Dead Inside

Over the years, books have told us not to mention things like Fight Club and He Who Shall Not Be Named, while movies have graciously reminded us not to cross the streams and to never create time machines that feed on plutonium.

Well, add Dead Inside to that never-remind or mention list because it is just about the most depraved thing I have ever set my eyes on.

You might be asking yourself what this is about, and well, I would usually write some sort of synopsis, but it's quite literally impossible without possibly being banned from the platform. So instead, I'll just dance around some themes.

Let's begin by talking about art for a second. Remember the scene in Tim Burton's Batman where the Joker looks through Vale's photography portfolio and says it's crap until he sees some of her more disturbing pictures of war? Jokers eyes light up, and he is drawn to her, even though his perception of reality and Vales could not be more different. Well, what if they were the same? What if Vale was into the Jokers homicidal art and the person behind the makeup? Not only that, but what if she wanted to participate? More omelets would be made, and many more eggs would be broken.

This is all a roundabout way of saying I get what the author was going for. It's sick and twisted, but there is a semblance of a crazed love story wrapped up in an extreme tapestry of vile unconformity. The characters do not suppress their impulses; they embrace them. I took it in as humor/dark satire (almost like an extended Onion article) and was actually laughing quite a bit. It reminds us that not everyone in this world is the same or has similar tastes, outlooks on life, or desires. For every prominently framed Van Gogh Starry Night in a house, there is someone out there with a Saturn by Goya. Tomayto, tomahto.

The writing was quite good and there are literary references that wink at the reader, music selections that were just down-right funny used in their context, and a few ideas plucked from a few modern French horror movies, albeit taken to a whole different stratosphere.

Overall, you know how boxers say they left a piece of themselves in the ring after a tough fight? Well, I had a similar thought when I made it to the last page. Just trade out the loss of brain cells for the loss of sanity.