Just completed another review for Joe Bob Briggs, so as usual, I'm posting the first draft here. The last few reviews haven't had too many edits, so I must be getting the hang of this.

Oh, anybody familiar with Rego Park, Queens? I may be working in the area soon.

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Rage by Steve Gerlach; reviewed by Steve Chaput
Leisure Books; ISBN – 084395311X

Well, this was a pretty unpleasant read! There is nothing like reading about some guy who gets off on snuff films to pass the time. I actually had to put the book down a few times, as it was just a bit too disturbing.

Ben Jackson is attending college simply for lack of anything better to do with his life. Having demonstrated early in his childhood that he troubled, Ben has grown up to be that guy you used to see on campus. You barely remember him and don’t know anybody who hung out with him. If you did try to make conversation, he probably blew you off, leaving you wondering why you bothered. Not anyone’s idea of a BMOC.

Like many loners, Ben blames his problems on everyone from his parents, to his teachers to any female who gave him the brush off. Naturally, as his own self-pity and bitterness increases, so does his hatred of those he blames for his problems. It’s also only natural, at least in this type of book that things are finally going to come to a violent conclusion.

Gerlach demonstrates early on that Ben is not your regular loser; this is a guy with some very serious anti-social issues. After the usual childish games of ‘playing doctor’ with school mates, Ben’s only actual sexual encounter is with a fellow male student at the boarding school to which he is sent. Now in his early twenties, Ben’s sexual frustration is beginning to show itself in some unhealthy ways. When he does finally meet Christine, the “love of his life”, you know that it is going to end badly. Ben has already made plans for his ultimate revenge and his relationship with Christine only temporarily keeps things from boiling over.

Gerlach spends so much time showing us how creepy and anti-social Ben is and how he became that way, that there is little room for any of the other characters in the novel to be any more than ciphers. Sadly, so much of the book seems like padding until the final chapters when Ben finally snaps. Perhaps with more to work with Gerlach might have produced an entertaining read. In this novel, he simply tosses in the clichés we’ve seen in numerous films and televisions shows, so there are few if any surprises.

Two stars.