CRAZYTIMES BY SCOTT COLE: BOOK REVIEW

There are no hidden messages, no commentary on social issues, no metaphors or symbolism or stark warnings to stop chopping down forests or melting icebergs. It’s just a highly charged stampede into ... well, into crazy times!

You know the feeling: you’re at a party and someone slides up to you, introduces themselves, and ends their sentence by adding, ‘I’m crazy; you can ask anyone.’ Deep down inside, you shudder. It’s not fear, nor is it excitement. It’s not even intrigue. The feeling you’re experiencing is the desperation to get away before the inevitable deluge of not very crazy anecdotes starts.

They role their eyes and mutter, ‘I once ate my pudding before my dinner. Crazy, eh?’

Every fibre in your being screams to run, to break free, but before you can think of an excuse they drag someone else into the conversation.

‘Terry, tell him, I’m crazy, aren’t I?’

‘Crazy,’ Terry endorses with a smile, pleased he’s not the one having to listen to the inane stories. He pities you, because he knows you’re stuck in the situation. With a shrug, he darts away.

‘Crazy,’ the self-proclaimed nut-job echoes. ‘You can ask anyone.’

You know it’s going to be a long night...

When I started reading Crazytimes by Scott Cole, I had a slight dread that the novella would be not as crazy as the title or blurb suggested. Many books promise to take you on a wild ride, and few deliver. Some follow such well-trod tropes that you’ve already worked out the ending before the initial scene has been set and find yourself meandering through nonsensical twists and turns to get to the end.

The problem is for many of us, if we are promised craziness, then craziness is what we want. I don’t spend valuable time reading books about craziness because deep down inside I want a bland character who eats their pudding before their dinner.

Crazytimes starts slowly; well, as slowly as you can go in a relatively short novella. The main character, Trey, seems normal. His problems are problems we’ve all faced. His life is one we can all relate to, and even when he first encounters the first elements of craziness in his day, it doesn’t seem to be too crazy. The people are more annoying and rude than batshit off their heads.

However, it doesn’t stay like that for long. Something is happening in the city, something strange and unexplained. The atmosphere is different, the loud ominous booms echoing in the air are alien, and people are getting increasingly crazy.

There’s a good variety of craziness on show, from surly bus drivers (not too crazy in the grand scheme of things), through shit throwers (maybe a little more crazy depending on where you live), to full-on massacre and mutilation (you don’t see that every day). People are going nuts while laughing like maniacs and scratching pulsating boils on their necks. It’s a carnival of pustulant scratchy itchy insanity (plus a teapot of piss).

As Trey struggles to understand what’s going on, we follow his attempt to find refuge in the city. It’s a game of cat and mouse as he tries to evade others and escape the developing insanity. On-going meteor showers seemed to be linked to the craziness, and after seeing one land he struggles to rationalise what is pretty much impossible to rationalise.


 

It's fair to say that Crazytimes isn’t heavy on plot. Trey wakes up, goes to work, the shit hits the fan, he runs and tries to evade the overwhelming numbers of crazy people. Having said that, it’s not the type of book which needs too much of a plot. It’s a tongue-in-cheek orgy of gore-splattered insanity, a short but high-speed blast through the centre of a hellish existence plagued by an unknown infections and alien happenings.

The brevity of the book ensures you don’t get bored by the lack of sub-plot or development of other characters, and when the ending comes it does leave you with a feeling of completion. I was worried at one point it might all spiral out of control and become too much, but it delivers, leaving the reader with the feeling they’ve got somewhere!

There are no hidden messages, no commentary on social issues, no metaphors or symbolism or stark warnings to stop chopping down forests or melting icebergs. It’s just a highly charged stampede into ... well, into crazy times!

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