Pages

Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Venus Complex By Barbie Wilde Review And Commentary


The Venus Complex isn't a nice book at all. Its a psycho sexual journey through the mind of a mad man whose in control of his actions and knows that the journey into his soul has begun.  I'm not going to gush about the character here or tell you that its a good read. 

Its a great read. And I've come back to the book four or five times already. This book really is a journey into the mind of a man whose coming apart as the days roll on. The book is written in the style of a journal and its extremely well written.
 Barbie Wilde is a perfectly nice person and a great writer but her characters are not. This is a book about a psycho sexual predator of the worse kind. The book deals with him on his own terms with all of the dirty and grime of the soul and sin that one expects within such a mind.
The book moves rapidly allowing the reader to get into the character, his motives, methods, and movements. The whole book is timed out rather like a Swiss watch.
Make no mistake this guy isn't Dexter or Hannibal. He's a rather interesting person and not one that I'd want to meet at all. The writing of his life hearkens back to the serial killers of the past. The language is modern but the horror of the killings  is brutally well done. There's some deep motives in his mind and the soul of this rather twisted individual.

 The Venus Complex
The Plot :
A man rises out of an abyss of frustration and rage and creates works of art out of destruction, goddesses out of mere dental hygienists and beauty out of death. It's also about the sickness and obsession that is LOVE. Enter into Michael's world through the pages of his personal journal, where every diseased thought, disturbing dream, politically incorrect rant and sexually explicit murder highlights his journey from zero to psycho.

 Further Thoughts 

The Venus complex clocks in at 232 pages and its a pretty interesting  and entertaining book. As I sat in the diner reading through the mind of  Michael it was easy to see the journey from zero to psycho killer.
The book drew an odd look from the waitress wanting to know what I was reading? I told her straight up I was doing a review of the book. The conversation went from Hannibal to Dexter. Then to Michael the character of the book.
She wanted to know what was different about The Venus Complex and my answer was quick and simple. The main character is complex and well written.
If you don't think that there isn't a table top rpg tie in here, well just give me a quick moment.
Michael is a perfect example of what can be done with well written, mature, and complex NPC. His evil isn't out in the open or his perversion evident for all to see. In fact there are times when he seems quite likable. And that's  the ticket here.
The Venus Complex creates a blue print for a mature and engaging character.An NPC that the players wouldn't suspect. A DM with the balls to could grab the idea and flesh out his own serial killer and build around him from there.  A campaign lasting months could be done./
 My prime choose for this style of game would be Kult or perhaps the World of Darkness. However with the right tools and group of players a OD&D game could be easily done in a "realistic" setting.
So why haven't I mentioned that Ms. Wilde played the Female cenobite in Hellraiser II? It's simply because I think of her as the writer of the Venus Complex and a great writer on her own merits.

 Support 

Everything Barbie Wilde Including the Venus Complex
HERE
Buy The Venus Complex At Amazon Right
HERE

No comments:

Post a Comment