The House of Whacks: A Novel

I don't buy the maxim, "never judge a book by its cover". The House of Whacks by Matthew Branton has a great one, and Bettie Page's presence on it is the reason I picked the book up in the first place. Branton's also chosen a great setting for his multiple plot thread caper novel: Chicago in 1950. One story involves Susan, a Bettie Page composite posing for soft core bondage shots at a "studio" called the House of Whacks... Read Full Review

i really liked this book. i liked the characters and the story, but while reading it i figured it was too good to be true and prepared myself for a bad ending. very, very surprisingly it was a good ending, it made sense and it fit with the rest of the book. it made me feel all smokey and sultry and hollywood nocturne-y.

These reviews! Branton's view of 50's society enthralled me from beginning to end. I won't bother elaborating on the characters and plot here, as you can read that in the editorial. I will say that I found both interesting and imaginative, more so because you can trace their origins in contempory popular culture, as criticised above. Get this, this is somewhat the point of Branton's writing, as you would know if you had... Read Full Review

Branton Whacks it Home Reviewer: Shawn M. Vidmar from Pueblo, Colorado Matthew Branton's ingenious novel, *House of Whacks*, brings the pulp detective novel into the 90's. His characters are intriguing and interesting. He introduces them so completely, and yet subtly that the reader finds herself not only caring about their story, but able to tell them apart without the tale-tell dialog tag lines. Each one is developed... Read Full Review

Were we reading the same book? I loved it. One of the best books of the 90s. Atmosphere, suspense, far-out characters, cool locations, cool dialogue ... you feel like the author watched all the same shows as you,read the same books, got off on the same movies ...then put it all into something new, something that's just the best. The line from pulp fiction is brilliantly used, setting a scene fast and economically before... Read Full Review