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Just finished up Jake's Wake by Skipp & Goodfellow. This book is hard to put down, it's so out there and yet so engrossing all at the same time. The action doesn't really start until about 50 pages in, but once it begins it doesn't stop. The body count is high and those bodies endure a lot of torture. Characters are brought into the book just so they can be brutally slaughtered. There's a lot of gore, but what else would you expect from John Skipp?
The characters are flawed, almost to the point where you dislike them. Jake's ladies, the three main characters, are weak, weaker, weakest. But it makes them more realistic. But thankfully they grow as the story goes on and become stronger.
There are very strong religious themes in this book that might irritate those who hate reading anything along those lines. The book never approaches "preachy" but it's hard not to get into religion when the main baddie was a fake evangelist. There is a lot of subtext here on people who are searching for hope being easily lead, and charismatic leaders who preach the right words being able to control them. The book never degenerates into Christian bashing, nor does it wave the Christian recruiter flag, it is more a commentary of the Jim and Tammy Fay Bakers in the world. But never fear... this book really doesn't rise much beyond a fun filled horror novel, no real thought required.
I have to admit that the ending was unexpected, not all of it, but a chunk of it was out there... strangely if you had told me that the book would end like that, I probably would have said "No, that's a terrible ending!" but as I said, I didn't expect it... and it worked for me. On the whole this is a very strong book with a lot of enjoyable parts and a satisfying ending
Next up for me: The Freakshow by Bryan Smith
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