RECOMMENDED: "Deadbeat: Makes You Stronger" (G. Adams)
I love surprises. The good kind, at least. There’s nothing more pleasing to someone who regularly reviews books, comics or music than landing a review copy of something that exceeds all expectations. It’s not like I had any reason to think Guy Adams’ first book in the new “Deadbeat” series (titled “Makes You Stronger”) will be bad, not at all. But it turned out to be one of the most fun things I’ve read in the last few years. And it’s FULL of surprises of it’s own.
The only thing I’ve ever read by Guy Adams was a Sherlock Holmes book (here’s the review). I really liked it, it was certainly an entertaining book, but it had Adams working on several classic, well established and loved characters. When I finished it I couldn’t really tell what is Adams’ writing style, I kind of treated it more as a new Sherlock Holmes book, rather than my first Guy Adams book, if that makes sense. So I had no idea what to expect from the author’s completely original creation, the first book of the Deadbeat series.
Early on there were a few scenes with the pair using acting to fool people into giving away information and they were quite funny, so I thought I knew what kind of crime book this will be – something along the lines of two British Irwin M. Fletchers (the movie ones), riiight? Well... no. I was way off. Folks, I don’t really know how to tackle this in the review – I usually limit book spoilers to the stuff that’s already mentioned on the back cover and in the various promos, rarely revealing any further plot points. Well, let’s just say this: about 1/3rd into the book, Adams pulled the rug from under my feet completely, and the book suddenly had a definite horror/supernatural aspect to it. At first I thought “Why? Adams was doing so good, it was a perfectly good crime/mystery story with original and funny characters on the case. Was this twist necessary?” I would probably question it for a while longer if it wasn’t for the fact, that within the next 20 pages I was more hooked than before and laughing at all the humor Adams’ take on the supernatural bit offered. It’s brilliant. I can’t spoil it, that would be just terrible, but take my word for it – this is brilliant fiction. It’s mixing genres and defying expectations and the end result is a piece of work that’s funny, fantastically strange and reads perfectly. I mentioned the humor in “Makes You Stronger” a bunch of times already, but it’s a really big part of the book, so here’s it’s own little neat paragraph. The two main characters are hilariously witty, and since the book is split up into POV chapters (most of them narrated by one of our two protagonists) you can bet there’s a lot of funny material crammed into it. I was sitting alone with the book, laughing like an idiot every couple of pages. My hat’s off to Mr. Adams’ sharp wit. To sum up this incredibly vague (plot-wise) review, I can’t recommend the first Deadbeat book enough. It’s a mystery, it’s a thriller, it’s kind of a horror, it will make you laugh out loud quite a few times, and it looks like it’s gonna have a follow up real soon. Awesome. Max and Tom are characters that I could easily see myself following through a series of books, and I’m very much looking forward to next installments. Good job, Guy Adams! And good job, Titan Books, for giving home to this great new series! Check it out, righteous Trash Mutant readers: this is a mystery novel unlike anything you’ve read. Go crazy! Buy the first "Deadbeat" book right now! You won't be disappointed. Read it already? Got something on your mind? Sound off in the comments! |
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