Customer Reviews

Crime Studio Pb

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This is a group of interconnected short stories that introduce the denizens of a town called Beerlight. 'Tis a very strange place.

Tony Endless had gotten a job working for a local pest exterminator. On his first job, he took out the firearms carried by everyone in Beerlight and wiped out the dog, cat and aquarium in the house, not realizing that they were ot the pests in question. Word got around town, and now Tony has a business breaking into houses at night, quietly removing pets that the owners want gone, and, just as quietly, giving them to owners that do want them.

Ben Stalkeye and chance don't go together very well. The strangest and most unlikely things would happen, only on the condition that he didn't want them to happen. This presented problems for his criminal career. Joe Solitary loved the feeling that came from being the subject of false accusation and did everything possible to be arrested and jailed for crimes in which he was not involved at all. He would go to the police station all the time and confess to anything and everything.

In a place where paranoia is a part of daily life, Carl Overchoke had gone back for seconds and thirds. One day, he is told that "they" are on to him. Carl is an average guy who suddenly feels very important. He starts acting more self-assured, almost like a big shot, seeing spies everywhere, and eventually does gain the notice of the police. Jesse downtime didn't know how to rob anyone, so he experimented with smaller and smaller thefts. He tore the stalk from an apple at the local deli. He broke into the state zoo at night to steal an ant, then return it to the authorities. He would bump into people on the street, acquiring dozens of their atoms without suspicion. After his release, his thievery was refined to such a point that it occurred only in his mind(...)

I'm not sure what I can say about this book -- it's weird and funny, with quotable lines on every page, and I wanted to read it again the second I finished it. In fact, I might just do that . . .

This is a collection of interrelated stories about the citizens of Beerlight, where apparently everyone is a criminal -- although criminal aptitude varies, of course. There is a running theme of . . . I want to say joy . . . in these stories. As often as not, these burglars and con artists have become what they are due to an appreciation of the absurd, or a desire for hilarity -- I found the combination of mayhem and glee to be irresistible.

Oddly enough, the writing reminds me very much of Catch-22, with surreal situations, wonderful wordplay, and the occasional shot to the heart.

I would highly recommend this book.

A Great book, enjoyed every page.

Laugh out loud, bank robbing, gang affiliations, or being locked in the slammer... Aylett hits it on the head with his surrealism in a Tarantino way.

A book that is lunatic, frenzied, savage & hilarious!

If you're very stiff & stuffy, you won't like this.

But, if you can appreciate a Chief Of Police whose only effective tool in fighting crime is to open a window and scream, in a tortured voice: "LEMMIE ALONE, BASTARDS!!", you might like this book.

I enjoyed the stories in Crime Studio b/c of Aylett's flip and hilarious prose. Lots of surprisingly funny bits contained, and Brute Parker has become one of my favorite fiction characters.

Prescription from Aylett: Get a gun (24/7); get some donuts; blow a safe; kill some friends; send your Mom to jail. Repeat as necessary.

This is a "post-" everything romp where people you don't ever want to meet do things you never want to do while you're falling on the floor laughing - and getting out of the line of fire. Aylett's characters are a Who's Who of the... well, let's just say anti-social type.

The Crime Studio is an escape from the ordinary world taken to extremes. I recommend this book to anyone (except those who are borderline anything).