First Patient: Crazy Masquerading as Sane
Jeff VanderMeer • March 18th, 2008 @ 11:42 am • Book Reviews
Um, this book, just out, which I saw in galleys awhile back, is quite simply insane, over-the-top, silly, and campy. I don’t know if it’s meant to be, but…it is. And kind of a mimic, because it’s pretending to be a normal bestseller. The President’s doctor goes missing and an old friend is brought in to be his doc. The Pres has some weird spaz-out. Some plot’s obviously afoot, secret agents are brought in, yada yada yada..and do you want to know where this ends up? With brains in jars, lectures on nanotechnology, weird melodrama, and kookie plot twists. By the end, I was laughing my ass off, and yet I couldn’t say it wasn’t fast-paced. It held my attention. And yet…wow. Seriously strange.
March 18, 2008 at 12:42 pm
More things need to end up with brains in jars.
March 19, 2008 at 8:44 am
This sounds fabulous, can you recommend any more ‘so bad they’re good’ bestsellers?
March 19, 2008 at 11:22 am
This is the only one I’ve come across.
It’s odd, though–it’s only as campy as it is because the author’s science and idea of applying “science fiction” to a thriller is so off. There’s good writing in there–just in the context, it’s ridiculous. So that’s a kind of unique combo that happens rarely. Usually, a bad book is a bad book–it’s harder for me to get enjoyment out of that than a campy bad movie.