My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Published by Orbit on 28th July | Paperback Original | £8.99
WARNING
Jack Sparks died while writing this book
In 2014, Jack Sparks - the controversial pop culture journalist - died in mysterious circumstances.
To his fans, Jack was a fearless rebel; to his detractors, he was a talentless hack. Either way, his death came as a shock to everyone.
It was no secret that Jack had been researching the occult for his new book. He'd already triggered a furious Twitter storm by mocking an exorcism he witnessed in rural Italy.
Then there was that video: thirty-six seconds of chilling footage that Jack repeatedly claimed was not of his making, yet was posted from his own YouTube account.
Nobody knew what happened to Jack in the days that followed - until now. This book, compiled from the files found after his death, reveals the chilling details of Jack's final hours.
‘An
extraordinary
literary creation’
Lisa Jewell, international
bestselling author
‘Wittier
than the lovechild of Stephen
Fry and
Charlie
Brooker’
Sarah Lotz, author of The
Three
‘This
is the
Omen for the social media age’
Chris Brookmyre, author of
Black Widow
‘Chilling
and utterly
immersive’
M. R. Carey, author of The
Girl With All The Gifts
‘Quite
brilliant.
An
assured, ultra-modern occult story with real depth of character, a
compelling and satisfyingly twisted narrative and a streak of genuine
malevolence’
Andrew O'Neill, comedian,
presenter and musician
‘An
absolutely great
read’
David Schneider, comedian,
director and actor in I’m Alan Partridge and The Day
Today
‘This
is one of those books where I'm
sad when I'm not reading it. It manages the rare feat of being both
horrific and hilarious,
which makes me insanely jealous of Arnopp’
Chuck Wendig, New York
Times bestselling author
‘Super-spooky
and addictively
written’
Heat magazine
‘Brilliantly
unnerving.
I couldn't put it down’
Tiernan Douieb, comedian
‘Funny,
clever & scary
as hell’
Sarra Manning, Red Online
‘It’s
very
much about the world we live in now and
how
we’re all connected, how our lives are all recorded for posterity,
or until the internet stops working,
and I loved the way this novel played with those kind of contrasts’
Sarah Shaffi, The Monocle
Arts Review
‘A
magnificent
millennial
nightmare’
Alan
Moore, creator of V for Vendetta
**********
REVIEW
The Last Days of Jack Spark is definitely a very odd book. However, it's not a bit scary. At least I do not think that. I actually found it to be more tragic, a black comedy kind of book, well without much comedy. A book about guilt, life after death and possessions. And, there were moments when I found the book a bit dreary.
However, it also had some really great moments, or rather it ended with a bang. I love that ending, if the rest of the book had felt as good as the ending, then I would have loved the whole book. But, alas, I found the story, especially when Jack was in L.A to be the part that I least enjoyed. But, then came the ending, then everything started to make sense and that's when I started to enjoy the story. And, that's when I started to feel sorry for Jack (let's face it, he's a jerk for 95% of the book).
I liked the style of the book; The Last Days of Jack Spark being the manuscript that Jack left, and interviews with people that met Jack and recorded conversations, etc. I liked how Jack's memories of events contradicted everyone else. If it just had been scary, then it would have been a marvelous book. Sure, it's gory and all, but not scary. But, I guess for people not that used to horror is this book scary to read.
So, not a personal hit for me, but not a bad book. I basically like the books style, and the unusual story and the ending were terrific!
I want to thank Orbit for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
Jason Arnopp is a British author and scriptwriter. His background is in journalism: he has worked on titles such as Heat, Q, The Word, Kerrang!, SFX and Doctor Who Magazine. He has written comedy for Radio 4 and official tie-in fiction for Doctor Who and Friday The 13th. The Last Days of Jack Sparks is the first novel which is entirely Jason’s own fault (though some readers will blame Jack himself).
#JackSparks | www.jacksparks.co.uk | @JasonArnopp
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