Kevin Shamel's debut release from Eraserhead Press, Rotten Little Animals, is a bit like Animal Farm on crack. The animals in Shamel's novel, however, are trying to keep their presence unknown to humans. While filming their latest masterpiece, the animals are spotted by a young boy that lived across the street. When the boy comes to investigate what he has seen (it's not every day you see a zombie cat fight!) the film crew of animals decides to kidnap him and re-write the movie that were working on to include the boy as their newest cast member. They figure staging an abduction will be more realistic-looking than their previous project, and it might help their chances in the Animal Academy Awards. What the crew doesn't count on is some of the animals turning against each other... and when that happens, you never know what Rotten Little Animals might do next! These animals are crude, rude, and usually drunk and/or high. They aren't your typical, cuddly pets that you'd want to take home, but this is definitely a novel that you want in your collection! Shamel has created a tale that is disturbingly rude, laugh-out-loud funny, and at times, just so bizarre that you can't even wrap your head around the fact that these are animals doing these things. Of course, some scenes I couldn't even fathom humans doing to other humans! In particular, there is a scene in the book where the animals put the human boy, Cage, in a room that he had to share with Filthy Pig (obviously a pig) that is known as the "Toilet Room". As you can guess, there is a grating above the room that all of the other animals stand above and let their urine and feces come down through... right onto poor Cage. It's a powerful scene, but greatly disturbing at the same time. It makes the reader feel for Cage though and want him to pull through somehow and escape. That scene, as well as numerous others, kept me reading Rotten Little Animals, fast and furious, as I wanted to see what was going to happen at the end. As this was part of Eraserhead Press' New Bizarro Author Series, I am hoping that Shamel will have more releases in the future because I am greatly anticipating reading more by this author. Highly Recommended!
Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations
Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com
