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Phineas Poe #2
Penny Dreadful
When Phineas Poe is enlisted by his old ally, Detective Moon, to find a missing cop named Jimmy Sky, he is drawn into the Game of Tongues, a violent fantasy game played by the disaffected and delusional in the punk clubs, rooftops, and sewers of Denver. With everyone he meets possessing multiple personalities and his own identity slipping away, Poe realizes if he can hang on to his sanity long enough to find Jimmy Sky, he might just beat the game.
309 pages, Trade Paperback
First published March 6, 2000
30 people are currently reading
1260 people want to read
About the author
Will Christopher Baer
10 books332 followersWill Christopher Baer is an American author of noir fiction, often delving into sex, violence, mystery and erotica. Currently published works include Kiss Me, Judas, Penny Dreadful and Hell's Half Acre, all of which have since been published in the single volume Phineas Poe. His long-awaited fourth novel, Godspeed, was originally set to be published in 2006, but saw several delays before publisher MacAdam/Cage finally announced a release date of July 2009. The novel has since been delayed indefinitely. He shares a fan base with fellow authors Craig Clevenger and Stephen Graham Jones.
Born in Mississippi in 1966. As a child, he lived in Montreal and Italy. He attended highschool in Memphis, TN and moved on to attend Tulane University in New Orleans, LA but he soon dropped out. However, he received a B.A. at Memphis State. He then headed west in 1990 and lived in Portland & Eugene Oregon for several years. He received an MFA in 1995 from Jack Kerouac School at Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO. He has lived in California since 1996, primarily in the Bay Area and L.A.
Born in Mississippi in 1966. As a child, he lived in Montreal and Italy. He attended highschool in Memphis, TN and moved on to attend Tulane University in New Orleans, LA but he soon dropped out. However, he received a B.A. at Memphis State. He then headed west in 1990 and lived in Portland & Eugene Oregon for several years. He received an MFA in 1995 from Jack Kerouac School at Naropa Institute in Boulder, CO. He has lived in California since 1996, primarily in the Bay Area and L.A.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
January 14, 2013
As much as I really liked Kiss Me, Judas, I loved Penny Dreadful that much more. To steal an overused cliché, this book was a "tour de force" (which I'm not really even sure what that means other than perhaps, tour of force?). Either way, overused descriptions aside, this book is in a word, awesome.
Baer really outdid himself. I enjoyed the first entry but was a little weary about starting this one (despite the fact that I went on and on about how much I enjoyed it). I think it was partly due to the fact that I had so much to read as well as a general feeling it may be a let down. And, truth be told, I did feel that way starting out, I thought the subject matter was a little out there. An ongoing, seemingly never-ending fantasy based game involving the theft of one's tongue? Insanity.
Basically, the way the book breaks down is that you enter the game, usually through an invitation from someone else, and are quickly established into a caste. Either you're a "Fred", which is someone not aware of the game and is being hunted by a Mariner (one who hunts tongues) or a self-aware "Fred", which is someone who knows they're in the game but unsure of where they belong. Along the way, you're given assignments and instructions by a "Glove" a person of supreme importance. You also have the ability to confess to a "Redeemer", someone whose sole job is to comfort those lost within the game. This of course is all fueled by a hallucinogenic drink called "The Pale", made mostly of herbs with a little heroin thrown in for good measure.
As this is the second in the Phineaus Poe trilogy, Poe is our central character. He inadvertently gets drawn into the game while on the hunt for missing cops, most notably a missing cop named Jimmy Sky. While going undercover to gain some information, he encounters Eve, a central character from the first novel. The novel progresses as Poe is drawn deeper and deeper into the game of tongues.
Honestly, it's not quite as screwed up as I initially thought. The way that Baer crafts the game, the structure, the rules; you really believe that this could actually work. It's clear that this is a genre that the author firmly belongs in as he has such conviction with the noir genre. His writing is so exceptional; the book is endlessly quotable.
I'm starting Hell's Half Acre immediately. Jude makes her triumphant return and the series switches back to the sole point of view of Poe - something that had been mixed up a bit in "Penny Dreadful". Hopefully, it's just as good as the first two.
Baer really outdid himself. I enjoyed the first entry but was a little weary about starting this one (despite the fact that I went on and on about how much I enjoyed it). I think it was partly due to the fact that I had so much to read as well as a general feeling it may be a let down. And, truth be told, I did feel that way starting out, I thought the subject matter was a little out there. An ongoing, seemingly never-ending fantasy based game involving the theft of one's tongue? Insanity.
Basically, the way the book breaks down is that you enter the game, usually through an invitation from someone else, and are quickly established into a caste. Either you're a "Fred", which is someone not aware of the game and is being hunted by a Mariner (one who hunts tongues) or a self-aware "Fred", which is someone who knows they're in the game but unsure of where they belong. Along the way, you're given assignments and instructions by a "Glove" a person of supreme importance. You also have the ability to confess to a "Redeemer", someone whose sole job is to comfort those lost within the game. This of course is all fueled by a hallucinogenic drink called "The Pale", made mostly of herbs with a little heroin thrown in for good measure.
