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The Hoax
How well do you know your closest friends? Are they loyal? Are they trustworthy? Are they human? A magnetic false prophet with an unnatural power to enchant; a government agent trying to profile an inhuman breed of terrorist; an otherworldly mastermind posing as an out of work beach bum. And the man in the middle, Patrick Obrien, a humble accountant who discovers his best friends are more than they seem. As he struggles to escape their trap to use him in a global catastrophe scheme, Patrick finds himself ensnared by the FBI agent, who pits him against the very people he is running from.
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First published July 20, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 2, 2007
From its eerie prologue to the final startling chapter, reading Adrienne Jones’ The Hoax is every bit as fun as a roller coaster ride through a carnival fun house with one’s very best friends in tow.
Patrick O’Brien, the tale’s protagonist, is as likeable as a modern day George Bailey, but this is no wonderful life. His best friend Joey Duvaine’s family members are all dead following a quick series of freakish fatal accidents. Dutifully at Joey’s side for the final funeral, Patrick is concerned. Oddly, his intensely handsome young friend with an unusually charismatic charm doesn’t seem the least bit upset by it all. To make matters worse, Patrick and Joey’s other best buddy, the ever unpredictable and opportunistic Melvin Eugene Shepherd, or Shep, suggests they use Joey’s uniquely tragic life for a bizarre moneymaking scheme.
What starts as a half-baked lark quickly escalates into a full-blown, worldwide, religious hoax. Shep successfully sells Joey as a modern day Messiah and cleverly tricks Patrick into helping believably create Joey’s “miracle” encounter with the Virgin Mary for all the world to see. Furious at being used by Shep and angry at Joey for going along, Patrick wants no further part of these two, but try as he might to extract himself from their escalating madness, strange forces are at work, drawing him back in, as well as several endearingly clumsy spies that all resemble Shep, following his every move.
A tale that evolves humorous frat boy hi-jinks into a conspiracy theorists ultimate nightmare, The Hoax spins a child’s top into a deadly hurricane, soon encompassing everything in its path: from calculated murders, to strange religious blood rituals, FBI covert operations, and bio-terrorism, to, yes, the ultimate fate of all mankind. This richly layered story unfolds with such deftness and wit, that Jones’ twists and turns leave one agog, and like that roller coaster ride, makes it impossible to stop reading until it comes screaming to its end.
Patrick O’Brien, the tale’s protagonist, is as likeable as a modern day George Bailey, but this is no wonderful life. His best friend Joey Duvaine’s family members are all dead following a quick series of freakish fatal accidents. Dutifully at Joey’s side for the final funeral, Patrick is concerned. Oddly, his intensely handsome young friend with an unusually charismatic charm doesn’t seem the least bit upset by it all. To make matters worse, Patrick and Joey’s other best buddy, the ever unpredictable and opportunistic Melvin Eugene Shepherd, or Shep, suggests they use Joey’s uniquely tragic life for a bizarre moneymaking scheme.
What starts as a half-baked lark quickly escalates into a full-blown, worldwide, religious hoax. Shep successfully sells Joey as a modern day Messiah and cleverly tricks Patrick into helping believably create Joey’s “miracle” encounter with the Virgin Mary for all the world to see. Furious at being used by Shep and angry at Joey for going along, Patrick wants no further part of these two, but try as he might to extract himself from their escalating madness, strange forces are at work, drawing him back in, as well as several endearingly clumsy spies that all resemble Shep, following his every move.
A tale that evolves humorous frat boy hi-jinks into a conspiracy theorists ultimate nightmare, The Hoax spins a child’s top into a deadly hurricane, soon encompassing everything in its path: from calculated murders, to strange religious blood rituals, FBI covert operations, and bio-terrorism, to, yes, the ultimate fate of all mankind. This richly layered story unfolds with such deftness and wit, that Jones’ twists and turns leave one agog, and like that roller coaster ride, makes it impossible to stop reading until it comes screaming to its end.
June 14, 2011
Two weeks ago I finished reading The Hoax by Adrienne Jones; two days ago I picked it up and started reading it again--unable to let it go. Not since Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles have I both feared and fallen in love with fictional characters so intensely (and no, these are not vampires). But I add ostensibly fictional characters, because I've begun to wonder if they are really at work in this world, haunting me well after reading. Patrick, Shep, and Joey--the trio, a friendship bound so tightly it can't be undone, no matter how they might try to escape it. And then there's Robin, Father Carbone, Agent Litner, and, of course, Juris and Klee--even the minor characters take their hold.
And that's only one aspect of the novel. There's the hoax that begins to unveil at the start, then which escalates to proportions never imagined, opening up an unexpected twist on our long-standing mythologies (I can't say more for fear of ruining half the fun of the book). The plot surges forward with constant swells and dips and turns that Jones handles marvelously. Tension never lets up, keeping me up late into the night. And all the while the characters keep me laughing.
But amid all this clever action and dead-on humor lies the heart of the book, what motivates the characters and the reader right alongside them. In The Hoax, pride must confront humility, love must survive betrayal, and that is finally what draws me back to the characters, what drew me back to the book perhaps: The Hoax snared me by making me fall in love, and the love Jones offers in her characters is longer standing than any of the rooted traditions the book examines, so deep it binds us and we wonder what lengths we'd go to in order to preserve it.
