Book Review: Billionaire Boogeymen by Todd Parker

Note: This is the first review of my Posman Books trilogy. Probably won't get to the others until the new year, so STAY TUNED!!!

Our family took a trip to Ponce City market in mid-October for Ronan's 10th birthday (happy birthday little dude!). They have mini golf and carnival games on the roof of the building, and it was a beautiful day, so we spent a good deal of time there. When we ended our time there we decided to do a little shoppy-shoppy before leaving.

I love the Posman Books store there, and since Ronan is a very avid reader and we love getting books for him, we decided to stop in.

Upon entering, I immediately noticed a guy at a table near the cash register. As I got closer I saw that on the table were multiple copies of the same book - Billionaire Boogeymen. So, obviously, it was a book signing. And there was NOBODY there.

So let's go on a bit of a sidebar here: Billionaire Boogeymen is Todd Parker's debut novel. Apparently he's also a stand-up comedian, but I don't think he has a ton of name recognition. And I didn't see any signs announcing his appearance. Heck, I don't think there was even a sign outside the Posman Books saying an author was there doing a signing. So WHY would some PR person think it would be a good idea to have him basically just show up and expect a crowd? Instead, he was clearly in an awkward situation where he was just hoping people would go up to him while everyone in the store was doing their best to avoid eye contact.

Ronan and Rebecca were in the back of the store, and I walked back there. Curious, I decided to Google the book. Since I had only seen the title and glanced at the cover, I frankly expected it was some kind of "Shark Tank" or "Lifestyles of the Rick and Famous" thing.

But instead, it was fiction. More importantly for mid-October, it was MONSTER fiction!

I read a description as well as a few reviews and decided to take the plunge. I walked up to him and made some awkward small talk. I asked him what his influences were, and loved when he mentioned Famous Monsters of Filmland (I immediately thought back to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode where during the movie the publisher of that book has a cameo getting eaten by a stop-motion dinosaur. It's the one with Jean Claude Gosh Darn. "Z'don't.") Then he signed a copy, and I brought it home and read it.

I will tell you, this was a great Halloween season read! I love to read about scary subjects, but if you remember my problem with an exorcism story from a few Halloweens ago you'll know I don't like actually being SCARED. This is a perfect book for me - it deals with various monsters, but handles it more like an adventure story than a horror story.

The story concerns the richest of the rich having a museum/zoo of monsters underneath Boston (reminded me a bit of Cabin in the Woods). In order to keep the monsters alive, they have to be fed a steady diet of people (shades of The Most Dangerous Game). So the rich jerks arrange to have prostitutes taken from the streets and fed to the monsters. When an undercover cop gets picked up, her boyfriend and fellow cop goes on a search to find her.

The best part of this book is you know exactly what is going to happen, you just need to know HOW it's going to happen. Yes, eventually the cop learns about and is able to enter the museum/zoo. And he does as the rich jerks are on a tour that takes them through most of the exhibits, featuring sasquatches, aliens, mermaids, a vampire, a wendigo, and a sea monster. OF COURSE all of the monsters are going to escape and start hunting the humans - you know that as soon as the tour begins - but it's exciting to find out (1) how it's going to happen; and (2) how the humans will survive.

This was a really fun book, especially for Halloween! Nice debut and definitely recommended - eight out of ten hot dogs!