Review by Judi Rohrig

THE BIG PUNCH by Louis Maistros 2000 Third Rail Press Hardcover $20.00

What a cushy job reviewing a book is! You read (sometimes at one sitting) what somebody's taken maybe years to write and then you judge it. Like it, and you cuddle it to your bosom, swearing to tell every living sole on Earth what a great read this book was. Don't like it, and you can pitch it across the room at the cat or something. *Gumdrop.* Louis Maistros' THE BIG PUNCH is a perfect example of how things get scrambled some times. Though I pitched it across the room (and I don't even have a cat right now), I liked his story. No wait! I Hated his story! Yeah, that's it!

DON'T READ THIS BOOK!

*Gumdrop.*

But if you do, if you fail to heed my warning, then I'll understand.

THE BIG PUNCH cuts a trail all its own. It's confusing and raw and yanks and pulls at the reader from so many directions I sometimes found it painful to read. But who could put it down? Maistros' voice is dead on from page one and his writing is amazingly solid considering this is his first novel. In fact, he wields a pen with the best of them. There are parts of John D. MacDonald's books and Ray Bradbury and Joe R. Lansdale's stories that I have marked with tiny pieces of paper. And when I'm having one of my horrible days when all my words run together on me, dripping uncontrolled like a child's watery fingerpaints, I yank one of those works. THE BIG PUNCH will be joining that special shelf.

Through Jack Dellus, Maistros takes us on a modern-day journey through Wonderland. Except we follow an orange rat this time and the hole is an alley that leads to more extreme characters than even the Cheshire Cat could flash his smug grin at. Tweedledumb and Tweedledee reincarnate as Ida Mae and her sister Becky, only don't expect to ever see depictions of these twins decorating your children's walls. *Gumdrop.*

But that's all I'll say. THE BIG PUNCH is an experience in literature you won't want to miss. Catch Louis Maistros NOW at the beginning of what will be a long and strong career.

Just be prepared for simple words - *Gumdrop* - to never mean the same.

Five sizzling Bookwyrms!

This review copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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