I really enjoyed Silvis’ Two Days Gone, so I remembered his name. But then he went into series, and I normally don’t and that was that for a while. Until now that is. I saw this one on Netgalley and it looked so exciting. The meta approach, the true crime story involving the author himself, all that made me think of Chasing the Boogeyman by Chizmar, which was one of my last year’s favorite reads and one of the best literary WTF surprises in ages.
And sure enough, this book begins so strongly. Silvis as himself is a solitary figure living somewhere in PA boonies, riding his motorcycle and trying to get back on the writing wagon after completing his mystery series. His sons are now adults who live away and without them, there’s only his devoted younger ladyfriend for company. Which is actually plenty because Silvis due to his misophonia is quite happy to be on his own most of the time. Enter a strange young man who approaches Silvis out of the blue and tells him he knows the secrets to a local crime, well two crimes he claims are interconnected. Silvis is reluctant but soon enough his natural curiosity takes over and he finds himself falling further and further down into a conspiracy laden web of child abuse and UFOs and more. It sounds fun and it is…until it overindulges. There’s no other way to describe it. Wherein Chasing the Boogeyman was very clearly a controlled literary experiment, this thing becomes so rambling, so overdone, so confusingly hallucinogenic that it’s difficult to credit it, class it or even rate it, really. I mean, I loved the writing, but over time Silvis and his spiraling both became kind of…annoying? Maybe frustrating is more like it. Yeah, frustrating. What was this novel trying to be? It’s unclear even after reading the conversation with the author. Even it’s a mind f*ck, it’s a success, albeit a muddled one. If it’s for real, then it kind of reads like Silvis’s coming out as a weirdo party where a man decides he’s at a place in his life where he can comfortably lay out every weird belief he holds dear for all the world to see. Both are ok, but the latter is infinitely less interesting. There are also some straight up confusing things about the book and I don’t know if this is because I was technically reading an ARC or deliberate, but Silvis’ age changes throughout the narrative form 50s to 60s and once he leaves a note signed Randall S. and then gets a callback and proceeds to be referred to as Silvis…things like that. As far as his beliefs go…well, they are varied, some more out there than others. Aliens are a huge one. Men in Black and all that. As proof, he lists facts alongside speculations seamlessly, which can be confusing if you don’t do your own research. It’s also difficult to review a book with the author as the protagonist because you are inadvertently reviewing both. I’m not sure how likable Silvis comes across. Not sure his vision of himself as a sexy old(er) dude on a nice red motorcycle holds up. I’m not sure his libertarian politics peeking through are all that fun. And boy, can he talk about his sons. Yes, we get it, you completed your biological imperative and made two babies. They turned out well. Fatherhood’s the best. Kudos. Life’s purpose found. Can we let it go now? And in the end, there’s a fairly unsatisfying ending. Nothing definitive. No gotcha twists. Just more expansive expounding on the great mysteries of the universe and how much the character/author appreciates them. They say the truth is out there. Randall Silvis might have found his. Or at least, he’s questing. Should you join him on his quest? That’s up for debate. This is definitely the sort of book where user mileage will vary. It drew me in from the first and then slowly let down, so it wasn’t an optimal reading experience, albeit certainly an interesting one. Thanks Netgalley.
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