EVER BOUGHT A BOOK ON THE STRENGTH OF THE REVIEWS ON THE BACK???

If you are like us (and probably one of the many thousands of book lovers across the globe) and have had the misfortune of spending your hard-earned cash on an apparent "best-seller"; you will probably also have experienced the dull thud as you bang your head against the wall, thinking "Why did I listen to the reviews on the back?!" The truth is: reviews found on books are usually self-promoting, PR stunt-type hype and not necessarily a true reflection of the books' quality at all.

It is our aim to tell the truth about books, but don't for one second assume that that is synonymous with us creating a blog to 'diss' authors' work - to the contrary - our intention is to provide an honest appraisal of each and every book we read. If the book is any good - it'll get a good review. If it's awful and a tragedy to the literary world - then it won't. It's that simple.

Thursday 6 December 2007

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (ISBN 978-0-7475-9171-8)

This is a difficult novel to pin down. That it is a suspense thriller, there is no doubt. That it is captivating and engrossing, there is no question. But is it a work of art or just another run-of-the-mill conspiracy-theorist book?
I notice little things about books sometimes, perhaps that has something to do with my own personal perspective – possibly... but what I noticed about this title first – was the title. It is exactly what caught my eye and made me wonder about the content of such an oddly named book. A top secret organisation authorised to assassinate ‘bad monkeys’ fits perfectly, and we are straight off onto the psychological rollercoaster ride as in the opening sentences we realise that Jane Charlotte is handcuffed and a delusional psychopath who’s been caught after bumping off some random guy. Brilliant!
Equally brilliant is the deftness of Ruff as he pits each twist and turn against our preconceptions and notions of what is fact and fiction. Only Ruff holds the answers and he offers them out begrudgingly throughout, only to show his true hand right at the end... the end, which I will not ruin for you is sheer genius. This has all the hallmarks of a blockbuster movie. The film rights to this are going to be snapped up, if they haven’t – I’ll have them... I could do so much with a few million in the bank...

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