Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

I've had some David Wong books on my to-read list for a while, but luckily the Sword and Laser picked one for the monthly read so I can finally cross one off. I'm a big fan of the Cracked website, and was excited to see what that style looked like as a novel. In short, it's pretty insane.

The book is as bizarre as its title, taking place in the no rules, no government, no consequences sity of Tabula Ra$a, Utah where trailer park barista Zoey Ashe suddenly finds herself heiress to her estranged father's fortune, debts, and messed up life. Life in this near-future world is all recorded and broadcast on the voyeuristic “Blink” network, and billions of people subscribe to watch super-powered serial killers hunt people down. All she wants is to go home with her cat.

The story is frenetic, sarcastic, and as creatively violent as the title warns. It definitely gets a little harder to read at the end, but most of the time, it was a darkly humorous adventure, not too heavy on the moralizing. The characters are a bit flat (though Zoey is a wonderful change from a traditional SFP or damsel in distress) and the cat behaves like no cat I have ever known in my life (I care a lot about realistic cat portrayals. Cats aren't dogs!), but if you're just looking for a fast, exciting read and don't mind a LOT of blood, you'd probably enjoy this book. I don't know that it's one I'll remember well in a few years, but I enjoyed it while reading it.