Monday, January 27, 2014

Braineater Jones by Stephen Kozeniewski

Braineater Jones wakes up face down in a swimming pool with no memory of his former life, how he died, or why he’s now a zombie. With a smart-aleck severed head as a partner, Jones descends into the undead ghetto to solve his own murder.

But Jones’s investigation is complicated by his crippling addiction to human flesh. Like all walking corpses, he discovers that only a stiff drink can soothe his cravings. Unfortunately, finding liquor during Prohibition is costly and dangerous. From his Mason jar, the cantankerous Old Man rules the only speakeasy in the city that caters to the postmortem crowd.

As the booze, blood, and clues coagulate, Jones gets closer to discovering the identity of his killer and the secrets behind the city’s stranglehold on liquid spirits. Death couldn’t stop him, but if the liquor dries up, the entire city will be plunged into an orgy of cannibalism.

Cracking this case is a tall order. Braineater Jones won’t get out alive, but if he plays his cards right, he might manage to salvage the last scraps of his humanity.



It's the 1930's and Jones has just awakened to find himself dead, floating upside down in a pool.  Even worse than the gaping hole in his torso is the fact that he realizes he has amnesia.  His entire life before this moment is completely gone.  As he tries to solve the mystery of who he is, who killed him and what he's supposed to do next, several other mysteries pop into his life; mysteries that he feels compelled to solve.  Along with his sidekick head, Braineater Jones must solve unlife's biggest problems and preferably before he runs out of alcohol.
Keep in mind that this is written during the time period of the '30's and is voiced as such.  Kozeniewski has included a forward to warn you to watch for slurs.  At first, I was a little thrown off by the lack of editing and grammar check, until I realized a valuable truth.  This book is written in the form of Jones' notebook, so everything is spelled and written as he would.  It actually ads a lot of depth to the story because you get to know more about Jones from his way of speaking and it helps you to try to solve the mystery of who he was before he died. 
All of the characters are compelling and realistic and keep you engrossed in the story.  Myself, I couldn't solve the mystery before Jones did.  I wanted to and I followed all the clues, but until the big reveal at the end, I just didn't get it.  I found myself quite wrong on a few things but I really enjoyed the ride nonetheless.
Why should you read this book?  Braineater Jones is a fascinating character that I absolutely fell in love with.  His manner of speech and action drew me in.  I can't even tell you how many times I suddenly laughed so hard that coffee spurted from my nose.  Throughout the story I kept reading lines and rereading them because they were just pure genius.
This is an entertaining book that will pull you away from life and just let you enjoy someone else's for awhile.  There's not a lot of thought required.  Just sit back and enjoy.

 
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Shawn


1 comment:

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

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