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quote:

"Animal Farm" meets "The Big Sleep" in this quirky but compelling hard-boiled mystery, the first in a new series, from British author Travis ("Mostly Monochrome Stories").... Travis packs a lot in, including a twisty whodunit plot, humorous sequences to leaven the grimness, and a cult persuaded that Arthur Machen's 1917 novella, "The Terror", is a true account of an animal revolt in Britain. Despite superficial resemblances to Tim Davys's "Amberville" (2009), a crime novel featuring walking and talking stuffed animals, this is a far superior work with a more fully realized imaginary world. (Mar.)

--[b]Publishers Weekly[/b] (January 11th 2010)

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quote:

John Travis has penned a novel that’s sort of "Animal Farm", partly classic noir, and definitely acid trippy weird--but all in a good, fun, highly readable and entertaining way.

... The animals take on the jobs their people had so Benji becomes a private eye and begins his own journey. Hopefully, it’s one that continues for a long time..

Very dark, but also funny in the sickest of ways. Here’s to hoping the world gets to enjoy much more of Benji--maybe if Atomic Fez offers a dimebag of catnip?

--Dave Simms; Horror World Book Reviews ([June 2010)

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