SCHROEDER by Neal Cassidy
Publisher: M & S Publishing
Genre: Horror, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When an ordinary young man wakes up in his quiet neighborhood on a day seemingly like all the others, the city he’s lived in all his life has no idea what’s about to befall it once he sets out on a day-long bike ride carrying a purposefully packed backpack and a definitive plan.

Who is Schroeder, and what motivates his brutal killing spree? As he cycles from one victim’s home to the next, keeping pace with the rhythm of a city that burgeons to life under an increasingly dazzling sun exposing both its beauty and vivacity and its dark, dirty, underbelly, Schroeder lays bare his dreams, disappointments, delights, and dismays, establishing himself as a compelling contemporary antihero. The day rolls ominously towards its climax through hectic city streets, lush suburban gardens, stately mansions, and decrepit housing projects, punctuated by Schroeder’s reflections on a society in shambles and a deeply damaged, if not broken, humanity—but not without revealing life’s boundless wonder and infinite possibilities for joy and redemption through moments that are within—and yet tragically beyond—Schroeder’s grasp. A tell-all denouement brings Schroeder out of the shadows of his actions, the pathos of his questions about the kind of world we live in lingering long after.

A quiet neighborhood isn’t always a safe one.

Imagine a serial killer who worries about litterbugs, homelessness, and the loss of civility in modern civilization. I shook my head in amazement the first time this narrator went off on a tangent about all of the little things a person can do to show kindness to others while he was biking to his victim. The cognitive dissonance of a killer being offended by people who don’t recycle or respect their elders made me curious to learn more about him.

The slow and uneven pacing of this novella made it difficult for me to remain interested in it. When scenes with faster pacing did occasionally appear, they felt out of place to me even though I wanted more action in the storyline in general because of how jarring it was for me as a reader to switch between the two writing styles. It would have been more comfortable to read something that stuck to a steady pace.

This was definitely on the gorier side of the horror spectrum. The narrator had creative ways of describing how he killed his victims and what he thought as he surprised each one of them. He was so emotionally detached from those moments that I wondered if or when the realization of what he was actually doing would ever penetrate his racing thoughts.

I also struggled with the narrator’s stream-of-consciousness speaking style. He flipped between describing grisly murders he was committing and complaining about mundane matters that did not seem to be related to his killing spree at all. I started reading with the expectation that I would not like such a violent and unpredictable character, but I was hoping to understand his motivations for his actions better if nothing else. The answers that were given were interesting, but they never quite explained why this was the only option for him given how many other people in this world have had similar or even worse experiences without resorting to the same violent acts he did.

With that being said, the setting was a little uncommon for this genre. I was intrigued by the idea of uncovering the dark underbelly of suburban living. Yes, there was exaggeration, but there were also some truths about the difficulties that can arise in a homogenous neighborhood where no one has as much privacy as they need and differences are not always accepted. There’s no such thing as a perfect place to live, of course, but I do think there’s value in critically examining what doesn’t work in a community in order to hopefully improve those weak spots in the future.

SCHROEDER made me shudder.