Review: Brilliant
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2011
What a phenomenal concept. Thomas Amo is a gorgeous writer. Truly, his writing implants a vivid image between the lines of his story. It is beautiful when the story calls for beauty, ugly as his characters face inhumanity and terror, effectively touching the heart of the reader throughout.The book is so funny. This quality is so refreshing, especially in an intense novel such as this."It sure is, what's even more disturbing is, why are all the dead birds over here and the live ones on that side of the street? What do they know that we don't?"I laughed so hard.I also found this book to be sort of brilliant. The events, twists and turns as they melted together; it's all very clever. The references are quite original. Things like the American Legion (which I've never come across in any book) or Goya--references I can relate to that are never overdone.The book is darn creepy. Amo's descriptions are eerie. Stasya's story: chilling. The journey this story takes you on is kind of shocking. Manson. The Black Dahlia. Nazis. KGB.The book was thrilling. Adding to its heartstopping suspense was the author's chapter titles. I loved this: as he would end one chapter with a specific set of words I read on to find that the next chapter was titled with those same words, throwing the reader into the thrill of that suspense.Not to mention the ending that left me nothing short of breathless. It's a fantastic debut.Loved it. Can't wait for the next one.