Rotten Tommy

In other news, Splatterpunk is another way of throwing caution to the wind when you run out of storytelling ideas, which is what kind of happens in Rotten Tommy.

This is my third David Sodergren outing after The Haar, and Maggie's Grave, which were both excellent but not quite five-star reads, with this being my least favorite book of his so far.

The buildup is good, the characters are well defined and identifiable and there's a point when you feel at one with the story, with the right amount of humor and sarcasm that makes David Sodergren such an enjoyable author. But then things go wrong at around 75%.

I'm not talking about the fantasy elements, puppets eating sausages, talking horses, or bodies piled up in lighthouses - I love that sort of stuff and it's one of the reasons why Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer is such a great book - but because of how the action is ramped up too much to create a scenario that could never realistically happen regardless of whether it's horror or fantasy or sci-fi, with too many shake your head moments that burst the imaginary bubble and leave you in a place that's just not happening.

There are lots of things to love about this and other books by David Sodergren, but this one doesn't go full circle properly or create a satisfying ending.

They can't all be chicken dinner winners.