Early Book Review; The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham

The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham by Nick Mamatas and Brian Keene is an intelligent, unique novel that will get you thinking. Politics, drugs, paranoia, the old gods, conspiracies, one crazy writer and a heap of strangeness fill this thrilling novel. The publisher has described The Damned Highway as a combination of the gonzo journalism of Hunter S. Thompson and terrors of H.P. Lovecraft, and I can think of no better or accurate description. In fact, I am still having trouble coming up with words that can do justice to this incredibly smart, funny and thought provoking work. It was among the strangest, and greatest, books that I have read in the last five years.

The plot of The Damned Highway follows one gonzo reporter fueled by alcohol, drugs, grapefruit, and the search for his story across the country in 1972 in the midst of the presidential election. The trip is triggered by restlessness and the fear of nameless and unknown things that prowl outside the writer's door, real or imagined. Traveling via bus toward Arkham Massachusetts, the crazed reporter hopes for the ability to remain unrecognized as he seeks the story of the American Nightmare, because the American Dream is dead and gone. He finds the nightmare, and then some, as he discovers that the political conspiracies are much larger than anyone had dreamed, they involved the old gods and the possible end of the world rather than just individuals striving for individual power and greed. There are monsters at work, of the human and alien variety, and the trip the characters and readers take to discover the truth is both horrifying and hilarious. Nixon, Hoover and other well known figures have their roles in the larger story, and sometimes the surreal situation do not seem as outrageous as they should.

I highly recommend The Damned Highway, with absolutely no qualifiers. While fans of the authors and those that enjoy surreal looks at the past, present and future will especially love the book, I think that there really is something for all adult readers. There were several moments while I was reading that I found myself wondering if Keene and Mamatas really did have access to a deeper truth, another layer of reality than the petty political battles that are so visible in today's nightly news. The blending of story, history and mythology was seamless, making The Damned Highway a particularly great read that gets the reader thinking far outside the box while still being highly entertained. I am at a loss as to how to fully describe how much I enjoyed reading the novel, without stripping away some of the surprise and wonder that I felt while reading, so I will stop trying. Just read the book, and enjoy the trip. The Damned Highway is due to be published on July 26 2011 and I was thrilled to get my hands on it early thanks to NetGalley .