Rating: 
Summary: Hauntingly Dark
Review:
I am not certain that I am a particular fan of this type of work. I only know that once I started reading this Kiss Me, Judas I couldn't stop. Sure, I wanted to find out who took Phineas' kidney and why. But it was author Will Christopher Baer's hypnotic narrative and the sense that something macabre was happening that had me hooked. Overlay the fact that Phineas was drugged (thus making it difficult to delineate what, in his mind, was real, what was a hallucination and what was a flashback) then add a bunch of characters that were incredibly sexual, highly sinister and wholly without a moral compass and you have the formula for a very dark yet highly riveting novel.
As mentioned, I am not certain that I like this type of work but I do know that Baer wrote a second book to this one and I am going to have to read it as well.
Rating: 
Summary: A Scary Love Story
Review: "Kiss Me, Judas" is summed up nicely by the author himself when he calls it a "scary love story." Many other authors would have used the basic premise of the storyline - the harvesting of one's kidney while the donor is alive and unwilling - to delve into the underbelly of today's black market, but Chris Baer uses it as a dark and gritty backdrop to the core theme he wants us to recognize, and that is of modern-day love and loss.
Baer writes the way everyone aspires to - brutally honest and open. When everyone else has the secrets of their hearts sealed in a box and guarded with sentries, Chris has his unlocked and painted on every page as if writing in his own journal. The things that we lack the courage to even whisper to ourselves are exposed and illuminated for all the world to see and reading it puts Baer's very soul in the limelight.
Each turn of the page slashes another razorblade across his wrist and we ache with every darkly heartfelt comment that Phineas makes. The aching of the protagonist is compelling and the constant questioning of what is real or imagined, true love or false hope, guilt or innocence, puts a ray of light into our own minds, into the questions that we subconsciously ask ourselves but we don't have the fortitude to actually ponder honestly.
Baer shows us how love can bring you to the brink of self-destruction, and how it can also pull you out of the depths. These pages are bruising to the soul, but ultimately cathartic. This is a novel that we need to read, because love is the only feeling that can make anyone fall, but it can keep us from falling, too.
Rating:
Summary: very strong book, very strong writing
Review: A little bit of Vachss, a little bit of Chandler, this is strong noir. And like Chandler, this possesses incredibly descriptive imagery.
This was a little difficult to read quickly; Baer allots much credit to his readers and this makes for a very enjoyable experience. His is an almost dizzying writing style, but it is done well and HAS A VERY POWERFUL EFFECT.
Have read that some question this books end:
A novel. By the end, you have the exhaustion of theme, not the end of life.
Remember that no person's life is one story. Not even a novel's portrait. That few novels address everything. Few of them even finish much.
Ever read The Name of the World by Denis Johnson? That is a novel in the truest sense because it finishes a theme that could not have shown revelation in a shorter or longer write. For those who feel that Judas didn't really finish: A novel in the truest sense brings its story's themes to revelation. I felt completion at the end of Judas. Not too long, not too short. Just right. A perfect end to A powerful story. In fact, there have been few closings that I have liked more, that I have felt more thoroughly.
Oh, and I think the opening chapter to this novel, in itself, makes a fantastic short story, but would certainly NOT replace the power of the full volume.
My thoughts.
Baer is certainly a great writer. And this story is a great modern romance.
Kabol
Rating: 
Summary: Subjective Material
Review: After reading all the emails circulating on the Internet about travellers getting their kidneys removed after consuming a spiked drink and falling into a stupor, I almost mistook this book to be a "real-life" account of one such incident.I was hooked at the beginning. The style of the author was original and intriguing. It begged me to read more and find out what illicit intentions hung in the mind of Phineas Poe, the victim of a rare sort of theft. We are exposed to the horrors of a dark trade and the heinous minds of individuals who had strayed too far from the 'normal' life. Horror-fans, this is not what you think it to be. Will's narrative style was like some sort of a drug that coaxed and intoxicated your mind as you passed your eyes over the first couple of chapters. I followed... but... ... I got confused along the way. The appearance of Isabel and Henry left me muddled as to what really was going on. I no longer knew who was the 'bad' guy and who was 'good'. Also, the story started to be a bit draggy. Images of a very worn and dirty man who had no idea what he was in didn't keep the storyline appealing anymore. The sex that occurred between the characters added no color nor meaning to the plot. It would also have been easier if conversations were marked in quotation marks. It could be quite a chore figuring things out for the English-challenged crowd. A slow-paced detective story, this would enthrall you at first, but leave you rather dissatisfied.