As this is the second in the Phineaus Poe trilogy, Poe is our central character. He inadvertently gets drawn into the game while on the hunt for missing cops, most notably a missing cop named Jimmy Sky. While going undercover to gain some information, he encounters Eve, a central character from the first novel. The novel progresses as Poe is drawn deeper and deeper into the game of tongues.
Honestly, it's not quite as screwed up as I initially thought. The way that Baer crafts the game, the structure, the rules; you really believe that this could actually work. It's clear that this is a genre that the author firmly belongs in as he has such conviction with the noir genre. His writing is so exceptional; the book is endlessly quotable.
I'm starting Hell's Half Acre immediately. Jude makes her triumphant return and the series switches back to the sole point of view of Poe - something that had been mixed up a bit in "Penny Dreadful". Hopefully, it's just as good as the first two.
May 4, 2015
Dear Jude. I'm ready to agree that 'Penny Dreadful' is probably even better than 'Kiss Me, Judas', and that's saying something. I finished this book last night and awoke with a powerful hunger for The Pale and a need to read 'Hell's Half Acre'.
Want to read
April 8, 2008I started reading this and, literarily speaking, it's horrible. Someone below said they'd recommend it to Palahniuk fans. There are plenty of negative things to say about Palahniuk but, he is definitely more clever than this guy. At least his stuff is intriguing. Baer is trying WAY too hard to be shocking, I can tell. Something about that always annoys me. You can't FORCE disturbing imagery. Either you have a knack for it (see: The Museum of Love by Steven Weiner) or you don't. Also apparently this is the second in a series, which annoys me, because I like to read things in order. BUT I think perhaps this is bad enough that I shouldn't bother. I probably shouldn't read it at all. I'll give it like 50 more pages, only because it has relatively good ratings on here and I want to see why.
ALSO: What is so fucking wrong with using some fucking quotation marks when indicating speech? (FUCK!) I'm sick of this trendy no quotation mark bullshit that I see in so much contemporary fiction. Sometimes it works, the sans quotes thing, fine, but we can't all be doing this trendy bullshit. COME ON. (Note: all "COME ON'S" are said in Gob's voice a la Arrested Development. Just so we're on the same page).
ALSO: What is so fucking wrong with using some fucking quotation marks when indicating speech? (FUCK!) I'm sick of this trendy no quotation mark bullshit that I see in so much contemporary fiction. Sometimes it works, the sans quotes thing, fine, but we can't all be doing this trendy bullshit. COME ON. (Note: all "COME ON'S" are said in Gob's voice a la Arrested Development. Just so we're on the same page).
January 16, 2008
Just re read this guy. This time I ran through the MacAdam hardcover. First time I read it was my old $1, used Viking hardcover. The MacAdam's a much cooler design. Anyway, the story's an awesome head trip. Of the Phineas Poe Trilogy, this one, as the middle novel, is the odd cow. It's a cool juxtaposition of noir and reality games -- nearly a fantasy. Rather than stay in Phineas' point of view as the other two books do, Baer takes you into all of the primary character's heads. You get to see them all wigging out on the game of tongues. Oddly enough, Phineas provides the sober point of view, consistently grounding us after we experience the wacked out near dementia of the other characters. I definitely rate this book over the first in the trilogy. Unlike Kiss Me Judas, Penny Dreadful keeps the momentum right up until the end. But I haven't yet decided if it tops the mayhem of Hell's Half Acre. The books are so different in style that I'm inclined to keep it in a class of its own. It's really a noir gateway drug for geeks. Good stuff. Highly recommended.
April 15, 2025
storia assurda, scritta con uno stile allucinato e allucinatorio.. con almeno 200 pagine di nulla, se non parole buttate li senza senso per fare suggestione.. peccato, il primo libro almeno aveva più senso e la trama c'era..
March 1, 2010
Two stars.
Omnibus review:
Will Christopher Baer is a more respectable version of Chuck Palahniuk. They’re very similar—both are dark, first-person storytellers with a predilection for the twisted underworld of sex and violence—but I’d place Baer more on the side of dark storyteller and Palahniuk on the side of shock writer. Plus Palahniuk bled one narrator into (many, but for sure his initial) four novels; Baer just accepted his love for that voice and made a trilogy.
The Phineas Poe trilogy—Kiss Me, Judas; Penny Dreadful; and Hell’s Half Acre—is narrated by the disgraced ex-cop turned ex-junkie of the same name. In Kiss Me, Judas, Poe wakes up in a bathtub full of ice, missing a kidney. He spends the rest of the novel chasing the hooker, Jude, who stole it from him, bumping into other characters—some friends, some enemies—and inadvertently dragging them into this mess, if they weren’t involved already. Though the novel is a dark neo-noir, it is also sophomoric. Usually adding the term sophomoric to any review (since authors are supposed to be the deft and mature minds of the world) is a slight, but it works in Kiss Me, Judas. Hell’s Half Acre sheds a bit of the noir skin, but ends the series strong as Poe and the other surviving characters participate in the making of a snuff film in which no one knows who is going to be the one to die.