And that's only one aspect of the novel. There's the hoax that begins to unveil at the start, then which escalates to proportions never imagined, opening up an unexpected twist on our long-standing mythologies (I can't say more for fear of ruining half the fun of the book). The plot surges forward with constant swells and dips and turns that Jones handles marvelously. Tension never lets up, keeping me up late into the night. And all the while the characters keep me laughing.
But amid all this clever action and dead-on humor lies the heart of the book, what motivates the characters and the reader right alongside them. In The Hoax, pride must confront humility, love must survive betrayal, and that is finally what draws me back to the characters, what drew me back to the book perhaps: The Hoax snared me by making me fall in love, and the love Jones offers in her characters is longer standing than any of the rooted traditions the book examines, so deep it binds us and we wonder what lengths we'd go to in order to preserve it.
December 23, 2014
Good evening constant reader.
In a nutshell, if you like off the beaten path stories, with characters so well drawn they leap off the page and help you keep turning the pages until you find out what their ultimate fate is, then this book is for you.
Part horror, part science fiction, and all compelling, The Hoax starts off with an attention getting prologue that jump starts the action and then starts revving to full throttle.
How well do any of us really know our "best" friends?
That's one question The Hoax poses, as it explores the friendship of three men: Patrick Obrien, Joey Duvaine and Melvin Shepherd. Their friendship seems genuine and honesty bound, until little by little, layers start to flake away and cracks begin to appear. It all seems so innocent and unremarkable at first, the result of a recent tragedy. Joey, in the space of a year, has lost his entire family and is now on his own, trying to decide what direction his future holds. Patrick and Shepherd (he hates to be called Melvin) are there to support their friend, onlooking bystanders to the melt down Joey has at a local bar after the funeral of his father. Fists fly, shirts are taken off, drinking accelerates and this is where the story takes off, when we are given a glimpse of Shepherd's back and the horse shoe shaped scar he has...a result he says, of an abusive father.
That's round one
Round two has our three friends at Joey's apartment, hanging out, with Joey trying to decide what his options are. Joey laments he has no family to the extent Shepherd blows a gasket, asking what are he and Obrien? Chopped liver? Words fly fast and furious until it gets physical and blood is drawn, with Shepherd sneering that Joey doesn't think anyone is "family" unless they're blood family. A knife surfaces and all three cut themselves and make a blood bond, with Shepherd uttering some strange words, words he claims the ancients used to bind themselves together before battle: unity and brotherhood.
And it's with this sharing of blood that things really take a turn into Weirdville.
If I say too much more, I risk giving too much away.
I will say Shepherd manipulates Joey and Patrick into staging something miraculous at a church, which sets the rest of the action in motion, heading into a hell of a climax.
Jones has crafted an absorbing tale, whose characters come alive. As you read, you feel like these are people you know. The dialogue perks along and never seems forced - the characters actually say what you'd think a real person would say in a situation like they're in. A situation, which Constant Reader, as you read along, starts to take some really fantastic turns.
The story is paced well with suitable down times, and packed at the right time with action.
I loved every minute of reading this book, and that's not something I say too often.
My only complaint is there's no sequel...yet...it's in the works.
Adrienne Jones is a writer to watch.
In a nutshell, if you like off the beaten path stories, with characters so well drawn they leap off the page and help you keep turning the pages until you find out what their ultimate fate is, then this book is for you.
Part horror, part science fiction, and all compelling, The Hoax starts off with an attention getting prologue that jump starts the action and then starts revving to full throttle.
How well do any of us really know our "best" friends?
That's one question The Hoax poses, as it explores the friendship of three men: Patrick Obrien, Joey Duvaine and Melvin Shepherd. Their friendship seems genuine and honesty bound, until little by little, layers start to flake away and cracks begin to appear. It all seems so innocent and unremarkable at first, the result of a recent tragedy. Joey, in the space of a year, has lost his entire family and is now on his own, trying to decide what direction his future holds. Patrick and Shepherd (he hates to be called Melvin) are there to support their friend, onlooking bystanders to the melt down Joey has at a local bar after the funeral of his father. Fists fly, shirts are taken off, drinking accelerates and this is where the story takes off, when we are given a glimpse of Shepherd's back and the horse shoe shaped scar he has...a result he says, of an abusive father.
That's round one
Round two has our three friends at Joey's apartment, hanging out, with Joey trying to decide what his options are. Joey laments he has no family to the extent Shepherd blows a gasket, asking what are he and Obrien? Chopped liver? Words fly fast and furious until it gets physical and blood is drawn, with Shepherd sneering that Joey doesn't think anyone is "family" unless they're blood family. A knife surfaces and all three cut themselves and make a blood bond, with Shepherd uttering some strange words, words he claims the ancients used to bind themselves together before battle: unity and brotherhood.
And it's with this sharing of blood that things really take a turn into Weirdville.
If I say too much more, I risk giving too much away.
I will say Shepherd manipulates Joey and Patrick into staging something miraculous at a church, which sets the rest of the action in motion, heading into a hell of a climax.
Jones has crafted an absorbing tale, whose characters come alive. As you read, you feel like these are people you know. The dialogue perks along and never seems forced - the characters actually say what you'd think a real person would say in a situation like they're in. A situation, which Constant Reader, as you read along, starts to take some really fantastic turns.
The story is paced well with suitable down times, and packed at the right time with action.
I loved every minute of reading this book, and that's not something I say too often.
My only complaint is there's no sequel...yet...it's in the works.
Adrienne Jones is a writer to watch.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews