THE IMPALER
Gregory Funaro
Pinnacle/Kensington, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7860-2213-7
Mass Market
471 Pages
Suspense/Horror

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When reading a Gregory Funaro novel, I want to impress upon you the foreknowledge that you’re going to be experiencing some seriously twisted shit. This one is entitled The Impaler, and your suspicions will be proven correct early on in the story. The attorney, the tattoo artist, the college student and the gangbanger, showing the effects of other treatments, are found impaled bottom to top and are just sparks for a fire beyond imagination. Because that’s what Gregory Funaro does: he places us front and centre so that we may see just how dreadful a hurt mind can become.

First we experience FBI Agent Sam Markham as he tries to make sense of these sparks for the fire, which to him are pieces of a puzzle so complicated they bog him down. The truth of the matter, though, is that Markham, who is still depressed over the murder of his wife and having just witnessed the execution of her killer, is too hurt in his own mind to be effective in his search for the The Impaler. Sam, however, being a brilliant analyst and researcher still struggles on, discovering that The Impaler is far more than a serial killer. He recognizes a constellation, a pattern, an equation that the killer is obsessed with and may even be trying to solve.

As I read The Impaler it appeared to me as if Sam attempted to put himself into The Impaler’s mind. But because of the complexity of his prey and his plan, Sam just couldn’t grasp what the man was after, nor could he catch him. By the way, I should point out that some of you are going to feel bogged down during the first couple of sections of the novel. There’s a lot going on, and one might find the pace is slower than what is usually demanded from a thriller. My suggestion is hang in there. Section III and beyond (discussed below) will return your generousity.

You see, in a move that surprised me, the author introduces us to the killer and forces us to watch how a boy is turned into a schizophrenic fiend. Compared to the slow process of testing ideas, of forming a somewhat dry hypothesis no one but Sam really understands, this part of the book pulled me right in. I couldn’t get enough.

As the story comes to its denoument, the different but converging aspects of the equation that must be solved turns Sam into prey and the killer into a seemingly unstoppable hunter. Even then, after you’ve walked through the life and thoughts of this highly intelligent monster, you won’t be prepared for The Impaler’s escalating madness and the final confrontation.

Note: This part of the book contains certain horrific images I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

There are also the lessons learned by Sam Markham, lessons I know the author expects us to identify. These are general enough that I hope they won’t be spoilers…
1. Sam learns the hard and fast costs of keeping his suspicions/knowledge to himself.
2. He also, privately, comes face-to-face with his own form of madness.

In an email chat with Gregory Funaro, I discovered a way of taking my exploration of The Impaler even deeper. The congruent paths followed by both Sam and The Impaler are a study in how people trending toward insanity can take their brilliance with them. This may seem like an overt or obvious statement. But the end of the book shows that while Sam uses logic to try and profile his enemy, his already damaged mind is drawn into the insanity that is The Impaler’s great equation. He comes out of this experience with full and shocking knowledge of the magnitude of The Impaler’s madness and of his equation. This is knowledge that seems to take Sam deeper and further along the road that is his own brand of madness.

Dear reader, I hope it’s obvious by now that The Impaler is a complicated read. For example, the story is actually the killer’s story. Sam’s involvement is appendant but necessary if one is to have any hope of grasping the author’s study… In Gregory Funaro’s own words, Sam’s job is one of “juxtaposing the same kind of “logic” [as he used in the past] with someone who is delusional. Make sense? It was my intent to show how basically someone as inherently brilliant as Markham can be conditioned toward insanity but still retain that brilliance, so yes the story was weighted more on [The Impaler's] background.”

So, The Impaler is complicated, may cause impatience in some readers as Funaro fills in the character which is “Sam” and lays out the hypothesis of “the equation,” but when it lets go, this story will buffet the waters of your mind. I can’t imagine a reader who won’t be disturbed by this unique and powerful story. That’s great horror!

Finally, I have a message for Mr. Funaro’s Editor and/or Publisher. The decision to make The Impaler a prequel, with no recognition of the fact anywhere on or in the book, irritated me to no end. And it somehow seems dishonest. Did you think readers would miss it or not care? Do you believe you’ll only receive reviews like the two I read at random where it was obvious the writers didn’t have a clue? Didn’t you realize that Mr. Funaro’s many fans would automatically lose the pleasure of suspense, because they know Sam will never be in real danger? It surely disappointed me, as I consider The Impaler to be a Suspense/Horror novel rather than a Thriller.

It’s alright Mr. Funaro. The great moments in The Impaler far outweigh the power of the mentioned blemishes. I’ll give you four out of five just for the biting scene(s).

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2011