Joe Lansdale is one of my favorite authors. I have read all of his Hap and Leonard novels as well as many of his stand-alones and short story collections. I have enjoyed them all and have not been disappointed in any of them. PRISONER 489 is a short horror novella that takes place on an island that services a prison on a nearby larger island. The prison houses the worst of the worst and apparently it is an international location run by the UN. The smaller island also contains the graveyard for the prison where the bodies are buried after execution by electric chair. Bernard, Wilson, and Toggle work there and when Prisoner 489 was executed it took four charges of electricity and then a plastic bag put over his head. But did this really kill him? The body is delivered by boat to the small island and it is contained in a metal coffin wrapped in padlocked chains instead of the normal biodegradable wood/cardboard box. The coffin is very heavy and Kettle, who delivers the body, tells a strange tale about the prisoner including that he never ate. So who or what is this person? Well, after the body is buried, the grave is unearthed and the body is gone. So what is it and how could it still be alive? The caretakers on the island really don't want to know...
This was a really good little horror story from Lansdale that kept me reading. Although short at only 57 pages, the story packed a punch and I enjoyed it a lot. Another winner from Lansdale.
This was a really good little horror story from Lansdale that kept me reading. Although short at only 57 pages, the story packed a punch and I enjoyed it a lot. Another winner from Lansdale.
