Cam let me borrow this book called Gil’s All Fright Diner last week. Its by writer A Lee Martinez who hales from Texas which is where the story takes place. it’s the tale of a werewolf and vampire who must stop the end of the world. I remember seeing this cover a while back but never bothered to pick it up. Because I’m an ass.
The vampire, Earl, is a skinny and balding vampire with a comb over. His surly werewolf friend Duke is gigantic. They pull into a town called Rockwood and end up at a diner that is almost immediately attacked by zombies. They help the owner, Loretta, fight them off and are surprised at how not terrified she is at the fact that the undead are attacking and that a werewolf and vampire helped her. Apparently weird things have been happening in Rockwood for years.
They tell her that they’ll stay a while and help her install a gas line to the diner while they also investigate why zombies are attacking. Marshall Kopp, the towns officer, wants Loretta to close the place down on account of the zombies but she refuses to. Duke and Earl stay in a spare room where Earl sleeps in a trunk.
According to the story all vampire rules apply except for a stake through the heart which doesn’t kill him but freezes him in place. He feeds mostly from animals and has preferences. Duke can change into a giant wolf-beast at will and heals quickly. He became a werewolf after running over another one and inheriting the curse. He strong and tough which helps him fend off Loretta’s advances.
A young girl named Tammy who prefers to be called Mistress Lillith is attempting to bring about the end of the world by raising Old Gods. Her minion is a dumb jock named Chad who pretty much will do whatever she asks, including stealing body parts, as long as he can fondle or sleep with her.
Other characters include Cathy who is a ghost that Earl has to speak to which he hates since ghosts scare him. Napoleon, Cathy’s ghost dog. And then there’s Gil himself. This story is crazy as hell and I’m not sure if this is a young adult novel. I have read some pretty crazy ass stories that were in the 12-18 age range and they have lots of sex, violence, and gore. This one is no exception. I have talked to people with children and my librarian BFF and it seems to boil down to maturity. In which case I probably shouldn’t have been allowed to read this.
The story feels as if you’re jumping into the middle of other stories since the characters are already set up in their relationships. There is some backstory provided but you know there is so much more that can be explored. I checked to see if there were indeed more books with these characters and sadly there isn’t. I mean, any story that can have zombie cows, magic 8 balls that cops an attitude, and evil zombies that pat each other on the back for their growling skills is surely worthy of a sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment