The first half of this book mainly focuses on Greg and how his desperation to be rid of chronic pain has led him to become a patient of Dr. D Menta, your basic mad scientist type who sets up a "hospital" in the middle of nowhere, the better to conduct his experiments. The second half is a gruesome gore fest as Greg sees the violent after effects of the patients before him who have already undergone Dr. D Menta's procedure to rid them of chronic pain. It will make you squirm and cringe in all the right ways. Not for the weak of stomach.

4 out of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy for review. ( )

Good? Bad? I don't know 😲
"For Greg Owens, this was supposed to be a chance to end years of back pain and escape his reliance on pain pills. If it all worked out, he could maybe even get back the life he left behind as the pills took control.
Instead, as the patients are cured of their physical pain, they encounter a different sort of pain building inside them – obsessive thoughts, depression, self-destruction. The side-effects grow worse, and the suspense ratchets tighter. The patients want answers and violent revenge, setting them on a collision course with a crazed doctor, determined to protect his life's obsession."
can a book be both good and bad at the same time? Cause I'm on both sides of the fence with this book. I found the beginning very difficult to understand and to follow. but I found the premise of the book very intriguing. I found issues with the writing as in grammatical and spelling errors and yet the descriptive powers of the author when describing the physical torture that the characters put themselves through is unprecedented. Like it literally makes your skin crawl and makes you want to gag! I honestly just don't know what to make of this book. I'm so confused it is difficult for me to even write a review for it.
I guess I wish the editing would have been done better. That would definitely have made it more readable for me because when I find grammatical, and especially spelling, errors it's like nails on a chalkboard for me. 😖 I also wish that the writing style was a little more intriguing like the story itself was intriguing. I found the writing style to be very dull and as I stated before difficult to read and understand what is going on.
I wanted to like this book, and I did in some ways, but as with any book that I find editing errors with I cannot recommend it until the errors are fixed. ( )

Okay…I see where the title came from.

Intense, excruciating, debilitating, paralyzing, nonstop pain. Drugs and more drugs. What if there was a cure, instead of just treating symptoms?

Going from barely making it through the day, to jumping and dancing for joy, seeing the day in a whole new light.

How far will the patient go? Even more important, how far will the doctor go?

Well, if something is that good, there must be a down side. What about the side affects? What about if you knew what would happen? Would you do it anyway?

Whoa…I don’t know what to say. A mad scientist, a crazy nurse, an illegal experiment.

Graphic, bloody horror of the weird kind. All I can say is, if you want to cringe, have shivers up and down your spine, have your stomach doing flip flops, jumping at every bang of the door and growl of the dog, then Painless is for you.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Painless Marty Thornley.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com ( )

What is your price to be "pain free" for life? I luckily, have not had to experience excruciating pain that I would want to "die". Yet, this is how Greg felt. He has been in so much pain for years that he lost his woman and fell into a stupor. So, when he was offered the opportunity to go to a medical clinic with the promise of being pain free, he volunteers.

There are several other residents at the facility. They are all suffering from pain in different ways. The doctors and nurse seem normal. However, they are more like mad scientists. The patients feel great after their procedures; yet, it is not long after when they start showing signs of crazed beasts. They go after each other as well as self inflict pain on themselves. Yet, they don't feel pain. Examples: one guy chews his fingernail and skin off, another guy burns a hole in his hand and swirls his finger around in muscle, tendon, and blood. Than, there is a woman who stabs herself in the eye with a knife.

I read a lot of other readers who were grossed out with these descriptions. I personally could handle them as I like these types of books. The gorier the better. What I was disappointed about this book was that it read slowly before any of the events happened. Plus, I never fully connected with any of the characters. Overall, though this is still a good read and I would read more books from this author. ( )

Excuse me for a second, while I go barf. OMG this book. Holy heck the gruesome descriptions of blood and gore and guts was SO RAD. I found myself cringing and fidgeting and yes, even feeling a bit nauseous in some spots - but totally in a GOOD WAY! Painless was exactly what I wanted in a super-unique, creepy, shocking horror-thriller.

Greg Owens is in pain. A LOT of pain. He fell off a ladder on a construction job, injuring his back, and his entire life has gone to shit. He lost his wife, his kid, he can't work, he's addicted to pills. He's desperate, and can't find anything that will help him get relief, so he can return to construction, or any job he doesn't need "Pills to pay the Bills" in order to to work. His addiction is keeping him from his little girl and he's resorted to getting pills illegally from dealers, just to make it though the day.

Dr. Dante Menta is running an exclusive clinical trial. He's been working on a pain relief technique for years, and promises a complete cure of all physical pain. Sign me up, right? We meet all the patients involved in the trial who have arrived before Greg. There are even animal patients. Some of them are seeking relief from back pain, or car accident injuries, others from auto-immune things like Lupus - and even chronic migraine headaches.

The patients are taken in one by one to get the procedure and at first, it's exactly as promised and the results are impressive! But soon, shit starts hitting the fan. Patients are starting to act really strange, obsessive, destructive. Things start to go horribly, horribly wrong. And it's incredible awesome to watch!

I thought this story was really different and the premise was immediately intriguing - it was a quick read, but written really well, and explores a dark side of both how people deal with pain management and also Dr. Mentas obsession with his life's work to find a cure. I would love to see this translated to a horror movie, and I'd be first in line to buy a ticket!

Thanks to Marty Thornley and Goodreads for hosting this giveaway! ( )