The Cursed Man is a fast-paced novel of suspense injected with enough horror to keep you on the edge of your seat. Rommel takes you deep within the human psyche, and once you get inside, it’s impossible to get out.
Alister Kunkle believes death is in love with him. A simple smile from friend or stranger is all it takes to encourage death to kill.
With his family deceased and a path of destruction behind him, Alister sits inside a mental institution, sworn to silence and separated from the rest of the world, haunted by his inability to escape death’s preferential treatment.
But when a beautiful psychologist arrives at the institution and starts offering him care, Alister braces himself for more killings. When none follow, he tries to figure out whether he truly is insane or if death has finally come to him in the form of a woman.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
FINAL STRAW
The past.
Alister stood over his wife’s lifeless body. “You’ve gotten them all. Are you happy?” he said.
She was on the bathroom floor, lying on her back. Her wide and accusing eyes were focused on him. The water that overflowed from the bathtub soaked the jeans and turtleneck sweater she wore, and they clung to her body in a farewell embrace. A razorblade that glimmered in the thick blood that painted the floor around her body held his attention.
“You bastard.”
He kicked the razorblade away and fell to his knees with clenched fists.
“Oh, Sharon, please don’t look at me like that.” He brushed his hand lightly over her eyes to close them. A slash of pain in the pit of his stomach doubled him over, and he vomited next to her body.
“I’m sorry.”
He wiped his chin and looked to words scribbled on the wall with a finger dipped in blood: I saw it.
He pounded his fists against the tile until flesh ripped and bone bruised. Panting like a wild animal, he glanced around the room.
“I know you’re in here! Why don’t you show yourself, you coward?”
The spout in the bathtub dripped and drew his attention. He shuddered at what he saw and quickly looked away. “You’ve crossed the line this time. Do you hear me? You’ve crossed the line!”
He looked at Sharon and lowered his nose to her hair in search of the familiar scent of her shampoo. He pulled away, surprised by the musty stench of stagnant water mixed with blood.
He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and noticed both vertical and horizontal cuts on her wrists. The lacerations were deep and jagged.
“Oh Sharon, what did it make you do?”
Leaning his back against the toilet, he pulled Sharon’s limp body into his lap. Water and blood that dripped from her clothes soaked his legs, and he focused on her face. Her purple lips were parted ever so slightly and invited one final kiss.
He tongued the cold sting the kiss left on his mouth and rocked her gently. He looked over his shoulder. “You couldn’t leave them alone, could you?”
Laughter, elusive and taunting, sent a shiver up his spine. He clamped his eyes shut and slapped his hands over his ears.
“Stop it! I’ve had enough of you! Do you hear me? Enough of you!”
He scanned the room and slowly took his hands away.
Silence.
He lowered his wife to the floor and straightened her limbs. He neatened her wrinkled clothes and ran taut fingers through her tangled hair. “I know how you need to look presentable.”
He stood and stared at the wall as he walked to the bathtub. Taking a deep breath, he tried to control his shaking limbs and fight the swirl of pain that ripped at his insides.
He looked into the bathwater. His one-year-old daughter was floating facedown. Her naked, plump body had turned a sick shade of purple, and her short blonde hair reached out in all directions as if in a desperate attempt to grab onto something.
“Becca, no!”
He gasped and held the edge of the tub to keep from falling.
“What have you done to them?”
He scooped her out of the water and held her tight. He kissed her icy cheek and squeezed her.
“Blame me for this, not your mother. It wasn’t her doing.”
He wiped her body clean and dry, and then wrapped her in a towel. Then he placed her next to her mother and left the bathroom. He walked out of the house.
Alister lay prone in the path of a distant vehicle that was rapidly approaching. The vision of his dead wife and child seared inside his mind’s eye filled him with such agony that he had become desperate to escape it.
“Please,” he said as he watched the vehicle approach, “let this end here. I can’t take anymore.”
It was headed straight for him.
“You know I won’t let you die,” a voice said. It was so loud and clear that it had to have come from his mind.
“But why?” Alister said.
“Because you invited me inside, and it is my right.”
