EGGMAN vividly portrays the amazing diversity a messenger deals with daily and how the messenger can go places that no other citizen can.
—Lucas Brunelle LINE OF SIGHT http://www.lucasbrunelle.com/
J Milligan sees things that other people don't. EGGMAN is a noirish whirlwind of hilarity and surprise; it's a very fun ride.
—Henry Alford, Writer for the New York Times, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Author of How to Live (Twelve, 2009) named Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, and Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? (Twelve, 2012)
Set in the bicycle delivery world of NYC post-9/11, EGGMAN is itself like a bike messenger: fleet, fierce, always racing towards a sure destination even when you can’t predict its unexpected swerves, slips or turns - a tough machine powered by flesh and blood, zooming through the wreckage of a still-tender city. In the end, J Milligan does what every good bike messenger must: he really, truly delivers.
—Ed Valentine, Writer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Fairly OddParents and Transformers: Rescue Bots, among many others.
Upon reading EGGMAN, I found myself convinced that J Milligan has earned his spot among that small pack of writers successful in their efforts to convey the twisted state of affairs that is our young century. The strangeness that Milligan lays before us is not, however, an arbitrary splattering of paint--there is a remarkable control behind this mad, pre-apocalyptic narrative and a gift for language that punches exactly when it needs to. If at times I was reminded of Sam Lipsyte's bleak but exacting humor, at others I felt the romance that gets me in Murakami's best work. But, without question, Milligan's voice is all his own . . . and it deserves the widest possible audience, among which I will sit any time.
David Bowie and Iman give a skitch to the main characters. I mean, that in itself deserves 4 stars, lol. What a fun book to read. Written in a hyperkinetic fashion with a wicked blend of humor, cynicism and surrealist anarchy, I couldn't stop turning the electronic page to read what happens next. As a New Yorker and a former bike courier, I totally relate to the landmarks described in the book as well as the uniquely exhilarating experience of riding a bike in the city. I picked this book up again after finishing William Gibson's Bridge trilogy because I couldn't get enough of stories with bike messengers, and this book sated my needs. In fact, it went above and beyond Gibson's description of messenger work as you can tell the author had personal experience as a bike messenger, which I can confirm because he was a former colleague of mine! And there were definitely similarities with Gibson's work, with the central plot revolving around a Package that different parties are after but the hapless main character is in possession of. Also, there are metaphysical, almost mystical, musings on Change and being Agents of Change that will result in some world-shattering collapse, a dystopic weight hanging over the plot like the last book in Gibson's Bridge trilogy, "All Tomorrow's Parties". I highly recommend this book if you want an entertaining read with driving action, plenty of smart and hilarious observations, and a huge dose of the New York City streets that cyclists like myself feel physically in our bones.
Strange book. It sort of reminded me of Camus or Joseph Heller. It also actually worked. The language and imagery were wonderful. The characters were well formed. The setting was New York City on a bicycle. The time was confusing but meant to be. I never stopped wanting to see what happened next.