Tory Allyn Presents Alter Ego - Surprising Spoof?!!!

The CSI team walked up as Jack crouched down and brushed off the rest of the leaves from the body, careful not to disturb any evidence. After a quick inspection, he stood up and stared at Chief McAllister. "Go ahead, sir, take a look, but prepare yourself."

"Son, I've pert' near seen everythin'," He squatted down as much as his protruding gut would allow. "What in tarnation is this?" His breath rasped, "Where in God's creation did this thing come from?" Wheezing sounded. "Talbot, help me up."

The deputy grabbed onto the chief's hefty arm. "I told you it was freaky."

McAllister's eyes blazed. "This here some kinda joke..." He shifted around, his face flushed with fury. "Who's pullin' my leg?" His glare ended on Jack.

Agent Stanwick flung up his hands. "Look I'm just down here doing my job."

"Show me them here credentials!" McAllister ordered. "I wanna make sure I'm not bein' taken a fool."

Jack reached into his back pocket, yanked out a leather case and flipped out his badge. "Here you are, Chief."

McAllister grabbed it, gave it a stern eye then handed it back. He faced Talbot. "I'm not amused."

The deputy stepped back.

Jack edged forward. Now that Chief McAllister had gotten a glimpse of his badge, the game had played out. It was time to enact his authority. "I'll tow the body away as soon as it's bagged and tagged."

"Boys, help the CSI gang process this here crime scene for the agent."

The men scrambled...

The deputy snickered. "I think it's a tranny."

"A what?" Chief McAllister uttered.

"A transsexual," sir," Jack retorted.

The chief's eyebrows crinkled.

"It's a person who has undergone gender reassignment surgery," Jack explained.

Depute Talbot smirked, "Well, I call it what it is--a sex change."

Chief McAllister winced. "My God!" He turned both eyes heavenward. "One day this here sky's gonna open wide and when that happens y'all will witness His wrath."

A solemn expression emanated from Jack's face...

~~~

Take a bit of Weird Science, add a bit of politics, a FBI search for a serial killer, and add a zany set of private detectives, who used to be cops, and you have a unique blend of sci-fi, humor, and, political intrigue that may lead you to end reading with the question, "What...just...
happened?!"
I was enjoying the book until the Davenport Detective Agency was introduced. This is the debut of a series surrounding the Agency. The concept was fine until the detectives became actual characters and started talking. Frankly, I was caught totally off guard. While admitting I didn't like three of the four members of the agency, as the book went on, I began to understand the overall plot and where the series would probably be going... Think Weird Science... If you enjoyed that movie, I think you'll also greatly enjoy this first and other books...

The intriguing string of murdered bodies that was found instantly caused alarm, mixed reactions, and confusion...This was not mutilation--it was something much more--but what?!

When the Detective Agency begins, they are to focus on a militia group that could be behind the murders and whatever else was going on... Readers will meet M.A.G.O.C. (Men Against Government Overtaking Control) and learn the basic actions of what this group has begun doing. The book can stand alone, but does leave readers with questions that move into the next book. I must admit I am curious... 

The author has done a great job in creating a novel that attracts attention from the beginning to the end. It is well written and reflects a certain style of creative genius I've not seen before... I can't help but think of it as a spoof, a parody of the multiple genres included... We think, for instance, that the FBI would never bring in another agency to help solve a serial killer case. Yet, the author manages that by having the family of a victim of those murdered hire the Agency... Then there are the characters in the agency that are overplayed to the point of almost thinking they are similar to Keystone Cops... updated to the 60s... (the only clues I'll give, LOL)

The added political angle is certainly timely as we consider how individuals can take on a specific persona only to have corruption revealed at some point... But the project underway by the villains? Well, it...is...just...weird!

Check out other reviews...This is unusual enough that not everybody will pick up on what is happening and appreciate it... It certainly is, though, a novel worth further consideration... 


GABixlerReviews

Tory Allyn currently resides in Upstate New York. Although born in Syracuse, he was raised in the quaint town of Baldwinsville with his brother and two sisters, who drove him into becoming the zany person he is today. As a child, he made up many a tale. Some funny; others dark and brooding, but all started him on the path to writing. Today, his nephew, lovingly referred to as 'The Monster Child', is his partner in crime. Most days, you will see them playing ball at a nearby park, going for a dip in the backyard pool or snowboarding down a popular mountainside. 

Tory has written his first novel, ALTER EGO. He completed a second novel, ALTER BOYS. His third novel, ALTER GIRLS, is in the editing stage. ALTER BOUND will be last. All four are a series entitled, THE DAVENPORT DECREES.

Not Just Another Review - Nevada Barr's Short, Smoke and Mirrors, is Fun Spoof!

www.buyolympia.com

It wasn’t the first time Jacobs had murdered. I could tell that by the look on his face when he did it. Pure snarky glee. A first-timer would have some trepidation, some hesitation, maybe a second where the last bit of their soul flames out. Not him. Alley was almost to the sidewalk and he swerved –a big sharp swerve across the oncoming.

Alley was almost four when he killed her, and the sweetest, drollest little spirit who ever lived. She moved with such grace I sometimes think she was made partly of air, a breeze that flowed effortlessly through the grass. Each of her moods was another face of the way the gods might look when they laugh, when they aren’t massacring folks...
                                   ~~~

Smoke and Mirrors

By Nevada Barr

When I saw Nevada Barr's name, I immediately downloaded what turned out to be a short story. I've been a fan of Nevada from The Track of the Cat way back when, so it's a normal purchase to read her, although I wouldn't normally review a short story... This is in memory of Alley...

But there really wasn't an option! When I learned what happened to Alley, I was all for what she had planned... 

Wreaking Vengeance -- Thy name is Cat Lover....

You’re going to say I should have

 called the police.  Yeah, sure, 

maybe if I lived in California or

Boulder, Colorado or some other

 place where flunking the

 psychopath test isn’t a 

prerequisite to joining the police

 force.  In New Orleans people

 who kill people don’t go to jail.

  A person killing a cat would

 just get me laughed at. 