“It was a mistake. And I can’t live with what I just saw!”
“It doesn’t matter. I won’t let you go.”
“Why do I concern myself with the things you say? You’re a thing from my imagination, and I’m through with you.”
The sound of tires screeching pulled Alister from his reverie, and he watched as the tire stopped less than a foot away from his face. Gravel in the tread and wear that exposed the steel belt was easy to see. The smell of burnt rubber disguised the stench of death that soaked his clothing. And the heat that emanated from the engine was like the breath of a savage animal that stood over him.
“Do you still believe I am inside your mind?”
The driver of the vehicle jumped out of his car and ran to Alister’s side. “Are you OK?”
Alister closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.
The man hovered over Alister, unsure what to do. “I didn’t see you until the last second. I could’ve killed you!”
Alister felt the dull thump of his own heart. “I can only wish.”
“Where are you hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
“You’re covered in blood.” The man’s hands continued to drift over Alister, but he didn’t touch him. “Try not to move.”
“It’s not my blood,” Alister said. He didn’t look at the man’s face because it would be another to haunt his dreams.
“I’m going to call for help.”
“No, don’t.”
The man paused.
“My wife and daughter,” Alister said.
“What?” The man moved his ear close to Alister’s lips.
“They’re dead.” He raised an unsteady hand and extended a finger. “They are over there.”
“Where?” The man looked in the direction Alister was pointing. Houses, one after the other, all looked the same. “Which one?”
“It doesn’t matter. You should go before it’s too late.”
The man stood. “I’m calling the police.” He pulled a phone from his pocket and quickly dialed. He lifted the phone to his ear and grunted.
“No, not again!” Alister said and sat up. He watched the man drop to his knees and clutch his chest. The man flopped forward, and the cell phone clattered across the pavement.
“Nine one one, what’s your emergency?”
Professional Reviews
Blogcritics
Traditionally, the King of Death is often depicted as a skeleton, with scythe, sickle, sword and hourglass. Other symbols of death include the veil, serpent, lion, scorpion, ashes, and the drummer. Most interestingly, in Hinduism, death is symbolized as a dancer, sometimes a beautiful young woman.
Hollywood long ago picked up the figure of death, breathing life into the concept, which resulted in movies like Death Takes a Holiday and its stylized remake, Meet Joe Black. In the former version, Frederic March played Death, while Brad Pitt undertook the role in the latter movie. Whichever version you prefer, the fact that Death is so downright handsome only serves to increase the irony of the story.
Keith Rommel has adopted the Death-personified-idea in his new novel, The Cursed Man. Only Rommel has injected a few new satirical twists into the story, starting with the setting, an insane asylum. The Sunnyside Capable Care Mental Institution is the home away from home of Alister Kunkle, who believes that Death is in love with him. Not only is Death infatuated with Alister, Death is extremely jealous. Anyone perceived as a competitor for Alister’s time or attention or thoughts is instantly removed – permanently.
So when Doctor Anna Lee arrives at the asylum to “perform an evaluation of both Mr. Kunkle and the hospital,” her time here in this world appears to be very limited. She is as good as dead. Or so it would seem. When Dr. Lee doesn’t die, everyone at the asylum wonders what is going on? Alister Kunkle begins to wonder if Death has – literally – taken on human form, becoming Dr. Lee.
That’s when the story rockets past the intersection of interesting and accelerates toward the on-ramp of fascinating. The reader is hooked. Who is Dr. Lee? Why isn’t she dead? When will she die? If she is really Death personified, will Alister be able to resist her charms?
The author jumps back and forth between The Past and The Present as the story unfolds. This is a risky way to write a novel, especially a horror novel, which depends upon mounting tension as its fuel, unless the author knows what he is doing. Even then, the author has to pull it off, which means balancing prose against the demands of pacing. Fortunately, Rommel has the requisite talent and tiptoes over the yawning abyss that awaits lesser mortals.
