Taterskinheads

by David Barbee

Whaley County is a backwoods bit of nowhere run by a gangster sheriff and a meth savant. Patrolling the highways is Deputy Ramsey, an Iraq war hero so straight-laced she couldn’t possibly be a psychotic drug addict. But after curb-stomping the wrong tweaker, Ramsey suddenly finds herself trapped between her boss’s drug-running empire, a gang of racist gun nuts, and an attack of killer potatoes.

Genres: Bizarro Fiction, Horror

118 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2018

Reviews

[Janie]

Taters!  This book made me hungry and held my interest all the way through.  With all the right ingredients - corrupt lawmen, a meth-smoking ex marine, a white supremacist named Werewolf, a mad scientist and a killer potato named Spudley, my eyes were glued to the pages.  In all fairness, so were Spudley's.  Treat yourself to some down-home violence, gore and tubers.  I would love to see what this author would do with corn.

[Andrew Stone]

Taterskinheads is a quick and wild read. The pacing for the first third somehow felt simultaneously too quick and too slow (not engaging enough), but after that everything came together and this novella became super readable and incredibly compelling. The protagonist is also complex and interesting and the way her history is revealed throughout the narrative rly helps the reader connect with her.

That said, and I prolly should have realized if I had read the back cover description before reading it (MY BAD), the book completely revolves around cops (although crooked as hell cops, but cops all the same) and this was definitely something I had to groan through a little. It fits the story and works well in context. I just struggle connecting with pigs in the best of times, and with the shape of the world right now, this made it hard as heck to connect with the characters.

With that said, I did thoroughly enjoy this book. Highly recommended for fans of Barbee's beautifully unique brand of bizarro, lethal root vegetables, and nonstop action from start to finish.

[Matthew X Gomez]

Featuring addict deputies, drug running sheriffs, racist bikers, and mutant potatoes, TATERSKINHEADS has a bit of everything for anyone. From the anti-hero meth antics of Ramsey to the cold business of Sheriff Willis to the mad-scientist Harv Hallihan and the army of killer potatoes he's growing on his property, TATERKSKINS serves up a main course sure to satisfy.
What David Barbee does best is intersect the bizarre with the everyday. Take away the more extreme elements, and you can see this playing out in rural America everyday with all the pain, bad luck, and plain bad decisions that entails.

[Donald Armfield]

In the mix of drug addicts, wild racist gun towing gangs, gangsters and a meth head who wears her teeth like grandma and killer potatoes. Barbee breaks out the potato masher and makes a hot plate of bizarro goodness with all the ingredients of a B-rated comedy horror. Get your filthy spuds on a copy!

[Alexander C. Bailey]

This book is a good look at what PTSD can drive us to do, while also being a humorous story. It has a rough dirty outside with a warm soft inside. Kind of like a baked potato.

[Matthew Clarke]

Another brilliant book by Barbee. I never thought I’d find myself having feelings for a potato, yet here we are.