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Hunger for Annihilation, by John Wesick

Reviewed by Kristen D. Scott

 

Jon Wesick takes the mundane out of fiction with his inventive new novel, Hunger for Annihilation (Create a Space, 2015).  His character Rashid says it best, “…I never eat at the same restaurant twice” and this is what Wesick gives his readers in Hunger, a new tasty bite of fiction (115).

 

Wesick´s plot is deliciously wicked, trailing an anorexic gourmet food dealer´s vision of an apocalypse from New York´s Lower East Side, to California´s Pacific Coast, using a band of jaded anorexics (The Skinny Liberation Front) to carry out his nefarious plans.

 

Hunger for Annihilation´s characters are both tragic and heroic. Through the use of flashbacks, Wesick builds a psychological profile for Dillon Montgomery´s (A.K.A, Commander Knut R.) murderous actions. Thus, the reader is privy to a childhood spent in isolation and detachment from an abusive overweight father, and a meek mother who means well –Wanda. One of the most unnerving scenes of the book involves a young Dillon, his father Ray, and a recent catch of fish:

 

                           Ray scraped the fish’s skin with the back of his knife and showered the   

                      sink and counter with translucent scales. He cut off the head. The sound of

                      his knife cutting through bone and gristle made the flesh on the back of

                      Dillon’s neck twist. The severed head looked up at him from the garbage.   

                      Its once clear eye grew cloudy.

                           “You cut fillets like this.” Ray sliced flesh from bones. “Now it’s your

                      turn.” He held out the blood-slick blade to Dillon. “When you finish, Mom   

                      will cook ‘em up.”

                           Paralyzed with shock and fear, Dillon trembled on the stool. He blinked   

                      to clear his eyes, but tears rolled down his cheeks anyway.

                           “Jesus Ray, can’t you see he’s too young for this macho bullshit?”   

                      Wanda said.

                      (pg. 19)

 

In contrast to the antagonist, Wesick´s protagonist is a petite, raven-cropped haired FBI agent named Rebecca Haddad. Haddad´s character is not the stereotypical Arab woman seen in the media and on film, but a savvy agent with a wounded spirit. Haddad questions her Islamic roots in her spiritual pursuit for truth. She goes through the motions of her FBI assignments, while seeking healing from Sufi´s, Yogi´s, and other meditative mystic teachers:

                     

                      In deference to her parents’ religion, Rebecca washed her face and hands   

                      and tied a scarf over her head before driving to the mosque. Growing up  

                      Arab American had trained her well for undercover work. She’d learned to

                      pretend to fit in to two different cultures while belonging to neither. As a

                      woman she’d always been a second-class citizen in Arab eyes. The West   

                      granted her equal rights to its greedy spiritually bankrupt culture.

                      (pg. 43)

 

As “Annihilation” unfolds, one comprehends the human connection between the protagonist and antagonist in their need to belong, find a purpose, and connect with a higher power, only in different ways – Dillon, through maniacal means, and Rebecca, through honorable ones:

                     

                      Then Dillon recalled the Hasidic legends of the Lamed-Vov, the thirty-

                      six saints who preserve the world by their very existence. A path opened

                      before him. What had once been impossible for a lone righteous man

                      struggling against the odds now seemed within his grasp. He realized that

                      killing just one of these thirty-six could provide the shock required to bring

                      about a new order. At first Dillon questioned the morality of killing a saint   

                      but came to think of them as male mosquitoes.

                      (pg. 47)

                     

                           Love welled up in her heart. She felt at one with the fly that had

                      annoyed her earlier. He only wanted to escape to the beautiful outdoors.

                      Rebecca walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. Sunlight

                      sparkled on the fly’s iridescent green body. He rubbed his hands together

                      and brought them to his face as if in prayer. Rebecca cupped her hand,

                      placed it over the window trapping him, and folded her fingers over her

                      palm to shelter this miracle. She carried him outside and set him free. On

                      this wonderful sunny day she wished to set all creatures free.

                      (pg. 113)

           

Jon Wesick´s novel, Hunger for Annihilation (Create a Space, 2015) is a delicacy for any reader, offering an innovative suspenseful plot, with dynamic impartial characters that mesmerize. Hunger for Annihilation is riveting, leaving one begging for a continuation. Readers have yet to discover the maximum brilliance of Wesick´s pen.