Hi all:
I am back reviewing one of the books on Rosie’s list, and, on this occasion, I revisit an author whose horror had impressed me once before already. And he does it again. (The book will not be published until the 31st of October, so I hope you aren’t too impatient).
Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect: An Addictive Horror Novel by PD Alleva
Carnivals, Cannibals, and Clowns. Oh My!
Wanna go for a ride?
Meet Jigglyspot, a five-foot tall half human half warlock carnival clown who spends his free time moonlighting as a drug dealing pimp and lackey for demonic entities who prey on the weak and vulnerable, casting their dark shadow across humanity through manipulation, and fear.
Jigglyspot was selected to serve as the event coordinator for 2019’s Summer Solstice Celebration at the prestigious Cannibal Café. A celebration that brings together both demon and human alike. But with less than two weeks before the celebration, Jigglyspot’s got so much to do and little time to do it. And the feds are hot on his tail. Between securing new recruits for demonic possession, choosing fresh bodies to slice and dice for dinner, and the fact that his girlfriend, Kera, is eating up most of his time, Jiggly’s at his wit’s end.
Hopefully, those demons appreciate all his sacrifices. Hopefully, but unlikely. Those demons can be hell to deal with. Jigglyspot knows; he’s been dealing with them for decades.
Will he rise above, or will tragedy and mayhem lead to dire discoveries poisoned with manipulation and betrayal that will ultimately destroy all Jigglyspot holds dear?
Discover Jigglyspot and his cast of clowns, killers, demons, and wretched fiends, in a novel like you’ve never experienced. Horror, mayhem, thrills, chills, fantasy, and spoils are waiting for your reading eyes with an escape into the underworld of mind control and human slavery.
Warning: This book contains scenes with profound psychological suffering, and graphically violent acts, behaviors, thoughts, deeds, and ridicule. No one has been spared, and no label is safe. Although we are proud to report, no animals were harmed during the writing of this novel, so that’s a good thing. Everyone else is fair game. After all, if you were a demon, what would you think of humanity?
Fans of Grady Hendrix, Catriona Ward, Clive Barker, and Stephen King will be captivated by this edge of your seat, eye-popping, wtf horror novel that is certain to be your next addictive read. As they say, you don’t just read Jigglyspot… You DEVOUR Jigglyspot!
About the author:
PD Alleva writes thrillers. Whether those thrillers are Sci-Fi Fantasy’s about Alien Vampires attempting to subjugate the human race, or steeped in a haunting horror novel, PD always provides readers with a profound, entertaining, and satisfying reader experience, in a new genre he has coined as alternative fiction. His novels blend mystery, conspiracy, psychology, and action with the supernatural, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Alternative fiction is PD’s attempt at describing what readers uncover in any one of his books, a new discovery towards mainstream storytelling. He’s been writing since childhood, creating and developing stories with brash and impactful concepts he describes are metaphors for the shifting energies that exist in the universe. PD lives inside of his own universe, working diligently on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy series, The Dark Veil: The Rose Vol. III, the horror thriller novella series, Girl on a Mission, the supernatural thriller novella series, The Hypnotist, and a follow up to Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect, tentatively titled, The Sleepy Hollow Incident. To stay up to date on all things PD, including sales, giveaways, and free books, join the PD Newsletter at pdalleva.com
My review:
I write this review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team (author, check here if you are interested in getting your book reviewed) and thank her and the author for this opportunity.
I discovered PD Alleva thanks to his novel Golem, which showed a peculiar world vision and writing style, and much of what I wrote about that novel could apply to this one: his ability for combining elements of a variety of myths, literary genres, horror subgenres, occultism, demonology, without relying on standard religious tenets. In this case, we also have elements of science-fiction, and galactic horror, and some of the scenes and events brought to my mind some of the classic 1950s sci-fi/horror movies, where aliens managed to infiltrate the Earth and humanity. But this is not the whole of the story, and the narrative is much more complex and with many more layers than those we can find in some of those beloved (and often revisited) stories. And I shouldn’t forget a nod at Lovecraft or two.
