The Junkie Quatrain -- A Book Review

The Junkie Quatrain by Peter Clines
review by Stephane Martin

In an effort to properly attend to the 4 distinct stories/quatrains that make up this collection, this review has been written section-by-section [by sitting], in the order as presented by the author.


First sitting; [First quatrain]- 

The author goes to great lengths to explain why the pandemic survivors [and main characters] in these stories are called  zombie "junkies". Supposedly this can be ascribed to their similarity to "drug addict junkies/crack heads". I am as yet uncertain if this is an attempt at simple humor or if it is a parallel that the author has himself drawn from his [limited] interactions with heroin or crack cocaine addicts...



"They trembled. They shook. Their words were a slur of noise when they tried to speak. They didn't so much as run as throw themselves at the target. Everything they did had a frantic desperation about it."

…however I would have to guess the former, as the given description seems more suitable to... [ahem].....ZOMBIES....than to any junky or drug addict. [Excepting the element of "frantic desperation", which is admittedly an ever-so-slightly clever parallel distinction.]

Other than as a device to make his own stories distinct from other zombie horror, this metaphorical trick so far serves as little but a confusion; when a character refers to "a group of junkies", this reader imagines a group of disheveled heroin-addict/crack head panhandler types, loosely chanting "spare some change mister? I haven't eaten in 3 days" carrying an assortment of  cardboard signs, jingling paper cups with a few pennies in them, and drinking from half empty Listerine bottles. Then one of the rambling group bites a chunk of flesh out of some unsuspecting citizen, and suspension of disbelief whispers quietly: "pssst- ZOMBIES." Oh, right, right....carry on then.

This must be what it's like to read a book where vampires are called lawyers and politicians are called parasites. Wait.....oh never mind....

Ignoring [or attempting to ignore] this creative mislabeling, the first story details the journey of 2 female survivors through the post-pandemic area of Hollywood California. They encounter a few zombies....er....junkies... a group of scavengers, almost have a lesbian make-out scene, and deal with an infection in a somewhat predictable way. If the lesbian make-out scene had actually happened, and were a fair bit longer [say, the length of the current story], I may have forgiven the shortcomings of this particular adventure...well, for some men and possibly a few lesbians, anyway.

Junkies or zombies?

Second sitting; [Second quatrain]-

This chapter/story deals with a group of "outsiders."  The notion of outsiders was briefly mentioned in the first story, but did not describe these "outsiders" as basically nomadic scavengers. This particular group is on a mercenary mission to retrieve medical supplies.

SO, the story goes something like this: point A to point B [oops...we made a mistake, we're supposed to be at point C], point B to point C, then point C to point D [insert interaction with 2 characters from story 1], Point D to minor slaughter fest, then from slaughter fest to Point E [end of story].

None of the characters, action, or plot point seemed very inspired, and were honestly a bit of a bother to wade through. The characterization of "zombie-types" as "junkies" continues to be somewhat tiresomely.

Third sitting; [Third quatrain]-

A history of the viral pandemic, and a few revelations as to its origin. This quatrain has interesting, well written dialogue and some well thought-out plot points, unfortunately all in the midst of the same type of predictable set pieces and storyline montages which characterized the previous segments of the book: point A to point B to point C and so on, as dictated by the necessity to flee/hide/escape etc.


Fourth and Fifth sittings; [Fourth quatrain] and afterthought-

I have to admit, I found the authors’ prologue to be a bit misleading. By my interpretation I was lead to believe that this was a collection of short stories, written in no particular order, and arranged in the given sequence purely by matter of chance [a “roll of the dice”, as the author puts it]. Given the culmination of events to the final quatrain, I find this very difficult to believe, unless there was a good deal of re-writing involved after the fact: too many untied ends are tidily answered for many random chance, such that if one were to re-arrange the quatrains in a different order, one might be mightily confused. This is all to say that pointless, wandering, and arbitrary as some of the characters and events may have seemed in the prior 3 quatrains, the fourth does a respectable job of creating an entertaining read and summarizing the world as a whole through a slightly unexpected character heretofore only hinted at.

In fact, the final quatrain does redeem the failings of the previous stories; and for their condensed length does lead to the feeling of a vindicated read. I will hasten to point out though, that the fourth quatrain, unlike the others, does stand firmly on its own as a cohesive story, and if anyone were to want a brief, enjoyable read, without wading through too much fluff, they might best read  only the fourth quatrain of this collection.



About Permuted Press
Permuted Press was established in 2004 with a modest goal: to produce a single, high-quality zombie anthology titled The Undead. From this simple goal grew a publishing company that has published over 60 titles targeting the apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and survival horror fiction markets. Permuted Press has relied heavily on the power of the internet and advances in publishing technology to establish itself as one of the best known publishers in the apocalyptic niche. Permuted has utilized print on demand (POD) technology and grassroots internet marketing to catch and cater to its ever growing fan base.