Beautiful cover graphic, isn't it? It really sets the scene for the story inside, too. I'm gonna try to do this without being too spoiler-rific, because the book is freaking awesome. Actually, I might spoil a lot, and I don't fucking care. I won't ruin the important bits though, honest.
The book is fast paced, and easily as in-your-face as his previous book, The Dark Side of Disney, which is easily the greatest Walt Disney World tour guide every written. The book comes out swinging with what appears to be our hero Blaine's discovery of the grisly murder of a beautiful girl, and then cuts back to a brief synopsis of Blaine's life.
I'm not normally a fan of blatant exposition, but Kinsey does it in such a way that it's terrifying and engrossing, and you're unable to tear yourself from the words on the page. You find yourself in Blaine's shoes, wanting to tear your heart out when you read about the death of his dog Sam, which is somehow a thousand years more powerful than the death of Blaine's parents.
Blaine, now well off, makes a desperate attempt to grab at his past by returning to Walt Disney World, a place his parents used to take him when he was a kid, only to find out that time had passed without him, meeting Jay, a creepy Disney-obsessed limo driver with something dark surrounding him that Blaine just can't seem to put his finger on--though we already know the man commits a terrible crime toward the end of the story.
We're introduced to a host of completely bizarre and totally interesting characters, including Charles, a kind old cast member determined to look out for Blaine, an old widow covered in teddy bears, a couple who've experienced a miscarriage aren't coping so well, a stalkerific creep with some massive, deep-seated issues, and finally the beautiful Lisa, who we already know to be our victim from the flash-forward at the beginning of the story.
We're also introduced to a terrifying drug--The Dust, the recipe for which is contained in the Evil Queen's heart box. The book is a wild ride, and once I was finally able to sit down and read it, I was able to clean it up in a few hours, but I'm a fast reader--and it's a hard book to put down.
THE NEGATIVE:
The Horizons scene, and your mileage may vary with this. He sees Mission: Space where Horizons should be, and he's pissed. I mean hell, I'm pissed whenever I see Mission: Space because it sucks, but I don't get the pain he felt. I wish Kinsey had spent a little more time describing Horizons to the reader because, and I'm sad to say it, I've never experienced it. I've seen some pictures, and I know how important it is to many people, and I'd love to see it come back, but I was a little lost at this point. However, I do know about that goddamn GIANT MICKEY HAND that was up on Spaceship Earth for a while, and I was right there with him on that note.
I wish we could have spent some more time with Lisa. I get that the book was from Blaine's point of view, making that next to impossible, but I was left wanting to know more about her, which, I suppose, isn't an altogether terrible thing.
The dialogue in a few places felt a bit forced, especially some of Blaine's lines. I grimaced once or twice, but other than that, it was fluid and natural.
THE POSITIVE:
The book is fucking amazing. The story is fucking amazing, the characters are amazing, and the fucking towel baby had me in stitches, and I don't care who I piss off when I say that. It was hilarious in that 'holy shit' sort of way.
The comedic bits are hilarious, the parts that are supposed to be sunny and happy are sunny and happy, and there are some moments of terrifying suspense that are, well...terrifying. The turkey leg segments are pretty grotesque too. I'm not sure if that should go in good or bad actually. All I know is that I'm going to get one and chew obnoxiously on it at some point when I'm surrounded by my other friends who have read it this year.
The attention to detail is pretty stunning, too. I had NO idea what DermaBlend was before this book, and now I'm dying to get some. I do amateur makeup, so finding out about something like this was pretty ground breaking for me. The props in Jay's house are neat too, and you get to wondering at what lengths he's gone to obtain all of this shit--and then you begin to find out.
All in all, the positives WAY, way, way, way, way....way? WAY outweigh the negatives, and this book is easily a 9 or 9.5 out of ten. I wish it had been longer! Now I'm out of shit to read!
Write something else, Kinsey!
