Editing by Elizabeth

November 24, 2010

Kutter by Jeff Strand (The Mad and the Macabre)

“As he drove to work, it occurred to him that he should have taken the dog for a walk before he left. Oh well. It was far from the first mess he’d have to clean up in that basement.” – Charlie Stanlon

Forty-two years old, painfully shy, single, stuck working a dead-end cubicle job, Charlie Stanlon lives a pretty boring life as far as the world around him is concerned. Which is the way Charlie likes it.

What his coworkers don’t know is that when they head out for drinks after work, Charlie heads out to find his next victim. Charlie is a serial killer.

There’s an invariable pattern to his life that Charlie sticks with, a set of rules he lives by to keep himself from getting caught, and that strict discipline allows him to conduct regular hunts for victims and satisfy his urges while also keeping him under control and out of prison.

But a funny thing happens on a hunt one night. He finds an injured dog and, against his better judgment, takes it home. From that point forward Charlie’s life begins to change in ways he couldn’t previously have imagined possible. →

November 23, 2010

Out of Whack, Elrod McBugle on the Loose, Andrew Mayhem Series by Jeff Strand

Welcome to the continuing celebration of Jeff Strand Week. Though best known for his blending of horror and humor, Strand has written a few straight-up comedy works, such as How to Rescue a Dead Princess. (A sequel to which, How to Avenge a Squished Jester, never really got off the ground.) It’s a funny read, well worth checking out. But I can’t review everything, so I’ve chosen to review Strand’s other pure comedy works, Out of Whack and Elrod McBugle on the Loose, and to also give you an overview of the Andrew Mayhem series, the books that started Strand down the horror-humor road.

– Out of Whack –

“It should be pointed out that real life-panties don’t quite tear the way they do in the movies. ” – Seth Trexler

Out of Whack is the fictional autobiography of Seth Trexler, an aspiring horror writer turned comic, romantically challenged, big-hearted goofball. Along with Travis Darrow, his best friend since age 10, we follow Seth as he progresses through high school and into college. Along the way Seth gets drunk for the first time (which leads to meeting the woman of his dreams in a less than smooth manner), loses his virginity in hilarious fashion (see the quote that starts this review), and pursues a career in sketch comedy (despite having a paralyzing fear of public speaking).

Throughout it all Seth and his companions display the irreverent, self-depreciating humor for which Strand’s characters have come to be known, and the plot strikes the perfect balance between Animal House style madness and sneakily subtle self-reflection on serious topics such as love, friendship, and having the courage to follow your dreams.

And in one of the touches that are hallmarks of Strand’s books, the presentation of the book itself is a bit, well, wacky. The table of contents includes “chapter” listings such as: The first twenty pages (1-20), The next twenty pages (21-40), Perfect bowling score (300), Amount in my bank account ($1.57), and Page one-hundred-and-sixteen (243). Out of Whack also comes complete with a faux, ready-made book report provided by the fictional Seth for any students who may have purchased his book to use for that purpose, as well as an “Out of Whack Activity Page” (Because I care so much about you, the reader, I hereby give you this mostly-blank page to use for whatever you want. Enjoy!) conveniently located between chapters twenty-nine and thirty.

Out of Whack is a coming of age story as only Jeff Strand could tell. →

November 22, 2010

Killers and Corpses, Monsters and Mandibles, Guts and… Gummi Bears? Meet Author Jeff Strand

“No author working today comes close to Jeff Strand’s perfect mixture of comedy and terror.” – Cemetery Dance Magazine

Combining horror and comedy in such a way that neither overpowers the other is a delicate operation, but it’s something author Jeff Strand has demonstrated time and again he is a master of doing with surgical precision.

Of course, it helps that the man is seriously demented. Really, how else can you describe someone who has written books with titles such as Socially Awkward Moments with an Aspiring Lunatic, Casket for Sale (Only Used Once), How to Rescue a Dead Princess, and Werewolf Porno (yes, you read that right)?

Well, actually you can also describe him as extremely talented (he’s a two time Bram Stoker Award nominee – he keeps losing to some dude named Stephen King) and criminally unknown to mainstream audiences. Which is why I’ve chosen to give thanks that I am in the know about Strand’s work and to spread the word about his writing by making this Jeff Strand Week here on Musings of an All Purpose Monkey.

Jeff didn’t always want to be a writer. Initially he wanted to be a cartoonist, and spent the early part of his youth “drawing Spider-Man comics, violating copyright law left and right without a smidgen of guilt.” Eventually, however, the realization that he couldn’t actually draw very well settled in and he turned his attention to writing. →

November 21, 2010

Hardcover Mysteries Kathy Reichs: The Case That Inspired Dèja Dead

Investigation Discovery: Hardcover Mysteries Investigation Discovery recently launched a new series called Hardcover Mysteries, in which top fiction crime writers share stories of real-life cases that inspired them to write, or captured their fascination.

