Puzzleman: A Novel by Christopher Alan Broadstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 – 3.5 Stars

“….The pained-man slept restlessly on his fetid sleeping bag, the heroin taking him deeper and deeper into the abyss of his dreams.
Soon he had gone so deep the void became heavy…then compressed like the space sucked into a black hole. It grew so dense it reversed itself, turning from nothing into something. It became solidified oblivion––consciousness––then finally the darkest part of existence and the source of all nightmares: the unified core of the human psyche. Within moments the pained-man was slithering his way through this collective mind, like a worm slithering through wet earth. It was the puzzleman who had taught him this little trick––how to make a dreamcall––and he had always used it as instructed: for the betterment and evolution of the pipes.
Well not tonight, big brother.
It was finally time to use the dreamcall against the puzzleman. The grinning freak loved to play games and he loved to barter for fresh flesh, so the pained-man was going to conduct a real bargain this time. There would be no facades or playful haggling for the fun of the trade. He was going to collect a stable of victims, not just one or two, and then lay down some rules of his own at the bargaining table. The puzzleman could either pay what he asked ––
My legs. My freedom.
–– or he would spend the rest of what remained of his miserable life draining the living blood out of every human he could sink his claws or jaws into.
The pained-man chomped his teeth.
Although the puzzleman jokingly called himself Conundrum, and was most certainly an eternal enigma, there was a glitch in his character as clear and indelible as a placard carved into his forehead: he didn’t like to lose. Anything. Ever. He would never be able to bear the agony of letting so much living flesh slip through his fingers. Especially not to someone who had escaped his glorious pipes, legs lost or not.
So you can pay up, Conundrum, or I won’t feed your fuckin’ sewer anymore. The pained-man pushed his arrogance one step further. I might even start my own bloody little cesspool.
Worming upwards, he butted his head against the hard skull of the collective mind. Fuck!
He slithered off and tried again and again.
Gotta find it, gotta find it, gotta find it…
There was a lucky soft spot ahead––he could almost smell it––a place where he could break through this dark world and into the singular subconscious of some fatigued, unsuspecting sleeper…..”

Puzzleman by Christopher Alan Broadstone is a graphic and twisted horror/thriller with all kinds of disturbing details that made for a bit of an intense read. But that’s what you should expect from a well woven horror story, right.
Infused with plenty of tension, suspense, mystery, intrigue, supernatural elements, gore, macabre details, gruesome sadistic + gut-churning elements, and a touch of the bizarre- plus a very original premise, definitely made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
As this is the first book of Mr. Broadstone’s that I have read, I really didn’t know what to expect from his storytelling- but after reading this there is now no doubt in my mind of what Mr. Broadstone’s mind is capable of.
I do love a good horror story though, which probably stems from my teenage years, growing up thorough the 80’s- where my friends and I would watch every scary horror movie we could get our hands on. And there were some great horror movies to come out during the 80’s- which I think this book gives off those ‘vibes’, in spades. In fact, I can see this making a great horror movie too.
I will mention that the transitions were a little abrupt – which gave the story a bit of a disjointed, and choppy feel. And the story was a little ‘wordy’ in parts- which interrupted the flow and pulled me out of the storyline. Which affected my overall rating of the book. I think with a little ‘tweaking’ though, this book could be more of a stellar read!
Be warned, Puzzleman and Mr. Broadstone’s pipeworld is hellish in the extreme! This is not a light and fluffy read- it is not ‘easy’ reading, it is graphic and disturbing – so if that is not your vibe, then this is probably not the book for you.
Otherwise, Happy Reading…

Thank you, Christopher Alan Broadstone!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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