American Horror Story: Asylum and Session 9, respectively). If I’m not mistaken, the author actually used the name of an actual American doctor who performed lobotomies to various degrees of success. All of that to say, the research and accuracy of this aspect of the novel were not lost on me. It gave the novel an authentic, true-to-life feel, which made its implications even more alarming.

Thematically, this novel seems to focus on the concept of salvation as obtained either through science or religion…and not well in either case. The main characters overlap in the most curious and satisfying of ways, while the action itself, by the novel’s end, comes full circle.

If delusions, men with a God complex, and toxic family relationships are your bag, you owe it to yourself to check out this novel. Although I don’t read in this genre very often, I do know that The Incurables is horror and suspense done right.1 AbiG414



A lobotomy is just what they Doctor ordered...or so Dr. Walter Freeman thought, until the hospital let him go, after a "Successful" operation on a former killer.
With life suddenly turned upside down, Freeman is on the run with his patient, looking to help the needy. Joining a Carnival, and setting up shop, the good doctor is back in business.

Meanwhile a unfortunate teenager making ends meet by selling herself, and a young boy whose delusional father thinks he is the Messiah, end up face to face, and fall for each other.

The doctor has many "successful" operations in town, making the citizens almost zombie , but hey that is the point, they no longer feel sad or emotional. The Messiah sacrifices his father to the Doctor, but he soon regrets it . Not long after the Girl wants to give her mother to the Doctor, so that she no longer has to make ends meet, as her mother has money hidden somewhere, and with the surgery, she just might tell her where its hidden.

The mothers operation is unsuccessful,and ends up dead,still leaving the secret stash hidden, and one event after another , leaves the girl dead now.
All around him, bodies are falling at the Good Doctors feet, only to have his former successful patient, kill him in a rage induced fight.

This book has its up and downs, which is why I only rated Three stars, but I think it could have been so much better.x-arc1 Robert Mingee224 12

This is a very bleak story about the depths to which human being will sink in desperation. It follows the story of a doctor who pioneered the transorbital lobotomy, but is asked to leave his job at the hospital because the board feels that the procedure is outdated and needs to be retired in favor of other less invasive treatments. He hits the road with one of his former patients, and ends up in a dirt poor town full of unhappy, desperate people, where he believes he can do a lot of good.

This is not a feel-good story, so if you're looking for that, keep looking. It is very well-written, and the characters are fully explored and quite complex. Even by the end, I'm still not sure I really knew the doctor, but he was one of the characters I felt the most sorry for. The atmosphere of hopelessness and despair is oppressive, but it is hard to put down because you want to know what could possibly happen next.

This is the second book I have read from John Bassoff, as I have yet to read Corrosion, which has gotten much acclaim. While I loved the prose and surreal atmosphere in Factory Town, it just wasn't cohesive enough for me to be able to follow as well as I would have d. This work brings the same skill with atmosphere and character development, but to me is a much more accessible story. I look forward to more work from John Bassoff, as I believe he's a very talented writer with a very broad range. Definitelyt recommended for folks who don't mind a story with very little happiness in it!20151 Scott290 7

The Incurables is a dark story dealing with insanity and its questionable treatments, namely the lobotomy. If I had to categorize the novel I would call it white trash noir, as the world of the story is one of poverty, desperation, and crushing circumstances. I love Mr. Bassoff's writing style and so enjoyed The Incurables thoroughly, but the plot is fragmented and deconstructed to such a degree that I believe it is beside the point of the novel. Getting too bogged down in the events (which I admit I fell prey to) detracts from the overall themes and experience. This is a strange, dark book, and it will not be for everyone.

The Incurables is instantly recognizable as a Jon Bassoff novel. Despite being a new author Mr. Bassoff has a distinctive voice that stands out from the crowd of other horror or crime authors, and that is a rare treasure. I preferred the story of Corrosion over the more elusive The Incurables, but neither do I want the same novel repeated over and over. Recommended for adventurous, open minded readers. 4 stars.1 Michael Flanagan495 23

Take a once famous psychiatrist, serial killer, ice pick and a touch a lobotomy and you have the making of a wickedly good story. Oh also add a small town full of "odd" people with a wide variety of mental health issues just for a bit of extra fun. Also maybe just a tad of messiah complex as well.

Jon Bassoff impressed me with the dark tale he has placed on the pages of the Incurables. A great cast of characters all with some major issues make this book a wonderfully wicked and disturbing. I found myself flying through this book and loving every minute of it. thriller2 s Josef Hernandez647 3

Another very good book by Bassoff

For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/the-in... or http://areviewerdarkly.blogspot.com/2... and follow me on Twitter @josenher

www.thereviewerdarkly.com1 A Reader's Heaven1,592 28

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