I’ve had the pleasure of reading a number of Jeff Strand novels, and if you are anticipating the generally light-hearted humorous novels that you get out of Strand, Pressure is most certainly not that. This novel is dark. Really dark. Every time I would get to a scene thinking there would be some sort of not so bad outcome for the character, it turned out far worse for them than I would have anticipated. This book is a pretty rough read.
Having said all of that, I enjoyed reading it. Even when I would have liked it to be a bit more cheery and humorous, the novel delivered, just not how I thought it would. The story starts off with Alex Fletcher being sent to a boarding school where he meets Darren Rust, who is a budding psychopath. After an incident involving mutilating a fellow classmate’s dog, they part ways only to be reunited in college. Alex makes the worst possible decision of befriending Darren, which turns out to haunt him both in college and later in life as Darren is hell bent into turning Alex into a fellow psychopathic killer.
The writing is strong as is the characterization. Even after experiencing the worst possible outcomes in his life from his interaction with Darren, he still never succumbs into being what Darren is and shows strength and resiliency, even while still gaining the revenge that he seeks. So, although I would not put this at the top of the Jeff Strand heap of books, it was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.
