Goon
by Edward Lee and John Pelan
Overlook Connection Press

"Relentless as a Texas Deathmatch, Goon is a no-holds-barred festival of body slams and insatiable orgy, of pile-drivers and sexual grotesquerie, of neck-breakers, drop-kicks and more blood and guts than a fish market floor. It just might leave you down for the count..." so says the flap copy, and it's 100 percent Grade-A Prime accurate.

When I first read Goon, it was the 1996 Necro Publications chapbook which, besides marking the invention of a particularly nasty monster, marked the debut of joint creations by these two authors who have gone on to work extremely well together with such works as Family Traditions, Shifters and Splatterspunk: The Micah Hayes Story. Thankfully, publisher Dave Hinchberger at Overlook Connection Press has returned Goon to the public domain in a beautiful hardback that features a cover portrait of the book's namesake -- the six-foot-nine, four hundred pound, one-man walking gore machine of the Deep South Wrestling Conference called GOON.

Goon is a detective story at heart. Police Captain Philip Straker is hunting for the person responsible for a string of unsolved murders. "Indeed, Goon involves professional wrestling, in a go-for-the-throat contemporary horror setting with a lot of forensic-tech and police procedural elements." With elements of unbelievably in the Oh My God realm of unbelievably, the book is entirely believable in the manner prosecuted. Investigative Reporter Melinda Pierce is also trying to break the case open, but her methods are somewhat more strenuous that Straker's as she "offers herself up as a sexual spittoon in order to infiltrate the arcane and lust-drenched warrens of backstage wrestling. There, in malodorous locker rooms and unsavory motels, she partakes in carnal forays so gross, so downright nasty, they'd make Linda Lovelace bend over and puke."

The setting is the Deep South Wrestling Conference. Growing up watching Georgia Championship Wrestling, I was immediately at home, the feeling of bonhomie warm enough to diffuse the coldness generated by the author's visceral descriptions of carnal moments and mayhem. Of particular note, a scene that has stayed with me since the very first time I read Goon shortly after its initial release, is the scene where Straker finds himself beneath the immense thighs of a very horny and amorous lady wrestler by the name of The Fabulous Ghoula. Let's return to the previously stated Oh My God!

There are moments when I've read Goon and couldn't believe my eyes. How Pelan and Lee could link such average nouns and verbs and adjectives together resulting in some of the most wondrous passages I've ever read. One of the mainstays of the World Horror Convention held each year is the Gross Out Contest. Two different passages from Goon won this contest in consecutive years. So for those of you weak in the stomach, yes, this book is gross. But never again will you read such brilliantly written grossness in your lives. If there were a category of Literary Grossness, then this would be the Gold Standard.

Goon is one of my favorite books of all time. Drop by Overlook Connection Press so it can be yours, as well. Goon is available in trade hardcover, limited signed hardcover and lettered edition hardcover. Visit the authors online at www.edwardleeonline.com and www.darksidepress.com/pelan.html

Weston is the co-author of the hardback collections Scary Rednecks and Other Inbred Horrors and Appalachian Galapagos, now available at a bookstore near you. He promises that no unwarranted hip-checking or dives from the top rope occurred during the research of this review. Try him online at www.westonochse.com.