Hello all my indie readers, it’s finally here! My first review in over a year of many to come. Ain’t that exciting? Have you heard of this underground gem of a book, Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis? If not, you will now.

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Crooked Little Vein

By: Warren Ellis

Released: July, 2007 by William Morrow & Company

Length: 280 pages

Rating: Five Stars

Acquired: Lent to me

“This is the mainstream now, Mike. This is how life in America is. Moment by moment, our country has grown sicker. Our borders, Mike, have come to encompass the nine circles of Hell.”

What a journey through America, and the “nine circles of Hell”  Warren Ellis takes the reader on. Part crime/detective story, part mind fuck, Crooked Little Vein takes us through America as hard on his luck Private Investigator Michael McGill is sent on the case of a lifetime by The President’s Chief of Staff to retrieve the real US Constitution. With little to go on, McGill and Trix, his partner in crime, discover what America is really like ; and it isn’t pretty. From guys injecting saline into their nether regions in Cleveland, Ohio to  crazy rich men in Texas, and much more, this novel is a wild goose chase that I couldn’t put down.

If you know my reading tastes, I don’t normally read crime novels. When this was lent to me, I was immediately hooked; just by hearing the first couple pages being read to me. There is something refreshing and new in Ellis’s first novel. True underground classic. A complete mind fuck that gets darker, funnier, and intriguing as the story goes on. If you are looking for a light-hearted book, this is not it. Each page gives you pause; with a little What the– thrown in for good measure.

I absolutely loved it. I honestly wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. It’s just so original. Something that I haven’t read in a while. Sure, I’ve read other books this year, and in the past, but this–this book is the one that has blown my mind completely. I’m not even going to ask for the remaining pieces. It was that good. Warren Ellis, I am not sure what, if any, drugs you were on, but thank you!

If you like books that make you question reality, all that this country is, and that takes you on a crazy, explicit ride, then this book is for you. For fans of Will Christopher Baer, author of the Phineas Poe series. You will love it, I assure you! To the person who recommended the book to me, I’m hooked. Give me more!