Mediocre Bad Guys: A Short Story

Ten Thousand Words or Less, Book 11

By: Justin M. Johnson

Narrated by: Tom Jordan

The Windsors face a choice no parent should ever have to face.

Unfortunately, the decision is not theirs to make....

©2017 Justin M. Johnson (P)2017 Justin M. Johnson and CCS Publishing

Insightful and Inciteful

Mediocre Bad Guys is an insightful, and even an inciteful work about the healthcare industry. This richly provocative short story was skillfully narrated by Tom Jordan, who did a great job making the characters deeply emotive and relatable. A profound story with a twist that I won’t soon forget.

Morally complex tale of medical care

Any additional comments?

The first third of the story sets up a heart wrenching sober situation that we all hope we never have to face. What follows are a few dull trudging scenes where we follow the main character through some mundane life choices, until she turns on the television. Once she sees the protests on TV, the story jolts into an intense emotional space from which it never returns.

I'm not sure there are any heroes or villains here. At moments, the story flirts with vilifying religion. But then the hospital operating officer isn't exactly lionized either. The final minutes were difficult and unsatisfying. No heroes, no villains, and no satisfying resolution. Grimly appropriate for the subject matter.

The narration somehow does a good job of keeping this world detailed, visual, and immersive while balancing the focus on story and characters.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.