The description of the plot, although not too detailed, provides a good glimpse of what you might find, and it is difficult to elaborate much more on the story without spoiling it, so I will not be too detailed in my comments. One thing I have to say, though; do heed the author’s warning about the content. This is not a book for the faint-hearted, and even those who love extreme and hardcore horror might find it heavy going.
The novel is divided into 7 parts, told from multiple points of view (although always in the third person), and there is an extremely varied and large cast of characters, human, “other” (some of those, like Kera —a favourite of mine— more than human sometimes), and anywhere in between; and most of them are not particularly likeable, easy to engage with or root for. Having said that, readers are likely to re-evaluate their thoughts and opinions on most of the characters at some point or other, and good and evil, innocence and guilt are moveable feasts. This is a very ambitious book, with a complex narrative, served extremely well by the various point of view, some of them pretty uncomfortable to share, and readers are often left wondering if things are happening in our world, in a parallel universe, or in the mind of a character whose sanity is, at the very least, suspect. These narratives appear, at first, totally unconnected, and although readers might wonder about the chronology, we eventually realise that all the stories are taking place in the same place and time and in roughly chronological order, and there is a ticking-clock effect towards the end that ramps up the tension and accelerates the pace of the narrative into a frenzy.
From the warning, readers will surmise this is not a story for those who prefer gentle tales and loveable characters. Quite the opposite. Almost all types of depravity, crimes, and evil deeds one can think of —and some most of us would prefer not to contemplate— appear in this book. The characters “literally” go to Hell and back, and we have warlocks, clowns, gods, goddesses, demons, extraterrestrial beings, teenage murderers, aspiring actresses with few scruples, teachers, mothers, tough book reviewers, FBI and CIA agents, children, adults, and a very singular carnival with all its inhabitants. The author manages to combine all those elements and create complex imagery and mythos, a world where the characters might be pawns in someone else’s game, but things are not that straightforward either. The nature of good and evil is questioned, and there are many possible readings and interpretations of the events. The author’s imagination knows no bounds, and he manages to create a total more horrific than all of these seemingly disparate parts.
This is an ambitious and fairly long novel, but it does not feel slow, and readers need to pay close attention to all the details, as they might miss something that later on plays an important part, although thanks to the spiralling and multipronged shape of the narrative, it is not difficult to pick up the thread and get a full picture of the story. The ending makes us question everything we’ve read before and is perfect for a horror book. And, by the way, there is a link between this novel and Golem, but you’ll have to read both (if you dare) to find out what (or who) that is.
Despite the terrible things that take place in the novel, there are moving and poignant moments and funny retorts and events (for those who love black humour, really funny at times). This is a book in which the horror reaches beyond the story and creates an uneasy feeling that will stay with the readers for a long time.
I recommend this book to hardcore readers of horror who enjoy mix-genre books, don’t shy away from extreme cruelty and gore, and especially those with a taste for complex narratives, conspiracy theories, and who are not looking for a reassuring ending. If you have a thing for clowns… beware, and if you don’t, well, that might have changed by the end of the book.
Although readers might want to check a sample of the book to see if it suits their taste, I thought I’d share a couple of quotes that can be easily understood without much context, as examples of the special sense of humour of the book, and also because… well, I like them.
Here, one of the characters notices that another one, a female character (Cassandra, she is quite something) is bleeding, and tells her so, and she replies:
“I don’t have time to bleed.”
Here, the main character, Jigglyspot, talks about some of the things he will not put up with.
“The first was idiocy. He loathed stupidity to his core, idiocy has no place in the world and if you were born without enough brain cells then you were better off dead, because one day you might become president and then that stupidity would run the nation and the world for that matter. And there’s too many of them already.” I’ll leave you to imagine the rest.
And during a particularly scary scene, one of the characters calls out to God and this is the reply she gets.
“God, my lady… is not allowed in this place.”
Thanks to the author, for the book, thanks to Rosie and the members of the team for their help, and thanks to all of you for reading, liking, commenting, and sharing. Do remember the warning, and keep on smiling!
Just Olga 