The Electric Mayhem: Black Sand

Very Mercenary by Rayo Casablanca

Very Mercenary is a dark, violent and humorous novel. The litmus test for desire to read it will be the simple summary itself. You’ll read the summary and you’ll probably know right away whether you’ll want to read the book or not.

A group of escaped mentally ill terrorists, dressed as furries, kidnap an heiress and a group of guerilla ninja artists rescue her.

I reckon after reading that you’ve decided and anything I say now will be superfluous. But I will anyway. Very Mercenary is an over the top, action packed, slightly bizarre, riot, whack-job of a novel with a lightening quick pace and a lot of absurd humor.

The Shallow End of the Pool by Adam-Troy Castro

It’s not often that a story leaves me speechless. I tend to have a high bar for shock and awe but this one left me feeling beaten and battered in a way that doesn’t happen often.

Too many stories claim the banner of transgressive without ever reaching it in a way that Castro does; he makes Palahniuk look like a clumsy putz. In the upcoming years Palahniuk, like Tolkien and Chandler, will have a lot to answer for in terms of pale imitators.

So much of what is deemed “transgressive” fiction feels to me empty. That its just violent for the sake of violence. But this violence has a heart and face. Oddly enough given the premise, it’s execution, and the amount of sensory detail The Shallow End of the Pool is largely a psychological novel.

Lowboy by John Wray

Lowboy is an incredibly engaging novel with great characters and a secret that is dangled in front of the reader like a carrot for as long as possible creating an incredible narrative pull and a desire to turn pages. What’s interesting about this dangled carrot is how it acts as negative space for the reader. We attach predictions and expectations to the reveal that become increasingly outlandish or improbable as our anxiety grows. ‘Oh my god what can the secret be.’ Then, when it’s revealed, it turns out to be something much more sublime, real, human and effective.

Lowboy is an incredible book that falls just short of greatness but winds up being just right.

About Brian

Brian loves both kinds of books -- fiction and non-fiction. He is an all around book john and reviewing roustabout. His semi-regular columns at BSC include BSC Radar Screen, The Electric Mayhem, Conversations with the Bookless and Short Thoughts on Short Fiction. He blogs at Observations From the Balcony.