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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun read, November 2, 2004
Okay, so, it begins with this mysterious man coming to Alex Cheradon and offering him a million dollars to find his missing daughter. While in the process of doing so everything seemed to turn upside down and inside out for the main character. It's one of those, anything can go wrong and will go wrong-type stories. The author throws a lot of stuff at the reader, from crazy ex-partners to scottish convenience story clerks(Easily one of the funniest bits in the book). It's got a bit Dean-Koontz-on-crack type feel to the story line. The author tried to tell his story in a very non-linear fashion, which would have worked better in a movie, but in the book caused some moments of confusion, but it didn't detract from the story too much. The overall story line of the book was actually pretty good with some well developed twists in the plot(See, crazy ex-partner and scottish convenience store clerk.). The main character, Alex, is, I'll admit, a little annoying, but shows potential to grow and the story leaves us open for a sequel, which I would definitely read(I hear rumor it's going to be titled something along the lines of A LIFE LESS FRUITY.). I would say it's a great Halloween read, but, whoops, Halloween passed, so I'll say it's great Christmas read. I definitely recommend this book.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky and fun, February 4, 2011
This review is from: Fruitbasket from Hell (Alex Cheradon Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)
Alex Cheradon is a PI. He tries to stay off paranormal cases (vampires and the like), but they seem to find him anyway. His latest case offers him a new twist on Hell on Earth as he's hired to track down the whereabouts of Nevada Raines, daughter of the computer billionaire, Steven Raines. After a run-in with a bloodthirsty vampire, Alex is glad to have a case that put a million dollars immediately in his pocket and wasn't likely to involve the undead. Unfortunately, there's just the little matter of the Satanist cult, a vampire nest, and a little visitor named "Pookie" to contend with. If Alex can stay alive long enough, he just may save the world. With a certain quirkiness reminiscent of Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series, Jason Krumbine has created a bizarre cast of characters: Alex, the Private Investigator who manages to stumble through cases by pure luck, Nicky, the metrosexual secretary who is more interested in clothing choices than cases, Christian, the not-quite-alive ex-partner who seems hell-bent on killing Alex (well, it's not Christian's idea, it's those pesky voices), Angie, the ex who gets hired to be Alex's bodyguard but just may want to kill him herself, and all the wacky clients who hire Alex under false pretenses. The plot is a frenzied and outlandish race as Alex tries to find Nevada in time to save the world from Pookie. Written like a rambling from someone's brain (complete with frequent and extensive parenthetical comments), the writing style is quirky and somewhat fun at first, but begins to become somewhat grating towards the end. It's difficult to judge the writing style, as the run-on sentences, sentence fragments and oddly formatted sentence structures seem to be created by design, not accident. It's a quick, amusing read, but a bit like being in the brain of someone with an attention disorder. Slightly out of context, there are a few comments that come off as simply racist. I couldn't quite figure out if they were meant to be funny, but they just seemed out of place. Just compelling enough to keep you reading, "Fruitbasket from Hell" a quick and goofy ride through someone's subconscious. @ MotherLode blog
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vampires R Us, April 19, 2008
Poor Alex Cheradon is a private investigator who wants to stop getting cases that involve the paranormal...or at least that involve members of the "other realm" trying to kill him. In "Fruitbasket From Hell," circumstances beyond his control have forced him, his metrosexual assistant/receptionist, and his past girlfriend/Laura-Croft-wannabe bodyguard to take on three cases that involve vampires, satanists, gateways to hell, and an ex-partner who won't die when you throw grenades at him. At the center of it all is the mystery of why Multi-Millionaire Steven Raines has handed Alex a briefcase of sketchy clues, a few threats, and a million dollars to find a daughter who's only been missing a few hours. Overall, I found Alex to be a likeable and sympathetic character. I enjoyed his stream-of-consciousness narration, but, at times, it became overwhelming. Krumbine's sarcastic tone throughout the novel carried into each character thus became difficult to "stay with" at times. I sometimes found it necessary to set the novel aside to get out of Alex's head. As a testament to Krumbine's story, though, I kept going back to find out how the plot would develop. And, as a testament to Krumbine's ability to use dialogue and character interaction to update the storyline, I never had to re-read sections to remember what had happened. I think one reviewer erroneously referred to this as "non-linear". For an example of an author using a non-linear writing device, pick up John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar," (which I also recommend, by the way). For an example of an author expertly using a recap, pick up Jason Krumbine's "Fruitbasket From Hell." Something else I enjoyed was Krumbine's "play" with sentence structure and references to pop culture in description. For instance, when Alex interrogates a priest, he describes him this way: "Father Pital was a tall, wiry man with a small ring of white hair around his head, kind of like Captain Picard, only Pital's head didn't fill out as much. Which I thought was odd, considering how so many priests think so highly of themselves." When Alex approaches a house where a den of vampires is hiding, he subtly suggests it's not going to be a great experience: "There was a small garden off to the side that looked like God himself had taken offense to its existence." For readers who can't get past the number of typos and missing words in the third edition (the one I read), this novel will be difficult. Such technicalities pull me out of a story, and that's a shame, because Krumbine has such an intriguing story. But if what you're after is a good, fun, tongue-in-cheek, bloody, shoot-em-up, paranormal mystery, Jason Krumbine delivers all that and more in this book. The tone is light and fast-forward-fun with a surprising body count. It's truly bizarre to get to the end and realize how much blood and gore you've waded through because you've been laughing at so many points along the way... And as an afterthought, I'm surprised by the pricetag on some of the copies here at Amazon. I picked my softcover up from the author at a festival for $15. Shop wisely. From Sandy Lender, "Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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