Stench Author:Mike Johnson 'After they closed down the hospital, before selling it off to the bulldozers, a few of us broke in at night through a loose window at the back and ran around the corridors in the dim light playing ghosts and dead people. That part was fun?' These are the opening lines of Mike Johnson's sixth novel, Stench. The book begins simply and begui... more »lingly in a small NZ town, but soon widens and deepens into a powerful tale of a whole town's descent into fear and frenzy. A group of teenagers become party to a terrible secret: something lies beneath the floor of the old hospital, something that gives off a stench capable of changing people, warping their minds and their spirits, enslaving them. The action is seen through the eyes of one of these teenagers, the youngest and lowliest of them, a girl they all call Baby. The people of Hikitarua think Baby is a simpleton because she has a speech impediment and has difficulty communicating. But, at least in her own mind, she is the only one who can see clearly what is happening, and who desperately tries to prevent the unfolding tragedy. The only one who can save the town - or destroy it. With the action taking place over three or four drought-filled, hot, wind-driven days, this home-grown horror story snaps the reader up in a vice-like grip that doesn't let go until the last line.« less