Review: A chillingly refreshing and memorable experience.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 8, 2012
People read books every day. And some people are lucky enough to find books that will fill those days with magic. They come along rarely, maybe once in a generation: Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. Wuthering Heights by that dithering English chick. The Penthouse Forum in the June, 1975 issue. Today, another one of those books enter the here and now. Right here, right now, here and now, now right here now in this time here and now: Bad Book.It is so hard to encapsulate the feelings that this book brings forth when I read it. True, they may not have been as physically apparent as when I read the June 1975 Penthouse Forum, but they are there. And there was less to clean up. The evocative prose that this trio of talented writers whip up goes beyond mere feelings: This writing gets you right there. No, up a bit. No, not that far, that's your Adam's Apple, you idiot. Point at the area between your man-boobs. Ah yes. That's the spot. The spleen. This book hits you right in the spleen, plucking your heartstrings err spleenstrings.I don't think I'll be spoiling anything by telling you the butler did it. Oh, hell. No, it wasn't the butler. It was the maid. Err it might've been the maid. It could've been the butler, but it obviously was NOT the butler because that would be a CLICHE. The characterizations in this book are truly wonderful, cut from the finest cardboard that you can scrounge from a dumpster behind Home Depot. The dialogue, oh the expressive dialogue. Imagine, if you will, the flowing words of Robert Frost if they were spoken in the dulcet tones of Snooki after five or six pitchers of strawberry margaritas. That is what makes this book truly live in the spleens and minds of the world! Or at least the people who had a dollar left on their debit cards after a night of debauched barhopping.The three minds that combined to create this masterpiece: Ms. Brooks, Mr. Mader and Mr. Hise - what can be said about them that hasn't already been noted in dozens of police reports and court proceeding transcripts? They have truly hit the mark with this entrancing novel of life, death, birth and infinity! No, that's Ben Casey. Sorry, I often get them confused. To put it bluntly, and in words I know they'll understand: Dem rite gud.So in short, Bad Book, is a fine book. Real fine. Pam Grier in the seventies fine. Buy it. Read it. Experience it. Your spleen will be glad you did. And maybe even your gall bladder, too.