Rating:
Summary: You've got to be kidney me.
Review: I am a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk, Augusten Burroughs, Neal Pollack. While this book was as dark as any of the author's works I've mentioned, there was just something "ugly" about this book. It is well written, although the edition I borrowed was poorly edited (at least two typos). The kidney....believable.....the relationship between Mr. Kidney and Jude was not. But then he did seem to have a deathwish. I read that Mr. Baer is working a screen play for this book. The book definately reads like a vivid, raw film and will be a success. I like to snort laugh with my darkness....this book just was not funny. I felt like I needed a shower afterwards...or....wander into a foaming drive thru car wash.
Rating:
Summary: You've got to be kidney me.
Review: I am a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk, Augusten Burroughs, Neal Pollack. While this book was as dark as any of the author's works I've mentioned, there was just something "ugly" about this book. It is well written, although the edition I borrowed was poorly edited (at least two typos). The kidney....believable.....the relationship between Mr. Kidney and Jude was not. But then he did seem to have a deathwish. I read that Mr. Baer is working a screen play for this book. The book definately reads like a vivid, raw film and will be a success. I like to snort laugh with my darkness....this book just was not funny. I felt like I needed a shower afterwards...or....wander into a foaming drive thru car wash.
Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly Dark
Review: I am not certain that I am a particular fan of this type of work. I only know that once I started reading this Kiss Me, Judas I couldn't stop. Sure, I wanted to find out who took Phineas' kidney and why. But it was author Will Christopher Baer's hypnotic narrative and the sense that something macabre was happening that had me hooked. Overlay the fact that Phineas was drugged (thus making it difficult to delineate what, in his mind, was real, what was a hallucination and what was a flashback) then add a bunch of characters that were incredibly sexual, highly sinister and wholly without a moral compass and you have the formula for a very dark yet highly riveting novel. As mentioned, I am not certain that I like this type of work but I do know that Baer wrote a second book to this one and I am going to have to read it as well.
Rating:
Summary: Dark, insane, violent and sexual...
Review: I got this book as an extra special treat when I ordered a copy of Chuck Palahniuk's DVD, Postcards From the Future. [...]php I guess he has a habit of shooting goodies out to fans, and that is how I got my copy of Kiss Me Judas ( it was a press proof). Apparently Baer is someone Mr. P likes to read.
I was desperately ill while I was reading it and I must say, it really added to the experience! It's funny how coincidence works. Baer starts his story with the moldiest of urban legends, where the guy picks up a [...], gets drugged, and wakes up with a brand new scar and shy a kidney.
But then the story gets really interesting- it's sort of stream of consciousness narrative of this ex-cop/sex&drug addict to whom this peculiar crime has occurred, and his own efforts to understand what has just happened to him.
I can't really go into the details of plot- why spoil the fun? But the book is amazing because it's written from the point of view of a madman. The fun of the book is trying to separate reality from illusion.
So what are you waiting for? Go get some!
Rating:
Summary: Holy Crap
Review: I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up. Wow was I surprised. This story is completely original. Phineas is a very strange character. I found myself wondering if this all was a brief hallusination, or if these things were in fact occuring. I would love to see them weave this story into a movie. This book is not for all. I loved to be grossed out, and read things just for pure shock value. Any book where the protagionst awakens with a missing kidney-is a book I love to read. I would reccomend this to anyone who enjoys anything out of the norm.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked Memento, you'll like this
Review: Its not a backward moving story but it is about a dark journey by a man in search of something he has lost. This time, its his kidney. The femme fatale this time around is a cute asian woman with a military background who gets off on harvesting black market organs. She picks on our hero, Phineas Poe, and so begins a fantastically dark and deep story. There are two stories here: the story of the kidney (who has it, who wants it, whose the fat guy with the gloves?) and the unfolding back-story of Phineas Poe's tragic past. Not to everyone's palate, but if you dig dark and moody, you'll dig this!
|
