Title: Is Fat Bob Dead Yet?
Author: Stephen Dobyns
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 3.75 stars
In the seaport city of New London, Connecticut, and newcomer Connor Raposo has just witnessed a gruesome motorcycle accident on Bank Street. At least he thinks it was an accident. But then he sees a familiar man–who else would wear an Elvis pompadour in this day and age?–lurking around the crime scene. Where does Connor know him from? And why does everyone he knows keep showing up dead? (Goodreads)
I don’t read a lot of mysteries, but when I do it’s usually of the intense and suspenseful variety (think Tana French or Gillian Flynn). However, this book caught the attention of my boyfriend and from his description and frequent quoting of dialogue I couldn’t resist giving it a read for myself.
This book is crazy, but in a good way. Every character in this novel is completely eccentric and unusual – from Connor, who works for a cousin’s con scheme fundraising for nicotine-addicted beagles, to the detective partners who cannot get along with each other for one second (and one has his own karaoke bar in the basement of his home), to homeless Fidget who thinks he has a tale. Vaughan is probably my favorite character of the novel, simply because his confusion of cliche sentences makes for extra hilarity.
The book begins with a gruesome motorcycle accident, which may or may not be murder, then devolves into somewhat organized chaos from there. Don’t expect this to be your typical detective investigation/murder mystery novel. It was absolutely nothing like that, but it kept my attention and kept me curious to learn what would happen next (which you could in no way predict). Honestly, there are so many twists and turns and so much over-the-top ridiculousness that you really do have to read it to believe it.
This was definitely not my typical type of book, but I really did have fun reading it. It certainly isn’t high literature, but it will make you laugh.
Not Another Dumb Blonde 