Loser Baby

Whelp...where do I even begin. This is another one where I wasn't sure what to expect. I was told to be “prepared” by the author and well...he was right.

Loser Baby starts with an chaotic visceral start that is reminiscent of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Bovberg throws the reader directly into the action of a drug-fueled party without any background and hooks the reader with flashes of character insight and trickled-out background which ends up turning the novel into a gritty journey of discovery.

Without spoiling anything, there is a theft, there are a couple people missing, and the reader is trying to piece it all together.

What I found particularly interesting was the book read very much like a noir novel while eschewing a hard boiled detective trope and setting. Instead it carries all the feelings of a noir mystery into a modern culture. There is something to be said for a lonely night outside a fast food burger drive-through instead of a 50s diner.

The book shifts perspectives each chapter. Bouncing between 3-4 principal characters allows us all to experience the same confusion, and it forces us to piece together the clues that the characters do. We become part of the journey. And it is a ride.

Happily recommend the book with four stars. There was a little slowdown in the second fifth of the book which took a star off - but it starts strong and ends satisfyingly. Great modern noir!