The problem is Penny Dreadful. Most fans of the series are split on this middle book. You either think it’s the best or the worst of the three. Unlike Kiss Me, Judas and Hell’s Half Acre, Penny Dreadful jumps through several character’s viewpoints, most of which end up sounding far too similar. Phineas Poe unknowingly enters into “the game of tongues”—a subcultural game turned deadly when one of the role players begins killing people instead of simply biting their tongue to claim victory. The problem? It’s incredibly dorky. We’re talking LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) dorky.
Where Kiss Me, Judas and Hell’s Half Acre are four star and 3.5 star reads respectively, Penny Dreadful is a two star shoulder shrug of what it should have been—a mild side note to a much longer novel or a different novel that didn’t involve Phineas Poe. The events that take place in Penny Dreadful seem more set apart, disconnected from the bookend novels. The minor Kiss Me, Judas characters could have been involved, made it a fun side-by-side comparison of the universe Will Christopher Baer has created, but the force of the love/hate relationship between Jude and Phineas Poe is diluted by what should have been a small plotline. Though the trilogy is graphic in violence and sexual abuse (including gang rape), Baer also displays scenes of incredible tenderness in this twisted mess, perhaps more tender because of coldness of the surrounding text. Flashback scenes to Poe’s terminally diseased wife are some of the trilogy’s finest. Despite the flaws of Penny Dreadful and what can be viewed as too many loose ends come the end of Hell’s Half Acre, Baer has crafted a sleek, quick-read trilogy for fans of the darker side of fiction. Three stars.
Omnibus review:
Will Christopher Baer is a more respectable version of Chuck Palahniuk. They’re very similar—both are dark, first-person storytellers with a predilection for the twisted underworld of sex and violence—but I’d place Baer more on the side of dark storyteller and Palahniuk on the side of shock writer. Plus Palahniuk bled one narrator into (many, but for sure his initial) four novels; Baer just accepted his love for that voice and made a trilogy.
The Phineas Poe trilogy—Kiss Me, Judas; Penny Dreadful; and Hell’s Half Acre—is narrated by the disgraced ex-cop turned ex-junkie of the same name. In Kiss Me, Judas, Poe wakes up in a bathtub full of ice, missing a kidney. He spends the rest of the novel chasing the hooker, Jude, who stole it from him, bumping into other characters—some friends, some enemies—and inadvertently dragging them into this mess, if they weren’t involved already. Though the novel is a dark neo-noir, it is also sophomoric. Usually adding the term sophomoric to any review (since authors are supposed to be the deft and mature minds of the world) is a slight, but it works in Kiss Me, Judas. Hell’s Half Acre sheds a bit of the noir skin, but ends the series strong as Poe and the other surviving characters participate in the making of a snuff film in which no one knows who is going to be the one to die.
The problem is Penny Dreadful. Most fans of the series are split on this middle book. You either think it’s the best or the worst of the three. Unlike Kiss Me, Judas and Hell’s Half Acre, Penny Dreadful jumps through several character’s viewpoints, most of which end up sounding far too similar. Phineas Poe unknowingly enters into “the game of tongues”—a subcultural game turned deadly when one of the role players begins killing people instead of simply biting their tongue to claim victory. The problem? It’s incredibly dorky. We’re talking LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) dorky.
Where Kiss Me, Judas and Hell’s Half Acre are four star and 3.5 star reads respectively, Penny Dreadful is a two star shoulder shrug of what it should have been—a mild side note to a much longer novel or a different novel that didn’t involve Phineas Poe. The events that take place in Penny Dreadful seem more set apart, disconnected from the bookend novels. The minor Kiss Me, Judas characters could have been involved, made it a fun side-by-side comparison of the universe Will Christopher Baer has created, but the force of the love/hate relationship between Jude and Phineas Poe is diluted by what should have been a small plotline. Though the trilogy is graphic in violence and sexual abuse (including gang rape), Baer also displays scenes of incredible tenderness in this twisted mess, perhaps more tender because of coldness of the surrounding text. Flashback scenes to Poe’s terminally diseased wife are some of the trilogy’s finest. Despite the flaws of Penny Dreadful and what can be viewed as too many loose ends come the end of Hell’s Half Acre, Baer has crafted a sleek, quick-read trilogy for fans of the darker side of fiction. Three stars.
September 21, 2015
This book, you guys. This damn book. Imagine someone took a Sharpie and wrote a sonnet on the ass of a bull and you had to read it while the bull was performing in a rodeo, and that's the level of chaos Penny Dreadful throws at you. I thought I had read some crazy stuff before. I thought Kiss me Judas was bad, or Chuck Palahniuk's stuff.
This book was so insane I was down to 30 pages a day when I normally read over 100 pages a day, ok? And it's not hard reading, it's just *that* overhelming and intense.
Let's go over the plot. First things first, we have Phineas Poe, a former cop who's mentally unstable, may or may not have shot his wife, got involved with the illegal sale of his own kidney in the book before this, and is just a level 10 mess, right? This is what we're starting with.
He returns to Denver and Moon, his old partner, asks him to find (and imply he should kill) a cop named Jimmy Sky. He gives Phineas an ounce of coke and a handful of false identities and Phineas turns into Ray Fine.
