The Unread History of the World...

ELEVEN TWENTY-THREE by Jason R. Hornsby (2010 Permuted Press / 298 pp. / tp)
A stranger sneaks a briefcase into Layne Prescott's luggage at an airport in Shanghai. Layne's heading back to his small home town of Lilly's End, Florida, to attend his father's funeral (he currently resides in China as an English teacher). When he gets home, not only does his past begin to haunt him, but a bizarre occurence goes down at his father's funeral service: during his message at the gravesite, the pastor starts to freak out and stabs the nearest mourner with a pocket knife. Others in attendance begin to attack each other. When there's no one left to attack the enraged begin to kill themselves. Layne and his girlfriend Tara barely make it out alive.
Events start to snowball, and after another similar attack 12 hours later, we discover that the residents of Lilly's End are now going into homicidal rages twice a day, each time the clock strikes 11:23. Layne's conspiracy-buff friend, Hajime, swears it's the work of our own government, that this is the result of chemtrails released from low flying planes. Other residents believe it's international terrorism. When Layne goes looking for help and answers, he discovers the town has been placed under a strict military quarantine and all forms of communication with the outside world have been shut off.
Despite images that bring George Romero's THE CRAZIES to mind, ELEVEN TWENTY-THREE is a fresh take on the killer "virus" subgenre (and without spoiling things, this might not even be classified as a killer virus novel), full of non-stop suspense, gruesome violence, and plenty of social and political commentary. Layne Prescott's background is slowly revealed over the course of the novel, causing us to like him and at times, loathe him. He's an intricate character and one you won't soon forget.
Horbsy (author of the excellent, original zombie novel, EVERY SIGH, THE END) strikes again with another novel that could have easily fell in to typical territory: yet he succeeds in keeping the reader guessing and also glued to the pages. This was one of the scariest and all around best horror novels I've read this year. Jason R. Hornsby is now a STRONG two for two...