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Brut: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 22 Sep 26An upcoming book to be published by Penguin Random House.
368 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication September 22, 2026
About the author
Sam Tallent
4 books182 followersKnown for whip-quick wit and rollicking improvisations, Sam Tallent is one of the sharpest, most original rising talents in comedy today. For the last 10 years, he has performed at least 45 weekends annually across America, Canada and France. Called "the absurd voice of a surreal generation" by the Denver Post, Sam is beloved by fans of contemporary comedy. He was a New Face at the 2019 Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, he won his battle on Comedy Central's Roast Battle, hosted the Denver episode of VICELAND's Flophouse and appeared on the Chris Gerhard Show to impress a girl. His critically acclaimed debut novel Running the Light - heralded as the “definitive novel about stand up comedy” (Marc Maron, WTF) - was published by Too Big to Fail Press in 2020 and his short fiction has been published on VICE.com and in BIRDY magazine. He lives in Colorado with his wife and his dog.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Did Not Finish
May 28, 2026Firstly, I’d like to thank Random House and NetGalley for allowing me this early ARC copy of Brit by Sam Tallent.
I started the book Brut with high hopes since I’m a fan of Sam Tallent’s comedy and I’m also an avid book reader. Not very often do you come across comedians who also write fictional novels. I only made it 11% into the book before I knew I needed to step away. I took some time and came back to the book, but ultimately this will be my first DNF of the 2026 year.
This book is written in a very unique way. The structure is there, though choppy, the reader is following a man through a bird’s eye view of his day to day life of a paid assassin. “The Arbiter” as he is called goes through the motions of receiving his client assignments, and then taking said clients out. He starts to slip up after an unexpected run in with a secretary that could have jeopardized his whole career. It wasn’t too long after this that I felt the need to walk away.
I’d describe this book as a poetic fictional journey for those who have the patience to read it. The book is riddled with overly descriptive scenery/characters/thoughts. I can see the creative approach of beginning a scene and then shortly after briskly ending to then immediately cut to a whole different scene, but I believe it’s just not my cup of tea.
This is a full length novel at 368 pages and will be available to read to the public come September 22, 2026. If available for preorder now and you can get it wherever books are sold. Thank you again Random House and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read Brut in advance!
I started the book Brut with high hopes since I’m a fan of Sam Tallent’s comedy and I’m also an avid book reader. Not very often do you come across comedians who also write fictional novels. I only made it 11% into the book before I knew I needed to step away. I took some time and came back to the book, but ultimately this will be my first DNF of the 2026 year.
This book is written in a very unique way. The structure is there, though choppy, the reader is following a man through a bird’s eye view of his day to day life of a paid assassin. “The Arbiter” as he is called goes through the motions of receiving his client assignments, and then taking said clients out. He starts to slip up after an unexpected run in with a secretary that could have jeopardized his whole career. It wasn’t too long after this that I felt the need to walk away.
I’d describe this book as a poetic fictional journey for those who have the patience to read it. The book is riddled with overly descriptive scenery/characters/thoughts. I can see the creative approach of beginning a scene and then shortly after briskly ending to then immediately cut to a whole different scene, but I believe it’s just not my cup of tea.
This is a full length novel at 368 pages and will be available to read to the public come September 22, 2026. If available for preorder now and you can get it wherever books are sold. Thank you again Random House and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read Brut in advance!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy
I received this book as an advanced reader’s copy, and since it comes out in August 2026, there’s still time for some solid editing!! Holy WOW, does it need editing. I only made it to ~50 pages into the story, but a significant amount of what I read is heavily detailed descriptions that don’t add anything to the story. First I gave it the benefit of the doubt (the MC’s an assassin so maybe he’s very observant?) but nobody thinks like these descriptions.
Example: “between drifts of white foam, the water rolled in a humping patchwork of cerulean and cobalt and cornflower and cyan, shades, and hues of infinite splendor, the total pallet of blue and it’s variations augmented by the differing intensities of daylight breaching the cloud cover above.”
See? It’s redundant, and it doesn’t stop. The worst offender is: “he popped his collar against the brisk night, dodging doddering disco dinosaurs and raging midnight scions, schools of joybound berserkers darting in and out of the bars on Clay Street, like hummingbirds, chasing the nectar of the final last good thing.” (Joybound isn’t a word by the way, and that alliteration is killer.)
Finally, there’s a VERY racist description of two supposedly Asian men, where I finally gave up on the book. Maybe the MC is racist but I just can’t; this is a terrible way to describe anyone: “ as soon as he collected his bag from the belt, two men in black jackets swarmed. When was the color of almond flour, a yellow jaundice hue, slight of frame with quick eyes and a bristle of short cropped red hair that dissolved into a skin fade above his ears. The other was a piggish, hulking bruiser, Hmong or Mongolian, his fat cheeks bulging – he looked like a full grown adult baby.”
Hey again, Random House, there’s still time to change this one up.
Example: “between drifts of white foam, the water rolled in a humping patchwork of cerulean and cobalt and cornflower and cyan, shades, and hues of infinite splendor, the total pallet of blue and it’s variations augmented by the differing intensities of daylight breaching the cloud cover above.”
See? It’s redundant, and it doesn’t stop. The worst offender is: “he popped his collar against the brisk night, dodging doddering disco dinosaurs and raging midnight scions, schools of joybound berserkers darting in and out of the bars on Clay Street, like hummingbirds, chasing the nectar of the final last good thing.” (Joybound isn’t a word by the way, and that alliteration is killer.)
Finally, there’s a VERY racist description of two supposedly Asian men, where I finally gave up on the book. Maybe the MC is racist but I just can’t; this is a terrible way to describe anyone: “ as soon as he collected his bag from the belt, two men in black jackets swarmed. When was the color of almond flour, a yellow jaundice hue, slight of frame with quick eyes and a bristle of short cropped red hair that dissolved into a skin fade above his ears. The other was a piggish, hulking bruiser, Hmong or Mongolian, his fat cheeks bulging – he looked like a full grown adult baby.”
Hey again, Random House, there’s still time to change this one up.
June 25, 2026
3.5/5 a solid second novel with a very gripping plot line. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Running the Light but still was a fun read. My only gripe is the portions where it’s just Beaujolais solo are very very description heavy and probably would’ve benefited from a few less run on sentences. That said I would still very much recommend this to any fan of Tallent’s first work.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews