The Slab

by Jeffrey J. Mariotte

Three veterans of different wars, their lives once saved by magic, find themselves brought together in one of the most strange, remote, and cruel parts of the California desert. As serial killers ply their deadly trade, a young woman, abducted and endangered, seeks her own brand of justice for those who threatened her, and an ancient evil sprouts from beneath desert sands, these three war veterans must learn to embrace the terrifying bond they share. Written in powerful prose as dry and dangerous as its desert setting, The Slab, for all its horrors, is ultimately an epic tale of hope and redemption.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Paranormal, Fiction

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 29, 2003

About the author

Also writes as Jeff Mariotte

Jeffrey J. Mariotte is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 70 novels, including the Cody Cavanaugh western series, historical western epic Blood and Gold: The Legend of Joaquin Murrieta (with Peter Murrieta), thrillers Empty Rooms and The Devil's Bait, supernatural thrillers Season of the Wolf, Missing White Girl, River Runs Red, and Cold Black Hearts, horror epic The Slab, and the Dark Vengeance teen horror quartet. With wife and writing partner Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell, he wrote the sf/horror/thriller 7 SYKOS and Mafia III: Plain of Jars, the authorized prequel to the bestselling video game. His most recent release is the short story collection Byrd's Luck & Other Stories, comprising five "traditional" Western tales and five horror-Western stories, two of them brand-new for this edition.

He also writes occasional nonfiction, short fiction (some of which is collected in Nine Frights), and comic books, including the long-running horror/Western comic book series Desperadoes and graphic novels Fade to Black and Zombie Cop. With Marsheila Rockwell, he has published several short stories and is working on more. He has worked in virtually every aspect of the book business, as a writer, editor, marketing executive, and bookseller.

Learn more at www.jeffmariotte.com, and follow him at https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyJMari... and @JeffMariotte on Twitter.

Also writes as Jeff Mariotte

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about a difficult book to review! The Slab deviates from Mariotte's typical work, being a horror thriller, but the horror aspect takes some time to get going. The setting, aptly, is The Slab, or Slab City, in Southern California, which still exists; basically, a squatter community located on an old, disused military base. The base left huge slabs of cement in the desert and people started to park old RVs and such there back in the 50s and it is still going strong, a 'city' of no rules, infrastructure or even water.

Mariotte juggles several POVs and characters here, but adroitly enough as to not become confusing. The three main characters (the ones pictured on the lovely IDW 2003 paperback edition, which also includes some nice illustrations) include the Sheriff Ken, whose territory includes the Slab, Hal, a long time denizen of the Slab (along with his wife), and Penny, a former soldier and now a peace activist. All three of these characters have had some experience with 'magic' in the past, and all three are veterans of various wars; Hal in WWII, Ken Vietnam, and Penny Iraq. Each one of them had some 'magical' event happen during warfare that saved their life, but they all kept this pretty close to their vests.

Running in the background to the book are the events of 9/11, which took place just a week or so before the novel starts. Close to the Slab sits a military base and a target range, and Penny and three others start the novel by trespassing onto the bombing range to spell out peace messages in stones visible from the air. Penny and friends had their civil disobedience planned out well in advance, but decided to go ahead despite 9/11, when Americans were calling for war/revenge.

Another story arc introduced by Mariotte involves a 'dove hunt'. It seems every year, a handful of guys, some of which live in the Slab, kidnap a gal, take her deep into the desert to a cabin, and then 'hunt' her down. They give the doves a 20 minute head start and away they go. The 'dove' they picked up this time, Lucy, (actually their 13th dove), quickly decides she would rather die than be raped/killed, and we follow her story as the novel progresses. Hal used to be one of the dove hunters, but now his senility forced him to quit the group...

Mariotte paces this very well and draws you into the story nicely. While none the characters are very deep, he does a fine job making them relatable and bringing them to life, and there are a lot of characters here! I will not go into the horror aspect to avoid spoilers, but will say the mushrooms on the cover are not there randomly! Not quite sure how I feel about the denouement, but it does fit. Fun read! 4 shrooms!!

