Not much to report on the writing front – most of this week has been spent on my day job or playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

However, I did finish S. S. Michaels’ debut novel – Idols & Cons – a dark and twisted trip through the self-obsessed lives of three characters – Jake, Damien and Patrick. Jake/John is a fifteen year old drug dealer with artistic sensibilities who accidentally witnesses a murder; Damien is the lead singer of a boy band who accidentally kills a groupie and Patrick is a local artist who accidentally finds a way to achieve the notoriety he’s always craved. All three characters want their slice of success and they’re quite happy to climb over each other to get it.

The book starts quickly and builds inexorably towards its climax, piling on drugs, music, violence and treachery along the way. There’s some strong imagery in the book, all of it dark and if you’re not comfortable with drugs, violence and artistically dismembered corpses, skip this book. That said, although there’s some gruesome moments, the story skirts neatly around the edges of the more graphic elements and avoids devolving into gratuitous gore. There’s also touches of humour and some all too believable satire, particularly of manufactured boy bands and their nefarious managers.

Idols & Cons is Hitchcock meets Tarantino with a dash of Chuck Palahniuk thrown in for good measure. It’s fast paced, funny and dark and by the end I couldn’t put the book down – definitely recommended if you like your humour black and your plots blacker.