IMAGINE MY SURPRISE!

In Haddock’s novel, a reincarnated drug addict sets out to avenge his own murder.

In Campbell, California, in 2025, Kurt Sebastian Houston is surprised to find himself reincarnated as someone named Keenan Solomon Harris. The situation wouldn’t be so bad, except that he’s now in the body of a newborn baby boy. As he tries to reconcile his new reality with his previous life’s knowledge, experience, and leftover drug cravings, he realizes that he was murdered by one of his former associates when he was a drug kingpin. The vengeful Keenan does his best to speed up his physical development to prepare for a face-off with his former henchmen, Franks and Poindexter, and his ex-girlfriend, Dolly. Along the way, he makes the unlikely but seemingly fated acquaintance of an addict named Stoli behind a convenience store. The former military sniper and Afghan War veteran thinks his drug- and alcohol-infused mind is playing tricks on him when a foul-mouthed 1-year-old reveals his true identity in complete sentences—but he’s convinced after Keenan’s story checks out, and he cleans up his act to help him in his quest. The action is well paced and engaging, featuring smart prose and literary references that add wry humor to the ridiculous situation: “I’d been reborn in Hell, a Sartrean character stuck in a room ripe with the stench of provinciality, quotidian aspirations, and junior college degrees, unable to run away, unable to form words, unable to escape at all, straitjacket-swaddled in a baby blanket.” The main character’s villainous tendencies don’t detract from the story, instead effectively adding to the gritty atmosphere. Keenan eventually develops an understanding of Stoli and his own parents, whose unconditional support spurs him to reflect on his own actions, past and present.

An engaging and amusingly crude must-read.