Customer Reviews

Brine

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Adrienne Jones' latest novel is a cornucopia of bizarre characters in even more bizarre situations, woven seamlessly into a world that is equal parts horror and comedy. Fans of Jones' killer novel THE HOAX will not be disappointed in this latest fare, and newcomers shouldn't be hesitant to jump right in, as well. BRINE is a treat to read (and reread) and is highly recommended.

Witty, original, & wonderfully wierd! May never think of the beach in the same way after this must-read.

Put simply: Adrienne Jones rocks. Cutting across lines of genre to spin a tale full of honest emotion, humor, and chills she gets what it means to really tell the hell out of a story. BRINE is one of those books you come back to more than once to enjoy and dig a bit deeper into.

Imagine your inner demons coming to life, the mysteries of the subconscious manifested outside your back door. It could be a little uncomfortable-- the troubling secrets, the dark doubts, the guilt and fear. How would they manifest themselves? Imagine them again. Imagine them a hundred times: no, the vision won't come close to the bizarre, strangely humorous, curiously seductive, wildly energetic nightmare that is Brine. Because Brine is the working of Adrienne Jones's imagination, and where she goes cannot be anticipated.

The artist Elliot Newton has the idyllic setting in which to paint, a lighthouse on the ocean's shore. And this is what he paints, successfully, until an emotional upset and a drunken night brings out his past, a past that has been buried long in the lighthouse, and deep in the sand, long enough and deep enough to come up mutated--genetically mutated--as if on their own, his memories have evolved, and they've come up to breathe again.

Brine begins, not in medias res, but at what feels like a climax. My first thought was where can the author possibly go from here? That's what is remarkable about Jones's work. She takes off where others would end, and she does it with fascinating, twisting plots and a momentum borne both from the persistent demons and the unflinching characters. This is the kind of book you finish in one day.

But what I always love most about Jones's work, here and in The Hoax and in Gypsies Stole My Tequila, are her characters. Brine is written in three parts, and with each part, the reader meets new characters. Not only is it great fun to watch how the author weaves these new characters into Elliot's nightmare landscape, but also, with each new character, the reader becomes more invested. They are all that likable, and funny, and even at their worst, ultimately humane.

When I picked up Brine, I was in desperate need of a weekend off. This was my entertainment. I couldn't have asked for anything more tantalizing, disturbing, and fun. Read it and then go buy her others too.

Brine was such a twisted story with such oddities, put in such a way that allows you to relate to the characters, and rivets you to the book. I literally could not put it down.

I read authors such as Chuck Palahniuk, who is also bizarre. Adrienne Jones fits right in there.

You know, I've read some crazy stuff in my years, some stuff that makes me shake my head and smile and wonder where the hell they came up with that, but no author has ever elicited this reaction more consistently than Adrienne Jones, and never more emphatically than in her novella "Temple of Cod". Until I read her novel BRINE.

Combining three separate but connected narratives, BRINE is made up of 1 part "Temple of Cod" and two parts new material to form 200 pages of awesome excitement and humor, not to mention a friggin' huge dose of WTF? And it all begins with "Penises."

Elliot Newton has made his fortune painting the same seascape over and over, but when his girlfriend Olivia becomes tired of his emotionally detached demeanor, the lighthouses in his pieces suddenly become penises and what he's really painting is his pent-up sexual frustration.

Distraught over the break-up, Elliot retreats to his grandfather's cabin on the beach--located right by the famous lighthouse found in so many Elliot Newton paintings--and tries to paint something else, something besides his famous seascapes. But the results are than successful as the strange creatures he finds on the canvas somehow come to life and begin tormenting him from outside the cabin. The half-man, half-squid ringleader, the smiling horse named Jed, the three fish-headed cod-women . . . from a reader's standpoint, it was a thing of beauty.

Desperate for help, Elliot calls on his longtime friends and manager, Bobby McAvoy, but that doesn't turn out so well, either, as it only reveals just how oblivious Elliot's been about so many things in his life, from the past he's chosen to forget, burying those memories almost too far down to be retrieved, to the truth about his relationships and how easily led on he's been.

I remember being so impressed with "Temple of Cod" when I first read it, marveling over Jones's skill at taking what seemed to be a dozen insane ideas and images and bringing them together so completely and perfectly in the end . . . sometimes you read something and there's just no other word to describe your reaction other than "awe" and that's what I felt in the face of "Temple of Cod". So when I learned Jones was expanding on that story and revisiting Elliot's lighthouse . . . I will admit to feeling some trepidation. How many great stories have been ruined by authors eager to write a follow-up for the fans but having no real passion for the project themselves?

TERMINATOR 3, anyone?

But I should have known that would be anything BUT the case here; I've read enough Adrienne Jones to know if she's not feeling the story in her soul, she won't write it. And BRINE definitely shows her love and excitement for this material.

One of the things I like most about BRINE is that each section (there are three: "Temple of Cod", "Shell Shock" and "The Sand Witch") continues with the main story arc, but Jones didn't feel it necessary--and I'm glad she didn't because I believe it enhances the story--to just pick up where she left off as if it were "the next day". In fact, when we reach "Shell Shock" (my personal favorite of the three) we have no idea when we are, only that we're back at the lighthouse and there's Elliot, as seen through the eyes of our new focal character Jay.

God, I want so badly to lay down more of the plot because "Temple of Cod" was awesome enough, and it only gets better from there, but I just can't bring myself to give away any more of this story than I already have; sometimes it's just so much better if you read it yourself and I cannot stress enough how true that is in this case.

BRINE is everything you've come to expect from Adrienne Jones: it's totally unpredictable (you can try, but you will not succeed, I promise you), it's funny (no one publishing today makes me laugh out loud, but Adrienne Jones), and the characters are all people you come to love. Every time I reached the end of one section and was starting on the next, with its new cast of introductory characters, I was determined not to like them. With "Shell Shock", I just wanted Elliot back, with "The Sand Witch", I just wanted Jay back, but dammit if Connie didn't win me over, too.

The problem I have buying books lately is that you just never can tell what you're going to get. I love horror and if I could afford it, I'd pick up every horror novel that comes along, but I've been burned enough times to know just because the cover looks cool and there are some blurbs on the back by authors I recognize, it's still very possible that book's going to suck huge, so it's damn difficult to part with that $7.99. But this is something I've never had to concern myself with when it comes to buying Adrienne Jones books, because good God every single one is worth every penny and more. It's a sad day when the price of everything is rising so much something like the purchase of a BOOK is something you want to mull over for a few days. But I can tell you right now, BRINE is worth every penny. Hell, you could buy three and give two away as gifts and it's still worth every penny. Adrienne Jones loves stories, she loves writing, and she loves entertaining herself and her readers. Her love shows through crystal clear in BRINE, and once you've read it, you'll be hooked for life and wanting more.