Scream Queens of the Dead Sea — Gilad Elbom

When a young graduate of the Israeli army decides to moonlight as an assistant nurse at a mental institution in Jerusalem, the job seems like a nice break from everyday life in the Promised Land. What could be easier than exercising power over a small group of heavily medicated zombies? But as the human inventory inside the insane asylum begins to mirror the psychotic norms of the outside world, the inexperienced ex-soldier finds himself trapped in a hilarious yet terrifying freak show, surrounded by a motley crew of mad patients gone madder: a religious poet who writes obsessive love sonnets to a Hollywood porn queen, a charming racist who wears only purple, a criminally insane murderer who doesn't believe in anything (not even in nihilism) . . . and that's just for starters. Here is a fast-and-furious first novel saturated with ruminations on sexual aberration, heavy metal, structural linguistics, horror movies, and satanic poetry - the good things in life.