Turns out there's this underground game called the Game of Tongues where everyone's trying to steal everyone else's tongue and they're all on drugs and you can only play if you have an alter ego but sometimes you just get caught in between egos.
If you're not feeling lost yet you should be warned that the perspectives change so fast it's nearly impossible to figure out the sequence until you're over 100 pages in. The pattern is this: whoever's name is bolded starts, and they continue for some time in third person until Phineas comes in in first person without being announced. Sometimes he writes letters to Jude, and honestly the only way to know when the letter is ended and he's narrating again is to look for paragraph indentations. I'm not kidding. It's that hard to follow.
If you do manage to struggle through the confusion, however, Penny Dreadful is super rewarding. I'm a sucker for dark humor and in the last eighty or so pages I was laying on the couch just giggling with glee. Phineas, god savs him, is a complete mess from start to finish, but he's also ridiculously funny and easy to relate to, despite the bizzare situations he's in. As a character, he functions so well and is so well-written that I think I would have five starred this book even if the plot was 'Phineas masturbates in a corn field and writes essays on string theory.'
And here at the end of this roller coaster of narration, chaos, and alter egos, all I can say is I really need to get my hands on Hell's Half-Acre. It's important.
This book was so insane I was down to 30 pages a day when I normally read over 100 pages a day, ok? And it's not hard reading, it's just *that* overhelming and intense.
Let's go over the plot. First things first, we have Phineas Poe, a former cop who's mentally unstable, may or may not have shot his wife, got involved with the illegal sale of his own kidney in the book before this, and is just a level 10 mess, right? This is what we're starting with.
He returns to Denver and Moon, his old partner, asks him to find (and imply he should kill) a cop named Jimmy Sky. He gives Phineas an ounce of coke and a handful of false identities and Phineas turns into Ray Fine.
Turns out there's this underground game called the Game of Tongues where everyone's trying to steal everyone else's tongue and they're all on drugs and you can only play if you have an alter ego but sometimes you just get caught in between egos.
If you're not feeling lost yet you should be warned that the perspectives change so fast it's nearly impossible to figure out the sequence until you're over 100 pages in. The pattern is this: whoever's name is bolded starts, and they continue for some time in third person until Phineas comes in in first person without being announced. Sometimes he writes letters to Jude, and honestly the only way to know when the letter is ended and he's narrating again is to look for paragraph indentations. I'm not kidding. It's that hard to follow.
If you do manage to struggle through the confusion, however, Penny Dreadful is super rewarding. I'm a sucker for dark humor and in the last eighty or so pages I was laying on the couch just giggling with glee. Phineas, god savs him, is a complete mess from start to finish, but he's also ridiculously funny and easy to relate to, despite the bizzare situations he's in. As a character, he functions so well and is so well-written that I think I would have five starred this book even if the plot was 'Phineas masturbates in a corn field and writes essays on string theory.'
And here at the end of this roller coaster of narration, chaos, and alter egos, all I can say is I really need to get my hands on Hell's Half-Acre. It's important.
August 13, 2008
Will C. Baer's first novel "Kiss Me Judas" was a dark beauty, an existential nightmare drenched in neo-noir style, but Baer's reach exceeds his grasp in this disappointing follow-up. Damaged ex-cop Phineas Poe is back, but this time he finds himself in the middle of the dangerous "game of tongues," which is intriguing at first but soon proves to be Baer's dumping ground for a boatload of tired ideas about fractured identity and reality vs illusion. Baer treats this well-worn material with crushing obviousness, underlining his themes with a total lack of subtlety or nuance. Put simply, Baer is out of his depth here; he ought to stick to the meat and potatoes of neo-noir. The prose has flashes of the nightmarish beauty displayed in "Kiss Me Judas," but whereas Baer strung those moments into a complete and satisfying whole in the first novel, here they're islands of quality in a sea of pretension. By the time Baer starts tossing out his ideas about James Joyce's "Ulysses" for some reason, I had to steel myself in order to finish the book. Baer has talent though, and I hope now he's gotten this stuff out of his system he'll go back to doing the "existential noir" he does best.
September 13, 2021
Maybe more like 3.75. I didn’t feel as connected to this book like I was with Kiss Me Judas. Unlike the first novel, this book is told from multiple POVs, which I’m usually a fan of. However, when the characters all have an alter ego, I found it difficult to follow.
The premise of this story is also vastly different from the first novel. Phineas, Detective Moody, and Eve reappear in this novel, and although Jude is addressed she never formally makes an appearance.
I have not read Hells Half Acre yet, but I think it would be a safe assumption that this book could easily be skipped. It’s not that I didn’t like it…I just didn’t love this one.
The premise of this story is also vastly different from the first novel. Phineas, Detective Moody, and Eve reappear in this novel, and although Jude is addressed she never formally makes an appearance.
I have not read Hells Half Acre yet, but I think it would be a safe assumption that this book could easily be skipped. It’s not that I didn’t like it…I just didn’t love this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2014
Sorry to say that this was a real mess. Baer is an excellent wordsmith, and can keep you locked in to reading just with his flow. But Penny Dreadful has no real plot, no consistency, a blurry muddle of too many characters, comes to no conclusions, and lacks the metallic edge of his previous novel. The book seems to just have been un-spooled without much consideration.
