Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite

Garbageman by Erik Dean is a horror story to beat all others. The night started out well; it should have ended as the best night of his life, but things go horribly wrong. David and his new fiancée June find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time – deepest, darkest gang territory. In trying to help a man who is dying, David puts himself in terrible danger, at the end of a gun. A shot to the head leaves him for dead, but someone calls emergency services, someone who witnessed it all. Paramedics get him to the hospital but fear that they are too late – no one could survive a shot like that. A new treatment is being developed and is ready for human testing – a treatment that could change the face of medical history. The neurologist who developed it tries it on David with tremendous results, or so they think. David may be healed but he has no memory. The gang has, though, and they are not about to let David live. In an escape attempt, David enters an alley and comes face to face with Garbageman, a strange creature who wants to help David. Who is he? Why does he want to help? And will life ever go back to normal for David?

Garbageman by Erik Dean is a fantastic first novel, one that I could not put down. I like the horror genre but find that many of the books are all just variations on the same theme – this one was a unique story line, a very refreshing change. The plot is incredibly well thought out, very deep and very dark, and the characters were extremely well developed. They were written in a way that you could easily get to know them without any trouble. The story is steady, it runs a natural course with a few twists in it to keep things real, and there are none of those frustrating dead ends – every turn leads to somewhere new, somewhere that is relevant to the story. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this story from an author who shows real promise for the future.