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Author
Mike Watt has envisioned an interesting and gritty
world before him through the eyes of warrior woman
Tanith Goldwin, a Goth-like average woman who holds down
a relationship with her girlfriend, hangs with people
she barely likes, and communes in a dark world of clubs
and sinister individuals all the while performing the
daily task of hunting demonic entities that is a job
filled with zero thank yous, no appreciation, and
absolutely no monetary rewards to speak of. One of the
strengths of "Suicide Machine" is author Mike Watt's
vivid prose that keeps his action scenes absolutely
fast paced and exciting with descriptions of his
monsters that are stunning and absolutely gritty. Watts
explores the world of Goldwin by firstly explaining how
this character was born.
He conceived this
character in the mid-nineties where female heroes were
scarce and now explains that this is a character
searching for her place in a new world where the female
superhero and demon hunter is now the absolute norm. The
game is tougher for Watt who has to carve out a niche
for the woman in pop culture where women like Buffy and
Sookie Stackhouse run rampant. "Suicide Machine" sadly
isn't a complete home run as most of the time the back
story behind Goldwin feels tedious and often can ramble
on with incessant nods to pop culture and indie music
and film, losing sight of the goal to tell the story and
create this world for Goldwin who is an interesting
character when Watt can stop shooting rapid fire obscure
pop culture references to the reader and focus in on the
objective of giving his character a villain and a
mission to bring down the dark forces in her world. |
| As mentioned, Watt's
prose is vivid and engrossing allowing for some
wicked action set pieces to take place, particularly
during the night where he's capable of describing in
vast detail Tanith going up against a demonic
entity, while she takes us in to her world of grim
circumstances where the demons have managed to mix
in to society in the bodies of normal humans leading
their own lives, most of which are impossible to
track or take down by Tanith. The world of Goldwin
is a very bleak one filled with dark alleys and
stark shadows, all of which seem desolate and
dreary, one where Tanith is especially comfortable
in but is also desperate to escape from. This is a
void where identity comes to die, and Tanith
struggles to keep hers while defying the sexual
destruction of demonic forces at every corner, the
deeper she gets in to this case that threatens to
destroy her body and essence. Meanwhile she's on the
hunt for her ex-girlfriend Lizzie through the
underworld of the porn industry and engaging in
violent confrontations with dark forces that often
leaves her battered and bloodied. "Suicide Machine"
is a different kind of horror novel with a bit of a
grindhouse feel to it with a thick coating of blood
and piss that make this world dirty and grotesque
but entertaining just the same. While Mike Watt's
novel isn't completely a masterpiece, meandering
here and there, it's still a captivating genre tale
with some interesting characters I definitely want
to see more from in the future. |
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