Review: Sympathy for the Devil
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 12, 2012
What happens when Hoboken is connected  with Mayberry RFD by a senseless violent act? JD Mader connects the dots between a homicidal psychopath, a stripper and Andy Griffith in a tale that has all charm of Sinatra being backed up by Chet Atkins singing your favorite Burl Ives songs. You know the songs Burl used to sing about the nature of good and evil? Well, me either. Joe Cafe doesn't answer the question of why it's not Joe's Cafe. Avoids the issue entirely. But it does paint an accurate picture of a small town and the local LEO when a crime occurs that is beyond his depth. You know, like something worse than littering. There is just no way for our version of Barney Fife, er Michael, to understand the connection between such a ruthless killer and his childhood in Mayberry. So Barney spins out of control. He tries trout fishing, but moves on to the harder stuff.How could a psychopath and stone cold killer ever hope to find true love? Well he makes an effort. Misguided but courageous. You even come to feel sorry for the monster than is Chet. Just a little. But there is little redemption in life, even for the most deserving of us. And Chet is a long way from deserving, at least deserving anything short of a state sanctioned needle in the arm.If you're looking for a feel good story, Joe Cafe is probably not for you. However, if dark characters, vivid accounts of action and a good dose of poetic justice combined with an ironic lack of same - this may be just what you need to cuddle up with to feel all warm and fuzzy. Chet is not as cuddly as Dexter Morgan, nor have the strange moral code. But he is pathetic. It maybe his only likable quality.Strong language, mature situations and a good dose of dark pathos. Joe Cafe is actually one of the best books I've read this year. It hit all the right chords for me. Realism, honesty and deeply disturbing irony. It holds the reader in it's spell and keeps you reading right through to the end.