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Alligator Zoo-Park Magic: A Novel
Fiction. Is Jeffers an Alligator Zoo-Park magician or the Messiah? Two friends live unapologetically on the edge of poverty in the rugged, un-decorous part of the South. Jimmy, a single father with an addict ex, and Jeffers, a magician whose tricks are closer to miracles--both are immersed in a place where trailers and Hot Pockets dominate the landscape, and alligators roam free. When Jimmy witnesses "losing" his best friend to his biggest trick gone awry, he reflects on their lifelong friendship and what it really means to escape.
"C.H. Hooks' mesmerizing novel, ALLIGATOR ZOO-PARK MAGIC, hovers in the boundaries between city boys and country boys, businessmen and truck drivers, a van named NAILR and a radiator-busting deer drinking beer. The world is both nature untamed and twisted in a theme park of mermaids and crispy-fried reptile bites. Yet, Hooks does so much more than create a new spin on the mystical, mythical South. This fascinating debut delves into the true nature of the everyone's need to belong to someone, to some place, and, most importantly, to oneself."--Erica Dawson
"Mr. Hooks has produced a magic show of the highest order."--Jensen Beach
"I've died and been born anew! C.H. Hooks is a damned wizard, and ALLIGATOR ZOO-PARK MAGIC is a holy hell of a book."--Harrison Scott Key
"AZPM is in the best tradition of Southern literature--it's fast and funny, dark and desperate."--Shane Hinton
"Draw a direct line from Larry Brown and Harry Crews to Chris Hooks."--Jeff Parker
"C.H. Hooks' mesmerizing novel, ALLIGATOR ZOO-PARK MAGIC, hovers in the boundaries between city boys and country boys, businessmen and truck drivers, a van named NAILR and a radiator-busting deer drinking beer. The world is both nature untamed and twisted in a theme park of mermaids and crispy-fried reptile bites. Yet, Hooks does so much more than create a new spin on the mystical, mythical South. This fascinating debut delves into the true nature of the everyone's need to belong to someone, to some place, and, most importantly, to oneself."--Erica Dawson
"Mr. Hooks has produced a magic show of the highest order."--Jensen Beach
"I've died and been born anew! C.H. Hooks is a damned wizard, and ALLIGATOR ZOO-PARK MAGIC is a holy hell of a book."--Harrison Scott Key
"AZPM is in the best tradition of Southern literature--it's fast and funny, dark and desperate."--Shane Hinton
"Draw a direct line from Larry Brown and Harry Crews to Chris Hooks."--Jeff Parker
- GenresFiction
272 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2019
10 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
C.H. Hooks
4 books17 followersC.H. Hooks is the author of the novels Can’t Shake the Dust (2024) and Alligator Zoo-Park Magic (2019). His work has appeared in publications including: The Los Angeles Review, American Short Fiction, Four Way Review, The Tampa Review, and The Bitter Southerner. He was a Tennessee Williams Scholar at Sewanee Writers' Conference, and attended DISQUIET: Dzanc Books International Literary Program in Lisbon. He teaches at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 29, 2023
Jeff Parker is quoted on the back of this book as saying “Draw a direct line from Larry Brown to Harry Crews to CH Hooks.” I’d really like to sit down and talk with Mr. Parker because this book was awful. A joke with no payoff...a rambling mess of a story without any heart or purpose. It’s rare that I dislike a book...but dislike this one I did.
April 19, 2019
A wild Southern fever dream. Alligator Zoo-Park Magic is gritty and desperate, magical and real. Its characters are in the throes of forces that are bigger than them, both the miracles of Jeffers and the emotional glaciers shifting inside them.
Under the pressure of poverty, they struggle violently to hold onto love, friendship, and livelihood, making decisions that often cause more problems than they solve. In many ways, it's a portrait of self-defeat saved by strange, alligator grace. Will read again and can't wait for Hooks' next effort.
Under the pressure of poverty, they struggle violently to hold onto love, friendship, and livelihood, making decisions that often cause more problems than they solve. In many ways, it's a portrait of self-defeat saved by strange, alligator grace. Will read again and can't wait for Hooks' next effort.
February 2, 2019
So honored to be publishing this book through Bridge Eight Press and I'm so excited for the rest of you to experience this wild ride.
