Customer Reviews

Jed the Dead

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've read a lot of Alan Dean Foster's work and much of it is funny. Some is more serious, like "The Damned" books but I like his humor the best. And of his lighter writing, my hands down favorite is Jed the Dead.

It's quirky, full of pathos and has a straight man to beat them all. Even the basic idea is funny; a good ol' boy called Ross, taking a driving holiday, stumbles on the body of a dead alien. Rather than bringing in Mulder and Skully, Ross decides the alien corpse might like to see the west coast as much he does. Thus starts the mother of all driving holidays, buddy stories and fugitive chases.

You see, Ross is a laid back kind of guy and thinks nothing of having a bit of fun with an alien body. And of course, nobody would suspect the truth, not with the alien blatently riding shotgun in Ross's convertable. But the happy times can't last forever, and when Ross starts showing smarts he wasn't born with, we start to suspect Jed may not be quite as dead as we thought.

The fed's are hot on the trail, a bunch of loony UFO freaks jump on the bandwaggon, hollywood takes an interest and in his spare time Ross find a shapely friend to share his ride. All of this is well within the capabilities of your average boot wearing Texan but when extraterestrial police start making a fuss, things leave the relms of even Ross's ability. This book is laugh out loud funny so don't read it in public places but do read it. You'll thank me.

This book was GREAT! It demonstrates Foster's talent for capturing the color and depth of a character. I thought it was funny and chock full of colorful images. Who else can make a great story out of a DEAD alien..except Foster... Long Live Jed the Dead.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was light-hearted fun and showed a lot of creativity.

This book, I will admit, was a little slow in a few places, but only reading the first 20 pages of anything doesn't give you enough info to rate it in any way. I really enjoyed reading of the adventures Jed went through. Getting chased across the country by government types and alien nuts is only the beginning.

This was a great book to read. Kept your interest all the way through and then at the end it turns out to be a diatribe about Salmon Rusdie. Great story line and talk about imagination.

this story shows you what could happen when a good ole boy from Texas meets up with an alien corpse.The ensuing road trip is not only humourous but informative when they are hunted first by the military and then by other alien races.Why? Jed may be dead but he's not done yet. Another outstanding novel by Alan Dean Foster.

Great Reading very enjoyable, "DARK STAR" meets "ET".

make sure you don't have anything to do the next day

I found this book to be quite entertaining. It is a refreshing change of pace from Foster's other works, and shows his ability to spin a good tale mixing different genres. This book is not as fast paced and exciting as some of his other great works such as the Icerigger and Flinx series, but will keep your interest throughout. It is amazing how much trouble an old texas boy can get into when he finds a dead alien in a spacesuit inside a small cave in the desert! The story is quite imaginative, and somewhat philisophical at times, but very light in content. If you like Foster's style, you will enjoy this one.

I was disappointed in this book, which is rare for Alan Dean Foster book. The story line didn't flow but was rather choppy. If you like short stories this book might appeal to you.