Customer Reviews

Nuclear Winter Wonderland: A Wild Tale of Nuclear Terror, Kidnapping, Gangsters and Family Values

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I became attached to the characters and their adventures to the point of not wanting to read the last chapters because I knew it had to end. Corin's story line missed nothing! All age groups will be entertained with the fast moving excitement of this thriller. Josh give us more!

Never have I fallen in love so quickly with a novel as I have with this one. I can safely say that it is in my Top 10. It is by far the wittiest book I have read. Corin has an uncanny ability to blend both reality and comedy into a fast paced thrill ride of a novel that never slows down. As a teacher, this is the kind of work I love to give to my students. Captivating and authentic - one that they talk about before, during, and after class.

The thing I loved most about this book was that there was never a lull in the action. It was also intelligent. And funny. And suspenseful. Oh my! I fell in love with the characters without realizing it and as soon as I had finished reading I contemplated starting all over again. This book keeps you guessing right up to the last page and has an ending that leaves you wanting so much more, but you're still so satisfied. Corin is definitely an author I want to see more from.

Uncle Dexter, who believed he was the exiled king of Mars, is dead. Mom wants Adam Weiss to come home for the funeral. Adam would rather stay in the fraternity house at the University of Michigan and play his Xbox, but mom wants him to come home to Rhode Island. Adam might have gotten his way if his twin sister, Anna, hadn't suggested picking her up on the way and then playing the dad card.

Guilt is a powerful motivator and Adam can't dodge his sister like he can his mother. The next day finds him driving his green Escort to Oberlin, Michigan where he picks up Anna before getting lunch at a local Denny's. They eat and get back on the interstate for a while until the gastric effects of his meal take over and Adam desperately searches for a rest stop. He finds one and quickly discovers that lower intestine relief can have severe consequences.

Like his car stolen and his sister kidnapped.

Like the fact that the world will end on next Wednesday, Christmas Eve, when this maniac pulls the trigger on 12 nuclear weapons.

At least the bad guy left his own truck behind so Adam does have a vehicle to start chasing the bad guy and his sister.

What follows is a surreal tale that only works depending on the sense of humor level of the reader. Humor is a tricky thing for authors to get right. Chris Grabenstein does it well with the early books of his Ceepak series. Harlan Coben did it with the early books of the Bolitar series. In both cases, the author had the humor come about naturally under real life circumstances with believable characters and their interaction.

The humor here fails that test because the humor is forced and consists of eccentricity and absurdity. This isn't the humor of Monty Python either which frequently bordered on the absurd. Even with Monty Python stuff, the humor came about because of character interaction built on the original premise that was absurd or otherwise. In most cases, it wasn't scenarios where the absurd built upon the absurd and continued to build absurdity upon absurdity. Such is not the case here in this mess of a novel.

After a strong beginning, the novel quickly deteriorates into a quagmire of nonsense fueled by absurdity and eccentricity in the extreme. Every character of any stature, besides Adam and his missing sister, is eccentric to the extreme and totally absurd. Every scenario and or plot twist is over the top as well a case study of giving the book the barest grounding in crime, mystery genres or thriller genres. That grounding, evident in the early part of the book, is quickly thrown out along with any concept of logic or sense of plot. Instead, the read comes down to taking every story point and imagining the most absurd thing and then seeing if the author is going to be even more extreme. In most cases, the answer is an affirmative and the reader is left to wade through yet another ludicrous scenario that is supposedly funny and yet fails the humor test. Nothing is straight forward in this book that constantly screams at the reader just how funny the book is and how mad cap nearly everyone involved is while the fate of the world is at stake.

Fans of the absurd carried to extremes will appreciate this novel, while those readers that prefer a more straight forward crime/murder/thriller novel will find it extremely tough going. According to the book jacket, "Nuclear Winter Wonderland" is going to "soon be a major motion picture" via the screenplay also written by the author. If the movie ever comes out, it will be interesting to see if a movie version of the work is much better than the original book. It certainly doesn't seem possible that the movie could be worse than the book.



Book provided by Publicist PJ Nunn, owner of BreakThrough Promotions, in exchange for my objective review.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright)2009

If I had walked by this book at Borders, I never would have thoguht to pick it up. Not because it doesn't sound interesting, because it does, but because I'm more of an Alice Hoffman , Beth Gutcheon, Alice Sebold, Brunonia Barry type of girl. I like stories of love, magic, and disaster. Little did I know...that this story contains all three! I bought the book because I attend the college that the author teaches at and just happened to go to the release party that was held at school. He read the first chapter of Nuclear Winter Wonderland to us and I just knew. I knew I had to read it. And I am so glad that I did! It was completely captivating! I loved the entire thing. It was one disaster after another. I would recommend it to anyone. Get out of your comfort zone and read this book!

P.S. Joshua Corin is AWESOME. He has the best personalitly in the entire world...(this based on having barely spoken to him at all..but hey whatever.)

This novel by a new writer is a hoot. I spent the weekend enjoying his story and unique imagination, and the icing on the cake was the wonderful prose. This man can write.

I recommend this novel to readers of all ages and lovers of all genres. It has something for everyone.

But in a good way.
I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book, as it isn't something I would normally read. But once I started it, I couldn't put it down.
The characters are all a bit strange, but I really liked most of them. The storyline was also strange, but very interesting. I just had to know what was coming next. There were a few surprises thrown in also.
The ending left me wondering what happened in the future to the characters. I.don't want to give anything away,so I won't be more specific.
I do prefer to know if a book is overly graphic before I begin reading it,so I will say there is some sexual talk and actions, but nothing my prudish mind couldn't handle ;p There is also some violence and Gore described, so it may be more appropriate for an audience of older teens to adult.
All in all it was a very good, yet very strange book that I am glad I read.

Joshua Corin takes his readers on a wild ride in Nuclear Winter Wonderland. Adam, the man character, has more bad luck than possible for one person to experience. With each new predicament, the story becomes less believable. It got to the point where I'd burst out laughing as each implausible situation unfolded. However, for some odd reason, I had to continue reading to see what else could possibly happen to Adam next.
If you want a realistic thriller, Nuclear Winter Wonderland is not for you. If you want a good laugh at someone else's misfortune, this is your cup of tea. Not a believable story, but definitely entertaining. I received a complimentary copy of this in exchange for my review.

Just as the main character begins to chase down his kidnapped sister, the reader is drawn into the countdown to the potential meltdown of the 12 nuclear bombs. Quirky characters abound as well as implausible scenarios. I must admit it is a read that won't easily be forgotten. I picked the novel up as a lark, but then couldn't put it down because of the "bizarreness" of it all. It is truly a compelling read. I liked it so much I got a copy for my son who loved it, too.

Bizarre doesn't begin to describe this hilarious debut novel by Joshua Corin. The cast itself is like something out of a Hunter Thompson nightmare: a female Spanish clown, a drunken ex-mobster, and a University of Michigan frat boy on a mission to save the world from nuclear annihilation.

Then there is the plot, which involves an old man named Ebbets who kidnaps the frat boy's twin sister and gives him six days to avert Armageddon. The resulting chase from the Poconos to Disney World is the stuff that great off-beat movies are made of. Do I see the Coen brothers waiting in the wings?