Bunny's Reviews: Morphosis Review Spotlight

Welcome to the book tour for AJ Saxsma's eerie novel Morphosis! Read on for more details!

Morphosis is a horror novel by AJ Saxsma. The first thing that will catch your eye is the beauty of this book’s cover. It catches your eye and piques your curiosity as to what lies within these pages. Inside you’ll find the author’s intent to explore the challenges faced by the characters they have created. A gay couple in the 1980s. One character striving for acknowledgment and acceptance from a family member. Another character simply looking for support from their partner while struggling with a town full of homophobes. While the daughter of one of the characters struggles with who she is and being accepted by those around her.

Morphosis is the first book that I have read by this author. Being an avid reader of basically anything horror I was eager to dive into this book. Honestly, all you have to do is say, “Look a horror story!” and I’ll be off to snatch it up. Unless you say that it’s a “horror comedy.” Then you’ll have a lot of side-eye coming your way because those two words do not belong together. LOL!

This book starts off promising enough. You are presented with “move-in day” for the family as they have relocated to a new place for a new start. There is a sense of “discomfort” especially from Dwayne right from the beginning. This immediately struck me as odd, but I simply hoped that further clarification would be coming.

As the story progresses you get a strong sense of chaos. Dwayne is insecure in his place in the family dynamics. Ollie, his partner, is shown to be highly intent on proving and establishing himself at his new job. He’s practically driven by a sense to prove himself to his father. The dynamics between Dwayne and Ollie is one that is honestly hard to understand.

Ollie is hyper-focused on his job. Right from the beginning he’s hardly around. Dwayne is literally saddled with all of the drama concerning the kids, Ollie’s kids mind you, and everything to do with the house. Dwayne has little to no support from Ollie whatsoever. You’re thinking – well surely this is just until Ollie gets settled into his new job. Unfortunately, this is ongoing throughout the entire story. There is no reprieve for the characters.

The dynamics between these two are prominent throughout the story to the point where you hope, and beg for some backstory. Some form of enlightenment concerning their relationship. You will be bombarded with questions as you read.

- Where is the mother, Ollie’s ex-wife? There is one phone call from her, but nothing more.

- How long have Dwayne and Ollie been in a relationship?

- How long was Ollie married to his now ex-wife?

- When did he decide to finally live his truth?

- What is the relationship with his parents?

- Was Ollie not accepted by his parents when he came out as gay?

- What prompted this move to such a rural location?

- How long has Ollie been a cop?

- What is the medication that Dwayne is dependent on for?

The relationship between Ollie and Dwayne is honestly a strange one, to say the least. The author would probably say co-dependence on Ollie’s part. This is a section in this story that points to this when Dwayne attends an AA meeting. Of course, there again is a question that is left unanswered – How long has Dwayne been in AA? Ollie doesn’t truly respect Dwayne nor does he seem to appreciate him, so their relationship seems to be one of convenience than true love.

This book highlights the struggles of Dwayne being a gay man in a town full of homophobic individuals. But why is it that only Dwayne suffers from the homophobia? Why not Ollie, too? Is it because Ollie is a deputy? But that doesn’t make sense. So, the question stands – Why is he excluded from being bullied and harassed?

The conversations in this story are – bizarre. The way that the characters talk, if you’re going for realism – it’s an epic fail. None of them talk like normal people would. There is a lot of rambling and repetition that are quite off-putting. If it was just in the beginning of the story, and then leveled out it would be fine, but it never does. It goes throughout the book and seems to throw the story into a different time era altogether.

Ollie’s daughter, Jodi Lee, comes off as a highly troubled teen. She’s obviously unhappy about her circumstances in life. But things keep getting weirder and weirder when it relates to her. It’s bad enough to be the new kid in a new school, but things just get worse for her. You’re going to get the sense that she’s highly susceptible to being influenced. This is going to be highly apparent when she makes a “friend” and how that “friend” treats Dwayne.

