Juniper

The Juniper Series

De: Ross Jeffery

Narrado por: Rebecca Morrígan

Juniper is the first book in Ross Jeffery’s proposed trilogy: a post-apocalyptic horror about an insane American town seemingly at the edge of reality. As Juniper suffers from scorching drought and medieval famine, the townsfolk are forced to rely on the "new cattle" for food: monstrous interbred cats kept by the oppressed Janet Lehey.

But there’s a problem: Janet’s prized ginger tom, Bucky, has gone missing, flown the coop. As Janet and her deranged ex-con husband Klein intensify their search for the hulking mongrel, Betty Davis, an old woman clinging to survival on the outskirts of Juniper, discovers something large and ginger and lying half-dead by the side of the road.

She decides to take it home….

Juniper is surreal, dark, funny, and at times: excruciatingly grotesque. Buckle up for a wild ride through the dust-ridden roads of a tiny, half-forgotten American town….

©2019, 2022 Ross Jeffery (P)2023 Ross Jeffery

A town that eats its own

Juniper is a small desolate town. A town that leaves a crunchy grit in your teeth and a film of dirty sweat on your neck. Almost apocalyptic in nature, this smudge on your map is one you drive by no matter how low your gas tank is.
This is a grim, morose dust bowl that love had forgotten about. Dilapidated, where the only thing new is where “she remembered hearing about him growing depressed, ended up painting his shed brain grey with a shotgun.”
Here we meet Betty, an old cripple woman who stays alive by scrapping up road kill to get fresh meat. Betty lives on the edge of town with no electricity, and is thought of as the town witch.
We also meet Janet and her abusive husband Klein. Janet has started raising a new type of livestock after the floods and fires have destroyed all the towns food sources. As the old joke goes;
“Do you like cats? -Yes, but I can’t eat a whole one by myself.”
While this town is alive, it is already dead. It just keeps pushing on and pretending. Waiting for the inevitable.
This book is an intriguing chemical spill train crash. You can’t help but stare in horror at the wreckage, taking it all in, knowing there is no way you are going over to help.