[Review] - It's a Bad Bad Bad Bad World
It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World
Series: Bad World 1
Curtis M. Lawson
Published by Black Pyramid Books
This book was a ridiculous amount of fun. The most fun I have had with a book since Douglas Hackle's Terror Mannequin. I hate using review clichés, but it was an absolute thrill ride. I can't think of an original way to say that, that's what it was. It felt like a Guy Ritchie film (think Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch) on speed. A diverse and interesting as hell set of characters are set on crisscrossing courses. They are all after one thing, a certain priceless magical artifact.
I don't know if I can tell you what the artifact is. I want to but I won't. I will say that the item's history is traced all the way back to Vlad (yeah, that guy). It also has ties to Jack (yeah, that guy). It's a damn rat race to the end with collateral damage splattered along the way.
It's not nearly as humorous as Hackle's book but there is some humor here. It's thick and twisting. It has a feel of being full with no wasted words. Our characters, holy hell our characters. A black-market antique man, an assassin nun, a Rhodesian mercenary, a pair of artistic serial killer lovers, a dirty cop, and a professional sadist are all weaving in and out of the narrative. We have levels upon levels of bad guys here.
Who survives this quest? Who is snuffed out along the way? And the most important question, who winds up with our mystical artifact and does it do what the legends say?
This book has a sequel and I am pumped about that. I am going to dig into it very soon. Lawson does it again, He has impressed me at every turn. I haven't read a bad piece by Curtis Lawson. Black Heart Boy's Choir was bigger than this book, it was more epic. I enjoyed the hell out of it, but this one might be my favorite.
Rating: 5 Stars
Link to purchase: https://bookshop.org/books/it-s-a-bad-bad-bad-bad-world/9781530375035
Review by Well Read Beard
Twitter: @WellReadBeard
I received this book from the author for review consideration.