June 26, 2009
And this is one of those rare sequels that, in a lot of ways, eclipses the accomplishments of the previous tale. Astounding. Also disturbing, but in really terrific and interesting ways.
July 12, 2017
Kiss Me, Judas may be the first Baer (and you never forget your first) but this may be my favorite. The game of tongues is so rich and deceptive, a captivating read. Neo-noir.
July 10, 2024
Man...this book.
First off, I am a huge fan of the prose. William Christopher Baer (WBC) imo is a writer certainly worth your time if you're a fan of noir and okay with exploring themes of drugs, addiction, mental disorders, and more.
The book follows Phineas Poe, an ex-cop and ex-junkie after the ordeal he went through in the first book Kiss Me, Judas. Poe is tasked with finding a missing cop named Jimmy Sky since he's far gone down the rabbit hole, he'd be a willing undercover whereas most cops wouldn't. The thing is...nobody in the police department has heard of him. Ergo, we have our first mystery.
What's different from this book is that it's told from different character POVs. The characters are enmeshed in what they call "The Game of Tongues." Without spoiling much, the Game of Tongues is a RPG game much like Dungeons and Dragons but probably more akin to a drug-fueled Vampire the Masquerade.
Honestly, part of me wonders if this was inspired and very loosely based on the true crime Kentucky Vampire Clan murders. You can look it up yourself.
Despite that, the book is quite fresh and differentiates itself from Kiss Me, Judas. There are no quotation marks for dialogue and no real chapter headings. Instead, the book is broken down into three days from Thursday to Saturday and chapters are rather marked as perspective switches from characters in bold print.
Overall, Baer's writing is compelling and immersive. He guides you through the underworld with pathos for the most broken amongst us and is quite clearly a skilled writer. Peppered throughout the book are references to James Joyce's Ulysses. So, while the book definitely goes into the seedy part of life, it does have literary merit for anyone thinking this is just debauchery for the sake of debauchery. Personally, I have never read Ulysses, so I couldn't tell you the meaning but the overall theme here is one of identity.
Even though, this one is Part Two of the Phineas Poe Trilogy, you can read it as a standalone. There are side characters mentioned in the first book but the titular Jude from Kiss Me, Judas is notably missing.
If you're not squeamish and a fan of noir - give it a try.
First off, I am a huge fan of the prose. William Christopher Baer (WBC) imo is a writer certainly worth your time if you're a fan of noir and okay with exploring themes of drugs, addiction, mental disorders, and more.
The book follows Phineas Poe, an ex-cop and ex-junkie after the ordeal he went through in the first book Kiss Me, Judas. Poe is tasked with finding a missing cop named Jimmy Sky since he's far gone down the rabbit hole, he'd be a willing undercover whereas most cops wouldn't. The thing is...nobody in the police department has heard of him. Ergo, we have our first mystery.
What's different from this book is that it's told from different character POVs. The characters are enmeshed in what they call "The Game of Tongues." Without spoiling much, the Game of Tongues is a RPG game much like Dungeons and Dragons but probably more akin to a drug-fueled Vampire the Masquerade.
Honestly, part of me wonders if this was inspired and very loosely based on the true crime Kentucky Vampire Clan murders. You can look it up yourself.
Despite that, the book is quite fresh and differentiates itself from Kiss Me, Judas. There are no quotation marks for dialogue and no real chapter headings. Instead, the book is broken down into three days from Thursday to Saturday and chapters are rather marked as perspective switches from characters in bold print.
Overall, Baer's writing is compelling and immersive. He guides you through the underworld with pathos for the most broken amongst us and is quite clearly a skilled writer. Peppered throughout the book are references to James Joyce's Ulysses. So, while the book definitely goes into the seedy part of life, it does have literary merit for anyone thinking this is just debauchery for the sake of debauchery. Personally, I have never read Ulysses, so I couldn't tell you the meaning but the overall theme here is one of identity.
Even though, this one is Part Two of the Phineas Poe Trilogy, you can read it as a standalone. There are side characters mentioned in the first book but the titular Jude from Kiss Me, Judas is notably missing.
If you're not squeamish and a fan of noir - give it a try.
March 17, 2025
If you are thinking of a modern day Chandler or Hammett when it comes to hardboiled detective fiction then absolutely forget it! Stay away!
Disgraced psychotic morphine addict ex cop Phineas Poe returns in Baer's second instalment of his seriously dark crime noir trilogy. This time, we are bordering on the horror/underground genre and swaps the hunt for Poe's missing kidney in the first book to a twisted game that ends up with the eating of other's tongues. This one is more surreal, crazed, seedier than Kiss me, Judas (which I prefer, because nothing here beats the deadly charm of femme fatale, Jude ), but as a crime novel it's certainly out there in another place.
I loved the tight ice cold noir feel of the first book, and found this one a bit more confusing - the whole mind-bending, alter-eco trip going on - but there was still enough here to entertain, as Poe encounters some seriously fucked up people whilst trying to track down missing narc cops. The changing from first person to third person was a clever ploy too, as Poe takes on a strange new identity.
February 1, 2025
Once again, another wonderful, grim story of my dearest Phineas Poe. I absolutely loved this book. While taking a completely different direction from a beloved favorite of mine, Kiss Me, Judas, I still felt the same sense of love and appreciation for this writing and its unique story. Baer, in my opinion, does an incredible job with character building, alongside world building. His sultry, macabre, noir-esque story telling is just something I can't help but devour and I will always have a place in my heart for these characters.
November 19, 2018
The second of the Phinneas Poe trilogy, I liked this installment better than the first. It's a noir mystery that edges into magical realism, featuring a reluctant/chaotic neutral hero. The author was inspired by James Joyce and uses metanarrative to tie pieces of the story together, but I haven't read Ulysses so a lot of that was lost on me. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys dark fiction or experimental/contemporary literature.
August 17, 2023
I don’t even know what to think.
It is a much more strange and fantastical story than it’s predecessor. Focusing on the game of tongues, seemingly everyone is involved, but not as themselves. A split in personality causing this change in people to dive deeper into this dark game.
It’s wacky and gross and dark.
I thought it was funny when a man was trying to feed lettuce into a coin machine because he thought it was money.
It is a much more strange and fantastical story than it’s predecessor. Focusing on the game of tongues, seemingly everyone is involved, but not as themselves. A split in personality causing this change in people to dive deeper into this dark game.
It’s wacky and gross and dark.
I thought it was funny when a man was trying to feed lettuce into a coin machine because he thought it was money.
June 8, 2023
Not quite as good as its predecessor. A far cry, really. I think the misstep here is the jumping around into other characters' perspectives. (Even though I could probably use a collection of Moon short stories).Ultimately, I wanted more Poe.
But dammit if at the end of it all I wasn't rocked to my core and thinking about giving this whole thing 5 stars.
But dammit if at the end of it all I wasn't rocked to my core and thinking about giving this whole thing 5 stars.
February 8, 2024
I still very much enjoyed this one. Though I did find the changes in character perspective to miss the mark a little bit, as some characters points of view didn't add much to the overall story. It needed less Major Tom, and more Phineas. It's definitely not as good as the first book in the series, but I look forward to reading the third.
March 27, 2020
Great Prose
Although the plot seemed to come to a stop in the middle, the prose and language never faltered. I will definitely read the third in the series.
If you liked Fight Club, you'll love this.
Although the plot seemed to come to a stop in the middle, the prose and language never faltered. I will definitely read the third in the series.
If you liked Fight Club, you'll love this.
March 31, 2020
2.5
i liked some of the prose, but overall this one really dragged thanks to what felt like a lot of aimless filler. undecided whether or not i'll bother continuing with the trilogy.
i liked some of the prose, but overall this one really dragged thanks to what felt like a lot of aimless filler. undecided whether or not i'll bother continuing with the trilogy.
June 2, 2020
Seems like he tries to be shocking for the sake of being shocking. Had a hard time caring about any of the characters.
August 26, 2024
Another amazing story following detective Poe, and a break from the enthralling first story.
January 24, 2026
Really really good, I loved the world of the game of tongues.
Shame about the ending.
Shame about the ending.
April 24, 2013
In Penny Dreadful, the various identity crises from the first book are smashed to pieces. Without the security of being close to Jude, Phineas struggles to regain a foothold on his life back in Denver. His withered sense of self finds an outlet however: the vicious game of tongues, which at least half of Denver has succumbed to (including everyone from lowly video store clerks to cops). The disintegration of the characters' identities is what drives the plot. The narration in the chapters alternates between different characters' personalities. This tells us that while Phineas himself can be very transparent with his personal demons, his sanity may be better preserved than a lot of the people around him. We find out that a person's superficial strength and denial does not ensure their psychological stability.
The rigidity of the caste system is believable. While most newcomers seem to enter the game fearing their superiors, Poe is oblivious to any sort of boundaries he's expected to adhere to. The question remains whether or not his alter ego Ray Fine will betray him, as have many of the other players have done to their former selves. During what is supposed to serve as Ray Fine's initiation, guided by Ray's old friend Griffin (aka Major Tom), Major Tom wonders if Ray is too "mentally competent" to be trusted as his new apprentice. During a heated conversation in the bathroom after Ray's "first tongue," Tom challenges his friend, asking him what he thought of the experience (of taking a tongue). Ray—or Phineas, it's left unspecified—doesn't answer. He is distracted and appears unaffected by the intensity of the game. Instead of answering Tom, looking in the mirror, he says, "Fuck me. This is a ugly hat." It would seem he doesn't identify with the actions of either Phineas, or Ray; rather, he is simply acting without questioning his thoughts.
The story's arc is largely psychological, while Phineas responds violently to the events that take place around him. We are kept sated by his open letters to Jude, which he writes in a notebook taken from his friend Eve. One continually hopes for some kind of epiphany to be achieved, but instead there is just this constant want that can't be satisfied—not by him, or by the phantom of Jude.
