No Hope for Gomez! [Paperback]

Graham Parke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2010

Winner of the Forewords Book of the Year Awards, nominated for the International Book Awards and the USA Book News Best Book Awards, featured in the Kirkus Best Indie 2011 list.

It's the age-old tale:

Boy meets girl.
Boy stalks girl.
Girl already has a stalker.
Boy becomes her stalker-stalker.

We've seen it all before, many times, but this time it's different. If only slightly.

When Gomez Porter becomes a test subject in an experimental drug trial, he is asked to keep track of any strange experiences through a blog. What Gomez isn't ready for, is so many of his experiences suddenly seeming strange; the antiques dealer trying to buy his old tax papers, the phone-sex salesman who hounds him day and night, the super sexy research assistant who falls for him but is unable to express herself in terms outside the realm of science. But when one of the trial participants turns up dead and another goes missing, Gomez begins to fear for his life. No longer sure who he can trust and which of his experiences are real and which merely drug induced delusions, he decides it's time to go underground and work out a devious plan.

Now, years later, his blogs have been recovered from a defunct server. For the first time we can find out firsthand what happened to Gomez as he takes us on a wild ride of discovery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Much of the richness of this book lies in its jocular conversational bantering and some extremely witty and clever writing. --Book Pleasures, March 4, 2010

Extremely witty and clever writing that contains keen insights into human nature. --California Chronicle

The antics in this book will leave the reader laughing. Graham Parke is a genius. --Readers Favorite

A quick and unputdownable read that flies in the face of reason, and smashes against the wall of detective novels. It's a Coens Brothers' film formatted in book form. --Book Review

A very funny book; a veritable page turner of nonstop laughs. Buy a copy and find out for yourself! --Reader Views

From the Inside Flap

Read an article about a group of mathematicians who developed a financial model to accurately compare apples and oranges.
Was stunned. Never thought I'd see the day.
Preliminary indications are that the model allows any two kinds of fruit to be compared, although guava still causes minor rounding errors.
Further testing is ongoing.

-- Gomez Porter, blogspace entry.

Blog note: They asked me to keep a blog. They told me to be meticulous and exact in reporting my experiences. Leave nothing out, they said, no matter how mundane or unimportant it may seem.
I have no idea what kind of drugs I'm on. It may be some new medicine, an anti-psychotic, or just a pain reliever. I have no way of knowing what kind of experiences would constitute effects or side effects. I update my blog daily, then let them sift through the mess to decide what's relevant and what's not. What's out of the ordinary and what expected.
Just write down everything, they said.

Blog entry: Slow afternoon at the antiques store. Spent most of my time updating my blog and reading the paper. Was burning time quite happily until I came across this article about a guy found near-dead in his apartment. Apparently he'd been comatose for the better part of a week.
Normally this kind of story doesn't affect me much. It might tickle the part of my brain in charge of morbid curiosity, it might stir up some momentary apprehension about living alone and dying unexpectedly, but then I'll realize this would bother my neighbors more than it would me, and I'll carry on with my day.
But this article had my hair standing up. Not only did I know the guy, I also had a sneaking suspicion about what happened to him. And, what was worse, I might be headed for the same fate!
Scanned the article quickly, looking for phrases that proved me wrong, snippets stating the cause of death to be completely natural and, if possible, even somewhat pleasant. I found no such thing. Had to buckle down and read the entire article carefully. When I reached the end, though, I was still none the wiser. So far, police had yet to release any information on the cause of the guy's collapse. They also declined to indicate whether foul play was suspected. There was nothing in the article to soothe my growing dread.

Blog entry: One of the things about blogging for the sake of identifying experiences that may be out of the ordinary and could, therefore, be effects or side effects of the drugs, while not knowing what kind of drugs you're on and thus not knowing what to expect as effects or side effects, is that you start noticing so many things being out of the ordinary.

Blog entry: So. Many. Things.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 194 pages
• Publisher: Outskirts Press (January 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432752480
• ISBN-13: 978-1432752484
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #873,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Graham Parke is responsible for a number of technical publications and has recently patented a self-folding map. He has been described as both a humanitarian and a pathological liar.

Convincing evidence to support either allegation has yet to be produced.

No Hope for Gomez! is his fiction debut.

Follow his blog at: www.grahamparke.blogspot.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously quirky mystery! May 18, 2010

By ReviewsByMolly

Format:Paperback

Interesting. That's the first thing that pops to mind when I try to describe this book. Definitely a different kind of book than I've ever read. But definitely one that held my interest through out the story.

This story should be perfect for us bloggers! Each chapter is written in the style of blog entries. Too cute! But what held me the most was the humor and twist of mystery that Parke adds. Wow! Parke is a talented author who really knows how to create a quirky page turning story that will keep you laughing until the end.

Gomez's character was HILARIOUS! He really had me rolling with laughter throughout! I was intrigued from the interesting start all the way to the quirky ending. There was some language but nothing like alot of the books out there today. It's mild compared to them. There was also some undetailed (thank goodness!) mentions of sex, but again, nothing like some of the books out there. Overall, I enjoyed this crazy, funny, book about antique dealers, experimental drugs, mystery and love.

A 4 star praise to Mr. Graham Parke for a hilariously mysterious comedy!

*This review is based on a complimentary copy which was provided for an honest review*

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars GRIM PLACEBOS March 27, 2010

By DAVID BRYSON TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

GP stands for Gomez Porter, the hero (so to speak) of this very engaging short novel, and it also stands for guinea pig. It is not giving the plot away to say that Gomez, the feckless owner of a struggling little antiques business, volunteers for a programme of testing unspecified drugs just to help pay his bills. This turns out to be dangerous, but the danger is not what Gomez expected it to be, nor what I expected it to be either, and I would be rather surprised if many readers guess the outcome correctly. This is an attractive story in a number of ways, one of these being how neatly the plot is worked out. GP also stands, quite obviously, for Graham Parke, the book's author, and while this is obviously not coincidence I have no idea exactly what link we are supposed to read into the identical initials.

Participants in the drug trial are asked to keep a blog of their experiences with it, and that gives the author a convenient device for allowing his modest hero to open his heart to us. Gomez is a rather endearing creation, or so I found, and the background of his somnolent little business is described with both affection and witty irony. The situation that he stumbles into makes for some good detective-mystery material, but even when Gomez is briefly in imminent peril of his life the writing keeps its light touch and the reader is not harrowed or kept in any great degree of suspense.

I gather that this is a debut novel, and if so it is a very promising one. Whether Gomez Porter is going to come back to us in some subsequent series I don't know. I find it hard to imagine him cast in any such role, but Graham Parke's imagination is no doubt more creative than mine is, so I shall be interested to see what follows.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bridget's Review May 17, 2010

By bridget3420

Format:Paperback

Gomez has become an experimental lab rat. He is required to blog about any sudden changes in the way he feels. Gomez had no idea just how crazy this drug would make him. He shares his predicament with on the world wide web for all to read.

He begins to wonder if taking part in this trial was a good idea. He gets his answer when one of the other people taking part winds up dead. Unable to decipher between reality and the feelings brought on by the drugs, Gomez is facing a huge turning point in his life. Will he have the strength and will to survive or will he give up?

This book is different than any other book I have read. The way the author speaks through his characters and builds up suspense is really intriguing. When you read this you will want to be able to read it all in one sitting because you won't be able to put it down.