The Jigsaw Man - Gord Rollo
This Jigsaw Man is....a book. It certainly is a book. Honestly I spent a lot of time wavering between three and four stars, and I figured if a book can make me think this much, then it's got to be good enough for four. I went into the book KNOWING he was going to lose more than his arm because of the synopsis, and when it was revealed that yeah, "Bit by bit other pieces of Michael are surgically removed" I wasn't as surprised as I'd have liked to have been. However, a faulty synopsis didn't ruin this book for me.
The book starts out with Michael Fox, down on his luck and poor, at the edge of his mind and ready to end his life.. He's approached by "Drake", a beefy man with a proposal. Give his boss his arm, and get two million dollars. Simple, right? Well no, it's not that simple, and the book takes a turn down twisty lane pretty quickly. There's a LOT of twists, a little shocker in every chapter, and while it does get a little boring after a while, it also made me go "huh!" a few times. The author does an excellent job foreshadowing his twists, so when they do come you get to feel smart and go "hoho I picked up on that". Honestly it makes for a very smart read, you pick up on little clues of what's really going on, then when it's revealed you feel like a little mad genius for a bit.
Some of the writing can be corny, a few lines had me rolling my eyes, but nothing to make me turn my nose up at the book. There's always something going on in the book, I usually find myself skimming over parts that are dragged on, but there honestly wasn't much of it. For its size, the book is pretty action packed. I suppose the only thing I'd have to really complain about is the portrayal of time. The problem with having a fast paced book is the time line within the book gets a bit skewed. A day will pass, a week, then all of a sudden it's a year later. That and the "relationship" between three of the characters really didn't sit well with me. I didn't quite understand it, and I felt like (saying this as spoiler free as possible) one character should have a HUGE issue with another characters actions, based on how they were portrayed during those actions, and...nothing came of it. The whole scene was written off, I didn't get it. I really wanted to dive deeper into the lingering subplot but I wasn't given that satisfaction. Which sucks, because while pretty disturbing, it was interesting.
On the note of disturbing, this book is it, sort of. I've been disturbed before. Books like "A Head Full of Ghosts" and "The Shining" disturbed me. This book, compared to those, is more like...haunted house disturbing. It's spooky and gives you a little jolt of "ew gross", but it doesn't stick with you enough to turn the lights on after reading it. This doesn't make it NOT enjoyable, it's still a lot of fun, but that's what it is...fun. Not scary, just fun. Don't go in expecting to get nightmares from this book, unless you have an incredibly weak stomach. I think it's due to lack of detail on some of the actions in the book. We know from the synopsis that Michael gets his limbs removed. But that's it, it's as simple as reading my sentence here. It just happens, there's no gruesome imagery or scary details of the act. Just boop bye-bye arm. Like I said, fun.
The plot is what really carries this book. It's a very interesting story to tell, and it makes you wonder what will happen next. It keeps you on your toes, so to speak, and you genuinely want to know where this story is going. Even if you don't enjoy it, I think you'll want to read to the end if nothing else than for morbid curiosity. The ending was not totally unexpected, but still sat heavy on my heart for a bit. Personally, I think this was a fun little read, not something I'm going to put up in my hall of fame, but definitely something I'll look back on fondly, and I will be happy to read this author's other works.
All in all, The Jigsaw Man gets 4/5 stars from me.
This Jigsaw Man is....a book. It certainly is a book. Honestly I spent a lot of time wavering between three and four stars, and I figured if a book can make me think this much, then it's got to be good enough for four. I went into the book KNOWING he was going to lose more than his arm because of the synopsis, and when it was revealed that yeah, "Bit by bit other pieces of Michael are surgically removed" I wasn't as surprised as I'd have liked to have been. However, a faulty synopsis didn't ruin this book for me.
The book starts out with Michael Fox, down on his luck and poor, at the edge of his mind and ready to end his life.. He's approached by "Drake", a beefy man with a proposal. Give his boss his arm, and get two million dollars. Simple, right? Well no, it's not that simple, and the book takes a turn down twisty lane pretty quickly. There's a LOT of twists, a little shocker in every chapter, and while it does get a little boring after a while, it also made me go "huh!" a few times. The author does an excellent job foreshadowing his twists, so when they do come you get to feel smart and go "hoho I picked up on that". Honestly it makes for a very smart read, you pick up on little clues of what's really going on, then when it's revealed you feel like a little mad genius for a bit.
Some of the writing can be corny, a few lines had me rolling my eyes, but nothing to make me turn my nose up at the book. There's always something going on in the book, I usually find myself skimming over parts that are dragged on, but there honestly wasn't much of it. For its size, the book is pretty action packed. I suppose the only thing I'd have to really complain about is the portrayal of time. The problem with having a fast paced book is the time line within the book gets a bit skewed. A day will pass, a week, then all of a sudden it's a year later. That and the "relationship" between three of the characters really didn't sit well with me. I didn't quite understand it, and I felt like (saying this as spoiler free as possible) one character should have a HUGE issue with another characters actions, based on how they were portrayed during those actions, and...nothing came of it. The whole scene was written off, I didn't get it. I really wanted to dive deeper into the lingering subplot but I wasn't given that satisfaction. Which sucks, because while pretty disturbing, it was interesting.
On the note of disturbing, this book is it, sort of. I've been disturbed before. Books like "A Head Full of Ghosts" and "The Shining" disturbed me. This book, compared to those, is more like...haunted house disturbing. It's spooky and gives you a little jolt of "ew gross", but it doesn't stick with you enough to turn the lights on after reading it. This doesn't make it NOT enjoyable, it's still a lot of fun, but that's what it is...fun. Not scary, just fun. Don't go in expecting to get nightmares from this book, unless you have an incredibly weak stomach. I think it's due to lack of detail on some of the actions in the book. We know from the synopsis that Michael gets his limbs removed. But that's it, it's as simple as reading my sentence here. It just happens, there's no gruesome imagery or scary details of the act. Just boop bye-bye arm. Like I said, fun.
The plot is what really carries this book. It's a very interesting story to tell, and it makes you wonder what will happen next. It keeps you on your toes, so to speak, and you genuinely want to know where this story is going. Even if you don't enjoy it, I think you'll want to read to the end if nothing else than for morbid curiosity. The ending was not totally unexpected, but still sat heavy on my heart for a bit. Personally, I think this was a fun little read, not something I'm going to put up in my hall of fame, but definitely something I'll look back on fondly, and I will be happy to read this author's other works.
All in all, The Jigsaw Man gets 4/5 stars from me.
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