Peeler by Gord Rollo

Short Story

Peeler by Gord Rollo is a short story approximately 70 pages in length that I read in approximately an hour's time on my Kindle. Peeler falls into both a psychological thriller and horror genres.

Before I write my review, let me add that I was able to download the eVersion of Peeler for FREE last year through Amazon. This in no way effects my review of Peeler in any way. Below is my honest review of Peeler, so happy reading!

I like psychological thrillers quite a bit, but stories and novels that fall into the horror genre are ones that I normally shy away from in most cases... Especially, ones that are gory in any way, shape, or form as I become kind of queasy and squeamish while reading these types of reads. With that said, I did read several online reviews regarding Peeler and learned that this short story is rather on the gory side... But, I decided to read Peeler anyway as I'm trying to expand my reading repertoire. Besides Peeler was free, so why not give it a shot!? If I didn't like Peeler, I could always stop reading it and I wouldn't feel guilty about doing so because it was a free download.

What did I like about Peeler? I thought Gord Rollo's writing and storytelling were well done and very vividly descriptive... I could see every detail in my mind's eye as the story unfolded. Peeler definitely is a psychological thriller and a captivating one at that. I kept wanting to know who 'Peeler' was, what was going to happen next, and how things were going to end. True to the reviews I read online, Peeler turns very gory about 75% into it and the goriness left me feeling rather ill at ease... I had a pit in my stomach for quite awhile after I finished reading it... Not a pleasant feeling at all to have after reading anything.

So, the goriness is the main thing I didn't enjoy from reading Peeler. But as a psychological thriller/horror short story, I think perhaps it was a 'necessary evil' to have the gory gruesomeness play a part in Peeler. I find that even though I felt ill at ease while reading the gory part of Peeler and had an awful pit in my stomach afterward, that this must be a sign that Gord Rollo is a good writer if he could evoke this type of response in me... If that makes sense.

The following is a summary for Peeler that I found on Amazon's website:

Randy Baxter is an aspiring chef who dreams of better days ahead. He’s come to work as part of the kitchen staff at Ashbury Creek Asylum, a federally funded institution for the criminally insane. Randy’s not crazy but he does harbor a past filled with psychological issues including the need to cut himself to make the memories of his abusive childhood go away. When he learns about the man they call Peeler, a long term resident at Ashbury who has a severe problem with self-mutilation, all of Randy’s anxieties start to rise to the surface again.

Determined to overcome his inner demons once and for all, he manipulates a face to face meeting with Peeler but as with all things, there’s a price to pay. To see one of the most violent, disturbed men ever to be imprisoned in the maximum security asylum Randy must bring Peeler a small gift. Something no one in their right mind would even think of giving him.

A shiny new razor blade…

Even though I found the last 25% of Peeler a bit too gruesome for my tastes, I'm still giving Peeler by Gord Rollo a rating of 7.5 stars out of 10 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!!