Review: Bad Glass by Richard E. Gropp

Title: Bad Glass

Author: Richard E. Gropp

Published by: Del Rey

Released: 2012

Summary: Something has happened in the city of Spokane. Weird rumors are flying of disappearances, strange animals, and visions too bizarre to be real. The military has quarantined the city and works to find out what's going on, releasing no real information to the public. Residents of the city have been evacuated, but some choose to stay.

Dean Walker comes into the city with a mission. He's dropped out of school and really doesn't want to work at his father's accounting firm. His real passion is photography, and he enters the city with a hope of making a name for himself, and exposing the truth of Spokane. What he finds there is hard to describe. Is becoming famous worth losing everything?

My Thoughts: What did I just read!?!? I don't think I've ever read something this strange before, with maybe the exception of The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith. This story starts out normal enough, with our main character Dean making his way into the quarantined city of Spokane with the hope of exposing its secrets and becoming famous for his photographs. Dean is adopted by a group of people and becomes part of a makeshift family, where each person is broken and lost, harboring some sort of secret. The city slowly starts to sink its claws into Dean as the novel goes on. The reader is taken on Dean's slow descent into madness. You don't know what's real or hallucination, and you sure as heck don't know what's really going on in the city.

I just found this to be a strange, strange read. I enjoyed it and wanted to keep on reading, but at the same time, I was very confused by it. I wanted answers as to what was really happening, and the story really provided none.

One thing I would have loved is for Dean's photographs to have been included in the novel. Instead of descriptions of each photo, I would have loved to have visual representation of them. I also would have loved to know what really happened to Charlie and Sabine, and maybe Dean and Taylor too.

Bad Glass is a weird, confusing, and enjoyable read that is like nothing I've ever read before. If you're up for a little weirdness, than I encourage you to go check this one out.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5

Good, but very, very weird.