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good. Why isn’t this a more well known book. Or author, for that matter. The Slab has been around for 16 years (at the times of this review writing) and only gathered three actual reviews on GR. Tragic. But it seems obvious that this book’s political agenda might have been worked against it. To publish the book so outspokenly left leaning during the jingoistic fervor of those times must have been akin to shooting it in the foot…or, since it’s a book, shooting it in the spine. The author has apparently being around for a long time, enough to produce 70 some novels, the number is less staggering when you find out how many of them were movie tie ins, but still. At any rate, experience is experience and the writing here is absolutely terrific. My initial reluctance to check out a 400 some page novel I’ve never heard of by the author I’ve never read vanished almost immediately upon getting into this thoroughly immersive story. The Slab is a nightmarish creation in a forbidding climate of Californian desert with the toxic waters of a dirty sea for scenery. It attracts a certain type of tenants, none too good, but the most evil one of all is the one buried under it and desperate to get out. Evil and desperation are featured pretty heavily through the novel, in fact, not always together, but inevitably coloring the bleak surroundings. There is also a group of serial killers out on their annual getaway. There is also a slick property developer, who has recently purchased the Slab and is eager to throw the current tenants out like so much trash. Everyone’s armed. Everyone’s angry. It’s only a matter of time until this pot boils over and then no one is safe and it’s up to three war veterans (three different wars, three different generations) to harness their inner magic and save (well at least this portion) of the world from evil both all too natural and completely supernatural. If my description sounds busy, it’s because the novel does have a lot going on, but busy is a reductive description for what is essentially an epic novel of the classic good/evil conflict. It is character driven, immersive and very, very well done. Granted, right leaning individuals might find themselves put off by the repeated messages of different politics and those within the novel subscribing to these opinions are almost cartoonishly evil, but ignoring that, it’s just a pretty great story and tons of fun to read. The book is undersold by its modest mushroom cover and as easy (and accurate in this case) as it would be to make jokes about the magic mushrooms, the Slab is really the book’s greatest most imaginative creation. All the more so by the addition of the Native American legends. I liked this one a lot and was thoroughly entertained the entire time reading it. It’s definitely one of the best genre novels I’ve read recently. In fact it would have worked as a regular thriller too, the addition of supernatural interesting but not strictly necessary. Or more like…the novel was good enough without reliance on magic, but why wouldn’t you want to throw some magic in too. And there is a moral here too, about the balance of good and evil in every person. In one instance that didn’t quite work with one of the main characters for me, it seemed like a major stretch to try to ignore actively hunting down, raping and killing young women for years and consider the rest of the person’s character and potential positive qualities. Seems like some things just overpower the moral scales too much for any semblance of balance. But all that aside, still a pretty awesome read. Exciting, thrilling, fun. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this story! It was one of those on the edge of your chair, locking your doors and windows at night type of reads!! Reading this book has made me definitly want to read more from the author. And I will never be able to think about "Dove Hunting" in the same way again! If you want to know what I'm talking about you HAVE to get this book!! This is a must read for all horror/thriller lovers :)

[Paul Dail · Rating 4 out of 5]

from my blog: www.pauldail.com- A horror writer's not necessarily horrific blog

Overall, The Slab appealed to me on multiple levels.

First of course, is the fact that I would consider this a supernatural thriller, something which is right/write up my alley (see what I did there?). There are also elements of literary suspense in the story of the men gathered for their annual “dove hunt,” a plotline which has echoes from several similar stories (The Most Dangerous Game and Deathwatch come to mind, the latter which was also set in the desert), but Marriotte definitely makes it his own.

[However, similar to what I hope to do with my longer fiction, there is more than just brain candy genre storytelling (not that there’s anything wrong with that) in this book. There are bigger questions addressed in this novel, questions revolving around the setting. But more on that shortly.]

Also, Marriotte introduces the reader to a fair amount of seemingly unrelated characters (or at best peripherally related) early on, dedicating separate sections to their point of view, and successfully weaving them together without losing the reader. This is something that has always impressed me with storytelling in general, and I was pleased to see Marriote pull it off.

