Let There Be Linda - Rich Leder

Synopsis

Leder's black comic caper tells the tall tale of estranged brothers Mike and Dan Miller—accountant and con-man talent agent respectively—up to their necks in the virtual quicksand of LA's San Fernando Valley during the hottest summer in Southern California history.

The root cause of their problems could be the missing seventy-five thousand dollars, or the sadistic, loan shark dwarf and his vicious giant, or the psycho comedian cop on the case, or the coke-snorting dentist, or the deranged zombie real estate developer. Or perhaps it’s the poodle—the poodle is suspect, no doubt. Or maybe it's the grocery store checker who breathes life into death. Oh yes, it could be her too.

And so to repair the head-on collision the Millers have made of their personal and professional lives, the brothers summon their mother back from the dead to clean up the wreckage. But what the Miller men discover is that screwing with the laws of nature is forever and always a violent, bloody, hysterical, and hilarious idea.

Review:

I don't think I've ever gone through so many emotions in one book. I read this whilst on holiday and I had been feeling quite sick and so I went to bed and got to reading. It was nearly 12pm but I got into it anyway. You do not understand how much more sick I felt when I read the part about to god damned poodle. My stomach ended somewhere in my feet next to my brain.

Good looking talent agent Danny Miller owes a hefty amount of cash to the sadistic Harvey Mineral and his muscle Omar, but Danny gets an idea from Jenny Stone who is looking for representation for her (very literal) unbelievable ability to bring dead things back to life.
Danny has seen Jenny’s power work and knows that some people will pay top money to have loved ones returned. Like Danny’s dentist, Donald Greenburg, who lost his poodle, Chachi, to Harvey’s cruelty.

Danny brings his brother Mike who is an accountant into the picture after he was recently let go due to accusations of embezzlement. Donald unfortunately pays the $75,000 resurrection bill by borrowing from Harvey, so the loan shark and Omar keep a close eye on the cash. But it all doesn't end there, even more people are interested in the money, a cop who is also a stand-up comic named Gary Shuler and a very crazy real estate developer called Judd Martin, who blames Mike for bankrupting him.

The book is a tale that tosses logic far out the window and it makes it so much better that way, I have tried over and over to portray my thoughts about this book but none of them seem to actually hit the spot. its a lovely mix of humour, gore and family values. You really have to read it to understand how hard it is to fathom words to describe it. I do recommend it to anyone who wants laughter and gore mixed into one. Although you may think you wont like the book, you have to be persistent and I promise you'll get hooked eventually.

I'm not sure what else I can say, its a funny read but somehow it didn't hit the spot completely and therefore I'm going to give it a 4 out of 5.