Horror Book Review: The Bedwetter: Journal of a Budding Psychopath (Lee Allen Howard)

Delving deep into the mind of a psychopath, Lee Allen Howard’s The Bedwetter: Journal of A Budding Psychopath is a thrilling read. One that is filled with fascinating twists and turns held together by impressive pacing.

Our psychopath in the making is Russell Pisarek, an immature 26-year old who still wets the bed. For him, it’s just a way of life now but growing up, his inability to control it saw his mother punish him. A vicious and nasty woman (Russell refers to her as Melanoma), whenever he wet the bed, she would take a pair of clippers and shave his head.

If that trauma wasn’t bad enough, as a teen Russell confided in his girlfriend who betrayed him by telling everyone in school. Imagine yourself in school and everyone knowing you wet the bed still… not going to be much fun.

This drives Russell to take his frustrations out on the local neighbourhood cats who he takes to torturing and skinning. He grows up and moves in with his sister. Gets a job as an animal lab technician and seems to be doing ok. Except for the dark thoughts and fantasies that exists in his head.

Russell wants to find the right woman. A woman who will understand him. A woman who will allow him to live out his ultimate fantasy of shaving them bald.

With a childish attitude to life. Living in a fantasy world. Finding it harder to control his urges. The psychopath in Russell is coming out.

The story being told here is a journal written by Russell. Giving us a much more vivid insight into his mind. The detail in his dreams and fantasies are laid out for us to read. The way he almost revels in it, is exciting and terrifying. He’s a character that is really well written and as much as it is possible to sympathise with him, he is still a personality that makes your skin crawl.

Credit to Lee Allen Howard for making Russell feel so real. He could be anyone you’ve passed in the street. Anyone you saw at a bar or caught eyes with on a bus. His deep-seeded hatred is buried deep inside him and for a while he is able to control it. Ultimately his desires take over bit by bit and the descriptive style of writing might turn a stomach or two.

A fantastic  read. One that builds and builds to its horrifying yet cathartic climax.