Review of In A Kick-Ass Sentimental Mood and an interview with the author

I read this at my friend Joe M’s recommendation. The author is apparently also the former senior editor of a black community-oriented newspaper here in Minneapolis. The book is set in the midwest, much of it in the Twin Cities, in the year 2048. I am having trouble figuring exactly when it was written. It had to be after 2001, but maybe not much after? (apparently 2013?)

I would have given it a higher rating, but like a lot of self-published novels, it could have used some stern editing. I have a pretty high tolerance for meandering side plots, especially if they’re around subjects that I as well as the author have a fascination for, but still it tried my patience, and it took me much longer to read than was warranted by the story. I don’t mind spending two weeks on War and Peace, but this was not quite worth it.

It’s not bad though. On the mystery level, the knowledge of the crimes unfolds well, enough to keep you hooked, not so out of the blue as to piss you off. The politics are leftist, the sex is very boomerish (I should know, as I am one) and the mystical side plot and character are good, speaking as an amateur theologian of gnostic wisdom traditions.

Here’s an interview with the author, done by another local press personality. I read this whole book wondering if the author were white or black (after finding out a few score pages in that the protagonist was white.)