The murder and true horrors begin to unfold without any warning in the story. One minute, it’s a peaceful town, and then BAM! Reports of murder begin to make the rounds. If you’re looking for competent police procedure from these local cops...tone down your expectations. It really begs the question – How long have any of these people been police officers? I get it, it’s the 1980s, but surely even in small towns cops weren’t THIS out of touch. Ollie oddly enough turns out to be the worst offender. Most if not all of it in the quest to prove himself. Once again, the question arises – How long has Ollie been a police officer?

I have to wonder – is the author’s intent to make both Dwayne and Ollie come off as unhinged characters? Why are they even together? There are no reprieves for these characters where they are allowed even a moment of true happiness in this story. Dwayne is struggling with his issues and tends to come off as manic. Ollie becomes obsessed with a vicious killer and making a name for himself. But Ollie is constantly portrayed as less than interested in Dwayne, while Dwayne struggles to salvage what relationship they have.

The characters in this novel are an array of fractured and broken individuals. They each have their own issues and struggles. The horror aspect of the story, concerning the killer, is what will grip you the most when it appears. That is probably the key element that kept me reading this book. The killer. I wanted to know – who it was and why. Unfortunately, you will still be left with these questions when this story draws to a conclusion.

- Who is the killer?

- Why were they targeting the people they targeted?

- What happened with Jodi Lee?

This book has potential. As it is currently written it feels rushed and lacks the substance to pull it together. The details are missing to paint a picture that accurately depicts these characters lives. Unfortunately, the way the story is written as well leaves much to be desired. I know that I am all too guilty of writing run-on sentences, but this book has them in rampant form. With a touch more attention to the finer details, and a good deal of polishing this book could see substantial improvement.

Unfortunately, this book left me feeling disappointed with unlikable characters, a scattered plot, and a ton of unanswered questions.

Every book isn’t going to be meant for every reader. This is a fair and true statement, and in this case, Morphosis was just not the book for me.

2 out of 5 stars

Morphosis

Publication Date: March 31, 2023

Genre: Horror/ LBTQ2+

*Warnings* Disturbing; Highly stylized

“It may be early in the year, but I have a good feeling AJ has just delivered one of my favorite books of 2023!”
– independentbookreview.com

“That ending–perfection!”
– Kirkus

Ollie, his romantic partner Dwayne, and Ollie’s two children, Sam and Jodi Lee, have left their old lives behind for a farm outside of Larton, a small & simple farming community, where Ollie takes employment with the local Sheriff’s Department as a deputy and the promise of a new beginning for his family feels within reach.

But as the family tries to settle in to routine, they are met with bigotry, complications with Dwayne’s chronic illness, and the unnerving discovery that a serial killer, nicknamed “The Visitor”, is on the loose, stalking teens in the area.

Against Dwayne’s struggle to gain the children’s approval and balance care for his own health, & Jodi Lee’s immersion into the company of a religious family whose beliefs incite hatred, Morphosis traverses the intricate nature of familial connections and the exhausting pressures that can squeeze them to their breaking point.

Adding to the turmoil, Ollie’s growing obsession to catch “The Visitor” keeps him out of the house for nights on end, leaving his family to unravel without support.

In the runaway narrative that follows, Saxsma drags readers into an ocean of unease and refuses to let go. Morphosis is perfect for readers looking for their next must-read novel!

Available on Amazon and Free for KU

About the Author

Aj Saxsma, born in Illinois in 1987, is a queer writer. He lives in Los Angeles with his husky. His literary work has earned awards from Almond Press UK, and has been published in The Danse Macabre, and has appeared in Under The Bed Magazine. As a screenwriter, his work has been an official selection for the Independent Horror Film Awards, Hollywood Screen Film Festival, Los Angeles Cinefest, and Los Angeles Horror Competition. He’s also written the narrative scripts for four video game projects produced by Oculus for the Oculus VR system.

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