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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated Jack but loved his story. Good twists at the end - everything came together nicely. Gave a nice “oh sht” moment. A solid read that maybe over stayed its welcome a bit.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jack Sparks is a narcissistic "journalist" who writes books about his (mis)adventures digging into various topics, like gangs and drugs. After getting out of rehab (without getting clean), Jack decides to write a book debunking the supernatural. His first experience is with an exorcism in Rome, where he laughs at the priest trying to get a demon out of a young girl. Too bad for Jack that the supernatural does exist and there is a very real demon possessing the girl - and the demon is pissed off at Jack laughing about the situation. So the demon decides to destroy his life.
This book is a little bit mixed media, as it is allegedly the publication of Jack Spark's final book - Jack Sparks on the Supernatural as edited by his estranged brother Alistair. Jack Sparks disappeared/died before the book was published, so the book is rounded out by emails and interviews to give more context to what Jack chronicled. It also includes Alistair's footnotes "correcting" the record.
I loved the mixed media and it really highlights how much of an unreliable narrator Jack is in his book- Alistair and Jack have very different views about their childhoods, and Jack misdirects and lies in his writing, as pointed out by the interviews of other people who experienced the events of this book. I wish Arnopp had leaned into this more, as there was not enough of it in the novel.
Jack Sparks is - and is supposed to be - an unlikable, self-destructive, rude, vain jerkwad. He feels like an aging rocker who has gotten away with saying whatever is on his mind without real consequence, so he continues to get trashed and trash others. Given that Jack's generally insufferable, it's hard to feel bad that terrible things are happening to him. Unfortunately, there are a lot of innocents caught in the crossfire.
This book leaned a little too heavily into the gore for me. I am also unsure about the internal logic of the supernatural in this world. Demons are real and really possess people - but why? To sow chaos? Because they're bored? They can control people far away and go backwards and forwards in time - and send others backwards and forwards in time. Can they do this normally or only when possessing people? Also, ghosts can also have similar powers? And demons/ghosts do not have to obey the laws of physics? Because there is no mythology presented in the story, it felt like anything could happen. The demon's (and her ghost minion's) powers were too inexplicably diverse and strong and it made me the reader feel unmoored from the story.
I did like in the end
This book is a little bit mixed media, as it is allegedly the publication of Jack Spark's final book - Jack Sparks on the Supernatural as edited by his estranged brother Alistair. Jack Sparks disappeared/died before the book was published, so the book is rounded out by emails and interviews to give more context to what Jack chronicled. It also includes Alistair's footnotes "correcting" the record.
I loved the mixed media and it really highlights how much of an unreliable narrator Jack is in his book- Alistair and Jack have very different views about their childhoods, and Jack misdirects and lies in his writing, as pointed out by the interviews of other people who experienced the events of this book. I wish Arnopp had leaned into this more, as there was not enough of it in the novel.
Jack Sparks is - and is supposed to be - an unlikable, self-destructive, rude, vain jerkwad. He feels like an aging rocker who has gotten away with saying whatever is on his mind without real consequence, so he continues to get trashed and trash others. Given that Jack's generally insufferable, it's hard to feel bad that terrible things are happening to him. Unfortunately, there are a lot of innocents caught in the crossfire.
This book leaned a little too heavily into the gore for me. I am also unsure about the internal logic of the supernatural in this world. Demons are real and really possess people - but why? To sow chaos? Because they're bored? They can control people far away and go backwards and forwards in time - and send others backwards and forwards in time. Can they do this normally or only when possessing people? Also, ghosts can also have similar powers? And demons/ghosts do not have to obey the laws of physics? Because there is no mythology presented in the story, it felt like anything could happen. The demon's (and her ghost minion's) powers were too inexplicably diverse and strong and it made me the reader feel unmoored from the story.
I did like in the end
Spoiler
that Arnopp looped back the events of the story where "present" Jack gets sent "back" (how? who knows) to the day of the exorcism and then performs the actions that "future" Jack will see - like taking the YouTube video; uploading the video; deleting it; calling and hanging up on himself, etc. Even if this "you are your own ghost" thing is now overplayed since I've seen it in at least one other book and one TV show. It's always nice when an author can successfully do the timeloop and make it coherent.
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Gore warning. Hard to put down, interesting take on demonic possession. Love the "author's" voice. Not sure I liked where that spiral went. Worst brother of the year award goes to Alistair.
dark
tense
medium-paced
This is such a strange book and I love it. Anything that mentions a Tulpa has me interested. Plus ghost, time travel, and a horrible person narrating. Excellent I gave 4 instead of 5 simple because I listened to this one audio and may have missed a few things. Also, the "UGH-ness" of jack Sparks does get to you after so long
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"This is the age of certainty, mate. Everything’s screwed and unpredictable, so people cling to these…these ice floes of opinion, holding on for dear life. They’re terrified to show any doubt, especially of themselves. It’s dangerous.”
"People waste their time guessing. You’re just worms, Jack, trying to picture what’s above the soil. The reality is way beyond you."
"My heebies are jeebie-less."
This was a really fun read, told in a unique way. I always love me an unreliable narrator and I loved seeing evidence of that unreliability throughout.
The afterword and the interactive part of the note from the publisher at the end were really cool immersive additions to the book. If you read this, don't skip them!