Speaking of this interesting cast of characters, something else that appealed to me is the idea of a community living off the grid in The Middle of Nowhere, California (more specifically, not far from the Salton Sea) in something of a self-chosen shanty town of campers and RV’s in various states of splendor or sorrow (seemingly more of the latter). As someone who bought a slide-in camper for my truck many moons ago and sold off everything that wouldn’t fit inside, I can understand the draw to this simpler, less consumer driven lifestyle.

But these aren’t just a bunch of hippies. What kind of horror novel would that be? And I believe most horror writers have a good bit of paranoia and suspicion of anyone keeping tabs on us, so the desire of many of the The Slab residents to exist “off the grid,” self-reliant (and as untraceable by any government agencies as possible) also has a certain allure.

There is also the fact that the novel takes place during the tense time in our country following 9/11/2001. And on this one, let me say that Jeff Marriotte has some cajones. He makes some statements in this book which was published just two short years after said event which still would not be very popular today. And while he does toe the line and do his best at presenting the more mainstream opinions of the time as fairly as possible, I don’t believe you have to know Jeff’s politics to figure out which way he leans.

However, I was admittedly already familiar with some of Jeff’s ideologies before picking up The Slab, so perhaps I was reading into it a little more than I should have. Thoughts? I would love to know if anyone else picked up on this.

If I’m not imagining these undertones, and if they came through loud and clear to other readers, I think this would be the only detriment of the book. It wasn’t for me, as I agree with many of the statements made by both the sheriff’s office lieutenant, Ken Butler, and activist, Penny (two of the three aforementioned veterans), but I could see how some people might get their hackles up.

Otherwise, with the exception of a couple of nitpicky plot points that I struggled a little with (but which didn’t detract significantly from my enjoyment and which I won’t go into here unless requested in the comments section), I found The Slab to be an entertaining, thought-provoking and gripping read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Slab is a strange book that is, despite initial appearances, a horror novel. The horror starts out mundane and plenty awful: there's a gang of California good ol' boys from all walks of life who have formed a very particular social club. Once a year, they go on a "dove hunt." The doves they hunt are not birds.

So you have a bunch of rapist serial-killers who grab a woman who turns out to be more resourceful and bloodthirsty than their previous victims. The hunt is on, and it's a grim survival noir tale.

One of the main characters is Ken, the sheriff of a remote part of Imperial County, California. He has jurisdiction over the Slab, an unincorporated community of drifters, RV and van life hobos, and social misfits all living rent-free (sans electricity or plumbing or any other services) on a set of concrete slabs on the edge of the Salton Sea. These are people who mostly have nothing but their guns and their beer and they like it that way. But a slick real estate agent has big development plans for the Slab, and after offering a carrot to evict the squatters, he brings in a bunch of hired muscle as sticks.

One of the people living on the Slab is Harry, an old man who seems like a lovely fellow who very much loves his elderly wife. He is quietly sliding into dementia. He is also a former member of the "dove hunt" club.

Finally, there is Penny, an Iraq War veteran who's now an environmentalist and a peace activist protesting the nearby US military bombing range.

The Slab is a complex and layered book on many levels. It was written and published immediately after 9/11, which figures as a background event that casts a shadow on events throughout the story even though it's not directly relevant. Each and every character, from the serial killers who hunt women for sport to the three "main" characters, all of their significant others and friends and coworkers, the real estate agent, his minions, everyone, gets POV scenes and is fully fleshed out with personalities that are believable if sometimes loathsome. Harry is a particularly complicated character; he's one of the protagonists, he is in most ways a good guy, he's nearly senile, and he has genuine remorse for his past actions... but his past actions are nearly irredeemable.

With all these characters and subplots set in motion, the plot begins to focus on Ken, Penny, and Harry, who it turns out have all experienced, a few times in their lives, "magic" days where they experienced a supernatural sense of possibility and incredible things happened. When the three of them come together, they all recognize the magic in each other, and that they have a mission. The mission leads them to a supernatural confrontation with evil that almost seemed like an unnecessary insertion into a book that could otherwise have been a straightforward thriller.

I went back and forth while reading this, sometimes frustrated by all the side characters whose thoughts are taking up page space and the weird intrusion of supernatural elements, and sometimes appreciating the depth of the characterization in such a tight narrative and the fact that it was never boring; there's always some bloodshed about to happen. I am still not completely convinced that it couldn't have been written without the Mushrooms of Evil, but the supernatural horror eventually paid off, kind of.

