{"id":9815,"date":"2023-08-16T00:41:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T04:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=9815"},"modified":"2023-08-16T00:42:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T04:42:26","slug":"book-review-jigglyspot-and-the-zero-intellect-by-p-d-alleva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-jigglyspot-and-the-zero-intellect-by-p-d-alleva\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect by PD Alleva"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect <\/span><\/i>by PD Alleva<\/span><\/p>\n

Chamber Door Publishing, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n

ISBN: 9781735168630<\/span><\/p>\n

Available: Preorder hardcover, paperback. Kindle edition<\/span><\/p>\n

Buy:\u00a0 Bookshop.org <\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0 Amazon.com <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jigglyspot<\/span><\/i> should be the runaway favorite to win “World’s Weirdest Horror Book” for 2023.\u00a0 It’s a good read, but it is seriously out there: this is Clive Barker on hallucinogens.\u00a0 About the only drawback is it could have used another quick edit, there are some syntax mistakes and misused commas throughout the book.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s not possible to tell much of the plot without spoiling the book, so let’s look at the starting threads.\u00a0 <\/span>Jiggly <\/span><\/i>has a number of threads, and the chapters (which are short, each only about 4 to 6 pages) consist of the point of view for one of the main characters, written in the third person, past tense.\u00a0 Surprisingly, with all the back and forth between viewpoints, it does NOT get confusing, to the credit of the author.\u00a0 That’s pretty impressive, considering how all over the place the plot is.\u00a0 The main characters and threads are:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0 Jigglyspot, a sadistic, part-warlock carnival clown who enjoys slicing and dicing annoying people with his scalpel, and is having an affair with a lady from another galaxy.\u00a0 He also enjoys live extraction of hormones (this is written in graphic detail) from the skulls of people, to keep himself young.\u00a0 A nice guy, he ain’t.\u00a0 Jiggly makes Pennywise seem like a reasonable choice to babysit your children.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Tyler, a high school student who channels his inner Charles Bronson to execute, vigilante-style, one of his classmates for unpunished crimes.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Lilly, a nice suburban mom, trying to do right by her children after their dad shoots himself.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Cassandra and Sharon: one a peon in a Hollywood talent agency, the other a struggling actress dreaming of the big time.\u00a0 They soon split into two separate story threads.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. FBI agent John Mills, trying to solve a 20 year old cold case.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    None of these seem related, for the first 200 of the 560 pages, and with the exception of Mills and Jiggly, they aren’t. It’s worth it to keep reading, because then the threads slowly draw together. Author Alleva clearly knows how to tension the plot strings at just the right time.\u00a0 Even when the stories seem unrelated, it’s interesting enough that readers will want to know what happens to their favorite character next.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Then the gloves come off and it all pulls together in bloody fashion.\u00a0 Jiggly makes enough of a mess to keep gorehound readers happy, including sadomasochistic sex, cannibalism (complete with the marinating of people) babies killed, Satan and demons, and a bit of an interstellar tie-in.\u00a0 In other words, the author threw in the kitchen sink, plus every other available appliance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    With so much going on, you’d think this mess would careen off the tracks\u2026 but somehow, it doesn’t.\u00a0 It’s impressive how Alleva manages to keep focused, and makes it understandable to the end.\u00a0 There are a few parts that could have used a touch more explanation but that was likely the author’s choice, and not a blatant omission. \u00a0 Readers will actually like and sympathize with the characters, even the not-so-nice ones.\u00a0 Jiggly, scumbag that he is, does have a strange appeal, and Tyler, the schoolkid executioner, is actually one of the most likable, due to his “screw you” attitude problem, combined with an actual moral backbone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Bottom line time, folks!\u00a0 Verdict is: <\/span>Jigglyspot <\/span><\/i>goes in many directions, yet somehow still works and is worth the read.\u00a0 Recommended for fans of truly bizarro fiction that can handle some squish n’ splat.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Reviewed by Murray Samuelson.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect by PD Alleva Chamber Door Publishing, 2023 ISBN: 9781735168630 Available: Preorder hardcover, paperback. Kindle edition Buy:\u00a0 Bookshop.org \u00a0|\u00a0 Amazon.com   Jigglyspot should be the runaway favorite to win “World’s Weirdest Horror Book” for 2023.\u00a0 It’s a good read, but it is seriously out there: this is Clive Barker on hallucinogens.\u00a0<\/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":[5423,2320,645,749,5425,5424],"class_list":["post-9815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bizarro","tag-extreme-horror","tag-horror-book-reviews","tag-horror-books","tag-jigglyspot-and-the-zero-intellect","tag-pd-alleva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9815","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=9815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9819,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9815\/revisions\/9819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}