Spares, Michael
Marshall Smith
One day about 15 years ago I picked up a battered paperback
copy of this book at a branch library in Seminole County, FL. Then I put it back down since it didn’t look very
promising. It was, however, pretty slim
pickings at the library that day so I picked it back up again and checked it
out. Now it’s in my top 10.
It starts out, as you might be able to guess, as a story
about clones used for spare parts, but that storyline, while continuing
throughout the rest of the novel, really takes a backseat to a host of other
plotlines and a really weird & nasty parallel world that’s spilling over
into the real one. It gets confusing, and
you may need to read it twice to catch everything and sort it all out. I’ve read it three times. So far.
Be warned, it is weird.
It’s sublimely hilarious at one turn and brutally violent in the
next. Crime, distorted reality, flying
shopping malls, side-slipping, cats, a drug called Rapt, and a main character
intent on avenging the past make for a really wild ride. Even so, I probably wouldn’t be such a fan except
for the fact that I just really like how the author writes. There’s a cleverness to his writing that I
can’t help but appreciate.
A few years ago I found a limited edition hardback copy of Spares signed by the author (#106 of
500) at our Friends of the Library book store here in little old Liberty, KY. I got it for $1. Giddiness ensued.
(also: One of Us; Only Forward both also by MMS, both also
very weird)
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