Born Sick by Aaron Lebold
When two soon-to-be doctors find themselves as roommates in medical school, they have no idea how much they have in common. As light begins to lift the shadows of the past, thoughts for the future begin to take shape. Being a doctor has been a dream for both men, but both have also struggled with their own personal nightmares. Years of counselling and searching for some kind of trauma to explain their individual desires has left them with no conclusions except for the obvious. They weren’t made into monsters by society. They weren’t tortured adolescents who were pushed into darkness. They were just born that way. They were born sick.
Follow two timelines on a twisted road trip of experiments, kidnapping, and much more. No need to worry, these men are professionals.
United StatesBorn Sick by Aaron Lebold
BORN SICK by Aaron Lebold is an intriguing read. Two doctors, best-friends since college, are in cohorts along with one's wife, to conduct a series of "experiments". These experiments are nothing sanctioned by the medical community, but birthed merely out of morbid curiosity. Their test subjects aren't their only victims. After all, test subjects must eat, right? The three main characters are truly despicable human beings and you hope they get caught by the end. Do they? You'll have to read it yourself to find out. There's probably a trigger warning or two I should tell you about, but I've grown to despise them. This is horror after all. Expect to be triggered. And expected to be absorbed in this novella.
United KingdomSick!!
So this kicks off with a fascinating and intriguing storyline, which unfolds at a good, steady pace throughout! Each chapter flips from past to present, unveiling the history and reasoning behind everything that happens, and it's done so in a really easy to follow way! I really enjoyed how the story developed and how everything linked up perfectly and I particularly enjoyed finding out how 'the experiment' itself came about! Benway has an obsession, it's not a 'normal' obsession, but luckily for him his friend understands, as does his wife! The way the three of them come to be working and living together is really interesting. They make a wonderfully grotesque friendship circle that can only last a lifetime! It seems all three were 'Born Sick' and being born sick in this instance is an understatement! This lot are fucked right up!! And as Benway's obsession with the experiment gets out of hand and he starts to overdo things, mistakes are made, silly mistakes that come to an extremely messy head……. But the experiment continues on, like a never ending circle of grim discovery…. Horrific, brilliant and with some great twists, this is a magnificently messed up, depraved tale of cannibalism and barbarity!!
United StatesBorn Sick
Benway and Sax met up in medical school. It didn’t take them long to bond over their odd obsessions. Through the years they stayed good friends and continued with their crazy experiments. They have a close call and decide to take a break until the urge strikes again. Born Sick is such a dark and depraved read. Benway, Sax, and Joan are the worst kind of people. Lebold did an excellent job with their characters capturing every bit of darkness in their black souls. The storyline is gripping from start to finish. As disturbing as this book was, I needed to know what was coming next. There is plenty of suspense and twists inside these pages. I don’t want to reveal too much because this book is an experience! Just read it and you’ll know. There is disturbing content, so it won’t be for everyone, but for me this is going in my top reads for this year.
United StatesLast Doctors I Would Ever Want To See!
Two soon-to-be doctors meet in a way that can only be described as fate. Both struggling with personal demons, they soon realize just how much they can understand each other when they reveal their darkest secrets to each other. This book showcases extreme acts of depravity on small children and animals, so please see this as a warning before going any further with this book. Within these pages is darkness and scenes where good never wins out. Children are stolen from their parents at a young age and brought home to become part of the family until they become too old, then the two doctors experiment on them, trying to change the most basic of human behaviors in a twisted act of playing god. I loved having two separate timelines in the story, one revealing more and more information about the other until the two of them finally crossed bloody paths. Born Sick’s darkness had a grip on me, holding my eyes open and forcing me to read on as things only got worse. As a father myself, I couldn’t imagine anything like what goes on in this book happening to my own son, it’s almost enough to bring tears to my eyes. Aaron LeBold’s vile imagination has birthed one hell of a story. It’s so well written while being extremely disturbing, it almost feels wrong to say I enjoyed this book. I definitely enjoyed the experience, despite the content, and I can not wait to see what else LeBold has hidden in the darkest corners of his mind.
United StatesTake a closer look at the whole nature verses nurture, and sometimes people are just “born sick.”
First off, this book contains some very graphic scenes that include animal cruelty, violence against children, and drug use. If these topics are triggering for you, then I recommend that you don’t read this book. This story follows two timelines where you dive deeper and deeper into the bonds of friendship between this disturbing trio – Charles, Jason, and Joan. Charles Benway and Jason Sax meet in medical school as roommates. As their secrets become revealed to each other, their bond gets stronger. Once Charles meets Joan, everything seems to fall perfectly into place for him. He has a great job, a loving wife, close friend who understands his urges, and the perfect place to perform his experiments. All in all, it really takes a closer look at the whole nature verses nurture, and sometimes people are just “born sick.” This was a fast-paced story full of distressing situations – kidnapping, drug use, cat fishing, murder, and more. I liked the use of the two timelines. To me, it seemed like the bits of the past merged into the current timeline well and that they weren’t just there for shock or wordcount. I’m not really a fan of such gruesome and gory work, but this story was very engaging. I had to read more to see if what I thought might happen was going to be right or not. I enjoyed that the ending was not what I was anticipating. If you like your horror a little more unsettling and grotesque, then this should be added to your stack of “to be read” books.