A provocative, brazenly vulgar yarn sure to shock the sensitive and delight the daring.
A raw, no-holds-barred novel of rock music, murder and mayhem.
University of Maine professor Baker’s raunchy, imaginative debut follows a motley quartet of band mates from a grunge rock group based in Houston, Texas, as they fight, do drugs and cause trouble. Of the four, Zac, the bass guitarist, is the most unsettled. As the story opens, he’s still traumatized by his brother James’ tragic, violent death. He’s contacted by a half-Vietnamese, half-Irish drummer named Sean who’s searching for a bassist for his band, Double Murder Suicide, after the abrupt exoduses of several of its original members. Excited at the prospect, Zac joins the ragtag group, which includes sexually ambiguous, gothic lead singer Kitten, a pierced-tongued child abuse survivor who “wore herself like it was Halloween”; and angry guitarist Raven, a virgin who drives with a 9 mm Glock under the seat of her car. In this minimally plotted yet character-rich story, they’re all damaged goods, living on drugs and inspired by rock and roll. Each has great aspirations, but in Baker’s fractured scenario, it could just be the drugs talking. The band scores their first real gig for a professional wrestler named Steele in exchange for a stash of cocaine. Their set is marred by violence, and after fleeing the scene, they regroup at a sex-drenched orgy where Raven loses her virtue. The band’s only remaining hurdle is finding a way to avoid a demanding drug dealer with a foot fetish. In this devilish, capably written debut, Baker manages to inject a good amount of melodrama into his monochromatic world of anger, suppressed childhood memories and displaced aggression. More refined readers may find that this hardscrabble tale of excess pushes the boundaries of decency and good taste. However, fans of authors such as Chuck Palahniuk and Irvine Welsh will likely enjoy the author’s nasty sense of humor and keen eye for grit. Many of them will undoubtedly want more adventures from this ragtag rock foursome.
A provocative, brazenly vulgar yarn sure to shock the sensitive and delight the daring.Pub Date: March 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1496148155
Page Count: 260
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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