The episode debuting tomorrow night (Monday, Nov. 22 at 9PM ET) features New York Times bestselling author and creator of Temperance “Bones” Brennan, Kathy Reichs.

In the episode, Reichs recounts her real-life involvement as a forensic anthropologist in one of the most sensational homicide investigations in Canadian history and how the case inspired elements in her first novel, Dèja Dead.

Discovery Investigation was kind enough to let me pre-screen the episode, and I assure you it’s a gripping case:

Louise Ellis, a 46-year-old journalist from Ottawa, Canada, was on her way to visit friends in the Gatineau Hills, but never arrived. When a friend finds her car parked on a roadside with her belongings inside, authorities begin to suspect foul play. Detectives narrow in on two suspects – her new husband and her ex-boyfriend – but they can’t find Ellis’s body.

Reichs, who was writing her first book at the time she was called in to work on the Louis Ellis case, recounts how she felt a very personal connection with Ellis. They were both writers, strong willed, independent and, at times, argumentative. Reichs also notes that the case contained many of the same elements that make a good fiction thriller: twists and turns, as well as several false leads.

Unlike the villains in her novels however, which she prefers to keep in the “deep background” until unveiled, the villain in the Ellis case ended up being right under the investigators’ noses from the very beginning. To find out who it was, and hear Reichs talk about how the case “stayed with her,” tune in to Hardcover Mysteries on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 9PM.

– CONTEST: Win an Autographed Copy of Spider Bones –

Investigation Discovery has generously provided an autographed copy of Kathy Reichs’ new Temperance Brennan novel, Spider Bones, for one of my readers. To be entered for a chance to win, just leave a comment below. Be sure to include your email address in the comment form so you can be contacted if you’re the lucky winner! Contest open to U.S. addresses only, and runs through midnight on November 27, 2010.
*** The contest is now closed.***

You can learn more about Investigation Discovery and the Hardcover Mysteries series by visiting the Investigation Discovery website. You can also find Investigation Discovery on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Kathy Reichs, like her character Temperance Brennan, is a forensic anthropologist, formerly for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and currently for the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale for the province

November 19, 2010

“Like a Bone in the Throat” by Lawrence Block

Though probably most well-known to the casual reader for his Matt Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr series, Lawrence Block also has a long tradition of writing short stories (his collection Enough Rope contains 83 of them), and another of his well known characters, the hitman Keller, originated as an ongoing short story feature in Playboy Magazine.

In Block’s contribution to Best American Noir of the Century, “Like a Bone in the Throat,” we meet the cast of two, William Charles Croydon and Paul Dandridge, at Croydon’s murder trial where he is convicted of killing Dandridge’s sister and sentenced to death. In order to amuse himself while on death row Croydon begins exchanging correspondence with the misguided women who send him fan letters, manipulating them into sending him revealing photos and their darkest sexual fantasies.

Soon, however, toying with women so willing to do whatever he asks of them loses the ability to excite Croydon, so he decides to write a letter to Dandridge. When Dandridge doesn’t respond, Croydon writes him again. And again. After ignoring the letters initially, Dandridge finally can’t help himself and begins writing back. The story’s set up is told through traditional prose, but the bridge is revealed via a sampling of the letters between Croydon and Dandridge, a technique that is very effective in conveying the intensity of their exchanges.

Block’s build up to the inevitable conclusion – about which I will be vague so as not to spoil it – is deliciously slow and sweet, a perfect reflection of the deliberateness with which Croydon and Dandridge attempt to manipulate each other with nothing but words on paper – much like Block with the reader – over the course of many years. Suffice it to say, the ending of “Like a Bone in the Throat” is like a kick in the teeth.

A cautionary tale of the life changing power of both hate and forgiveness, “Like a Bone in the Throat” is truly a thing of noir beauty from one of America’s masters.

“Like A Bone in the Throat” is available for downloading at Amazon.

Lawrence Block is one of the most acclaimed and highly decorated living mystery writers, having received multiple Edgar, Shamus and Maltese Falcon Awards, as well as lifetime achievement awards in the US, UK, and France. He was named a “Grand Master” by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization’s highest honor. In the 1960s and 70s he wrote seven novels under the pen name “Jill Emerson,” a pseudonym he is reviving for the first time in nearly 40 years for Getting Off.
To learn more about Lawrence Block, visit his website or catch up with him on Facebook and Twitter.

Note: This review was originally published on the Spinetingler

November 18, 2010

A Very Simple Crime by Grant Jerkins

— A Very Simple Crime was one of my Top 10 Reads of 2010 —

If you are unlucky enough to have known the dark as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for darkness is a movable feast. – Adam Lee

There’s enough darkness following Adam Lee, the main character in Grant Jerkins’ debut novel A Very Simple Crime, to fuel a Thanksgiving sized feast.

