Boy A, by Jonathan Trigell

Boy A by Jonathan Trigell


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wish I could find a way to adequately convey my love for this book without sounding like a gushing groupie. But, I can't, so I'll soldier on with my groupie flag flying.

What can I say other than this book is amazing. I can't begin to say how amazing it is in a short review, and I'm a fair hand at wordplay. I'll do my inadequate best.

Trigell takes the story of Jack, a newly-released-from prison, twenty-something convicted child murderer--as in, he was a child when convicted of murder (the victim was also a child) and makes you wallow in it. He takes you into the mind of Jack and makes you love him. He takes you to the slimy, dark, gritty underbelly of English society and makes you lie on your back and lick it. You can't help but do what he wants as he weaves the story through the minds of various characters, crafting a perfectly plotted, perfectly paced, perfectly terrible story of attempted redemption. As you slough along towards the inevitable conclusion, you know what's coming, but you breathlessly keep reading, wanting to look away but utterly unable. Such is the hypnotic control Trigell masters in this artfully honed masterpiece of suspense. As difficult as it must be to create such tension in a book where from the start you know almost without doubt of the story's outcome, Trigell does it, and does it well.

Although his writing style is more gritty than poetic, Trigell can turn a phrase with beauty and almost magical precision. I can't count the number of times I had to stop and savor a sentence and wish ardently that I could weave words together with such breathtaking rightness. Because each of these sentences shows craft and a kind of heartrending accuracy. You find yourself thinking simultaneously that you'd never think to put words together in that way and that it's the exact way they were created to fit together.

In short, from the first words this book grabs you by the throat like a vicious, one-eyed mangy dog with oozing pustules and shakes you senseless until the last breathtaking sentence.

Although I can't recommend it to everyone due to its graphic nature, I wish I could.




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My Week in Books

Currently Reading: Walking the Rez Road

So, my ebook has been on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords for a week. Although for 2 days it was under construction. I've sold six books, which is pretty cool, although comparatively, it's pretty horrible. But I wasn't expecting big things, so I'm happy with it. I'm never gonna be one of those people who is great at self promotion, although I'd like to sell enough to pay for all the money I spent getting it out there. I guess it's like a business investment.

I AM LIVE!

That's right. My ebook of THE SUPERIORS went live today. I know I haven't been hyping it up much, so here goes: This is a serious urban fantasy book about a Superior race that takes over the world and raises humans as livestock. Draven, a lower class Superior, can't afford his own human. However, one night he captures a runaway human named Cali. She in turn captures his interest. Although he must return her by law, he vows to purchase her later. Caught in a tangled and dangerous web, Draven struggles to fulfill his quest and purchase Cali at any cost. find the ebook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Traditional paper book coming soon!

Beale Street Music Festival (Day 1)

So this past weekend was Memphis in May, and I went for the second year in a row and the third time overall. It was awesome! Much better than last year, when many of the bands cancelled because of flooding and the park was evacuated on Saturday night so many other bands didn’t get to play. This year we had two whole days of music before the rain set in.

On Friday, I met up with my sister and we drove the five hours to Memphis. We got to our hotel (Super Ghetto Motel, ask if you need directions). It was really hot but the AC in the room didn’t work. Also, we discovered when we arrived that we had a room with one “full” bed instead of two queens. Oh, well. It was cheap. It smelled like smoke even though it was a non-smoking room, and we soon discovered smoke drifting in through the window while people smoked on the balcony and yelled at their children. Big fun.

We went to the festival and on the way got pulled over by a cop when my sister ran a red light (the sun was RIGHT in our eyes. I have no idea how anyone could see that the light was red). The cop asked us both for ID even though I wasn’t driving. Then he proceeded to ask us what bands we were going to see and then blocked off the intersection so we could make a left turn and get to the parking area we wanted. Why aren’t all cops so helpful?

We went in and caught part of Cake, who I’d seen a few times but was still fun. Then we saw B.o.B, which was WAY awesome and better than I expected. It turned out to be my favorite show of the whole weekend, especially when he started free-styling at the end. Amazing energy, great view, and I loved all the songs, most of which I’d never heard.

I kept trying to hook up with a couple different groups of friends who had also come for the weekend, but I didn’t get hold of any of them. We went to see Stone Temple Pilots, which was a little bit disappointing. They were okay, and they played a lot of old stuff and a lot of new stuff. But it was just meh. Something lacking. Or maybe I just expected SO much because I love them so much, so of course it couldn’t live up to my expectations. We left the park and went to bed ‘early’ that night, which means 1 or 2 a.m. in Memphis in May time.