{"id":5639,"date":"2018-04-18T16:43:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T20:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=5639"},"modified":"2018-04-18T16:43:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T20:43:46","slug":"book-review-freaky-franky-by-william-blackwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-freaky-franky-by-william-blackwell\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Freaky Franky by William Blackwell"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Freaky <\/em>Franky\u00a0<\/em>by William Blackwell<\/p>\n

Telemachus Press, 2017<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1-945330-94-0<\/p>\n

Available: Paperback, eBook<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Freaky<\/em> Franky<\/em> by is a gory, yet moralistic, tale about the increasingly popular, cult religion of Santa Muerte.\u00a0Santa Muerte\u2019s origins include elements of pre-Columbian\u00a0 gods, European symbols of death and plague, and Catholicism.\u00a0 It is said to have tens of millions of devotees in Latin America, especially Mexico and the American Southwest, among the disadvantaged, poor and downtrodden.\u00a0 In Mexico,\u00a0Santa Muerte is said to be popular among members of rival drug cartels.\u00a0 The Roman Catholic Church and several Protestant denominations condemn its practice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Lady\u2019s symbol is a female skeleton dressed in a robe, which usually carries a globe and scythe.\u00a0 Devotees light candles and give offerings of tobacco smoke, alcohol, money and food.\u00a0 The Lady grants wishes for love, wealth, health and protection.\u00a0 However, she also grants wishes for vengeance and power over others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Freaky<\/em> Franky<\/em> begins with seemingly unrelated horrific murders in Mexico and Prince Edward Island (PEI).\u00a0 Equally gory murders and a violent sexual assault follow in the Dominican Republic.\u00a0 Soon it is clear that the common thread is that worshipers of Santa Muerte are to blame.\u00a0 In particular, Franklin, an expat who fled from a tragic childhood in Prince Edward Island, is responsible for much of the mayhem in a Dominican resort town.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, in this story the Lady grants wholesome wishes as well.\u00a0 A Mexican doctor in PEI uses Santa Muerte to cure Franklin\u2019s nephew.\u00a0 Anita, Franklin\u2019s estranged sister, travels to the Dominican Republic to reconnect with him.\u00a0 She prays to the Lady to help a young vacationing couple and turn Franklin away from doing evil.\u00a0 Devotees can use Santa Muerte for good or for evil.\u00a0 However, the novel makes it clear that those who use it for evil will be severely punished in their mortal life and in their afterlife.\u00a0 Franklin struggles between these choices.\u00a0 Can he be saved?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The plot is initially confusing until the common thread of Santa Muerte becomes clear after the first few chapters.\u00a0 Thereafter, it moves along well.\u00a0 The characters are mostly one-dimensional.\u00a0 However, Franklin and Helen, Anita\u2019s bullied friend, are interesting when they waver between using the Lady for evil and good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contains: graphic sex, sexual assault, violence and gore.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freaky Franky\u00a0by William Blackwell Telemachus Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-945330-94-0 Available: Paperback, eBook   Freaky Franky by is a gory, yet moralistic, tale about the increasingly popular, cult religion of Santa Muerte.\u00a0Santa Muerte\u2019s origins include elements of pre-Columbian\u00a0 gods, European symbols of death and plague, and Catholicism.\u00a0 It is said to have tens of millions of<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3378,2576,2278,3380,2363,3379],"class_list":["post-5639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-freaky-franky","tag-religious-cults","tag-religious-horror","tag-santa-muerte","tag-supernatural-horror","tag-william-blackwell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5742,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5639\/revisions\/5742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}