Welcome to Munks, home to the lost, the lonely, and those in perpetual limbo. The ceiling is sweating, the floor is sodden and sticky with booze and vomit, the music is screaming through the speakers, the air is thick and heavy with sweat, the latest up-and-coming band are making an escape from the stage following their last song, the bouncers stand on the sidelines, watching, numb to the noise, and the wild bunch, the reprobates, throng to the bar to slake an endless thirst. They will drink and dance and chew each other’s faces off until the well is as dry and as black as their souls, and the manager is closing all the fire exits as a new dawn fades.
But the glory days cannot go on forever. Cracks are starting to show. Everyone in town says that Munks is not like it used to be. New owners with wayward ideas are determined to clean up this place of historic moral bankruptcy, and bring the ‘big’ bands back to have their breakthrough moment on a dying dance floor.
Amongst the rot, the decay, the crime, and the hedonism — a young man tries to save the club from ruin, instead of saving both himself and everyone in it.
For those who remember what it is like to be lost, and suffering from a death of the soul — this is a black comedy that turns a tainted mirror on to some of the most accepted and corrosive problems in our society.
The vivid, sweat-glazed alcoholic environs of Munks and its ever-rotating cast of employees and patrons reflect Grose’s past experience working in a nightclub. The titular reprobates, employee and customer alike, are as interchangeable and highly alcoholic as the selection of shots available at the bar. Munks itself—the drinks, the petty office politics, and the contemporary playlist (helpfully already compiled on Grose’s website via Spotify)—carry both the narrative and prose, with the blank-slate manager’s sparse backstory existing only to break up long sections of rubbernecking Munks’s downfall and Grose’s choice to reflect the occasional dated humor that may be off-putting to some readers.
Character/location studies of this length are unusual, particularly as debuts, but what The Reprobates lacks in narrative arc it makes up for in loving homage to grunge and the ever-bygone nostalgia of a constantly “lost generation.” Grose’s depictions of the club’s rampant alcoholism are painstakingly evocative and realistic, and Munks could easily serve as an after-work bar in any beloved police procedural. This will entertain any reader who enjoys gritty realism or longs for their bachelor days of unfettered drinking and carousing.
Takeaway: A place-as-character homage to gritty nightclubs and youthful carousing.
Great for fans of: Robert Galbraith, J.R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: NA
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B
A Masterpiece of Societal Observation
The Reprobates is a book for our time. Its a fantastic observation of night club life and the horrors people are capable of in between sweaty, thumping ceilings and booze soaked sticky floors. Anyone who has been young and reckless, will both reminisce and grimace at the events that unfurl in The Reprobates and will feel the loss of those decadent euphoric years alongside sorrow for the lifers, the ones still there, who cannot climb out of the vicious trap. Excellent.
It would be hard to imagine any novel about a nightclub not containing drugs, depravity, and all-around bad behaviour and The Reprobates certainly doesn’t disappoint in a rip ragingly provocative read that takes its readers from outrageous highs to rock bottom in the blink of an eye.
Artfully ambivalent it’s a disturbing read in the best sense with irresistibly bleak appeal as it wallows in the pain and, more daringly, in the pleasure of excess whilst what it lacks in plot, it makes up for with sharp dialogue and superb characterization.
The Reprobates wraps us up so profoundly in Munk’s self-destructive spiral, it’s as though we’re seeing it all for the first time and it’s to Grose’s credit that he manages the very neat trick of keeping us interested in a protagonist without a name who doesn’t merit our affection but earns it nonetheless.
On this level The Reprobates isn’t a story of success and fortune, but a slice of life with a personal rhythm and a universal beat. It’s a novel about lost time which unfolds chronologically, without as much as a flashback but is so energized by the subject that it overflows with inventiveness as we’re taken ever deeper into the murky world of Munk’s nightclub and the shenanigans that underpin it.
A head trip down memory lane for many of its readers The Reprobates is quite simply a superb read and is unreservedly recommended.
Benjamin Grose’s book “THE REPROBATES” is fast-paced, action-packed, and written with a pinch of black comedy and humor. If you don't like to laugh, don't read this book.
It's about a nightclub called Munks that used to be popular and used to welcome lost and lonely fellows. But with time, Munks lost its charm and faced decline. There were people who wanted to save Munks and there were people who wanted to turn Munks into something else.
With every turning page, the story just gets more interesting. Benjamin Grose is a great writer, and I really enjoy every moment I spend with this book.
