Soze Says

There's an awful lot of 5 star reviews for this one out there, so I had to check out this tale of a masked killer wading through the town of B-Movie Hell (heh) in an apparently random killing spree. Said killer is pursued by two FBI agents, who know more about his origins than anyone, but who still don't know enough ...

It's a pretty straight forward set up, though author Anonymous - which feels like a massive marketing ploy - has fun twisting the narrative to fit with his skewed perspective of a world in which a rich prick can buy a town and re-name it anything he wants, have everyone of consequence in the town working for him, and proceed to objectify women to a ludicrously moustache-twirling degree. I mean, this is the type of character who at one point actually refers to his employees as "henchmen". He also seems to need a BJ every 15 minutes from one of the dancers at his club called The Beaver Palace.

The Red Mohawk is also also quite violent. Anonymous does not skimp on detailing the arterial sprays of blood caused by a meat cleaver, or the damage bullets do, especially when fired from dual uzis. So if sleaze and violence are your thing - think a throwback to exploitation films of the '70s - you'll probably have at least a reasonable time with this.

For mine, this was just okay. I liked certain aspects, including a mid-book shock I did not see coming, and tolerated others. At still other times, it all got a bit a silly and ridiculous for me, especially when it came to Mr Ultra-Sleaze-Ball-Beaver-Palace-owner. The twists in the plot are all fine, though they all centre around a large bit of dodgy logic I simply could not understand: (view spoiler)

The writing is nothing special. It's simple and easy to consume, if overly repetitive at times. Not bad enough to take your name off the title of the book, but nothing to be sending to literary agents around the world either.

In sum, The Red Mohawk is unlikely to win any major awards, but it is likely to entertain, if only in that uncomfortable "What did I just read?" kind of way. That said, it's been optioned to be made into a film, so what do I know? Check it out for yourself.

3 Parties Below the Waistline for The Red Mohawk.