The rigidity of the caste system is believable. While most newcomers seem to enter the game fearing their superiors, Poe is oblivious to any sort of boundaries he's expected to adhere to. The question remains whether or not his alter ego Ray Fine will betray him, as have many of the other players have done to their former selves. During what is supposed to serve as Ray Fine's initiation, guided by Ray's old friend Griffin (aka Major Tom), Major Tom wonders if Ray is too "mentally competent" to be trusted as his new apprentice. During a heated conversation in the bathroom after Ray's "first tongue," Tom challenges his friend, asking him what he thought of the experience (of taking a tongue). Ray—or Phineas, it's left unspecified—doesn't answer. He is distracted and appears unaffected by the intensity of the game. Instead of answering Tom, looking in the mirror, he says, "Fuck me. This is a ugly hat." It would seem he doesn't identify with the actions of either Phineas, or Ray; rather, he is simply acting without questioning his thoughts.
The story's arc is largely psychological, while Phineas responds violently to the events that take place around him. We are kept sated by his open letters to Jude, which he writes in a notebook taken from his friend Eve. One continually hopes for some kind of epiphany to be achieved, but instead there is just this constant want that can't be satisfied—not by him, or by the phantom of Jude.
April 22, 2015
Is there a version of cyberpunk for the fantasy genre? That's about as close as I can come to describing PENNY DREADFUL. It has the weird, unsettling vibe of cyberpunk, without any science fiction involved. That said, it's a fantasy story about characters losing themselves in their role-playing game called THE GAME OF TONGUES. It's a fantasy story even tho it's about the reality of the characters' fantasies.
It could be called a surreal book, too, but, then again, the reality of the situation is never far away.
It's a bit convoluted. And, for better or worse, it makes this book at times difficult, at times slow, and at times a fun head trip.
It feels like a bit of a mess. It *feels* like the book was written stream-of-conscience, much like a D&D role-playing game (I imagine--I wouldn't know for sure, I never played D&D).
In the end, I think I liked this book more because I really enjoy Will Christopher Baer's style and voice. And I gravitate toward his kind of offbeat weirdness. Predictable, he definitely is not.
So, the story is not exactly what kept me going--which has some sort of connection to ULYSSES, tho I'm not entirely sure what. It could just be that Phineas felt a bit like Daedalus in this one, as he wanders in and out of people's lives (real and imagined), traversing Denver over a short three day period.
In my opinion, it's nothing like KISS ME, JUDAS, which was a "neo-noir" tale full of darkness and poetic insight/language.
That could be another "for better or worse" situation as well.
I mean, this story being completely different from the first could be the saving grace of the Phineas Poe trilogy, as a whole. I will have to find out by reading HELL'S HALF ACRE, the final installment, soon.
It could be called a surreal book, too, but, then again, the reality of the situation is never far away.
It's a bit convoluted. And, for better or worse, it makes this book at times difficult, at times slow, and at times a fun head trip.
It feels like a bit of a mess. It *feels* like the book was written stream-of-conscience, much like a D&D role-playing game (I imagine--I wouldn't know for sure, I never played D&D).
In the end, I think I liked this book more because I really enjoy Will Christopher Baer's style and voice. And I gravitate toward his kind of offbeat weirdness. Predictable, he definitely is not.
So, the story is not exactly what kept me going--which has some sort of connection to ULYSSES, tho I'm not entirely sure what. It could just be that Phineas felt a bit like Daedalus in this one, as he wanders in and out of people's lives (real and imagined), traversing Denver over a short three day period.
In my opinion, it's nothing like KISS ME, JUDAS, which was a "neo-noir" tale full of darkness and poetic insight/language.
That could be another "for better or worse" situation as well.
I mean, this story being completely different from the first could be the saving grace of the Phineas Poe trilogy, as a whole. I will have to find out by reading HELL'S HALF ACRE, the final installment, soon.
April 16, 2007
well i never heard of this author and after i read the excellent "smonk", yes i know books don't go in quotes, i looked on some of the user lists on amazon that list that book... anyway, tom franklin, of smonk fame, was listed by this guy as one of the edgy new authors akin to palahniuk and franklin.
i will readily admit, the writing was strong, i had to reread many sentences in the first quarter of the book to figure out what exactly was going on, and the writing is just the way i like it... graphically descriptive but economical. meaning he acutely recreates a scene, but doesn't insult the reader with extraneous details that are inherit in said scene. i also enjoy that the story is told from many character's perspectives, and there is no clear indication, other than hanging with the writing a few sentences in, as to who is speaking. but that being said, the characters aren't as fleshy or as meaty as i'd like.
i also did know this book was a sequel. or the middle book in a trilogy i guess. and i hope every book stands on it's own, cause this book seems to end ominously enough, a chapter being closed. but at the end of the day this is some kind of quasi cyber-punk/role playing game fantasy land switching pretty deftly between the two. at the end of the day it's a dark "thriller" or something like that, and that genre in itself is wholly disappointing, so maybe take this review with a grain of salt, light fiction is not my bag.
i will readily admit, the writing was strong, i had to reread many sentences in the first quarter of the book to figure out what exactly was going on, and the writing is just the way i like it... graphically descriptive but economical. meaning he acutely recreates a scene, but doesn't insult the reader with extraneous details that are inherit in said scene. i also enjoy that the story is told from many character's perspectives, and there is no clear indication, other than hanging with the writing a few sentences in, as to who is speaking. but that being said, the characters aren't as fleshy or as meaty as i'd like.
i also did know this book was a sequel. or the middle book in a trilogy i guess. and i hope every book stands on it's own, cause this book seems to end ominously enough, a chapter being closed. but at the end of the day this is some kind of quasi cyber-punk/role playing game fantasy land switching pretty deftly between the two. at the end of the day it's a dark "thriller" or something like that, and that genre in itself is wholly disappointing, so maybe take this review with a grain of salt, light fiction is not my bag.
