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Broken Lines
When demons burn her life to the ground, a waitress squeezes into a stranger’s stolen rental van and embarks on a journey of evil-fighting and bad road coffee. As Maggie’s past recedes in the rearview, questions arise:
• What happens when a vampire decides to stop drinking blood?
• How long should one irradiate an apple pie in a convenience store microwave?
• Are all demons this brittle?
• Is there a Dunk-A-Donut near here?
Bureaucracy, vigilantes, and pure evil conspire against our heroes, pursuing them across the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956), through a mall parking lot, and all the way down to the bottom of a bottomless pit in the lower intestines of Hell. Will Maggie find her way back home again? Does she even want to?
• What happens when a vampire decides to stop drinking blood?
• How long should one irradiate an apple pie in a convenience store microwave?
• Are all demons this brittle?
• Is there a Dunk-A-Donut near here?
Bureaucracy, vigilantes, and pure evil conspire against our heroes, pursuing them across the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956), through a mall parking lot, and all the way down to the bottom of a bottomless pit in the lower intestines of Hell. Will Maggie find her way back home again? Does she even want to?
- GenresFiction
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2018
813 people want to read
About the author
Tom Pappalardo
14 books45 followersTom Pappalardo is a graphic designer, author, and musician who lives in a manky old house in western Massachusetts with a busted '66 Mustang in the garage.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 15, 2018
I won an advanced readers copy of this novel. Basically, I had a very small window of knowledge as to what I was getting myself into here. Supernatural elements and humor, according to the rear cover, with plenty of illustrations. Mmkay.
Well. I certainly found myself laughing long and hard at some of the trials faced by our ragtag quartet of protagonists. Let it be said they all had guts in the face of some scary-ass axe-wielding antagonists. The author did nothing to allay my fears of gas masks; thanks a lot.
So, immediately dropped into the maelstrom, you can feel and almost smell the camraderie. Three men on what might be an existential journey rescue a woman ... and despite plenty of gory fight scenes, near-misses with death, and a bit of flirtation, you're left wanting, plotwise. Some of the illustrations and asides (text boxes with historical anecdotes or zany footnotes, plus sly advertisements) provide a tongue-in-cheek jab at more recent American culture (such as it is), yet it distracted me from the story. Too often it broke the flow. The food court scene at the mall obliterated it completely, which annoyed me no end. If I wanted to get meta with it, I'd pick up a copy of Philip K. Dick, ok?
By the end, I felt as though I'd been on a bit of theme-park tour with these characters. Certain pop-culture references, many of which I enjoy, popped in to make themselves known.
What would Iggy Pop and Exabayachay make of it, I wonder.
Well. I certainly found myself laughing long and hard at some of the trials faced by our ragtag quartet of protagonists. Let it be said they all had guts in the face of some scary-ass axe-wielding antagonists. The author did nothing to allay my fears of gas masks; thanks a lot.
So, immediately dropped into the maelstrom, you can feel and almost smell the camraderie. Three men on what might be an existential journey rescue a woman ... and despite plenty of gory fight scenes, near-misses with death, and a bit of flirtation, you're left wanting, plotwise. Some of the illustrations and asides (text boxes with historical anecdotes or zany footnotes, plus sly advertisements) provide a tongue-in-cheek jab at more recent American culture (such as it is), yet it distracted me from the story. Too often it broke the flow. The food court scene at the mall obliterated it completely, which annoyed me no end. If I wanted to get meta with it, I'd pick up a copy of Philip K. Dick, ok?
By the end, I felt as though I'd been on a bit of theme-park tour with these characters. Certain pop-culture references, many of which I enjoy, popped in to make themselves known.
What would Iggy Pop and Exabayachay make of it, I wonder.
June 26, 2019
Very weird but charming. Unlike anything I’ve read. It has some major Twin Peaks vibes, which is probably why I like it so much. “Macho asshole. Hated evil.”
November 9, 2017
Out of the thousands of books I've read in my life, this is the only time I've ever laughed out loud while reading the introductory pages.
April 3, 2018
The book is crazy. It's also entertaining and humorous.
I won an ARC of this book in a goodreads giveaway.
I won an ARC of this book in a goodreads giveaway.
November 19, 2017
Reviews of earlier incarnations of Broken Lines:
"It is so unlike everything else that I have ever read that I hate to make any sort of comparisons."
— BlogCritics Magazine
"...a classic oddity, full of strangeness and lunacy...a solidly creative effort."
— Comics Waiting Room
"It is intelligent, entertaining, and in a word, freaking awesome."
— Broken Frontier
"[Pappalardo] has steeped Broken Lines in various literary traditions that suggest he’s at least walked by a library or two, the sense of humor is truly absurd, and references to modern culture both high and low pepper the pages."
— Comic Book Bin
"I can’t remember the last time I was this impressed by a story where I had no real idea what’s going on."
— Optical Sloth
"...the design visuals just hooked themselves into my brain and are making me say Preeeetty."
— FLEEN
"It is so unlike everything else that I have ever read that I hate to make any sort of comparisons."
— BlogCritics Magazine
"...a classic oddity, full of strangeness and lunacy...a solidly creative effort."
— Comics Waiting Room
"It is intelligent, entertaining, and in a word, freaking awesome."
— Broken Frontier
"[Pappalardo] has steeped Broken Lines in various literary traditions that suggest he’s at least walked by a library or two, the sense of humor is truly absurd, and references to modern culture both high and low pepper the pages."
— Comic Book Bin
"I can’t remember the last time I was this impressed by a story where I had no real idea what’s going on."
— Optical Sloth
"...the design visuals just hooked themselves into my brain and are making me say Preeeetty."
— FLEEN
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews