"Live, laugh, shed blood. Dexter meets Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Town in this twisted debut graphic novel!
Don't. Murder. The locals.
This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong's cardinal rule. After all, there's a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you've worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie…the last thing you want is to disturb the peace.
So you can imagine her indignation when one of Woodbrook's own meets a grisly, mysterious demise—and you wouldn't blame her for doing anything it takes to hunt down her rival before the town self-destructs and Sheriff Patterson starts (literally) barking up the wrong tree."
I got an ARC of this book.
Where do I even begin with this one?
The art was both jaring and soothing. It was interesting to see the anthropomorphic animals, but then seeing actual animals in the same panel was weird. The first kill happens, then zoom out to an actual bear walking by. It was strange. It was more jarring than the killing was. I was very amused. It took me right out of the killing, which might have been the idea since the MC is not the bad guy in this one. She may be a serial murdered, but she is controlled and has rules. She is the hero-ish of this story. There wasn't as much killing as I had hoped, but the killings that did happen were perfect.
The story is something I am not normally a fan of. I am not a fan of muder mysteries. I couldn't care less about who did it. I just don't. The way this book was sold as being Richard Scarry meets Dexter is what sold me. I needed to see that childhood classic mixed with one of the few murder shows I have watched more than a handfull of episodes of. It worked in a twisted way. It didn't feel like it was trying too hard or the mix was odd. It just worked in a really weird way.
There were not as many animal puns as I was expecting, which made this feel more adult which worked well. I missed the animal puns, but I think keeping the tone more serious was a good move. This book will stay in my mind for a long time. It is unique and wild.
Overall, I loved this book. It was everything I wanted and then some. I have already started recommending it to friends and to the people in my graphic novel class in school. You gotta try this.
5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book.
You can buy the book here.
~Isaiah
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