REVIEW: Leech (book) by Hiron Ennes

Leech is a blend of gothic horror and science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review: 

A young doctor has been sent to a remote chateau to both replace the baron's previous doctor and figure out what killed the original doctor. What neither the baron nor any of his people know, however, is that the new doctor and old doctor are essentially the same person. For generations, the Institute from which all doctors come has been run by a parasitic hivemind.

The new doctor has no memory of how the old doctor died or what killed them. This shouldn't be possible, and it makes this situation unnerving in a way the Institute and its many bodies has never experienced. 

Initially, the odd narrator and gothic atmosphere really intrigued me, and I approached the story as a sort of murder mystery. As the new doctor investigated and pretended that they were truly a newcomer to the chateau and surrounding area, I learned more about the weird aspects of this world. Certain materials, like rubber, were in short supply. At the same time, the Institute had the knowledge and technology necessary to keep someone like the baron (who, from the sounds of things, should have died years ago) alive. Birth defects seemed to run rampant. Helene, the wife of Didier, the baron's heir, tried to bear him an heir only to repeatedly miscarry or give birth to malformed infants who can't survive. The only children she ever produced who didn't die were the twins, strange girls who technically weren't conjoined but whose hair had a tendency to tangle their heads together as though they were.

The new doctor's investigation into the old doctor's death pointed toward some sort of unknown parasite, which led to a situation in which the doctor (infected with the parasite that was the Institute) tried to keep a parasitic infection from spreading. Oh, the irony. At some point, the doctor lost their connection with the rest of themselves...and for some reason it didn't immediately occur to them that they were in the exact same situation that the previous doctor must have found themselves in. I spent so much of this book wondering when it would occur to the doctor that they were likely infected and probably well on their way to dying like the other doctor.

That, combined with the fact that many of the characters were downright unpleasant to spend time with, meant that I was wishing for this book to be over long before it finally was. On the plus side, some of the things that happened later on in the book were a surprise to me. I just wish it hadn't taken quite so long to get there. 

I appreciated the way this book peeled apart the layers of its world and narrator. That said, I'm not sure I can say that I really enjoyed reading this.