JD@tE – Chapter 1 Raw Thoughts and Analysis

Starting off talking about how LA is like the Wizard of Oz and then immediately switching to, this story doesn’t take place in LA for a brow raised lol

The LA/“This Isn’t LA” Switch is deliberate misdirection.
Open with: Big mythic comparison (Wizard of Oz, illusion, Hollywood).
Then immediately: “This story doesn’t take place in LA.”
It’s a tonal rug pull. It teaches you early: Don’t get comfortable with narrative setup.
That’s part of the book’s rhythm, set expectations, and undercut it.

Then, not disclosing where in the US this town is, but it’s in the South, in the Tornado Alley, near Kentucky, full of racists and hicks, and it’s not all that bad or large but it’s a “sh!thole.” Lol
The dead chief inspector found in a water tower with only a 10” wide valve with his eyes fused shut got a double brow raise.

Not naming the town is smart.
It makes it:
•Anywhere
•Nowhere
•Generic America
•Slightly unreal
It keeps the setting slippery. That’s intentional destabilization.

The water tower body with the eyes fused shut and 10” valve is our first reminder that the horror is still real. Even when the tone is goofy, the imagery is nasty and specific.
That’s why the humor works because the gore isn’t soft.

Then, we start with Dave introducing himself awkwardly. Like, what? Haha and talking about how he “once saw a man’s kidney grow testacles, tear itself out of a ragged hole in his back and go slapping across my kitchen floor.” I thought Pargin spelled testicles wrong, so, I smirked, second guessed myself, opened incognito mode (so I don’t have any weird search history suggestions showing up on my phone later), searched “testacles vs testicles” and there’s a difference! Testacles refers to “a slender, flexible limb or appendage in an animal, especially around the mouth of an invertebrate, used for grasping and moving about, or bearing sense organ. See also, tentacle.” According to Google’s dictionary definition. Who knew? Well, now we do.

Dave is waiting to be interviewed by a reporter and trying to figure out how not to sound “as nuts as a…a nut bush, or—whatever nuts grow from.” He’s scrambling. He’s nervous. He’s unreliable. He’s trying to control the narrative. That awkwardness builds character voice fast.

It’s starting to get interesting. Dave is deep in his head about side effects, about knowing exactly how many grains of rice are on a plate of fried rice and where and by who they were grown. He also knows when and where a fork was made. He talks about how he’s “on the sauce” and “cycling down” which makes me think of illicit substances, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that it’s something else to ease his paranormal sixth sense or something like that.

David changed his last name to Wong to make himself harder to find when the reporter pointed out that he didn’t look Asian. I mean, I knew a very white, very red-headed, very tall, very Scottish or Irish looking dude whose last name was Fujikawa, so this sort of question was like, uh, what? Because you just never know, ya know?

Apparently, Dave is adopted, his bio-mom was institutionalized and he doesn’t know his bio-dad. His adopted family moved away.
To describe why his bio-mom was institutionalized? “She was a strung-out, crank-addicted cannibal, dabbled in vampirism and shaminism. My mom, she worshipped some major devil when I was a toddler. Blew her welfare check every month on black candles. Sure, Satan would do her favors now and then, but there was always a catch with the Devil. Always a catch.” WTF??? No wonder Dave is a little messed up.

Only to switch to “No. This, this silliness, it’s what I do when I’m nervous. She was bipolar, that’s all. Couldn’t keep a house. Isn’t the other story better, though?”
Again, wtf? Haha but lower case.

Dave shows the reporter how he can essentially read his mind? Know things he couldn’t and shouldn’t possibly know by describing the reporter’s dream he had the night before.

We’re thrust into when they started seeing the undead? Or something? Right after high school. They were in a band, and Dave would pretend to die before the first song started, and the band would ask who could play guitar and sing. John would come approach and say he could.

So, anyways, Dave meets essentially who he labels as a Fake Jamaican magician. This guy does what present day Dave does.

And he runs into Jennifer Lopez???
What the h311 am I reading??? Lol
But it’s only the local Jennifer Lopez with the same name, not the famous one. Pfffft.

His flirting with Fake J.Lo is hilarious. She’s clearly not interested, he clearly is. I almost feel bad for him, but it’s funny in that awkward, awww, sweetie, sort of way.

We feel Dave’s unease as his mind wanders from Faux J.Lo and the Jamaican guy over and over. I think maybe he was for real and might have cursed Dave?

This first chapter is as cooky as the prologue. I found the prologue much more entertaining, tbh, as far as humor goes. This one was a bit more suspenseful and the specific feeling when you cock your head to the side and stare with one brow down, one brow up, and lips curled in a weird, huh?

So far, my rating is:

•Rum & Coke

•Salt

•Check the Locks

•Okay, This Needs TWO Hands to Hold

•Small Chuckle

•A Little Sad

•Five Guys Fries

•Cheese Curds

•Bruise

•Pumpkin Pie

•Milk Chocolate

Excited to read more!

Chow!

SnS 🌹💀📜🥤