The Cleanup by John Skipp & Craig Spector

[gilda_elise]

His name is Bily Rowe. Yesterday, he was just another tragically talented loser that the city had chewed up and spat back down on the streets - a failed musician, failed lover, failed friend. But that was before a young woman was brutally murdered before his eyes. That was before the hideous creatures crawled out of the shadows to call him by name. That was before the “angel” gave Rowe power. That was before Billy Rowe discovered his mission....

The Cleanup.

Billy Rowe is cleaning up the streets. Now, you have nothing left to fear. Nothing but Billy Rowe.

I found the book to be sort of weird, but weird in a good way. Maybe. Billy Rowe is just sympathetic enough that I did care what happened to him, but he’s about the only character who’s clearly drawn. The rest are sort of background figures: the girlfriend, the roommates, the competition.

I did figure out who Christopher was early on; it’s a fairly common trope. But I wasn’t too crazy about the almost constant violence. Going by reviews, and the description of “splatter punk,” it’s how the authors’ commonly write. Actually, it appears that this was one of their more mild of fare.

The ending was different; sort of odd. It definitely came out of left field. And what was the reader supposed to do with it? I was left scratching my head.

I doubt I’ll be reading any of their other books.




Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry
2. Polaris (Alex Benedict #2) by Jack McDevitt
3. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
4. Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories From My Childhood: Beloved Fairy Tales from the Queen to Cinderella by Mikhail Baryshnikov
5. The Fateful Lightning (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater #4) by Jeff Shaara
6. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
7. The Petticoat Men by Barbara Ewing
8. Lily Pond: Four Years with a Family of Beavers by Hope Ryden
9. Running with the Demon (The Word & The Void #1) by Terry Brooks
10. The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (Giants #2) by James P. Hogan
11. Ararat (Ben Walker #1) by Christopher Golden
12. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
13. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald C. White Jr.
14. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
15. Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell Adventurer, Adviser to Kings by Janet Wallach
16. Snowblind by Christopher Golden
17. Women of Ashdon (Bridges Over Time #3) by Valerie Anand
18. Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
19. The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
20. The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa (translated by Nick Caistor)
21. Roses are White by Lesley Lambert
22. Giants' Star (Giants #3) by James P. Hogan
23. Duma Key by Stephen King
24. Magic In My Shoes by Constance Savery
25. The Breach by M.T. Hill
26. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
27. In the Region of the Summer Stars (Eirlandia #1) by Stephen R. Lawhead
28. Later by Stephen King
29. The Bone Doll's Twin (Tamír Triad #1) by Lynn Flewelling
30. The Threshold by Marlys Millhiser
31. Echoes of Home: A Ghost Story by M.L. Rayner
32. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Talking Classics) by Oscar Wilde, Martin Shaw (Reader)
33. The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone’s Legendary Druid Pack (The Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone #2) by Rick McIntyre, Marc Bekoff
34. A Knight of the Word (The Word & The Void #2) by Terry Brooks
35. The Mummy (Ramses the Damned #1) by Anne Rice
36. City of the Lost by Will Adams
37. The Summer Queen: A Medieval Tale of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France by Elizabeth Chadwick
38. Last Train from Perdition (I Travel by Night #2) by Robert R. McCammon
39. Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
40. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
41. Erebus: The Story of a Ship by Michael Palin
42. The Shining (The Shining #1) by Stephen King
43. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
44. Gwendy's Magic Feather (The Button Box #2) by Richard Chizmar
45. The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
46. Harvest Home by Tom Tryon
47. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
48. The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman
49. The Hiding Place by C. J. Tudor
50. To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield

51. The City Where We Once Lived by Eric Barnes
52. The Cleanup by John Skipp & Craig Spector









Orange, Red or Brown Cover - The Cleanup by John Skipp and Craig Spector




I Read Horror Year-Round List

*Winter Theme, or winter appearance on the cover (snow, ice, etc.) - Ararat by Christopher Golden

*Ghosts or spirits - The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

*Psychological:
1. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
2. The Hiding Place by C. J. Tudor

*Monster or Monsters:
1. Snowblind by Christopher Golden

*A body of water (featured in story, on cover, or in title) - Duma Key by Stephen King

*Really scary book cover - The Breach by M.T. Hill

*Woman on cover - Later by Stephen King

*Written by a woman:
1. The Mummy (Ramses the Damned #1) by Anne Rice
2. The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor

*Written by a best-selling horror author:
1. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
2. The Shining by Stephen King
3. The Cleanup by John Skipp and Craig Spector

*Written by an indie author - Echoes of Home by M.L. Rayner

*Historical horror (must be an historical novel written by a contemporary author) - Last Train From Perdition by Robert McCammon

*Folk horror - Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

Comments

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

Splatter punk definitely sounds like something I can skip.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not something I plan on revisiting. Not awful, but not to my taste.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

I don't know where this would fit in your categories (there's a ghost? Sort of? But definitely a "crime thriller") but I highly recommend The Blade Between, by Sam J. Miller.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've added it to my list. Always on the lookout for good horror/suspense.