Carl Alves's Blog - Posts Tagged "dark-fantasy"
Jake's Wake by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow
Jake Connaway is a rocker turned cable televangelist preaching that he will one day be resurrected. His chance to prove this theory happens when he is murdered by the husband of one of his followers as he’s having sex with the man’s wife. Jake’s outrageous claims comes to pass when he comes back to life during his wake. Convinced that he is the second coming of Christ, he sees himself as a godlike figure and goes on a violent killing rampage. Among the victims are the people at his house, which includes his wife, his assistant, and a woman he once abused, as well as the men that are with them. Jake and his friend, Gray, a cold-blooded killer, come up with creative and inventive ways to massacre these folks. His end goal is to telecast his rebirth to the world.
The characterization of the two main villains in this story, Jake and Gray, are both well done. They are loathsome and vial characters, but all the same have some level of humanity to them and feel more real than most antagonists that I come across in fiction. The gore in this novel wasn’t overdone and fit the story pretty well. The pace of the novel was quick and there was a high level of tension. On the downside, there was an interlude of Jake’s followers trying to get to his house that seemed pretty useless and should have been scrapped. One thing that was annoying me during the course of the novel was that there was no explanation of Jake’s resurrection. However, there’s a twist at the end of the novel that fully explains the reincarnation and makes the entire novel make sense. For me, the best part of the novel was the twist at the end, which produced a very satisfying conclusion. This was an enjoyable novel that I recommend.
The characterization of the two main villains in this story, Jake and Gray, are both well done. They are loathsome and vial characters, but all the same have some level of humanity to them and feel more real than most antagonists that I come across in fiction. The gore in this novel wasn’t overdone and fit the story pretty well. The pace of the novel was quick and there was a high level of tension. On the downside, there was an interlude of Jake’s followers trying to get to his house that seemed pretty useless and should have been scrapped. One thing that was annoying me during the course of the novel was that there was no explanation of Jake’s resurrection. However, there’s a twist at the end of the novel that fully explains the reincarnation and makes the entire novel make sense. For me, the best part of the novel was the twist at the end, which produced a very satisfying conclusion. This was an enjoyable novel that I recommend.
