When beloved cartoon characters come crawling out of her TV, army recruiter Gabriella Harman expects a zany romp instead of the hellish nightmare that follows.
One night, haunted by her memories of Iraq, Gabriella downs a stomachful of pills and booze. When her favorite cartoon characters, the Kooky Toons, start crawling out of the TV, she assumes she is hallucinating.
But soon Gabriella finds herself locked in a battle of wits and wills with Herman Hyrax, the world-famous, wise-cracking mascot of the Kooky Korporation. Herman is more than just a stinker, though. He may be a monster, a demon, a god, or something entirely more unwholesome.
Is Gabriella’s descent into a world of cartoonish violence and psychological torment real? Or has she simply gone…
LOONEY!?
THE FACTS
📕horror
📘 like a bizarre nightmarish battle!
📙 similar to bizarro fic
THE GOOD BITS
Gabriella’s military family background sent her down a path that has left her scarred psychologically. She medicates with pills, vodka and chases it with her favourite cartoons: Kooky Toons.
Jimi Kuki is the creator behind Kooky toons and its “unhinged” characters. Herman Hyrax – a rat-like creature is pretty violent and yet, was always popular with the kiddos.
The whir of Gabriella’s VCR machine keeps her company while she sprawls on the couch and tries to drown out the PTSD that is keeping her in a holding pattern of torment and insomnia.
One night, she pops too many pills.. and then things take a dark turn. An Ambien fueled nightmare of a ride happens as Gabrielle engages with the cartoons that were once so beloved to her.
There’s quite a bit on the menu in this one. There are violent and chaotic cartoon characters. There’s also a lot of serious things covered. Dare I say deities? Philosophy? And definitely violence.
At its heart…this book is a game of mind-bending horror-twister packed full of warped cartoon adversaries who may be harbouring something thing even darker than expected.
Very creative! Unexpected! And that is always good. If you’ve ever wanted a read that’s completely outside-the-box then this may be the one you’ve been waiting for.
It reminded me a lot of the bizarro movement and the fiction of one of my faves: Carlton Mellick III.
Read on brave folks! A horror with a lot of twists and creative as hell! Great book by Stephen Kozeniewski and Gavin Dillinger!
THE LINKS
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
Kinzie Things 