Personal Effects: Dark Art (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Jordan Weisman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hutchins, author of the audiobook podcast trilogy 7th Son, makes his print debut with the stellar first of an interactive supernatural thriller series. Zach Taylor, an art therapist, must evaluate Martin Grace, a blind audio engineer suspected of a dozen homicides, to determine whether Martin is mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of hip-hop singer Tanya Gold, whose body was torn literally limb from limb. Martin claims he's an unwitting psychic sniper, foreseeing crimes actually committed by a Russian demon or Dark Man. One of his possible earlier victims was Martin's psychiatrist, Sophronia Poole, the girlfriend of Zack's dad, William V. Taylor, the New York City DA seeking to convict Martin. Weisman, an alternative reality game whiz, is responsible for the items inside the book's front pocket—a psychiatric report, family photos, death and birth certificates, etc.—that allow the reader to follow a multimedia trail of clues. (June)
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Review

"Hutchins, author of the audiobook podcast trilogy 7th Son, makes his print debut with the stellar first of an interactive supernatural thriller series.  Zach Taylor, an art therapist, must evaluate Martin Grace, a blind audio engineer suspected of a dozen homicides, to determine whether Martin is mentally competent to stand trial for the murder of hip-hop singer Tanya Gold, whose body was “torn literally limb from limb.”  Martin claims he’s an “unwitting psychic sniper,” fore-seeing crimes actually committed by a Russian demon or “Dark Man.”  One of his possible earlier victims was Martin’s psychiatrist, Sophronia Poole, the girlfriend of Zack’s dad, William V. Taylor, the New York City DA seeking to convict Martin.  Weisman, an alternative reality game whiz, is responsible for the items inside the book’s front pocket—a psychiatric report, family photos, death and birth certificates, etc.—that allow the reader to follow a multimedia trail of clues."  --Starred Publishers Weekly (June)

"Start with an eerie setting. Add equal parts House, CSI, andThe X-Files. Place yourself at the side of an accidental detective embroiled in a complex web of madness, revenge, betrayal, and secret identities. Then light some dynamite under the box most novels live in and watch the pieces land outside the pages—in art, on websites, in e-mails, and in phone numbers that give you answers when you call. This is the future of storytelling, and it’s a thrilling ride." --Anthony E. Zuiker, Creator/Executive Producer of the CSI: Franchise

"Jordan Weisman is once again the vanguard of that new form of narrative—Transmedia Storytelling. The enigmatic tapestry of characters and events slowly slips off the page, taking the reader with it into a mosaic of facts and clues that compel us to know the truth behind the murders of the accused: Martin Grace. So compelling is the journey between these precisely crafted symbiotic worlds, the reader may scarcely recognize their own transformation from passive to active, as they pick up where the text subsides and become the protagonist." --Gore Verbinski, Director

"The world may be black to Martin Grace, but he can peer deep into your soul, find where your fears slither, and make them sway like a snake charmer. Personal Effects is a rocking genre-mash that mixes mystery with psychodrama and serves it up in a high-bandwidth torrent of terror." --Scott Sigler, author of Infected and the hit podcast novel Earthcore

"J.C. Hutchins delivers another mind-ripping story that shakes the foundations of reality. In the creation of Martin Grace he offers a richly complicated catalyst for events that keeps writhing the reader on a deadly twisted hook that won't let go. Don't worry about the lap bar. It won't save you from screaming on this ride." --Patrick Lussier, director of White Noise 2, Dracula 2000, and editor of the Scream trilogy, Halloween: H20, The Eye, and Red Eye

 "Personal Effects: Dark Art was impossible to put down and almost as hard to pin down. A twisted descent into the mind of a serial killer ... a supernatural thriller about a frightening and unfathomable evil that's as old as time ... a horrific tale of dark, unearthly secrets that bind ... and kill.  "Zach Taylor is assigned to the mysterious case of psychiatric patient Martin Grace -- a suspected serial killer with an airtight alibi for the murder he's accused of committing. Zach's search for the truth leads him, and the people he loves, into a terrifying world of dark secrets an ancient evil that threatens to consume them all. Terrifying, steeped in dread and populated with vibrant and complex characters, Personal Effects: Dark Art plunges you into a hidden world of supernatural intrigue.  It's a journey you won't soon forget." --Jeffrey Reddick, writer of Final Destination
 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Har/Pap edition (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383827
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383824
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,335 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This novel changes the game...this novel changes *everything*, June 9, 2009

By	Lynette (NJ United States) - See all my reviews

Not only will what's between the covers of this novel change how you feel about the dark, it will change how you want to be entertained. No longer a passive participant in the story, you now become part of the story with the realistic 'personal effects', websites, phone numbers and other great interactive surprises. On it's own the book tells a powerful, unreal but believable story that pulls you in from the very first page, but coupled with the included clues and breadcrumb trails to follow, the story leaps out of the page and vibrates with it's own deadly pulse.

