Customer Reviews

When Graveyards Yawn

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Imagine for a moment a world following "The Change" in which the living never age, the dead rise from their graves, procreation is only a memory and the sun never shines. Toss in a first-class mystery and a cynical detective with a propensity for adult beverages by the name of Wildclown and you have a plot mix that makes a witches brew seem passé. Oh, and did I mention that Wildclown, appropriately enough, wears clown garb and
makeup, is often possessed by a disembodied entity and has a partner whose dead? Not many writers could pull so many diverse story-elements into one story and have it hold
together, but G. Wells Taylor has done it superbly. Not only is Graveyards believable, but Taylor's prose is impeccable. Wildclown, with his flawed personality, is a character
you may not like, but you will love his cynically humorous repartee and you'll be rooting for him all the way through this imaginatively clever novel.

This is the novel that taught me that POD books could be just as good, just as well-written, and just as entertaining as any contemporary fiction. I know that inspiration is a personal matter, and Graveyards may not have the same impact on you as it did on me. Nonetheless, there is much here to enjoy for anyone who appreciates hard-boiled mysteries (especially ones infused with apocalyptic overtones). The narrative pulses with real tension and menace. The violence is abrupt, brutal, and convincing. The mystery that drives the plot, although essentially a MacGuffin, is well-handled to the very end. And the more subtle enigma of the protagonist -- a man with two souls -- gives the novel the emotional heft of a true noir classic.

I was amazed. When Graveyards Yawn takes some familiar ideas from detective and horror stories and ties them into a book that's totally unique, creepy and entertaining. Wildclown is a one of a kind detective, and Greasetown is just like its name. The writing is thought provoking and fun. And to help you get a feel for the novel Taylor also produced a huge, official web site dedicated to the story and its setting and characters. There are pictures and animations of the detective, characters from the book and an ongoing book launch party inside the book. Lots of stuff to keep you entertained for hours. This is one fantastic package. I can't wait for the movie!

This is a review of the Kindle version.

At the start, I wasn't too impressed with this. A hard-boiled detective story with an insane clown, the spirit who possesses him and their dead sidekick. But the story and background just did a great job of sucking me in. It's clear the author has thought about what the world would be like if the dead start moving, and how it would impact society. The more I read, the more I wanted to keep reading, and the more I cared about the characters. Especially Fatso - just really love him, for some reason. The quiet dignity of a dead man, but willing to risk everything for his boss.

Definitely recommend.

This is bizarro fiction, with a master's stroke of the brush!
I was playing Russian Book Roulette on Amazon and took a chance on this one, without reading the full synopsis.
This is one of the most rewarding chances that I've ever taken.
Read it, hug it, squeeze it and name it George!

Seriously.. WTF?

I almost stopped reading it, and then I got hooked. Me thinks the author dropped some acid coming up with this story line. Where or how anyone came up with this is beyond me. It's one of the oddest, most unique books I've ever read. And I haven't decided if that's a good thing or not.

It's so weird that I cannot even ..
If you try it, don't stop where you want to. Give it 40% of the way through to get the vibe. If you don't like it by then just remove your grease paint
and delete it from your Kindle.

If the book wasn't so odd, it would rate 5 starts. But really.. a semi-posessed(?) clown, detective noir, walking dead gunsel sidekick named fatso (he ain't fat), rain, bleak darkness.. Oh, and an old Chrysler, cigarettes and Canadian Club. Way too odd for 5 stars.. but hey, I liked it.. I think?

A really unique book. I really enjoyed it. It's definitely is it's own thing. What happens when the dead stop dying? And no they don't try to eat you, the just become second class citizens. I guess the book would get classified as urban fantasy, but it really is very different from anything by Jim Butcher, etc. and it's clearly not your typical apocalypse. What it is is a lot of fun.

I don't write a ton of reviews (you can probably tell) but this book was so enjoyable and the setting so unique that I thought I should write one.

I am not a big detective novel fan. I pick one up every now and again, most of them ones my wife has purchased. I was looking for of all things apocalypse fiction when this book made the list. Since it was being offered for free I thought I would give it a try. I was hooked, I read the book in two days, and it is a full length novel.

The plot was full of twists, and enough subtle clues that you really got into the story. Working the case alongside Wildclown was very enjoyable. The action scenes were well written, and the world the author creates is three dimensional. His work is very descriptive, you can feel the grit and grime of Greasetown, as the hero travels the streets solving not one simple case, but a major cover up. Complete with corrupt leaders, power-hungry businessmen, and women willing to do anything to get what they want. It was a compelling story.

At first I found the Hero, hard to get into. Mostly because he is more of an anti hero. He really isn't in it for the cash, he is more than happy with his crummy, run down office. As long as he has a bottle to crawl into, and a few sandwiches life is good. What he isn't happy with is the lack of justice in the world he lives in. That was a lot to swallow at first. Then as the chapters clicked by the true depth of the main character became apparent. I had made the oldest literary mistake of all I had judged the book (the hero) by it's cover. I went back and reread the first few chapters and realized my own narrow expectations of a detective novel were shaping my opinion. Accepting a drunk sometimes violent clown as the hero, had been hard. He wasn't the typical bad boy that makes good. He had real in your face flaws, that he accepted and worked to his advantage. It really worked exceptionally well in the framework of the book.

Give this author a try, he is very good. I am reading another of his books right now The Variant Effect. It is just as good as Graveyard is. I find myself becoming a fan after reading only two of his books, and that is something I rarely do.

Was really pleased I grabbed this book. A different story line with some really enjoyable characters who I was sorry to have to leave at the end. It may take a few pages to get into it initially, but I had no problems finishing this book - had a lot of trouble putting it down actually which speaks volumes as far as I am concerned - and am now eyeing off the other Tommy Wildclown books from Taylor...which is obviously the intention of making this one free. Recommended.

This is a remarkably original and well-done book.

The title and thumbnail plot synopsis may make you think this is a zombie book, but it is not. It's about a world where the dead don't really die (but they do experience slow deterioration) and the racial divide has been superseded by the alive/dead divide. Huge companies make their profit off selling services to the dead. In addition, everybody alive when the dead came back to life stopped aging and reproduction has stopped. Your guide through this weird world is Tommy Wildclown, a hard-drinking private eye. Tommy likes to dress as a clown, complete with full face makeup. And he isn't always Tommy - sometimes this disembodied soul enters him and takes over. To be technical, he's the actual narrator.

Sound crazy? It is, but it somehow all works. It's a post-apocalyptic noir that manages to be both gritty and pleasantly cartoony. The city is "Greasetown," the name it took after the political and social disruptions that shook the world when the dead came back to life. The pre-change name isn't specified, but I pictured it as Los Angeles.

This book is incredibly enjoyable and I doubt you've ever read anything like it. If you hang out on the Amazon forums for books, you may see people frequently protesting that indie books can be just as good as traditionally published books. While that hasn't been my general experience, this is the book that proves it CAN be true. I can't wait to check out more books by this author.