~~~

I loved this Spoof!

If readers take it, the

way Barr wrote it, they

will enjoy it as much as I did.

After all, cats are loved

just like family members

for many of us...

But if your cat is murdered, would you go to the police??? Even if you had been an eye witness? Well, Alley;s Mom knew she had not been the first that Hugh Jacobs had killed!

Thoughts of the death penalty began...

First, find out the name of that killer!

Check him out! He was on Facebook!

Surveillance!

Katie, my neighbor and I found out where he lived, and his big Hummer was parked there in front...An idea started to form...

He tried to run over another cat.  This one, a grey-and-black tiger, probably less than a year old, was faster than Alley.  It scooted under a fence and Jacobs hit the curb and busted a tire.  I took it as a triumph for cats the world over.  And a sign he would never stop...

When it came, the plan came fully baked.  New Orleans is crime-ridden from the politicians, to the police, right down to the drug dealers in Central City.  I’d always looked at this as a bad thing.  It came to me that, given the right circumstances, crime is not a curse.  It is a resource.  Just like Google.


                                                                                                         ~~~                  

Taking walks with Katie soon helped us get in better shape--a plus! Our routine was to walk up to his house and back... While we did that, I was also learning how to hot-wire a Hummer...

The plan really was ingenuous but of course, I'm not going to say anymore...not even about the little one that came to visit after it was over...

A little bit of humor goes a long way toward  making us realize just how quickly some are prone to revenge, to violence...to do unto the other...

It's certainly not what this cat lover would do...

But I reallllllly enjoyed playing with the idea, thanks to Nevada Barr.
She rocks!


GABixlerReviews

My mother, pilot and mechanic, had this peculiarity; she wouldn't let a man who couldn't fly work on her airplanes. She believed if he couldn't fly, he couldn't understand the stresses and strains the machinery would be called upon to bear. When she became pregnant with me, she demanded a female OBGYN --a male doctor couldn't understand the stresses and strains the machinery would be called upon to bear. In 1952 such beings were rare. One was at last found in the tiny town of Yerington, Nevada. Mom flew to Yerington in a super cub every month to visit Dr. Mary. When the time was near, she stayed with the doctor and her husband on his sheep ranch. The consensus among all was that the baby, boy or girl, be named Nevada.
This left me two choices: Vegas and the pole, or a life in the creative arts. I chose the latter.