September 18, 2016
"I understand that Joyce was trying to recreate the random sound and fury of a human mind at work but I'm not sure why he would want to. Painful and blinding. Trapped in the wheels of another's thoughts." P204
I have never read Ulysses, but this book makes me think that I should. It also makes me think that I would enjoy this one more if I had. That said, without having done so, this book is thoroughly enjoyable. Difficult, though it is. This is what I understand to be true of Ulysses as well, albeit with no information other than this book.
This book is very confusing at first and surreal and quite distracting from reality. It references Ulysses liberally, particularly in how that work makes the reader unsure of what is real and unsure of humanity. Without having read that book, I am not sure of how much I am missing. But even without, this book is very worthwhile. The front jacket calls it "claustrophobic", which is really the best description I could not have come up with myself.
This book left me feeling strangely unhinged every time I put it down in the midst of reading. I was OK at the end, but when I took a break midway through, I was, simply put, not OK. A very interesting book to read.
I have never read Ulysses, but this book makes me think that I should. It also makes me think that I would enjoy this one more if I had. That said, without having done so, this book is thoroughly enjoyable. Difficult, though it is. This is what I understand to be true of Ulysses as well, albeit with no information other than this book.
This book is very confusing at first and surreal and quite distracting from reality. It references Ulysses liberally, particularly in how that work makes the reader unsure of what is real and unsure of humanity. Without having read that book, I am not sure of how much I am missing. But even without, this book is very worthwhile. The front jacket calls it "claustrophobic", which is really the best description I could not have come up with myself.
This book left me feeling strangely unhinged every time I put it down in the midst of reading. I was OK at the end, but when I took a break midway through, I was, simply put, not OK. A very interesting book to read.
June 10, 2013
Il pittoresco Phineas Poe, ex poliziotto senza speranza, finisce nella decadente Denver. Qui, in un girotondo di bizzarri individui, viene coinvolto nel "gioco delle lingue", un role play estremo dove i giocatori oltre a condurre la loro normale vita assumono i ruoli di personaggi immaginari. Ma il gioco ben presto degenera quando uno di questi comincia ad uccidere alcuni poliziotti.
Tramite l'aiuto di un ex collega, Phineas indaga sugli omicidi in un contesto dove la finzione spesso si confonde con la realtà.
"Il gioco delle lingue" è un noir molto particolare e inusuale che presenta spunti assai originali, oltre alla trama anche lo stile narrativo è tutt'altro che convenzionale. Per leggere e apprezzare pienamente quest'opera scritta da Will Cristopher Baer è necessario entrare con il corpo e l'anima nei complicati e allucinanti meccanismi del "gioco".
Se si potesse azzardare un paragone le vicende di Phineas Poe potrebbero ricordare "Alice nel paese delle meraviglie", ovviamente in versione distorta, allucinata e corrotta.
Tramite l'aiuto di un ex collega, Phineas indaga sugli omicidi in un contesto dove la finzione spesso si confonde con la realtà.
"Il gioco delle lingue" è un noir molto particolare e inusuale che presenta spunti assai originali, oltre alla trama anche lo stile narrativo è tutt'altro che convenzionale. Per leggere e apprezzare pienamente quest'opera scritta da Will Cristopher Baer è necessario entrare con il corpo e l'anima nei complicati e allucinanti meccanismi del "gioco".
Se si potesse azzardare un paragone le vicende di Phineas Poe potrebbero ricordare "Alice nel paese delle meraviglie", ovviamente in versione distorta, allucinata e corrotta.
April 17, 2008
I was worried by the original Kiss Me, Judas that any follow-up wouldn't be able to to match up to the disturbing depth and noir nature of the book, and though not far off, Penny Dreadful is by no means something to pass on. The sequel contains what it should, with a rather original plotline from its predecessor and some new interesting style concepts thrown in. A for effort, but 3 stars because it just seems like Baer is trying too hard for a cynically-inspired philosophy to emerge, taking away from the actual story. The characters are developed, some hopefully actually having some sort of concluding storyline in the third book of the series.
If this was a book to be read alone, then it could have scored higher with this reader, and so perhaps the mediocre rate is affected somewhat by some sort of disappointed fan bias. Alone, this booko is passable, but my suggestion is to go through the whole series, because it does have some reasonable adeptness to its pages.
If this was a book to be read alone, then it could have scored higher with this reader, and so perhaps the mediocre rate is affected somewhat by some sort of disappointed fan bias. Alone, this booko is passable, but my suggestion is to go through the whole series, because it does have some reasonable adeptness to its pages.
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