Tuesday, February 10, 2015

REVIEW: Skullcrack City by Jeremy Robert Johnson

Skullcrack City is, by my estimation, a perfect book. It might have warts and bruises (though I couldn't point them to you if you asked) but I don't mean to say that its a book without flaws. It perfectly accomplishes what a book is supposed to, what a book can, in 2015.

Jeremy Robert Johnson is a novelist whose head is so full of ideas and the purest essence of Story that the book practically explodes when you open it. Moving at a breakneck speed, Skullcrack City never lets up. I was skeptical of its size when I started it because many books have at least SOME filler in them. Not this one. Johnson doesn't have time for filler.

Next, Skullcrack City is a novel that defies genre and classification. It features moments of pure poetry and moments of terror. Its funny and sad and sober and bizarro. Genres are useful for selling books and sometimes for finding similar books to one that you really enjoyed but genre lines are not visible to truly great authors and Johnson is one of the best I've encountered this year. Skullcrack City doesn't hold your hand. It expects you to keep up and you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you let it pass you by.

Skullcrack City is a perfect book because it is an entertaining, exciting book that still refuses to pander to anyone or hold back in any area. It can be challenging because you are in the hands of a truly talented writer but he never lets anything get in the way of the story he's telling. Do yourself a favor and buy this book and keep your eye on Johnson and Lazy Fascist Press.

Here's the details on Skullcrack City...

 "Life as a corporate drone was killing S.P. Doyle, so he decided to bring down the whole corrupt system from the inside. But after discovering something monstrous in the bank’s files, he was framed for murder and trapped inside a conspiracy beyond reason.

     Now Doyle’s doing his best to survive against a nightmare cabal of crooked conglomerates, DNA-doped mutants, drug-addled freak show celebs, experimental surgeons, depraved doomsday cults, and the ultra-bad mojo of a full-blown Hexadrine habit. Joined by his pet turtle Deckard, and Dara, a beautiful missionary with a murderous past, Doyle must find a way to save humankind and fight the terrible truth at the heart of Skullcrack City."