What I love about this story is that there are so many levels to the plot, so many clues to pick up each time you read it, flip through the personal effects, or visit a website connected with the novel. This is the type of book you will want to read over and over just to rediscover the brilliant storytelling on every page.

Writers from this point on will have to live up to the high standards J.C. Hutchins has now put forth. The game has changed. We wanted more, and he delivered.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Cross Media Experience and a Character-Driven, Disturbing Novel, June 9, 2009

By	Matthew W. Selznick "http://www.mattselznick.com" (Hesperia, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

J.C. Hutchins (7th Son: Descent) and Jordan Weisman (Cathy's Ring) have created a fascinating book that is both reading experience and alternate reality game.

"Personal Effects: Dark Art" is, first and foremost, an excellent novel by J.C. Hutchins. The story follows a young art therapist, Zach Taylor, whose chosen career is informed by personal tragedy and a temptation to embrace the darker, self-destructive path he once walked.

He works in the most bizarre, twisted and just plain contra-healing mental health facility in fiction since Gotham City's Arkham Asylum: Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital, an establishment built on the site of an old brownstone quarry. Yes, it's a place where every floor after the first is a basement -- the entire thing is underground. The metaphor of "digging" into the subconscious is obvious, and the literary knife twist of a hospital with no windows is delightfully creepy.

Taylor's patient is a serial killer. The problem for an art therapist is that Martin Grace is blind. How can you treat someone with visual arts if they can't even see? And how did a blind man kill all those people?

The pressure to come to some conclusion about Grace's ability to stand trial is heavy, and it comes from sources both professional and personal. The slow bleed of the case into Taylor's own past drives the story from creepy psychological thriller into territory that is decidedly more unnerving.

The book -- which features a number of fully-realized, sympathetic characters and some very smooth, believable dialog -- is a bona-fide page-turner and great fun. But! The fun doesn't stop there.

Each copy of the book comes with a number of physical documents from the novel -- admission papers, birth certificates, funeral cards and the like. Each document is a clue and a gateway to a cross-media experience... find a telephone number? Call it and see what happens. Is a website mentioned? Browser there, and learn more.

This is Jordan Weisman's half of the equation. The veteran game designer is now dabbling in Alternate Reality Gaming, wherein an interactive story is told across many media. By following the various clues presented, the reader will end up with an understanding of the events of "Personal Effects: Dark Art" that may go beyond that of the characters in the book. It's a fascinating entertainment experience with tremendous potential!

Get "Personal Effects: Dark Art" for the great story J.C. Hutchins has crafted. Then, dig into the alternate reality gaming experience... it's a new, extraordinary storytelling experience that blurs the lines between reader and author!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No less than the ultimate in escapism novel. And isn't that what it's all about?, June 9, 2009

By	Matt Wallace (Hermitage, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's hard to imagine any author taking the concept a novel further than J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman have with PERSONAL EFFECTS: DARK ART. What CBS have tried desperately to do for television viewers with HARPER'S ISLAND, Hutchins and Weisman have done for readers, and in far sleeker, more immersive, and just plain addictively entertaining fashion.

But at its core, PE:DA is no more or less than exactly what you want in a novel: a sprawling, engaging, thrilling, chilling read. For me it was all about the characters. PE:DA's Zach Taylor is a franchise protagonist, the kind of character you want to keep coming back to and keep hanging out with like an old friend. Far removed from the tired cliche of the flawed detective and cookie cutter forensic pathologist/investigator that take centerstage in most best-sellers, Zach is as relentless as either archetype and yet as relateable as any character from a Kevin Smith movie. He's just a guy, who happens to have a unique calling in life and an even more unique insight. The concept is a blast of cool air on the cerebral nethers. That is to say, refreshing.

But as much as I dig Zach, the real star of PE:DA is The Brink, the psychiatric hospital and subterranean setting of much of the book's most haunting sequences. Vivid, horrifying, intriguing, it is a place you will remain in long after you close the book. Believe me. I rank it right up there with THE SHINING's Overlook Hotel as one of the great set pieces in horror fiction. No hype. Just fact.

I have no doubt we're going to see the reality-bending concept of PERSONAL EFFECTS: DARK ART co-opted and rehashed by every major publisher and author before too long. Get it here in its purest, most original form first.

To sum up: Come for the story. Stay after for the experience.