The Bedwetter by Lee Allen Howard
Armed with electric hair trimmers and a military fighting knife, Russell accepts his dark commission.
Russell Pisarek is twenty-six years old and still wets the bed. He grew up different from other young men because his vicious mother punished him for wetting by shaving his head. When he confided this to his girlfriend Tina, she betrayed him by advertising his problem to all their high school classmates. He took out his frustration by skinning neighborhood cats.
Now Russell fantasizes about finding just the right woman—so he can shave her bald. He struggles to overcome his dark tendencies, but when his sister discovers he’s wetting again, she puts him in dire straits.
During this time of stress, the mythical Piss Fairy appears in his dreams, and Russell is driven to satisfy his twisted desires with an innocent coworker.
When his plans go awry, the Piss Fairy commissions him for a much darker task that graduates him from shaving to scalping—and worse
Content Warning:
This novel depicts intense violence, hardcore horror, and disturbing psychological terror in the vein of such works as Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God, Joyce Carol Oates’ Zombie, J. N. Williamson’s The Book of Webster’s, and Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. It has been compared to Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho.
Although The Bedwetter is a fascinating in-depth character study into the mind and actions of a misogynistic and homophobic psychopath, the story events are vicious and brutal, the language coarse, and the approach to their reporting cold and unflinching. A few scenes depict child abuse and animal cruelty, which is germane to the behavior of a developing serial killer.
This book is not for the faint of heart or those easily offended by language, sex, or violence. Read at your own risk.
United StatesI read this in July of 2021
“To be lost,” I say, “you gotta belong somewhere.” This is a deep, disturbing, often quite brutal story told to us by the protagonist, Russell Pisarek. He is writing his journal to let the world know his story. The brutal abuse he has had to endure as a child, never given love, often ignored, beaten and bullied. All because he was never wanted. He is very immature and deeply troubled. Raised by a sadistic mother, and an ignorant father. His mother punishes him for wetting in his bed. Inflicting shame and pain upon him, he begins to have horrible nightmares, nightmares that are so disturbing from the abuse that it causes him to wet in his bed even more and long into his adult life. The psychological damage it has caused has turned him into a psychopath with deep wanting to fulfill his own sadistic desires. The desire to control and meet his uncontrollable and unnatural sexual cravings. He has no control over his anger and when his temper flares he does not hesitate to inflict harmful intentions against animals and humans alike. Most often ending in death. ~I have read many biographies about serial killers. Most often it stems from abuse as a child. They begin by harming animals and that follows into killing humans. These are deeply disturbed souls. This is what this book reminds me of. This could easily be a reflection of a true life serial killer. We really have no idea what types of thoughts they actually endure in the deep recesses of their minds. ~Gritty, dark, and terrifying. It produced feelings of sadness, abhorrence and made my blood run cold.
United StatesRead it!
Chapter one opened with a shock, and I quickly wondered what I had gotten myself in to. Russell has some deep issues that shine in this book. The author shares the dark past which has helped shape Russell into the psychopath that he is. The abuse, humiliation and feeling like he didn’t matter. You can feel the hate and disgust he has for parents. Throughout childhood they would punish him for wetting the bed by shaving his head. Oddly, the shaving seemed to turn into a fetish for him later in life. I kept waiting for the moment Russell finally snapped and about halfway in it begins! There are some savage moments that show what Russell is truly capable of. The brutality continues as the Piss Fairy haunts Russell in his dreams. He has an epiphany and believes he has finally figured out what the Piss Fairy wants from him and decides to act on it. The blow delivered by his mom at the end was unexpected but tied in very well with all the other details and helped push Russell over the edge. Overall, this was a decent read. Howard gives a fantastic view inside the mind of a psychopath and what makes him tick. I would definitely check out more from this author.