By THE INFAMOUS REVIEWER GIO:
“Yeah, it’s a trap, and we know it’s a trap, and they know that we know, and so on and so forth. We go anyway, or we run away. I’m tired of running.”
James Ozwryck
Imagine a quirky, dark humored, action/sci-fi movie directed by David Fincher and starring Edward Norton and perhaps Margot Robbie as co-star….THAT is what Catskinner’s Book felt to me the whole time I was reading!
Of course, if you ask author Misha Burnett, he will tell you that the concept of this story is based in part on himself as he was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, and part of his motivation for writing this was an attempt to convey what D.I.D. feels like from inside.
The other main inspiration for this quite unique and peculiar tale was William S. Burrough, specifically his Nova Express trilogy.
This story is about James Ozwryck, a seemingly ordinary store clerk who believes he has an entity or alien form residing within him which he calls ‘Catskinner’. James and Catskinner communicate and even ‘argue’ at times, but the interesting thing is that when catskinner takes over James’ body he can find himself achieving physical feats otherwise impossible for a guy his size. As far as James can remember, Catskinner has always been with him since birth.
The entirety of Book 1 revolves around James finding out more and more about Catskinner and its origins, and to be honest, I was HOOKED! The story has good pace, good prose style that brilliantly reflects the urban language of our times, some jaw-dropping action scenes, violence and a dry sense of humor that-in this context-is very spot on.
If you were wondering what the book cover was about, that cover is from a photo shoot of Burnett’s roommate and those are the author’s hands you see. What the image reflects is the main character James wanting to care for and protect Godiva, the co-main character.
Now that I highlighted some of the positive aspects of this book, let’s turn our attention to some of the negatives which lead me to score this more like a 4 out of 5 stars…
The Closing Act:
As I always advise authors, no matter how many sequels in one particular series you plan to write, you still have to offer a ‘complete experience’ to your readers in each individual book. Unfortunately, I feel like this book fails to accomplish that. The conclusion felt rushed, hollow, and disappointing. We basically end up where we started from and we realize we have learned close to zero about what we were seeking along with the main character. The end is abrupt, almost like the writer didn’t know what else to do and decided to just end it there. I am all for cliffhangers and creating expectations to read the next book, but at the same time, each book must deliver some sense of fulfillment or that at least we have moved on from point A to point B… I just did not see that here, although the entire ride was extremely fun and suspenseful. Actually that in itself made the end that much more disappointing for me personally.