Rating: 
Summary: Ed Delivers Another Gut Wrencher
Review: You gotta love Edward Lee. I have said it before, and I will say it again: this guy writes the most sadistic horror/gore stories you will likely come across. Sure, there are other writers who can get down and dirty just as well as Lee can, like Poppy Z. Brite or Brett Easton Ellis, but Ed does it with a brazenness all his own. I have been a fan since reading "The Bighead," arguably his most disturbing book. Throw in his excellent collection of mind melting short stories, entitled "The Ushers," and you will learn quickly that Ed Lee knows how to shock and disgust. I have an ironclad stomach and his stuff still makes me groan with regularity. With that in mind, I read one of Lee's early 1990's efforts, "The Chosen." It is surprising this book is still in print since it first came out in 1993, but for Ed Lee fans that is a good deal. His stuff is usually quite difficult to find, and you will pay through the nose if you do find one of his books in the secondary market. Knowing the opinions of other knowledgeable horror fans, I went into "The Chosen" with low expectations. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I actually enjoyed this gruesome story about a restaurant manager who accepts the job of a lifetime only to discover that her new employer is not what he seems.Vera Abbot has a great life. She manages a wildly successful restaurant called "The Emerald Room," a success for which she is largely responsible. She works with a stellar crew that includes Donna, a former alcoholic who successfully reformed herself and now manages the waitressing and bar duties; Dan B., a chef capable of whipping up the most scrumptious dishes in town; and Lee, a gruff, obese dishwasher whose loyalty to Vera knows no bounds. On top of a great job she loves with a passion, Vera has the ideal fiancé in Paul, a freelance journalist widely respected by the local newspapers and magazines. With a stable life like this, Vera doesn't expect things to get much better when Mr. Feldspar walks into her life. Feldspar is looking for a new manager to run the restaurant at a posh resort called Wroxton Hall some miles north of where Vera lives. This very wealthy guy offers Vera a hundred grand to take the job, and even lets her take the staff from the Emerald Room. Vera cannot believe her good fortune, but decides not to accept the job because it might affect Paul's career. Well, an extremely seedy incident concerning Paul results in Vera's sudden acceptance of the job offer, and she is off to bigger and better things. Within a matter of days, things start to sour at Wroxton Hall. Vera discovers she plays second fiddle to Paul, the manager of the room service kitchen at the resort. She also finds out that Paul is a royal jerk who likes to brag about what a big shot he is at the hotel. Then Vera starts to suffer from highly erotic dreams, dreams that take a toll on her as the days turn into weeks. Eventually, the rest of her co-workers experience their own personal traumas at the new resort. When some of Vera's guests complain about strange noises at night, she begins to ask serious questions about her new situation. It definitely does not help matters when Vera discovers that Wroxton Hall was once the site of a mental institution where inhuman crimes of sickening depravity took place. As Vera puts the various pieces of the puzzle together, she discovers that Wroxton hides a new horror beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. While I like "The Chosen," I did have several problems with the story. Why everyone referred to the chef as "Dan B." drove me to fits of distraction. Does a Dan A. or a Dan C. lurk somewhere near the deep fat fryers? Why not just call him "Dan" and be done with it? And why is it of such paramount importance to take a dishwasher to a resort? I can understand taking a chef along for the ride, but some guy who cleans dishes? C'mon, that is totally unbelievable. Moreover, Dan B. and Lee are uninteresting and uninspired characters who converse in pedestrian insults of the type commonly found on a grade school playground. While it is not difficult to imagine a couple of guys trading verbal jabs about the reputation of one's female family members, this is all these two men do and it grates quickly. "The Chosen" also contains a host of continuity errors too numerous to mention. It is sufficient to say that this is not one of Ed Lee's best books, but it is not entirely hopeless, either. The best thing going for "The Chosen" is how Lee keeps the reader in the dark about what is really going on at the rebuilt Wroxton Hall. One thing is for certain: you will never guess how this book concludes until you get there. That you must wade through endless descriptions of sexually charged scenes in the process is a bit of a bummer, but I thought the payoff made up for some of the redundancy of the previous sections of the book. "The Chosen" contains many truly sickening scenes, which is exactly what I expect from an Ed Lee novel. I was often struck by the similarities between this book and his latest novel "Monstrosity," with the insecure lead character and the sleazy eroticism. I liked "Monstrosity," and I generally liked this book as well. For a great Ed Lee experience, I recommend "The Ushers," but "The Chosen" should eventually follow at some point.
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