“The Reprobates” by Benjamin Grose is an engaging story that is written from a first person’s perspective and revolves around a popular nightclub- Munks which is now in decline. Munks used to welcome all kinds of people- broken, lost, sad, lonely… To save the club, new owners plan to redeem Munks of moral bankruptcy with a strategy in mind. The situation is turning from bad to worse, but then there comes our hero, who tries to take Munks exactly where it used to be, even to a better position. But he will have to pay a higher cost!
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The story is fascinating, engaging and highly addictive. It’s spread across 243 pages and I struggled to put this book down, you know, to sleep or eat and things. I finished reading this in 3 sittings. The characters are well-crafted. The pacing is good. I laughed, worried and enjoyed the story with these characters as I kept turning the pages. I would definitely recommend reading
This book is clever, funny, and hard to put down. I did not know what I was getting into when I started this novel. I laughed all the way through it. It's a story of new owners of a used-to-be-a-famous nightclub who are determined to redeem Munks of moral bankruptcy. Then there’s our hero who muddles his way through the chaos to save the nightclub but at what cost?
I loved this book. The plot is unique. The characters are great. From Pete Bone to Dancing Man, every character was well-developed. The snarkiness between them was perfect! There’s healthy comedy in the story which turned this book into an unputdownable read for me. Overall, a great story.
This is the first time I read Benjamin Grose’s book and I loved the story. After every page, the story just gets better. The author wrote the story in such a manner that as a reader, you will feel like you’re in the story. The author wonderfully portrayed nightclub life and the horrors people are capable of in between sweaty, thumping ceilings and booze-soaked sticky floors.
This author’s book is a rare breed. You skip to the end, counting how many pages are left. You do this because you DO NOT want the story to end. It’s funny, action-packed, and has just about every quality that a bestseller book should have! Keep up the good work, Grose!
From the perspective of a nightclub manager, take a look behind the scenes of modern nightlife. Munks, the nightclub in question and the setting for the majority of ‘The Reprobates’ by Benjamin Grose is in decline and resistant to the changes imposed by its new owners. There’s camaraderie between the kaleidoscope of staff as they handle the drunken patrons and blinkered new owners through the seasons and the ups and downs of Munks. Anyone who has stepped foot in a nightclub will find something in this story to reminisce or cringe about, and I’m sure anyone who has ever worked in one will be reminded of their own wild and shocking stories. This feels like an astute observation of nightclub life, while not glamorous it’s not boring either, and the narrator’s blunt tone delivers the goings-on with a deadpan wit. The lights are up and what is normally hidden with strobe lights and loud music is on display for all to see. ‘The Reprobates’ is an interesting satirical observation into modern nightclub culture, shared in a way to make you consider the horrors of wild nights out.
From the perspective of a nightclub manager, take a look behind the scenes of modern nightlife. Munks, the nightclub in question and the setting for the majority of ‘The Reprobates’ by Benjamin Grose is in decline and resistant to the changes imposed by its new owners. There’s camaraderie between the kaleidoscope of staff as they handle the drunken patrons and blinkered new owners through the seasons and the ups and downs of Munks. Anyone who has stepped foot in a nightclub will find something in this story to reminisce or cringe about, and I’m sure anyone who has ever worked in one will be reminded of their own wild and shocking stories. This feels like an astute observation of nightclub life, while not glamorous it’s not boring either, and the narrator’s blunt tone delivers the goings-on with a deadpan wit. The lights are up and what is normally hidden with strobe lights and loud music is on display for all to see. ‘The Reprobates’ is an interesting satirical observation into modern nightclub culture, shared in a way to make you consider the horrors of wild nights out.
From the perspective of a nightclub manager, take a look behind the scenes of modern nightlife. Munks, the nightclub in question and the setting for the majority of ‘The Reprobates’ by Benjamin Grose is in decline and resistant to the changes imposed by its new owners. There’s camaraderie between the kaleidoscope of staff as they handle the drunken patrons and blinkered new owners through the seasons and the ups and downs of Munks. Anyone who has stepped foot in a nightclub will find something in this story to reminisce or cringe about, and I’m sure anyone who has ever worked in one will be reminded of their own wild and shocking stories. This feels like an astute observation of nightclub life, while not glamorous it’s not boring either, and the narrator’s blunt tone delivers the goings-on with a deadpan wit. The lights are up and what is normally hidden with strobe lights and loud music is on display for all to see. ‘The Reprobates’ is an interesting satirical observation into modern nightclub culture, shared in a way to make you consider the horrors of wild nights out.
