Bob @ Beauty in Ruins
PLEASE NOTE: I'm rarely active here anymore, but please feel free to follow me on Goodreads, where I post regularly.
These are the chronicles of a book addict, a photo junkie, and an aspiring author, rewriting the very fabric of reality one page (and one snapshot) at a time. From the strange to the unusual; the abandoned to the abnormal; the haunted to the historic; the supernatural to the surreal; the forests of dark fantasy, the cemeteries of gothic horror, and the post-apocalyptic ruins of science fiction are the landscapes of my imagination.
Currently reading
Thriller Review - Snake Typhoon! by Billie Jones
A short read and a short review for a Sunday afternoon.
What do you get when you cross the foul-mouthed mayhem of Snake on a Plane with the intentional b-grade laughs of Sharknado? Well, swap out Samuel L. Jackson and Tara Reid for a petite sort of Angelina Jolie, and you've got Snake Typhoon! (yes, that is an exclamation mark in the title).
It's a silly, nonsense romp, complete with a massive cyclone in Australia, poisonous snakes, a secret government department, an opportunistic misunderstanding as to what a 'herpetologist' does, mystical nonsense, infomercial extravagance, and even a little lesbian titillation. Billie Jones clearly knows the source material, and isn't afraid to satirize it with some rather broad strokes of her pen.
Does it always work? No. Are there some gaping holes in the story? Yes? Does any of that matter? No. It's fun, it's frantic, and it plays like the best parts of a b-grade movie. The dialogue is sharp, the action is non-stop, and the humor is biting. There's even a cliffhanger involving a tarantula-quake that we can only hope is realized.
Snake Typhoon! isn't going to win any literary awards, but it's sure to be one of those fan-favourites that readers talk about over one too many drinks.
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