Customer Reviews

Brand New Cherry Flavor

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't know where to begin in saying that I loved this book. It doesn't stop, or slow down. I wanted to call in sick so I could stay home reading in bed, finishing it. This book does in 35 pages what it took "Silk" the whole thing to not quite do. The thing I thought would finish left it with fifty pages. I can't wait to read it again.

Grimson likes to create a milieu in which there are multiple allusions and injokes; if you don't get them I suppose that after a while you know something's flying past you but you don't know what it is. But if you get the jokes you're presented with a very dense, actionpacked text. He obviously grew up watching bad movies and yet -- his secret weapon -- the pain actually hurts. He makes the incredible credible. Philip K. Dick, Nightmare on Elm Street, James Ellroy, Mary Gaitskill, Irvine Welsh and such off-the-wall influences as Georges Bataille all seem combined in a blender that serves up something entirely unique. Wicked smart.

This is the first book I have read in the Paranormal Horror genre. And it will not be my last.

I was drawn into this crazy world from the first page. The plot and characters are original and flawed but it only adds to them. Lisa is an Indie director who also had a few small parts in movies. She gets screwed over by her lover and producer Lou. She meets up with Boro who has voodoo powers to get revenge on Lou but what happens next is both shocking and horrific to Lisa. She ends up with tattoos on different parts of her body from Boro and starts to change. Things start to spiral out of control and Lisa is helpless to stop it.

Todd Grimson writes a classic Horror story filled with sex, drugs, demons, cults, and white jaguars. This book is not for the squeamish. But if your looking for a great Horror book than this book is for you. I am looking forward to reading more from this amazing author. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

This novel came out of nowhere for me. I expected a short, punchy, satirical comedy-horror novel, and I got an epic. I couldn't believe how gripping it was, and I have no idea what the reviewer below is talking about when he calls it boring. How could you possibly be bored by this? It's not written in a deadpan style, it's dense, lurid, and descriptive, rich with interior monologue, packed with sex and craziness and horror. And those zombies, man--seriously terrifying. I also had no idea what was going to happen--the plot is entirely unpredictable. At one point a character shows up who I thought would be a major character for the rest of novel--and almost immediately gets his head cut off and eaten by zombies. Minor figures who appear in the background become major, crucial players. No one is safe, everyone is important. And remember there's always a price.

The first few chapters were enthralling. Lisa Nova wasn't the most sympathetic or well-sketched character, but her interactions with Boro, the implications of the tattoos, made me want to keep reading. Once Lisa leaves town, I lost interest completely. Way too many characters were introduced and I had no interest in any of them. Many relationships were presented but not deeply explored--- the "love of [her] life" Lisa meets in Brazil, her rivalry with her siblings, her best friend's feelings toward her. Meanwhile there is no sense that Lisa has any feelings about the "gift" she has been given--- she makes little attempt to enjoy her newfound powers, but she also doesn't recoil from them in horror and try to unmake the chaos. She has no real reaction and by the end of the book she is a vague shadow with no real meaning. The author gives more attention to how characters are dressed than what they're feeling and thinking, and they have no discernible motivation for their actions. The book seemed like a screenplay stretched into a novel. Maybe it would play better as a movie.

Hi y'all Anne here I have just finished reading Brand New Cherry Flavor, and whoa is all I can think. This book is definitely an adult novel, the story line is strong and consuming. It takes place in the 90's which is a time I remember quite well, the scenes painted in this book are sometimes nice and innocent while in contrast some are harsh and gruesome. Right now it seems the world is obsessed with kind creatures and love stories but what about the other side? I think this is the perfect time for this book to have been re released it brings forth a darker story and sides of people that are never seen. When Lisa Nova goes in search of retribution for being wronged by a lover she gets way more than she ever bargained for, she becomes the interest of Boro the leader of a band of unusual bikers, he gives her what she wants and then some. She has strange tattoos and feelings of lust that she can't begin to explain while she tries to escape to Rio to unwind and try to figure out what is going on with her only to have to return home to the awaiting feelings of doom that blanch her mind. Be careful how far your willing to go because you might unleash more than you can handle into the world. The characters in the book are complex and most certainly there to help tell the dark tale of zombies, magic, and horror. Some are there to be dispatched in gruesome scenes and some are there to bring opinions and help, no matter the case they all play a function in this dark twisted tale of the occult. 5 out of 5 stars to Todd Grimson and his book Brand New Cherry Flavor.

Unfortunately, when I purchased this book, I was hoping that it would be another "Stainless". In my opinion, that was Grimson's best work ever. Moving on, the story itself was interesting, but tended to be a little lackadaisical and confusing at times. I caught a slight echo of "Stainless" through the characters Freak, Code, and Lisa -- they all seemed the "lost, neurotic, Hollywood" types. Still, the book was fine...as long as one isn't perturbed by weird voodoo rituals.

What should have been one wild ride ends up being a very flat read. The characters in this book have an incredible journey which includes murder, voo doo, explosions, and much more, but it is all done with NO emotion. They go through hell and back and act as if it's no big deal, just another day!

This is one of the most bland books I've ever read. Lisa Nova is a spineless moron who wants to get ahead in the film game, does something stupid and gets her butt handed to her, so she decides revenge is the only policy, but she can't do it on her own, even she seems to think she is (that is how deluded she is), but when it gets out of her realm of control, she runs away to her rich Daddy. I do not think men who write in 1st or 3rd person using a female as the protagonist do very convincing jobs of it -- you need to UNDERSTAND your subject matter. He obviously wrote this book just for the sex scenes, and even those are yawn-inducing. This is cliched tripe from Los Angeles and nothing but.