The Slab is kind of an artifact of its time, and doesn't fit neatly into a genre category, but I thought it was a nice piece of writing craft that probably deserves a wider audience. I am not familiar with the author and had never heard of this book before I downloaded it as part of a Humble Bundle, so it seems to be one of those small press books that just sort of disappeared after its initial release.

[Bailey (Myveinsbleedink) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished this book and to be honest I’m not sure how I feel about it. The writing was superb and the story was definitely interesting. The characters were well formed and I really liked them. There was A LOT going on in the book though which at times made it a little overwhelming but all the characters tied in well together at the end. Basically the gist of this book is Good vs. Evil. You wouldn’t expect it to have a fantastical bit to it and reading the synopsis of the book you wonder how it is all going to fit together but it does. Interestingly enough this book was actually published in 2011 but I’m glad they re-released it or I may never have read it.
After writing this review I can conclude I did enjoy the book it was very different then anything else I’ve ever read which is always a good thing.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC for an honest review.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A revenge fantasy with a mystical twist is made tedious by extensive political ranting.

Also, mushrooms don't grow on corpses. They feed on the nutrients that corpses deliver to the soil, but they do not eat the corpses directly. Given how bad this book is, that research failure should bother me less than it does.

[Lorraine Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for Koontz and King fans.

This novel was a wild ride with some great elements. I feel as if Marotte wanted to make a point about human nature, but couldn't quite get there. But the weekends of the setting warrants the weirdness.

[Red Tash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I have finished The Slab. Here's the blurb: "In the grim days following 9/11/2001 three veterans of different wars, whose lives have been intersected by magic, find themselves thrown together in California's cruel desert - while a group of serial killers ply their deadly trade, and an ancient evil grows beneath them."

There is so much going on in this book besides just this, though. The first thing that truly struck me was how awesome it was to have not one, but two female characters that were young, capable, and confident in their survival skills. You truly are rooting for Lucy & Penny in their respective storylines, and they're not treated like token females. I found their reactions to situations very realistic, and Lucy, in particularly, was inspiring. I was excited to see how she would escape from captivity and relished her individual "wins."

Having said that, The Slab is a book about good and evil, and there are no Luke Skywalkers or Princess Leias anywhere to be found. Most of the characters were neither totally good nor totally bad. The further they swung to "the dark side," the more they were corrupted, naturally, but there were no saints in this book, either, and that was lovely. It made the characters so real.

I was intrigued upon reading the final pages & doing a little googling, that The Slab is based on a location also heavily depicted in the movie Into the Wild. I'd seen Jeff's Slab photos on his website, but hadn't made that connection, until I visited SlabCity's website. I'd already recognized the location mentally, so finding confirmation of that online is a testament to Jeff's scene-setting, as well.

If you lived through the aftermath of 9/11, you'll recognize the tense confusion of the period immediately following. If you've loved someone with Alzheimer's, you'll appreciate the full-fledged characterization of someone dealing with its limitations on a day-to-day basis. If you've ever lost a loved one and grieved deeply, and if you've ever had a change of heart about what's right and what's wrong, this book will hit you where you live--and take you on a thrill ride through space and time (and a cave filled with man-eating mushrooms), each in good time.

It was a little slow for me to get into in the beginning, due to the number of different characters. That's just the nature of a story like this, though. I personally like stories like this--not unlike The Stand, but with a much more compact pace. Ultimately, this a wild fantasy thriller with horror as its middle name, in my opinion. And it's totally worth the read. Give it a download and tell me what you thought.

[Mommacat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you read THE SLAB? If you have, you're going to want to want buy this re-release. Author Jeff Mariotte ripped it up and added and edited and in doing so turned what I originally thought was a four star book into a book that I just loved.

Taking place just after 9/11 in the desert near the California/Arizona border, THE SLAB is about people - who they are, It's about life and magic. There's murder, mayhem and redemption. There's hope and despair. It's about friendship, love and hate.

It's such a damn good book. I hope that you will put this on your list of must reads. I highly recommend it.

[Ken Weinert]

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