{"id":23405,"date":"2024-12-20T08:52:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T15:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=23405"},"modified":"2024-12-20T08:52:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T15:52:02","slug":"an-american-beelzebub-by-darby-guise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=23405","title":{"rendered":"An American Beelzebub by Darby Guise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A visceral, thought-provoking ride through the darker recesses of the human psyche.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guise\u2019s latest plunges readers into a surreal, violent odyssey where morality and madness collide. No. 44, a dispassionate drifter and assassin, receives a cryptic list of targets\u2014an arbitrary compilation of individuals, animals, and even a shark\u2014all destined for execution. This \u201ckill list\u201d sends him across a fragmented American landscape. Along the way, he encounters grotesque rituals, absurdist events, and existential crises that blur the line between reality and hallucination. Guise\u2019s prose is sharp, oscillating between biting satire and unsettling imagery. The violence is graphic yet darkly humorous, amplifying the absurdity of the protagonist\u2019s fractured reality. Surreal elements, such as a Black Mass and philosophical digressions reminiscent of Camus and Kafka, deepen the novel\u2019s chaotic tone, while its episodic structure mirrors the disjointed nature of modern existence. The characters are morally ambiguous, resisting easy categorization. No. 44\u2019s detached brutality and the cryptic forces that guide him challenge readers to confront their complicity as onlookers. Guise\u2019s narrative revels in ambiguity, compelling readers to question not only his world but also their own moral boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A challenging and provocative work that thrives on discomfort and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Buy now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pub date November 16, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>Bear Skin Bob Press<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISBN 978-1777527594<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price $15.00 (USD) Paperback, $7.99 Kindle edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A visceral, thought-provoking ride through the darker recesses of the human psyche. Guise\u2019s latest plunges readers into a surreal, violent odyssey where morality and madness collide. No. 44, a dispassionate drifter and assassin, receives a cryptic list of targets\u2014an arbitrary compilation of individuals, animals, and even a shark\u2014all destined for execution. This \u201ckill list\u201d sends him across a fragmented American landscape. Along the way, he encounters grotesque rituals, absurdist events, and existential crises that blur […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":23408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[723770558,723770557,7223,91,3328,723769808,178,1747,8053601,1136176,723769804,723769803,91586,723769805,1473,1008073,856121,309,349],"class_list":["post-23405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-an-american-beelzebub","tag-an-american-beelzebub-by-darby-guise","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-book-reviews","tag-bookblogger","tag-books","tag-fiction","tag-indie-author","tag-indie-books","tag-kindle","tag-kobo","tag-literary-fiction","tag-nook","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-review-website","tag-reviews","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/71VY9IMoNyL._SY425_.jpg?fit=279%2C425&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-65v","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23405"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23410,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23405\/revisions\/23410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}