Official Review: Zozobra Rising by Bruce T. Montgomery

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joshfee77
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Official Review: Zozobra Rising by Bruce T. Montgomery

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[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Zozobra Rising" by Bruce T. Montgomery.]
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4 out of 4 stars
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Zozobra Rising is a crime thriller by Bruce T. Montgomery. David Quinn is the Superintendent at the Albuquerque Waste Water Treatment facility in New Mexico. One of his employees, "Goot" Guitierrez, alerts him to a severed hand he has found in the water filtration area of the plant. The hand is huge and black, definitely a man's...but it has acrylic fingernails painted cotton candy pink.

Flashing back to the night before, we see Frankie, a huge cross-dressing black man, gambling at a casino to attempt to turn his savings of $20,000 into the $80,000 he needs for gender reassignment surgery. Alas, Native American Bennie Yazzie, owner of the casino, learns of Frankie's card-counting exploits. Less than pleased, Bennie chops off Frankie's hand and has his bodyguards dump Frankie in the river. Frankie survives and swims ashore downstream. There, he is found by the employees of the Waste Water Treatment facility that already has his missing hand...

Montgomery's writing is of high quality throughout the book. There is the clever: "The hiring pool for Waste Water was ankle-deep"; the sardonic: "She had the deep, gravelly voice of career smoker and future lung cancer candidate"; and plenty of dry humour: "As he pulled off his pants, he performed an awkward, jerky hip-hop dance, like a contestant of 'So You Think You Can Dance' having a petit mal seizure." The author describes physical settings such as homes and landscapes in neat yet vivid detail. His addition of some of the food, history, and culture of New Mexico provides a sense of richness and gritty realism for the story.

There are no conventional chapters in this book, with each section instead headed with the name of the viewpoint person (or people). This is a highly effective method which makes an intricate plot easy to follow. The dialogue is sharp and witty, the paragraphs constructed logically, and the editing professional, with a high level of attention to detail and only a few errors. The love interest between two of the main characters starts subtly and builds into a strong mutual affection at the right time, with a lull in some adrenaline-charged events providing the catalyst for them to take their relationship to the next level. The author handles the sexual tension and flirting between these two characters deftly.

The only negative for me about this book is the small number of errors I found in the text. There are not enough, however, to detract from a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. Zozobra Rising is a brilliant, bizarre, and fascinating story and character study. The violence, quirky story and excellent plotting reminded me of the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, such as Fargo. The story has a cinematic quality that would translate well into a movie. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime novels, as long as you are not put off by violence. It is one of the most entertaining crime thrillers I have ever read.

******
Zozobra Rising
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Fj421
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Post by Fj421 »

Good book, looks like it keeps you in suspense , if the violence doesn't bother you it's a good reader.
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Post by OrlaCarty »

I do enjoy dark, dry humour, so I am glad that this author does not shy away from it! Thank you for the review.
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Post by Ruba Abu Ali »

Dark humor and a cinematic-quality story, stirring within the context of a crime thriller are a must read for me. Great review, as always. Thank you heaps.
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Post by kandscreeley »

You made this book seem fascinating. I do enjoy certain types of humor in with my stories. However, you lost me at Fargo. That was just not my type of movie. So, I think I'm going to avoid this one. Too many others out there that I really want to read.
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Post by Alicia09 »

The idea that the owner of the hand survived only to find his other hand is already wonderfully dark and quirky. It's not every day I find a unique crime thriller with well drawn characters, interesting plots and good humor, so this is definitely going on my "Want to read" list. Thanks for the review!
:character-ariel:
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Post by joshfee77 »

Fj421 wrote: 03 Sep 2018, 20:25 Good book, looks like it keeps you in suspense , if the violence doesn't bother you it's a good reader.
Definitely a great read. Thanks for your comment!
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Post by joshfee77 »

OrlaCarty wrote: 04 Sep 2018, 04:14 I do enjoy dark, dry humour, so I am glad that this author does not shy away from it! Thank you for the review.
Yeah, a wicked sense of humour in this one. So many examples that elevated it well above the average. Thanks for commenting!
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Post by joshfee77 »

Ruba Abu Ali wrote: 04 Sep 2018, 06:58 Dark humor and a cinematic-quality story, stirring within the context of a crime thriller are a must read for me. Great review, as always. Thank you heaps.
Thanks very much for your comments! If you enjoy crime thrillers, this is certainly one of the better ones out there. Would be great as a movie.
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Post by joshfee77 »

kandscreeley wrote: 04 Sep 2018, 15:08 You made this book seem fascinating. I do enjoy certain types of humor in with my stories. However, you lost me at Fargo. That was just not my type of movie. So, I think I'm going to avoid this one. Too many others out there that I really want to read.
Fair comment. I have an off-beat, quirky sense of humour, so this one suited me perfectly. A little Coen brothers and just a bit Tarantino. If these aren't your thing, give this one a miss!
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Post by joshfee77 »

Alicia09 wrote: 04 Sep 2018, 18:17 The idea that the owner of the hand survived only to find his other hand is already wonderfully dark and quirky. It's not every day I find a unique crime thriller with well drawn characters, interesting plots and good humor, so this is definitely going on my "Want to read" list. Thanks for the review!
If you like dark and quirky crime thrillers, I can't recommend this one enough! I think you will really enjoy it. Thanks for your comments.
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Post by Sakilunamermaid »

Authors have been hitting it out of the park with amazing attention seizing openings. I want to know this story and these characters. I'm glad that the owner of the hand didn't die. I love being drawn in and I love to experience how different authors style and world building.
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Post by joshfee77 »

Sakilunamermaid wrote: 08 Sep 2018, 15:36 Authors have been hitting it out of the park with amazing attention seizing openings. I want to know this story and these characters. I'm glad that the owner of the hand didn't die. I love being drawn in and I love to experience how different authors style and world building.
Yeah, this one definitely had a great opening! The impressive thing was that the entire book maintained the same high quality. Thanks for your comments.
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