From the perspective of a nightclub manager, take a look behind the scenes of modern nightlife. Munks, the nightclub in question and the setting for the majority of ‘The Reprobates’ by Benjamin Grose is in decline and resistant to the changes imposed by its new owners. There’s camaraderie between the kaleidoscope of staff as they handle the drunken patrons and blinkered new owners through the seasons and the ups and downs of Munks. Anyone who has stepped foot in a nightclub will find something in this story to reminisce or cringe about, and I’m sure anyone who has ever worked in one will be reminded of their own wild and shocking stories. This feels like an astute observation of nightclub life, while not glamorous it’s not boring either, and the narrator’s blunt tone delivers the goings-on with a deadpan wit. The lights are up and what is normally hidden with strobe lights and loud music is on display for all to see. ‘The Reprobates’ is an interesting satirical observation into modern nightclub culture, shared in a way to make you consider the horrors of wild nights out.
From the perspective of a nightclub manager, take a look behind the scenes of modern nightlife. Munks, the nightclub in question and the setting for the majority of ‘The Reprobates’ by Benjamin Grose is in decline and resistant to the changes imposed by its new owners. There’s camaraderie between the kaleidoscope of staff as they handle the drunken patrons and blinkered new owners through the seasons and the ups and downs of Munks. Anyone who has stepped foot in a nightclub will find something in this story to reminisce or cringe about, and I’m sure anyone who has ever worked in one will be reminded of their own wild and shocking stories. This feels like an astute observation of nightclub life, while not glamorous it’s not boring either, and the narrator’s blunt tone delivers the goings-on with a deadpan wit. The lights are up and what is normally hidden with strobe lights and loud music is on display for all to see. ‘The Reprobates’ is an interesting satirical observation into modern nightclub culture, shared in a way to make you consider the horrors of wild nights out.
From the perspective of a nightclub manager, take a look behind the scenes of modern nightlife. Munks, the nightclub in question and the setting for the majority of ‘The Reprobates’ by Benjamin Grose is in decline and resistant to the changes imposed by its new owners. There’s camaraderie between the kaleidoscope of staff as they handle the drunken patrons and blinkered new owners through the seasons and the ups and downs of Munks. Anyone who has stepped foot in a nightclub will find something in this story to reminisce or cringe about, and I’m sure anyone who has ever worked in one will be reminded of their own wild and shocking stories. This feels like an astute observation of nightclub life, while not glamorous it’s not boring either, and the narrator’s blunt tone delivers the goings-on with a deadpan wit. The lights are up and what is normally hidden with strobe lights and loud music is on display for all to see. ‘The Reprobates’ is an interesting satirical observation into modern nightclub culture, shared in a way to make you consider the horrors of wild nights out.
In the fast-paced world of 2023, finding a book that can truly capture your attention and hold it until the final page is a rare and treasured experience. These "unputdownable" books are the ones that make you ignore your phone notifications, stay up way past your bedtime, and lose yourself in their pages. They transport you to different worlds, introduce you to fascinating characters, and keep you on the edge of your seat with every plot turn. In this era of instant gratification and constant distraction, the power of a truly unputdownable book cannot be overstated. So whether you're an avid reader or just looking for your next great read, join us as we explore the best unputdownable books of 2023.
As part of its mission to discover, review, and share the best books from university and independent publishers, Foreword Magazine, Inc. hosts an annual awards program each year. Finalists represent the best books published in 2022. After more than 2,500 individual titles spread across 55 genres were submitted for consideration, the Finalists were determined by Foreword’s editorial team. Winners will be decided by an expert team of booksellers and librarians—representing Foreword’s trade readership—from across the country.
The complete list of Finalists can be found at:
https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/finalists/2022/
“Each year, we are bowled over by the depth and breadth of the INDIEs submissions,” says Editor-in-Chief Michelle Anne Schingler. “We are given hundreds of opportunities to engage with the most inventive, surprising, and thrilling independent books of the year. It is our privilege to select the best among them––and an awesome responsibility that we take seriously.”
“Our goal for the INDIES Book of the Year awards Finalists gives us a chance to recognize great projects from small presses, and mirrors our mission of discovering outstanding books as showcased in Foreword Reviews. This year’s Finalists represent the top offerings in each genre, from debut author publishers to established university and independent presses,” says Publisher Victoria Sutherland. “It’s really a wonderful tribute to the independent voices that don’t often get the recognition they deserve.”
