Murdered for Extra Seconds of Erection
A plague that preys upon sexual interest spreads across the globe in this contemporary thriller.
Sylvester Abanteriba’s Murdered for Extra Seconds of Erection weaves elements of a bizarre thriller into a surreal modern myth, in which a plague that preys upon sexual interest has spread across the globe.
Aboard a massive luxury cruise ship, almost every man suddenly develops an immediate need and appetite for sexual intercourse. Thereafter, their interest disappears. As this bizarre behavior spreads around the globe, a team of crack researchers quickly realizes that a new plague has struck. The key to its cure may lie in the crimes of humanity against nature.
The plot begins swiftly and with punch. The book displays ready commitment to its premise, and several of the most memorable introductory scenes are unapologetically explicit. Scenes full of group sex make this surprising reading, at times, that may offend some sensibilities. However, the second half of the book is bogged down with more plodding developments, such as the efforts of researchers to respond to the crisis. The story takes a long time to come to its shocking conclusion, which would have had more impact had it come closer to the book’s equally shocking opening.
The book is structured like a traditional thriller and holds its own well as a member of that genre. Its religious implications are among its most interesting features but are not prominent in the plot, which seems a loss. The malady afflicting men is weird, and the book walks a line between playing it straight and acknowledging the implicit silliness of its devices. However, despite an interesting and playful premise, the story meanders, eventually suggesting that humanity is irreparably bad on many levels and muddling its ultimate point.
The text often veers toward the overwrought or clunky. In one typical example, a group of people discuss a young person’s death, during which a character suggests that the individual might have deserved his fate because he wore his hat backwards, indicating that he could have been a rapper and a “never-do-well vagabond.” While such moments contribute to the book’s overall campiness, which can be endearing, they also have a cold and unsympathetic edge. Much of the book follows in this vein. Character behavior doesn’t quite add up and dialogue is sometimes distressingly stretched.
Murdered for Extra Seconds of Erection is a unique book that invites and rewards adventurous audiences, especially those bored by the formulaic nature of contemporary thrillers.
Reviewed by
Anna Call
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
