Charlie Mahon is an a-hole. When not getting smashed (as in completely, utterly, mind-boggling drunk), he treats his girlfriend Natasha like garbage, abuses drugs, and is selfish beyond belief. He is also a student at the University of Ottawa, which to this Carleton University graduate may be the worst trait of all.
But I digress.
Horrible, horrible Charlie is the anti-hero in the new, self-published debut E-novel Run Charlie Run by local writer John Wiber (see Kobo and Amazon links).
A recent English graduate from the University of Ottawa, Wiber’s book explores the dark side of our city, while painting an unflattering portrait of the book’s protagonist.
“He’s self absorbed,” says Wiber, when asked about his fictional creation. “He’s indecisive, he’s pornographic, he’s superficial.” In my view, the author is being too kind to Charlie.
Before turning to the main story, it is worth mentioning the genesis of the novel which is a crazy tale on its own. While staying at his then girlfriend’s house a few years back, says Wiber, he had to jump out of the bedroom window after his girlfriend’s unsuspecting roommates suddenly came home.
“I shattered my heel,” recalls Wiber. “So during the next two to three months, while I was on pain killers, I wrote the book in my shit hole of a bachelor apartment, that you probably have an idea of what it looks like.” If Wiber’s pad was anything like the horrific, post-apocalyptic dump that Charlie calls home, then my heart goes out to him.
Photo of John Wiber by Jeremey Laurin
After completing the first draft of the book, the native of Southampton, Ontario, but now Ottawa resident spent a long time reworking it, before releasing it online in April under the pen name John Dodsworth, the latter being a middle name.
At present, the book is available electronically for about $1, which is less than most cups of coffee, although Wiber does plan to release an audio version on iTunes by the end of the year.
The book’s plot focuses on a crime ring that operates in a run-down (some would say evil) house on Percy Street. Wiber’s creepy description of this operation is so realistic, I don’t think I will ever be able to stroll down Percy again without thinking of this novel.
Readers who find the terrible crimes portrayed to be unrealistic, only have to skim the recent coverage of criminal trials in the city to see that horrible crimes do occur in Ottawa.
With that in mind, I found the story to be quite captivating overall, even if the writing is uneven at times, although the latter is something that Wiber is aware of. “I know it’s not as grammatically sound as it could be, but I wanted to leave it raw, with stream of consciousness,” he says.
If I were to level one criticism, it is that the story takes too long to get to the main plot that is pretty good, albeit quite disturbing. In my view, too many chapters are spent focussing on Charlie’s imbecile behaviour, before turning to the meat of the story which, if you enjoy horror or dark fiction, is a page turner.
Looking forward, Wiber tells me that he is currently working on two novels that he hopes to publish, one of which is a sequel to Run Charlie Run. Based on what I read in the first book, I look forward to reviewing his second literary release.
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