Book Review: Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect by P.D. Alleva
When I start a new book, I try to go in as blind as possible. As someone whose hopes get high very quickly, I find sheltering myself from context is the best way to keep my expectations in line so I’m not disappointed. Unfortunately, I had read the back cover of Jigglyspot before diving into the book (in fact that was the thing that made me want to read Jigglyspot in the first place.) I am sorry to say it did give me unrealistic expectations for what I was going into.
This is not to say Jigglyspot was a bad read by any means. It is a wild ride that jumps right into the action and sustains that level of thrilling for over five-hundred pages — a feat that is plenty impressive in its own rite. There are many things that I think the book does well, but I was definitely approaching it with the wrong mindset.
Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect is, at its core, entertaining. If you’re looking for a book about cannibal, warlock clowns, then you’re probably also the kind of person who would love this style of writing. It’s engaging, conversationally styled, and not without constant levity. This sort of humor is offset by the consistently over-the-top gore, and insanely deep warlock lore.
I would compare this to movies like Terrifier or Stitches. I’m a bit ashamed to announce I haven’t read any comparable clown books, the closest being Brian’s Birthday Bloodbath by Brian G. Berry — though that one is far more condensed, making it an entirely different experience. The key is to go in expecting something that feels like a gory slasher, but includes dense history and world-building.
Setting those expectations is important. From the back of the book I was expecting the story to follow Jigglyspot — when it in fact has a much larger cast. I also expected it to be more subtle than it was.
I know what you’re thinking. Why on earth did I think the cannibal warlock clown book was going to be subtle? The answer might be just because I was being silly, but also it had something to do with the compared authors. On the back cover the book says that this story would do well with fans of Catriona Ward, Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Grady Hendrix, who often deal with psychological horrors as well as supernatural horrors. All of them bring an element of reality into even their most outlandish plots, even though they have four different styles of storytelling.
While I won’t say there was no believability to be had in Jigglyspot, I will say it is definitely more pulp-based than reality based.
The one big issue I had with the book, aside from my own misconceptions, was the characters. While I think there was a wide cast of characters that carried the story and offered different perspectives of the plot, the characters themselves fell flat for me. I didn’t form strong bonds or attachments to the anyone in the book. On the one side that made it an easy read, but I would have liked a stronger emotional response to some of the more harrowing events. (Also, this is just a personal preference, but when I’m reading content that gory anyway, I would also be comfortable with detail that is more explicit.)
This is not going to be a read for everyone. While it’s not for the faint of heart, I’m also not sure it’s for the readers like me who want to leave a book completely devastated. If you’re looking for creepy clown horror and don’t mind delving into some pretty dark places, I would still recommend this book. This is obviously a genre that has an audience and I literally could not think of anything that is more exacting, or more impressive in its scope.
Review by Cat Voleur
Twitter: @Cat_Voleur
