Pre-order Chasing the Dragon
Deliver a ePub to your email on or before the official launch in March 2024.
*** REVIEW ***
Releases on March 2024
OK, this book was pure awesomeness! Honestly.
Mark Towse's debut novel, 'Chasing The Dragon,' releases next March by Eerie River Publishing, it doesn't even have a cover yet, but I was honored to snatch an early copy and get the chance to review it in advance. I love reviewing, and this book is simply heaven for reviewers, and I'm sure it'll be deeply loved by all readers as well. A lot of my appreciation lies in the emotional experience it offers: Towse has crafted an exciting, multi-genre story that comes with a heavy emotional impact, equally the euphoria of joy and the laughter of plain good humor, and the terror of grief and regret. Donning the superhero suit has never felt more like a brain candy than this!
The book starts a bit similarly to the beginning of a popular comic book hero (whose story was adapted into a couple of commercially successful movies): Simon dreams of being a vigilante superhero and cleaning up his city of crime and corruption; he gets a costume and, though he has no superhuman powers, throws himself into superhero action, "bringing hope back to town"! However, in inimitable Towse style, after a hilarious couple of chapters where Simon tries to find his superhero name (ending up with Reformo!), things start getting quite dark. Simon has undergone some serious family trauma in the past, his decision to become a superhero is due to a pledge to his abusing mother, and his mental make-up is not entirely usual superhero material.
Although there's minimum gore and vulgarity and very few really uncomfortable situations, the book has many twists, and the humorous tone cannot always avoid provoking overwhelming emotional reactions to the reader. The hero of 'Chasing The Dragon' is deeply traumatized, and many times his inner monologue hits right in the feels: Reformo is simultaneously sad and funny, his chosen life very dangerous and difficult, but he's also a true costumed crime-fighter, in all its bloody consequences - and every superhero needs a villain. And he does get one. This is the ultimate twist, and you gotta read it to believe it!
A no-holds-barred 5-stars from me!
