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A review by twilliamson
Blood Sugar by Daniel Kraus
4.0
In Blood Sugar, Kraus takes an urban legend, treats it as though it were borne of a men's adventure magazine, and gives it the voice of an impoverished and uneducated child. He treats the subject with a certain amount of respect, adding sufficient nuance and empathy to the story through his adolescent narrator to keep the story immersive.
And immersion is definitely the name of the game here. The narrator's voice is distinct (and apparently divisive to those unable or unwilling to grapple with its grammatical inaccuracy), but what surprises me most is its consistency. Jody, the narrator, seems as understandable as any children in his situation, and although his pop culture references and unique diction may turn some readers away, I find Kraus's consistency with the character's voice adds a kind of verisimilitude that kept me turning page after page.
The story, too, is surprisingly nuanced, drawing from multiple sources to craft what feels like an uncontrollable spiral for each of the characters. The theme of the story is definitively the ways in which our society helps create these disenfranchised sociopaths, and while it's easy to see their rage as misguided, it's also easy to see how easily we can be misled through the continual cynicism we are fed through an economic system that casts us off when we lose our utility to it.
Kraus certainly has a finger on the pulse of American life in 2019, and although this may not be an actual story of literal events, his allegorical purpose is powerful. I really loved every line of this "diseased" narrative, and although it is not perfect, it's far more subversive and beautifully decrepit than the purposefully cheesy cover might suggest. It's a perfect example of why Hard Case Crime is one of the best publishers today: it offers a story so entertaining that readers can almost forget it's actually saying something worth reading.
And immersion is definitely the name of the game here. The narrator's voice is distinct (and apparently divisive to those unable or unwilling to grapple with its grammatical inaccuracy), but what surprises me most is its consistency. Jody, the narrator, seems as understandable as any children in his situation, and although his pop culture references and unique diction may turn some readers away, I find Kraus's consistency with the character's voice adds a kind of verisimilitude that kept me turning page after page.
The story, too, is surprisingly nuanced, drawing from multiple sources to craft what feels like an uncontrollable spiral for each of the characters. The theme of the story is definitively the ways in which our society helps create these disenfranchised sociopaths, and while it's easy to see their rage as misguided, it's also easy to see how easily we can be misled through the continual cynicism we are fed through an economic system that casts us off when we lose our utility to it.
Kraus certainly has a finger on the pulse of American life in 2019, and although this may not be an actual story of literal events, his allegorical purpose is powerful. I really loved every line of this "diseased" narrative, and although it is not perfect, it's far more subversive and beautifully decrepit than the purposefully cheesy cover might suggest. It's a perfect example of why Hard Case Crime is one of the best publishers today: it offers a story so entertaining that readers can almost forget it's actually saying something worth reading.