The reviewer only had one quibble: the protagonist’s name. Alister Kunkle? It’s a heavy, clunky name. Let’s face it, in fiction, whether we like it or not, given names are a key factor. Would the man from Mars, in Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, have made the same impression if his name was Horace Gimple? Would Harry Potter have become a household word if J.K. Rowling had named him Taylor Smith? Characters’ names are not just designations. They are so much more. For a character’s name elucidates just a hint of his tantalizing self, i.e. the name becomes an instrument of expression that adds personality to the person wearing the name.
Alister Kunkle sounds like someone’s pet rock.
Other than that, The Cursed Man is a great read. It has all the elements necessary to the horror genre: suspense, action, psychic alarm, and lots of what-the-hell-is-going-on? Keith Rommel is a talent to keep an eye on. He writes good, old-fashioned horror.
On the Read-O-Meter, which ranges from 1 star (really, really bad) to 5 stars (instant classic), The Cursed Man comes in at 4 solid stars. It’s good stuff. Don’t miss it.
Booklore
The Cursed Man by Keith Rommel tells the story of Alister Kunkle, a patient at Sunnyside Capable Care Mental Institution. Alister has been in seclusion for the last 25 years having no contact with the staff or the outside world… the reason for this is that anyone who communicates with Alister dies within the day, for he is the Cursed Man and Death takes a professional interest in those unlucky enough to cross his path.
Believing him simply deranged Dr Anna Lee, an up and coming young psychiatrist, has come to cure Alister. She is warned about Alister’s past and is shown evidence of previous encounters made by the sceptical or unbelieving, all of whom died, sometimes horribly. Regardless of the stories Anna will not be dissuaded and is reluctantly allowed access to Alister. All assume her fate is sealed but when she returns unharmed the next day we also start to wonder about the stories.
So begins an enthralling narrative told in the past and the present as Anna attempts to learn why Alister believes he is cursed, while at the same time trying to convince him the events were not real and that in fact he is merely ill and so can be cured.
The Cursed Man is an extremely well written suspense horror story and I enjoyed it immensely; right up until the very end I was never sure and kept swinging back and forth… is Alister truly followed by death or is he simply mentally ill? You will need to read the book to find out.
The Cursed Man is not a particularly long novel at 224 pages (we read a proof so the finished book may be more) but it is never-the-less an accomplished work. I have enjoyed Keith Rommel’s previous novels and this latest does not disappoint. Great story telling in the tradition of Stephen King…I very much look forward to the next book in the series.
Bookpleasures
The Cursed Man is a contemporary story of suspense, involving Alister Kunkle who is plagued by death itself. Anyone he encounters dies within moments and this has propelled him into a life of solitude within the walls of an institution. When Alister believes that death has contacted him in the form of a woman, he tries everything he can to prove the theory that the entity death is the cause of his grief and not part of his imagination.
The story starts with past history of the main character, in order to give a backdrop of the story and to give the reader insight into his mind frame. Alister has been through a horrendous ordeal throughout his young life and grew up with the notion that death is after everyone he cares about or anyone he encounters.
Alister is in constant conflict within himself. He believes death has a personal vendetta against him and his new life in the institution has given him some peace. When a female doctor comes into his life for the sole purpose of disproving his theory, his life is sent into turmoil once again, when he has to defend his sanity.
The plot of The Cursed Man is very clear. Alister believes death is after him and then death actually comes knocking on his door personally. The reader is left wondering if Alister is indeed insane or has been misguided through a life of pain and unfortunate events.
Keith Rommel provides a clear setting for the reader. The descriptions of the places, the people and events come alive as you read the story. As you try to figure out what is happening, more turns and twists begin to reveal themselves to you until you are surprised at the end.
You learn to like the character of Alister Kunkle because you feel sorry for him. The other characters compliment the main character as they show the contrast between his struggles with reality and the other characters while they try to reason with him. The Cursed Man is told in Alister's point of view and the dialogue propels the story forward, revealing to you the events occurring from the past and when the author brings you back into the present.
The book is recommended to anyone who likes a good suspense story about the internal struggles of a desperate man, who is faced with the knowledge that he could be battling death itself.
Did you ever wonder what happened after the Archangel Michael through the demons out of heaven? Let one of them guide you through the origin of evil in the world.
