...the Soul of Wit - Some More Short Reviews

My reading rhythm was unusually speedy this past week, so I already have new short reviews to share with you. Might be because I have been hanging out a lot in and around my local Mauerpark and Falkplatz, enjoying the absolutely fantastic weather we have had lately, laying on the grass, reading my book. The prices have risen so much that I seriously and sadly can't afford sitting in cafés as much anymore, but I bought myself a picnic blanket and a thermos flask for coffee and have been enjoying the weather nevertheless!

I have news too; since I will be part time jobbing at the Hammett Bookstore starting June, I thought it would be good to rekindle my "Thriller Time"s and "Bloody Thrilling" Columns. Hammett owner Christian said it's not necessary for me to know the books well, but I can't work like that, I have to know my books! So, there will probably be a lot more murder stories here on PB, though Horror is and will always stay my main staple.

And I have a surprise for next week, but I'm not allowed to say it yet, so you need to wait. But I'm really excited about it and will publish as soon as I can!

Until then, enjoy these short reviews!

How I Killed the Universal Man by Thomas Kendall

Sun, concrete, technology and waste on fire. This was the first world now, its waxed edges.

In a world close enough to ours but even more derelict with environmental decay, John Lakerman, a journalist for donkeyWolf media, is tasked with investigating and reporting on a new smart drug which already has gained legendary status for its emotional and philosophical potency. His research will lead him through body augmentations and grotesquely hilarious side effects, explorations of various concepts such as identity, consciousness, and labor and life in an ultra-capitalist system, to HIKTUM (How I Killed the Universal Man), a game that has the ability to create telepathy.

Loosely following the style and structure of a roman noir, Kendall fascinates in his second novel with outstanding world-building and world-building through investigation. I initially had the impression that the plot follows a sort of Odyssey-like pattern with Lakerman jumping from one adventure to another, until I've read the author's interview in X-Ray magazine where he indicates his intention was to build a “game-like” flow, which I realized, worked well; a mission, a mystery to solve and unlocking one level after another to get there.

I personally was especially impressed by the complex world-building, the health and ethic-related dystopic elements, which are partly hilariously sarcastic and morbid, and finally the overall ironic authorial tone and style. The meshing of real and speculative elements is so confident that it's sort of incredible that this is the first SF novel Kendall wrote, taking and absorbing me into a completely new, crazy world that I thoroughly enjoyed being in. As it is usually the case with complex worlds, it took me some time to completely get into but I was eventually immersed. I'm gonna go join Lakerman and have a Negroni now.

My wholehearted thanks to the author Thomas Kendall for reaching out and sending me a review copy of How I Killed the Universal Man!

Supplication by Nour Abi-Nakhoul

You know how some books make you feel dumb? There's no other way to say it. You feel foolish reading them. You understand the words, the sentences, but you just don't understand them in that order and sequence and what their effect is supposed to be. This is that book for me.

If you ask me “So İnci, I see you've read Supplication. What did you think?”, I could probably tell you that it's about a woman, she's somewhere with a guy and he drools a lot. Then she's outside, goes to a bar, a couple take her home and there's a powder, whatever that is, they snort, she kills them, then there's a horse, a child with which she dances, the horse again. And that's about it.

It is written as stream of consciousness, so I'm not sure if this is her drug trip, if it was all a dream, I honestly don't know. If you think that's your jam, be my guest, it's not very much mine though.

I was excited about this book, mainly because I love the cover so much and I still think the cover is wonderful.

This Census-Taker by China Miéville

A young boy comes running down a hill, claiming that his mother killed his father. But is it the other way around? Did anyone really die? He goes on to live with his remaining parent until one day a census-taker comes along and asks him to join him.

There was a time in my life when I devoured everything written by Miéville, I would have read his grocery list if he published it, that's how much I enjoy his writing. But somewhere along the way I stopped, and why that is, I don't know.

To come back to a once favorite author with This Census-Taker was a pleasure, to see he can still leave strong impressions in your mind; like a little boy, driven by dread, running down a hill with his hands in the air. Miéville does that well, leaving pictures in your mind. Interestingly the universe or this world this story is set in reminded me of M. John Harrison's Autotelia, a post-some catastrophe Britain, as well as the semi-cryptic plot. Will read this again in the future.

Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt

I have read Mr. Splitfoot for my Mount TBR challenge over at Horror Aficionados since it was sitting on my shelf for six years (According to the price tag, in those olden days I paid 5 euro for it, which is sadly impossible now).

It is an interesting enough book about two young orphans, Ruth and Nat, who have been adopted by some ultra religious jerk for tax money who seriously neglects them. While they play a game of talking to the dead, they are picked up by a traveling salesman and start living a different life as con mediums. In a parallel storyline we follow the girl Ruth as an adult, finding and running off with her niece who is pregnant out of the wedlock and the father of the baby is trying to abort it contrary to her wishes, putting stuff in her food and all.

There's lot of commentary on the USA and religion here - cults, making money over beliefs and exploiting children in the name of some belief system. The book had partly pacing problems as one of the two storylines leaves much to be desired as the other kept me engaged. In an unexpected turn of events, this changes in the course of the book and the dull story becomes interesting while the other fizzles out. I can't say I liked or understood the characters either. Still, it was worth the read, if only for the satisfaction of being able to cross one more title off my list. Aaaaahhhh, that satisfaction...

THRILLER TIME!

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

For sure, Alex Michaelides, as an author, has the skill to grab you from the get go, nothing less. In little stories about troubled people, their ambitions, their desires, their fears, relatable people, he again and again showcases this skill, which for me is comparable to Stephen King's character work; you're glued to these people within only a couple of pages.

The Fury is no different, we follow actor and unreliable narrator Elliot Chase, who recounts the course of events that led to the murder of his friend, actress Lana Farrar on her own private Greek island. No more info on this, just read or listen for yourself.

Seriously, I had access to an advanced listening copy on Libro.fm through the Otherland and just wanted to listen in, just in case it's something I'd like to review and I was done in two sittings (hadn't I been as exhausted as I was last night, I could have easily finished it in one).

My one critique point about Michaelides is that the main motivation for murder is almost always some love interest. I'd really like to read something less banal, a little more complex in its nature than “I loved him/her but they didn't love me back”, which seems to be almost always the case in his books. Other than that I have nothing to complain about – I also enjoyed the little references to his other books, they're small details but lots of fun to notice.