No Rest for the Wicked
Over the last year, I’ve read some pretty awesome books produced by my publisher, Booktrope. As with most indie/underground things, it’s difficult to find these books in stores and libraries, so I’ve taken it upon myself to have my local library branch order as many of them as possible.
The first was Tongues of Angels by Julia Park Tracey, which I enjoyed very much.
Requesting books from the library does a few things:
1. Allows me to read more books without spending as much money.
2. Makes the books publicly available for others to stumble upon.
The bummer is that when I read one I really enjoy, I have to drop it in the slot when I’m done reading or incur that devilish 5¢ fine (or whatever a late fee goes for these days).
The next order I put in was, of course, for my own book.
It took a few months for the database to include my new release, but finally, I’m on the big shelves of the Rego Park branch of the Queens Library. Huzzah!
With my own book (which I checked out, but didn’t read, for obvious reasons), I requested No Rest for the Wicked by Dane Cobain. This has been on my list of Booktrope books to read for a while because it looked damn interesting.
When the Angels attack, there’s NO REST FOR THE WICKED.
Father Montgomery, an elderly priest with a secret past, begins to investigate after his parishioners come under attack, and with the help of Jones, a young businessman, Montgomery begins to track down the origin of the Angels.
The Angels are naked and androgynous; they speak in a dreadful harmony. These aren’t biblical cherubs tasked with the protection of the righteous – these are deadly creatures of light that have the power to completely eradicate.
When Jones himself is attacked, Father Montgomery knows he has to act fast. He speaks to the Angels and organises a final showdown where he’s asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.
I’ve photographed these books on the MTA (New York’s subway system) because that’s where I do the majority of my reading. As you can see, No Rest for the Wicked is a small book. If you’re not familiar with novellas, you might be tempted to believe nothing much can happen in that short a space, but you would be wrong. Unlike so many novels that sprawl on and on just to reach their 80-100 thousand word quotas, this book goes in, tells the story, and gets out. There were never any times where I felt like I needed something explained more (and part of the book deals with the Large Hadron Collider, which is damn confusing as a subject).
The plot jumps around in time a little, but after orienting myself after the first few (brief) chapters, it was super easy to follow. Cobain has a wonderful, fluid writing style that becomes invisible as you read (which is exactly what every writer wants). This is marketed as a horror book, but (at least for me), I didn’t find it “scary”, although I did enjoy the suspense. Then again, I’ve read many a Stephen King novel and thought, “oh wow! What a bad situation,” when something awful is going down. Others…
Read No Rest for the Wicked. Request it from your local library or pick up your own copy from Amazon. It’s big on story, but respects your time as a busy person.
Originally published on my blog at http://www.melaniesurani.com/index.php/blog/
