Sunday, September 21, 2008

What the Pink Octopus is reading


Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell
Available: January 2009

Here's the intro letter from Reagen Arthur that says exactly what I think, only better:

When everyone at Little, Brown first started reading and talking about Beat the Reaper, the same thing kept coming up: when was the last time you had this much fun reading a book? I mean outrageous, audacious, I-can't-believe-he-just-said-that fun. It's a thriller -- with footnotes! Footnotes that are as funny and entertaining as the text!

It's got a complicated, sympathetic good guy, very scary bad guys, and a break neck pace that if it ever pauses to draw a breath, uses the next breath to jump into a shark tank. It's got good advice should you ever consider getting your tongue pierced --DON'T-- or if you've ever wondered about alternative uses for your own shinbone.

Josh Bazell is a doctor and it turns out that he's also a writer, a natural born storyteller whose brilliant and exuberant first novel I hope you will love as much as I do.



Pink Octupus rating: Eight Tentacles Up!

9 comments:

H. L. Dyer said...

I'm also a doctor, and I hope someday someone says that sort of thing about me. :)

JES said...

Got my attention!

Also found this review from an independent bookseller in Michigan (Elmore Leonard country, they should know): "An average day at the hospital: beat the stuffings out of some mugger, get molested by a drug rep in the elevator, take some of the product to keep up and awake… and then find out your new patient is someone who knew you back THEN, when they called you 'Bear Claw' and you did people in for the Mob. And once he learns it's you, he fixes it so that if he dies, they'll know where you are. Oh, and he's pretty much terminal at this point, hoping for a 'celebrity' surgeon to save him. Worried yet?" Ha!

S.F.W. said...

I think Pink Octopus needs a name... Tentaculon? Molluscia? Octopus of Eight Happinesses?

Ocarina?

Sabina E. said...

that's a sweet title. yeah maybe i'll read it.

Terra Chandler said...

I've been looking for a page turner lately!! I think I shall pick it up today. Thanks for the suggestion pink octopus!!!

*S.F.W. is right.....he needs a name.

H. L. Dyer said...

Hmmm... how about just "Po" for Pink Octopus?

It has a nice literary sound to it while still embracing his or her pink octopus roots. :)

Susan Adrian said...

Hmmm...I have reasons to vote not Po. (one of my characters)

Here's a perfect link for Janet. Ever wonder what happens when a pink octopus meets a shark?

Shark/Octopus encounter

Julie Weathers said...

Oh, this sounds like a fun read. I'm definitely going to add it to my TBR list.

I like the name Po for the octopus.

C.J. Redwine said...

Yay for thrillers with footnotes! I'm amused already. Can't wait to read it.