I admit I have a problem with objectivity. I love Rutger Hauer, and I know people think his movies are terrible, but I watch and love them anyway. (Although even I recognize that Hobo with a Shotgun is WRETCHED.) Sometimes my lack of objectivity makes it hard to write a review, though! I liked John Dies at the End, I loved This Book is Full of Spiders, and I enjoyed Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. I am a David Wong fan. So! I’m pretty sure I liked this, but I’m not sure it was actually good.
John and David (this is their third book) are continuing their calling as half-assed Chaotic Good knock-offs of the Winchesters. They investigate weirdness, they flail around helplessly until things get worse, more things happen that make no sense but are exciting and alarming, and they manage to make it to the end of the book without the world ending (this particular world, anyway).
The Big Bad in this one is really interesting. The original case involves a spate of kidnappings, but when David and John dig deeper, they find out that none of the frantic parents ever actually had a child. The rescued children are actually larvae that prey on love, and fork with people’s memories to create a safe space for them to incubate. It’s creepy and diabolical, and not a plotline I’ve encountered before.
But! There are some mental health issues in this book that might be a little triggering. David is forced to face his depression, and there are some pretty harrowing scenes of suicidal ideation. When Amy, David’s long-time girlfriend and part of the monster squad, deals with a creature that takes on the likeness of the Best Possible Version of David, it breaks her heart to see what David could be if he wasn’t a self-loathing couch potato. And it reinforces his nefarious brain-weasel thoughts that maybe she’d be better off without him. I’m glad to see David (the character and the author) is growing up a little, but some of this seriously heavy stuff feels so fraught and out of place amidst the chapters about John building guns from dildos and silicone sex butts from the adult store under David’s apartment. It’s like if Beavis and Butthead had a Very Special Episode about mental health.
So there are some tone issues, and some pretty large plot conveniences, but it’s also a grand, goofy, creative, kinetic, baffling ride. I would join these three on just about any adventure they chose to share with us. But then, I thought Blind Fury was pretty great.
