We here at VARMS happen to be literate, unlike the majority of the people who we associate with. I happen to read quite a bit. Anyway, my new theory in books is to go to the library, wander aimlessly and find me a book. So while perusing the "new books" I came across Mike Nelson's DEATH RAT! By Michael J. Nelson. Author of Mike J. Nelson's Mind Over Matter. I swear Mike's name is on the cover of this book 3 times and twice on the spine. So it leaves no doubt that yes, Mike Nelson wrote this book, and YES it is that Mike Nelson. (and if you don't know of Mike Nelson are you sure you’re VARMS material?)
So, what we have here is a comedy book (DUH) about a couple of aging Authors, the king of funk, Holey Minnesota (population 38), and the Danes. It opens as the main character, Ponti Feeb, is fired from his job. Ponti is a failed author; his last book sold 83 copies. (His best seller!) Angry and upset Ponti stumbles into a book store. All he sees in there is crap books by crap authors. Angry he writes an adventure novel about a 6 foot rat.
Now it could be said that the main character of this novel is the book about the rat. The book corrupts some, causes others to go crazy, and makes everyone look very foolish in the end. Of course what else would a book about a six foot rat do?
So, as it turns out the publishers think Ponti is too old to be published. The people don't want adventure books written by old men. So Ponti decides that he can use is young rugged friend Jack as the "real" author. The publisher eats it right up, only one catch. Jack tells the publisher that the book about the six foot rat is 100% non-fiction! Can Ponti and Jack keep the lie up?
I personally thought this book was great. It had humor, characters you could root for, and an original story. My personal favorite characters had to be King Leo, the funk superstar who starts a religion based on the story of the rat and the Danish. The Danish were hired by a rival author to dig up dirt on the rat book. The Danes end up being a very enjoyable part of the book not even counting the jokes about herring. At 325 pages it is a quick read as well. I personally finished it in just under 3 days.
DEATH RAT: 9/10