The book opens with Adam on trial for the murder of his wife, Rachel. As we learn through Adam’s narrated flashback to the events that brought him to this point in his life, it seems that darkness has followed him like a specter from the time his parents were killed in a car accident when he was a child.

He grows up only to marry a woman whom turns out to be seriously mentally disturbed, and with her has a son, Albert, who is born severely developmentally disabled. Though he doesn’t grow much mentally, Albert does grow to be a very physically large young man, one prone to violent outbursts. After nearly killing his mother during a confrontation Albert is finally institutionalized.

Trying to get some breathing space from his suffocating home life, Adam begins having an affair with one of Albert’s attendants at the institution. To occupy his wife while he sneaks away with his mistress for the weekend Adam brings Albert home from the institution for a visit. Upon his return home from the tryst, however, he finds Rachel dead and Albert nearly nearly catatonic, rocking back and forth in a corner of the room.

With Albert the only one present, and having a history of violence against his mother, the police conduct a perfunctory investigation; it’s clear to them what happened. The setup and majority of the backstory established, it’s at this point A Very Simple Crime turns from pure Southern Gothic into a legal thriller that just happens to be set in the South. And, if possible, it gets even darker. →

November 16, 2010

Invisible Path by Marilyn Meredith

Invisible Path by Marilyn Meredith Over the years, when the most easily identified suspect had been arrested with no further investigation for any others, Tempe had investigated murders on her own time, sometimes at the peril of her job or even her life, until she ferreted out the truth and the guilty party.

Tempe Crabtree returns in Invisible Path, the eighth in author Marilyn Meredith’s series featuring the Native American deputy stationed in the small town of Bear Creek, California in the San Joaquin Valley.

In this outing, set against the backdrop of the approaching Christmas season, Tempe finds her plans to relax with her family interrupted by two seemingly unrelated events: the murder of a young Indian man near the Bear Creek Recovery Center, and the appearance of a group of para-military activists in the woods surrounding the Bear Creek Reservation.

Though most on the reservation seem ready to blame newcomer Jesus Running Bear for the murder, Tempe has serious doubts as to his guilt. Those doubts are amplified when she learns the victim was a known bully with a hair trigger temper and more than a few enemies.

Meanwhile, Tempe also has to determine if the para-military group is just a bunch of solider wannabes playing weekend warrior, or if they represent a more serious threat to the citizens of Bear Creek. Add to that the involvement of the Native American legend of the Hairy Man and Tempe has her hands full. →

November 12, 2010

The End of Marking Time by C.J. West

To be effective the punishment has to be so severe as to be frightening, ten times more frightening than whatever else is driving your actions. Citizens can’t abide that level of punishment, and I understand now why the secret has been so well guarded. – Michael O’Connor

Ever imagine what would happen if all the people in prison were released at the same time? Author C.J. West has, and his latest novel, The End of Marking Time, is a look at just such a scenario.

Michael O’Connor ended up alone on the streets at age 15 and turned to a life of burglary in order to keep himself fed. He became quite skilled at his chosen profession, and was careful to never commit a violent crime. After unknowingly stealing from the home of the District Attorney, however, Michael’s luck runs out. He’s arrested, tried and convicted, and sentenced to prison.

During the course of a breakout by a fellow prisoner during their transportation to prison Michael is shot in the head. When he comes out of the resulting coma four years later the world is a very different place.

Shortly after Michael entered his coma the Supreme Court declared long term incarceration to be cruel and unusual punishment. As a result, two million felons were released. Not just left to run wild the relearners, as they are called, are monitored 24/7 via a chip implanted in their heads and an electronic ankle bracelet. Additionally, they must complete an individually tailored education program before they will be deemed reeducated and released from monitoring. Sounds straightforward and relatively benign, right? Not so fast.

As Michael quickly learns, there is more going on in the reeducation programs than the public has been led to believe. The relearners’ programs are administered via a black box connected to their TVs, one that has the capability of administering electric shocks. Further, some of the programs’ instructors aren’t above extorting favors from the relearners in exchange for assurance of good performance results. Refusal results in the lessons increasing to an almost impossible level of difficulty and no hope of ever graduating.

Additionally, in exchange for their “freedom” relearners have lost all rights. Should they be arrested for a subsequent offense there is no jury trial, no presumption of innocence, no appeal. If they’re lucky, they are returned to their program for a second chance. If they’re unlucky – or have already blown their second chance – they get sent to one of the last ditch reeducation programs… programs from which no one ever graduates because, as Michael discovers, relearners sent to those programs are subjected to experimentation and torture so severe that if it doesn’t kill them outright the person eventually goes insane and commits suicide.

Told by Michael in the first person in the form of a speech – a plea, really – he’s delivering to an unseen panel

– Out of Whack –

– CONTEST: Win an Autographed Copy of Spider Bones –

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