Bookworm Speaks!- Hoochy Koochy by Cliff Yeargin
Bookworm Speaks!
Hoochy Koochy: A Jake Eliam ChickenBone Mystery (Volume 2)
By Cliff Yeargin
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This book was provided to Bookworm free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
Get it: here
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The Story: After a long season of making baseball bats all Jake Eliam wants to do is relax and watch the World Series. But when his friend Catfish calls with what he says is easy money, his other job as a Private Investigator intervenes. Catfish’s former fraternity brother is looking for his own payday if can reunite all the original players in his ‘One Hit Wonder’ college band and is willing to pay big bucks to track down the one missing member, the lead guitar player. The only lead, his classic Fender that went missing at the same time. The trail meets up with a late night DJ, a beautiful hippie turned wealthy housewife, a stoned drummer with a shaky trigger finger, a mysterious son of the Dixie Mafia and a church where snakes are served up along side apple pie. The search ends up on a snake farm run by a fellow named Sweet Thang who has a penchant for old TV shows and speaking in rhymes. As secrets come crawling out like copperheads, Jake Eliam begins to think he just might end up a ‘One Hit Wonder’ himself.
The Review: This book feels alive. Every page seems to breathe with life and atmosphere. The inside of Jake’s head is a wonderful place to be. He is sensitive and kind but does not take crap from anybody. He’s smart but knows he’s a working class stiff. He’s old fashioned, but adaptable. Jake Eliam moonlights as a private eye and his contemplative, easy-going style is a refreshing contrast to the bitter veteran that seems to be the standard for private detective fiction.
One of the things thats often mentioned as a criticism of southern culture is how it is trapped in the past. What the author does is make Jake really trapped in the past. His technological know-how is basically frozen in the seventies. He has a cell phone but still thinks people listen to boomboxes. This is done in ways that are quite amusing. What this book does right is blend the past and the present in a way that can be found not only in the southern United States, but anywhere once you get out of the cities and into the backroads.
This down-to-earth motif runs throughout the entire book and it feels very refreshing. The reader gets a real sense of crisis, especially near the end, but it never seems to take itself to seriously. Jake may be contemplative but he never seems to crossover into full blown brooding. Most of the time, he is looking for a beer and something to eat and something to listen to. Even if you are not from the deep south, anyone who enjoys the simple life will find a kindred spirit in the characters of this book.
If there are any flaws to be had in this book it is probably two things. The first: This book seems to be a part of a series and there are few things more annoying than picking up a book that is really good only to find out that it is a sequel. So this is not a good place to start Jake Eliam Chickenbone mysteries. The second flaw is a bit more important. As we travel the dirt roads with Jake we encounter many colorful characters. Each one is memorable and unique but that is really all they are. They are quite one-dimensional and they don’t have much going for them when one gets deeper under the surface. Their uniqueness is what ultimately pulls them through and considering that this is a novella, deep characters are not really necessary. If the reader is a patron of novels instead of novellas, however, it can prove to be rather irksome.
Final Verdict:
There is an old saying: Step onto the road and there is no telling where you might be swept off to. If there was any fiction book that could teach this saying it is this one. Jake lives his life in a fairly routine manner. He likes routine. When he steps off of that beaten path, the places he goes are as exotic as if he had hopped a plane to another continent.
Four out of Five Stars
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