Book Review: "Turn" by Patrick Barb
Turn Book Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Published by Alien Buddha Press
Written by Patrick Barb
2022, 172 pages, Fiction
Published on October 6th, 2022
Review:
If you’ve spent a lick of time on this site (and thank you profusely if you have), then you know I am an unabashed whore for both horror fiction and professional wrestling. It’s only natural that any time those two things meet in a story of an length (be it short, novella, or novel), I’m on it like flies on shit. Two of my favorite “new” authors (i.e. recently new to me), James Newman and Adam Howe, have taken on the sublimely compatible worlds of professional wrestling and sheer terror in damn fine books like Scapegoat and Ugly as Sin.
With Turn by Patrick Barb, I hoped to find another solid entry into the subgenre, and I damn sure did.
Bug (real name: Renee Fielder) is one of those pro wrestlers that are commonly referred to as a “good hand”- capable of going out there and reliably turning up the bloodshed in the DEATH CHAMPS promotion but never getting a sniff of the main event or the title picture. Bug’s luck is about to change, however, when he works with the heavyweight champion, David “Drax” Draxel. The champ is a vampire in his gimmick…but he’s also a vampire in real life as well. He drinks from Bug in the match, and from that a feud is born that will change the face of DEATH CHAMPS and the great sport of professional wrestling forever.
Patrick Barb is clearly as enthusiastic and well-versed a wrestling fan as I am myself. That’s the most crucial component of selling a storyline that includes a daytime showdown with the champ protected from the sun in a full-on gimp suit. There’s a psychology in the art of pro wrestling that makes this sort of lunacy just believable enough, and Barb leans into it pretty damn hard. The result is a book that hits a real sweet spot in terms of cinematic in-ring action; you’re seeing the match go down in widescreen.
Turn doesn’t keep grinding with the same headlock throughout, though- there is a locker room full of characters like cocky, high-flying upstart JH Murray, the Dogs of War, and the massive Mr. 500 to change up the flavor. And of course there’s the top man, promoter Sammy Cassetta, who’s no Vincent Kennedy McMahon. This is indie deathmatch wrestling, and everything is extreme.
As titles go, Turn is perfection. The entire novella is a long, slow build to the ultimate heel turn, one that is physical, emotional, and spiritual. Bug makes for a surprisingly vicious protagonist; there’s nothing more purely pro wrestling 101 than the scrappy, crazy, can’t be killed underdog. The whole book has a fantasy booking feel to it, and I mean that in the most complimentary way.
The story is as outrageous as the world of pro wrestling (and sports entertainment) itself so often is. An exercise in suspension of disbelief that’s a treat to read, Turn paints a bloody portrait that’s deliciously palatable for wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans alike. On the horror side, Drax is a pretty nasty character and makes for an alluring monster champion. The bloodshed and batshit deathmatch energy of the finale is something you may go back and read twice for funsies. I did.
And like any good wrestling storyline, there’s always more to be told. I’m here for it.
Grade:
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
