Wellington Leg: Beat the Reaper is Josh Bezell’s debut novel from Little Brown. Yes, the editor is Reagan Arthur. I mention that because since October you’ve come looking for her in unprecedented waves of curiosity; probably a delayed reaction to the financial collapse since Ben Bernanke and Lederhosen are frequent searches too. Can the Federal Reserve expand its balance sheet to infinity? That’s where the Lederhosen will prove invaluable, a firewall against future inflation.
Tweeking the Zeitgeist: Beat the Reaper is appalling fun and you’ll be ashamed of yourselves for enjoying it ( sorry for the Jesuitical interpretation of pleasure.) As they say in the show, the dude can bring it, all footnoted for anatomical reference. The cover art screams graphic novel probably designed to attract wayward youth to the joys of vivisection. Paced like an episode of 24 the novel travels between the here and now and a startling past. After reading this novel you’ll never be sick again or, if you are unwell, you won’t mention it.
I’d like to watch Newt Gingrich read Beat the Reaper. For a few minutes anyway.
The Last Gig by Norman Green. Published by St. Martins Press. Another quality read this one features Alessandra Martillo a Repo Woman from Brownsville, one part waif, one part ninja Al manages to survive in a violent business with street smarts run wild. In lesser hands this might be a cartoon but author Green is better than that, better than most at rendering the ultimate hopelessness of living Al’s life. This is a serious work with shades of Daniel Judson, Jonathan Lethem, hell, Charles Dickens. Green isn’t giving the genre tropes the high hat he simply makes them more interesting with his admirable restraint.
Tags: Beat the Reaper, The Last Gig