Jack and Mr. Grin [Kindle Edition]

Andersen Prunty (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Jack Orange is a twenty-something guy who works at a place called The Tent packing dirt in boxes and shipping them off to exotic, unheard of locales. He thinks about his girlfriend, Gina Black, and the ring he hopes to surprise her with. But when he returns home one day, Gina isn't there. He receives a strange call from a man who sounds like he is smiling- Mr. Grin. He says he has Gina. He gives Jack twenty-four hours to find her.

What follows is Jack's bizarre journey through an increasingly warped and surreal landscape where an otherworldly force burns brands into those he comes in contact with, trains appear out of thin air, rooms turn themselves inside out and computers are powered by birds. And if he does find Gina, how will he ever survive a grueling battle to the death with Mr. Grin?

From the Inside Flap

"Imagine David Lynch directing an episode of The Twilight Zone." - JORDAN KRALL, author of Piecemeal June and Squid Pulp Blues

"JACK & MR. GRIN will mess with your head. An intense, sometimes brutal thriller spiked with copious amounts of surrealism and the absurd, Prunty makes you care intensely about the characters involved in this upsetting, strangely familiar nightmare. Impossible to put down, and even harder to forget." - JEMIAH JEFFERSON, author of Fiend

"With Jack and Mr. Grin Andersen Prunty firmly establishes himself as a master of the bizarro thriller. Fans of the absurdist/surrealist mysteries of David Lynch and Barry Gifford should seek this book out immediately, and keep it in a dark place." - JOHN EDWARD LAWSON, author of Sin Conductor

"This is the hard-core of emotional horror...Prunty shows that he is a new voice that all dedicated fans of horror fiction should take note of." - JEFF BURK, editor of The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction

"Suspense like a 747 in an empty cockpit nosedive. With each new twist jamming the imagery throttle deeper into the titanium of my rapidly melting cranium... Utterly mind fucked!" - BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS, author of Sex, Drugs and Institutions

"Jack and Mr. Grin's set-up had me expecting a totally-surreal ride, but most of the body of the story actually plays like a standard thriller. Prunty's writing is well done, and just when I thought Eraserhead Press had somehow released a 'normal' story, the third section of the book dives head-first into surreal-bizarro land, packed with odd settings, brutal violence, and some minor head-scratching that cleverly unfolds at a fine pace." - NICK CATO, The Horror Fiction Review

"When Mr. Grin calls you can hear a smile in his voice. Not a warm and friendly smile, but the kind that seizes your spine in fear. You don't need to pay your phone bill to hear it. That smile is in every line of Prunty's prose." - TOM BRADLEY, author of Lemur

"With Jack and Mr. Grin, Andersen Prunty has enjoyably distilled the brutal tropes and excitement of the best of Stephen King into one stiff shot." - JESS GULBRANSON, author of Mel

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 231 KB
• Print Length: 196 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Eraserhead Press (March 5, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0021YVUDE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,990 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Andersen Prunty is an American fiction writer. In 2006 he won an online contest sponsored by The Harrow and judged blindly by Ramsey Campbell and Brian Keene for his story "Rayles." His first book, a collection of weird little stories called THE OVERWHELMING URGE, was published in 2008 by Eraserhead Press. In 2009, two of his books (THE OVERWHELMING URGE and ZEROSTRATA) were nominated for the Wonderland Book Award. He is also the author of MY FAKE WAR, MORNING IS DEAD, and THE BEARD, among others. He currently lives in Dayton, Ohio. Visit him on the web at www.andersenprunty.com or contact him via email at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Its not for everyone., June 26, 2011

By 

Mr. Ed - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jack and Mr. Grin (Kindle Edition)

I really wanted to like this book, I truly did. The beginning was quite superb but then it fizzles out. I enjoyed the characters but feel that this story was driven way too long. I will not give up on Prunty but will be expecting a little more from the next book/novel that I pick up. This is not a horror story...eh.. didnt seem quite bizarro but more of a thriller that bends the edges of reality.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something's really wrong with this boy, June 3, 2010

By 

Funky Werepig - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack and Mr. Grin (Paperback)

FROM THE FUNKY WEREPIG

I have always found Andersen Prunty entertaining. But JACK & MR GRIN was my first roll-up-the-sleeves 200 page journey into the insanity he likes to create. I fully admit one reason for waiting this long is the tag `Bizarro' that is often attached to his work. I'm afraid my journeys into this sub-genre have caused more headaches than inspired readings. However, the plot behind this book was just too intriguing to ignore.

The main character Jack is not a guy who has a red carpet laid out before him in life but he does have something that means everything to him- his girlfriend Gina. And that makes him the luckiest guy in the world. That is until the morning he goes out to grab them some quick food and returns to find Gina missing. The normal questions go through his head but his worst nightmare is confirmed when he gets the phone call. Gina has been abducted. And the kidnapper wants to play a game. He's going to torture her until Jack can find them. Vague clues are given and the clock starts ticking.

The story is emotional and sucks you under as you dread each new phone call and every new riddle right along with Jack. Prunty mixes in madness that very slowly (and wisely) takes the reader into a world that can't possibly exist. Due to his skill, Prunty never loses us. Our heads spin and we get to grab onto the same anchors of reality that Jack finds along the way. It is a full fledged trip down the Rabbit Hole and the only thing the reader can care about is finding Gina in time.

That's a testament to Prunty's writing. No matter how far out there he takes us in his warped imagination, he ties us to the pure fear that Jack may lose Gina forever. It forces you to truly think about whatever levels of hell you'd go through to save the one you love. Your spouse. Your kids. The crazier a picture Prunty paints, the more you become rooted in the only quest that matters.

The other thing that Prunty does is he keeps his sentences simple. Direct. He doesn't overload you with extra descriptive words to punch the images or intensity home. He lets his story do it on its own. This formula sets up an amazing pace that builds and builds as the chapters fly by.

JACK & MR. GRIN is a very simplistic story wrapped in a limitless imagination. It's insane but all the pieces fit together perfectly (Call it `Controlled Insanity' if you need a label). When I finished this book, I couldn't help but think that Rod Serling would have loved to have scooped up Prunty for his stable of Twilight Zone writers.

I found that much like many of the writers I enjoy, it is unfair to slap a label or category on Prunty. I know the Bizarro patriots will scream that he belongs to them but I'm afraid they must share. Every dark fiction horror thriller collection should have JACK & MR. GRIN on its shelf.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Bizarro Thriller Out There, June 24, 2011

By 

Joshua M. Myers (Pink Meat, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jack and Mr. Grin (Paperback)

Andersen Prunty's "Jack and Mr. Grin", his third release from Eraserhead Press, is best described as a Bizarro thriller. Jack Orange, a hapless young man working in a dirt-packing facility, comes home to discover his girlfriend has been kidnapped by a sinister entity known only as Mr. Grin. Jack is told he has twenty-four hours to find her. And then...things start getting weird.

Prunty sets a surreal, nightmarish tone that only intensifies as Jack's journey progresses. The longer his search takes, the more insane his surroundings become, reflecting the panic and madness he has been cast into by Mr. Grin.

"Jack and Mr. Grin" is a perfect example of Andersen Prunty's writing ability. The plight of the characters is easily identifiable, and the tension that builds throughout the book is felt by the reader with each turn of the page. Buy this book and experience Prunty's talent first-hand. The man is as underrated as they come, and it's high time we change that.