Funny, freaky, and fast.

I'm a fan of Tom Reimann's articles on Cracked.Com so I decided to pick up a copy of his novel, Stitches. I've found a few authors who I quite like through Cracked and Reimann is no exception - this book was vastly entertaining and an easy, fun read for an afternoon.

It's a story about two people who don't know one of their friends very well, largely because they've got some pretty significant problems of their own. The dynamic between the three broken, damaged people is very interesting and I like the story itself, but I'm not sure how well I like the way it's put together. Stitches is apparently Reimann's first novel (at least it's the only novel listed under his name at Amazon) and it's a bit clumsy. There's nothing really bad about the book (unless you think comically over-the-top violence in books is bad), but the characters are a little unbelievable in their reactions to the world around them.

There is a lot that's funny, sweet, and dark going on in the book. While everything feels a little rushed nothing feels wrong that isn't supposed to feel wrong and it's very easy to get invested in the people and actions presented. I wanted to know more about these people, the town they live in, and the bizarre little history they're experiencing, and I guess that's really all that was missing or felt clunky to me - there was a lot of room for more detail to be filled in that might have made the story feel more natural, but we weren't given a lot to work with beyond the very basic facts of the plot.

Again, I'd hesitate to call this a bad novel, and I'm not really sure that I can call it a good novel, but it was something that I had a lot of fun reading and would recommend to a very particular subset of readers. If you're into Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, you'll probably like this book. If you like the more absurd and hilarious episodes of Dexter, you'll probably like this book. If you like violent, funny, sympathetic psychos, this is a book for you.

AND - most importantly - I wouldn't hesitate for a second to read another Reimann novel; everything that is a little off about this book wasn't enough to put me off of the author and could easily be fixed by a little more experience. 

Cheers,
     - Alli

Reimann, Tom. Stitches. Amazon Publishing. Seattle: Washington. 2012.