When the Vatican’s top assassin, a Rhodesian merc, a pair of serial killer lovers, a dirty cop, and a professional sadist compete in a mad race for a pair of priceless magical artifacts, betrayal, theft, and murder are just the opening moves in a game of death.“Curtis is able to create awesome, interesting characters full of life. He is one of the best writers I have had the pleasure to work … to work with.” – Nico Leon, Ms. Marvel
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This was definitely one of the strangest books I have ever encountered. It features the Bonnie an Clyde of the murder for fun set, a psycho warrior nun, a pair of cursed knives, a lady cop with a sick son and, by the end, a whole lot of dead bodies. If you’re at all squeamish about violence or bad language, this one’s probably not for you, but it’ alternately funny, horrifying and oddly addictive, to the point where I really wanted to keep listening to find out where it was going.
I you’re a fan of stories about psycho killers and really twisted plots, this one has almost an early Stephen King feel to it.
This is a tale of two magical daggers that act as vampires, transferring the life, vitality, and soul of the person stabbed to the person doing the stabbing. Old people become younger and stronger. Injured people heal instantaneously. Sick people become healthy. All at the small price of being turned into a crazed homicidal maniac.
Naturally, most people don’t believe the legend behind the daggers is true. They just see extremely valuable artifacts of an earlier age. When the knives are sort of accidentally stolen, lots of people become interested in possessing them. Most initially want to claim the reward, but just about everyone gets seduced by the very real power of the blades. This makes for a madcap adventure in which large numbers of people are seeking the prize in a very dark parody of the famous comedy, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
The truth is, I expected to like this book, but was surprised by just how quickly I fell in love with it. Lawson’s characters are fantastic—quirky (if not outright weird)—and many of them are really, really, bad. All of them are in over their heads. Watching people struggle to obtain or regain possession of these magic items was fascinating. Wondering who would ultimately survive made for a gripping and extremely fast-paced storyline. Honestly, my only problem with the tale was that it came to an end.
Fortunately, there’s a sequel.
arely does a book leave me without words, yet here I am. IT’S A BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD WORLD is full of horrible people and terrible situations. It was funny as hell and I loved it!
Written in vivid style it was easy to picture this in my imagination as a movie. Combine some ancient relics with your favorite action film, add a bit of any Tarantino movie, sprinkle in a dry sense of humor and finish it off with the “franks and beans” scene from There’s Something About Mary-and Voila! You have the recipe for this book. (I tried to fit the battle-nun into my recipe but I can’t think of anything, anywhere to liken her to. That’s right, there’s a bad-ass battle nun, deal with it.)
As I said, this book left me speechless, so I had to borrow descriptions of films to write this review. A friend of mine used the movie Smoking Aces to help describe this book, and I find that to be an apt comparison as well. I just don’t know what else to say. Fun, full of action and humor, IT’S A BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD WORLD is a great way to spend a few hours. Highly recommended!
*I was provided a free e-book copy in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*