The Darkest Prison
Full 5 stars for shocking me to my very core. This book is absolutely going onto my 'scare-da-shit-outta-me' shelf.I felt every single raw emotion from Brian's inner screams, his struggles akin to an ensnared animal destined for a most painful sad ending.
It is utterly pure horror to observe an innocent man's humanity being stripped off so resolutely without an ounce of empathy from other fellow human beings. I shudder along with Brian knowing that the devious process was an irreversible one.
And it was equally painful to watch an innocent being subjected to such heights of injustice and cruelty. What was truly disturbing was the fact that all this isn't too far from the reality we live in as many out there could be suffering similar unfair prosecution due to error of judgement, slip-ups or even a by-product of greed and power.
Is there a limit to cruelty? Are we all capable of it? And to what extend? These are some of the thoughts that kept running through my mind as I read this book.
Could there be so many condemned to become Nulls? How could anyone be crazy enough to commit a violent crime these days, knowing what the punishment would be? But there had always been extreme punishments, hadn't there? Electrocution, hanging, lethal injections, and before his own modern - civilized -era, burning alive, dismemberment. Unimaginably painful deaths. What devious mind had invented the ultimate punishment that now awaited him? To leave the condemned alive and free, but no longer considered human -that cruelty could never be surpassed.
Then there's this other insistent question that refused to leave me alone...
What's worse than death for a condemned man? I think it's the waiting and the unknown when there is absolutely zero recourse but death itself as a finality.
Brian's suffering was so great that when he saw that piece of broken mirror as a way out, I was almost elated for him. Finally, a way to end this I was thinking.
This story really took on a whole new meaning of living death.
When it ends, I am not even sure if I should celebrate for Brian or to cry out his anguish on his behalf.
If you want to find out what is a true dark read in its most twisted version, try this story out and then you tell me if stood to its title.
There are many faceless Brian Carstairs out there.
Some other point of interest:
As I was reading this, I was reminded of [b:Battle Royale|57891|Battle Royale|Koushun Takami|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1331235272s/57891.jpg|2786327] by [a:Koushun Takami|32595|Koushun Takami|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1309551623p2/32595.jpg]. I have yet to read that novel but I have read the manga of it. It has its own definition of 'living death' and certainly not for faint-of-heart or sensitive souls.
P/S: Actually, I really felt true urge to write a review for this book. It is almost like a relentless phantom nudge. One that I could not ignore easily and hope that it would go away after a while. In fact, I was writing it simultaneously as I was reading it.
I do know that I do not have strong vocabs or fancy prose to make this review pretty and all that, but I just hope that I get my feelings on it across without much confusion.