March 7, 2019
this wanted to be a southern magical realism novel that alludes to christ but ended up making me want to throw away the south entirely. Magical realism is only a thing if its from latin america. The way its written i thought portrayed southern dialect but really made me want to burn this book cause grammar is a thing please do not try to be interesting by using voice-to-text. why is a grown ass man having a crisis over whether or not he believes in magic or not? scratch that- jesus. no just.... no this gets maybe 1.5 stars im tired and i wasted my time on this.
what is plot? what are interesting characters? this hit the surface level of what you should do but jumped in the deep end of how not to write. drugs and drinking are not plot drivers neither are obscure and lackluster attempts at developing a character. ugh this was so frustrating
what is plot? what are interesting characters? this hit the surface level of what you should do but jumped in the deep end of how not to write. drugs and drinking are not plot drivers neither are obscure and lackluster attempts at developing a character. ugh this was so frustrating
December 7, 2025
AKA "The Gospel According to Florida Man."
C.H. Hooks has retold the story of Jesus as a redneck magician named Jeffers, told through the voice of his longtime best friend and fellow druggie, Jimmy. Their consumption of beer, wine, pot and mushrooms is prodigious -- Hunter Thompson would be imporessed. But consuming actual food? Not so much, except for one incident involving an exploding vehicle and some wings.
Both of them work at the rural Alligator-Zoo Park, where Jeffers puts on magic shows that grow wilder and wilder. People hear about what he's doing, interpret them as miracles, then began crowding in seeking his healing for themselves and their pets.
Jeffers has a girlfriend named Miriam who used to be a mermaid who performed at the park (don't you remember mermaids in the gospels? No?). Jimmy and Jeffers were raised together by their Aunt Becky, who's kind of a hoochie mama.
For fun, they race their vans at the racetrack. Jeffers' van has a license plate that says NAILR. Meanwhile he begins attracting disciples with names like Judd and Zach (who was in a tree).
The novel begins with Jeffers biggest trick yet apparently going awry, and him being swallowed by a giant gator named Lazarus. Jimmy, Miriam and others throw a huge party as a wake, all of them thoroughly messed up at the thought of him being gone. Then Jimmy takes us back to when Jeffers first started pulling his tricks and takes us through their years of friendship.
Parts of the book are very funny and parts of it are eye-rolling corny. Jimmy's voice is a wonder, and you tend to stick with the story just to hear more of the way he describes things.
The characters are all people living on the edge of poverty, somehow getting by but just barely. There's an unexplored side-story about Jimmy being divorced from a windshield-wiper-eating drug addict and winding up raising their two kids, but we never hear the kids' names or much about them, including their schooling. That tends to undercut any sense of this being a real story.
The whole analogy with Jesus breaks down at the end where the missing Jeffers reappears for a brief few days, showing scars where the gator bit him, then disappears in a ball of fire when his van explodes at the track. Before leaving this world, Jesus told his followers to spread the gospel to all creation. Jeffers doesn't do anything like that, so Jimmy and Miriam are more bereft than inspired at the end. Instead of a story that stirs the soul, we get a 250-page novel that's just a flash in the pan.
C.H. Hooks has retold the story of Jesus as a redneck magician named Jeffers, told through the voice of his longtime best friend and fellow druggie, Jimmy. Their consumption of beer, wine, pot and mushrooms is prodigious -- Hunter Thompson would be imporessed. But consuming actual food? Not so much, except for one incident involving an exploding vehicle and some wings.
Both of them work at the rural Alligator-Zoo Park, where Jeffers puts on magic shows that grow wilder and wilder. People hear about what he's doing, interpret them as miracles, then began crowding in seeking his healing for themselves and their pets.
Jeffers has a girlfriend named Miriam who used to be a mermaid who performed at the park (don't you remember mermaids in the gospels? No?). Jimmy and Jeffers were raised together by their Aunt Becky, who's kind of a hoochie mama.
For fun, they race their vans at the racetrack. Jeffers' van has a license plate that says NAILR. Meanwhile he begins attracting disciples with names like Judd and Zach (who was in a tree).
The novel begins with Jeffers biggest trick yet apparently going awry, and him being swallowed by a giant gator named Lazarus. Jimmy, Miriam and others throw a huge party as a wake, all of them thoroughly messed up at the thought of him being gone. Then Jimmy takes us back to when Jeffers first started pulling his tricks and takes us through their years of friendship.
Parts of the book are very funny and parts of it are eye-rolling corny. Jimmy's voice is a wonder, and you tend to stick with the story just to hear more of the way he describes things.
The characters are all people living on the edge of poverty, somehow getting by but just barely. There's an unexplored side-story about Jimmy being divorced from a windshield-wiper-eating drug addict and winding up raising their two kids, but we never hear the kids' names or much about them, including their schooling. That tends to undercut any sense of this being a real story.
The whole analogy with Jesus breaks down at the end where the missing Jeffers reappears for a brief few days, showing scars where the gator bit him, then disappears in a ball of fire when his van explodes at the track. Before leaving this world, Jesus told his followers to spread the gospel to all creation. Jeffers doesn't do anything like that, so Jimmy and Miriam are more bereft than inspired at the end. Instead of a story that stirs the soul, we get a 250-page novel that's just a flash in the pan.
June 21, 2020
I was suggested this book by a dear friend and decided to jump right in. As others have stated, the back blurb suggests a relation to Larry Brown and Harry Crews. Hooks is definitely a descendent, albeit much more happier and positive in relation to his characters. I found throughout the book, instead of the damned depressing relationships I saw to Brown's characters, with Hooks I laughed when I felt a relation to his.
The allegories to Christian religion and Christ are definitely there, but not heavy-handed enough to make anyone lose the story in the book or feel heavy-handed. I'm by no means religious at all, but enjoyed the relations in Jeffers and his story, told through Jimmy. I'll be honest, I would suggest Moore's Lamb and this book together for anyone enjoying alternative books that reference ol' JC as a character. I often felt it was a great allegory for those of us who grew up in small towns having a friend who "left" or "disappeared". Often that is us. Sometimes it's us feeling the friends back home disappeared.
I enjoyed his descriptions of drinking, fighting, and going to Waffle House. The antics while stoned, drunk, and more were hilarious and reminded me of my youth in rural Louisiana. If you were a wild one in the South as a kid-teen-maybe even later, you'll have a relationship with the characters. They aren't portrayed as the usual yokels or dumb Southerners either. They might not have much, but they make do and enjoy themselves. I know that feeling (hell who can't with what we're paid nowadays).
The book is done with the most recent event occuring first, and is a bit of an abrupt introduction, but by part 2 it's settled and the characters pasts begin to unfold into part 3 which ends the book. I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to the next from Hooks! I personally can't wait!
The allegories to Christian religion and Christ are definitely there, but not heavy-handed enough to make anyone lose the story in the book or feel heavy-handed. I'm by no means religious at all, but enjoyed the relations in Jeffers and his story, told through Jimmy. I'll be honest, I would suggest Moore's Lamb and this book together for anyone enjoying alternative books that reference ol' JC as a character. I often felt it was a great allegory for those of us who grew up in small towns having a friend who "left" or "disappeared". Often that is us. Sometimes it's us feeling the friends back home disappeared.
I enjoyed his descriptions of drinking, fighting, and going to Waffle House. The antics while stoned, drunk, and more were hilarious and reminded me of my youth in rural Louisiana. If you were a wild one in the South as a kid-teen-maybe even later, you'll have a relationship with the characters. They aren't portrayed as the usual yokels or dumb Southerners either. They might not have much, but they make do and enjoy themselves. I know that feeling (hell who can't with what we're paid nowadays).
The book is done with the most recent event occuring first, and is a bit of an abrupt introduction, but by part 2 it's settled and the characters pasts begin to unfold into part 3 which ends the book. I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to the next from Hooks! I personally can't wait!
July 14, 2024
This was a really quick, fun Florida read! The opening chapter really sinks its teeth into you (pun intended) from the get go and you’re immediately thrown into a kooky alligator zoo-park/trailer park “magical” world. Hooks really examines the grittier side of FL with a cast of characters who chain smoke and binge drink, frequent the Waffle House, casino and racetrack- where vans are the vehicle of choice, and alligators and mermaids are more than immersed in their daily life. The magical realism elements of this made it really fun and the love Jimmy had for Jeffers shone through. I really felt the start to chapter 16 really summed up a lot of the feelings I was getting throughout the story.
Definitely might not be for everyone but if you’re looking for something totally wacky and different, give this a chance!
Definitely might not be for everyone but if you’re looking for something totally wacky and different, give this a chance!
September 11, 2020
This book was magnificent! As I was reading it I couldn't tell if it was one of the greatest things that I had ever read, or poorly written. I quickly decided it was the former. Our main character, Jimmy, spends his entire life shrouded in a haze of beer, chicken wings, and reverence towards his best friend, Jeffers. Jeffers was a magician who spend a lot of his time performing magic tricks with alligators, at the local alligator zoo. This story perfectly captured the hot and sticky air that glazes over the South, and the characters are as imperfect and messy as the trailer park in which they reside. Jimmy is a very flawed, very biased narrator as he tells this story about his best friend, which added to the overall air of wonder and majesty Jeffers is shrouded in. It was fantastic.
July 18, 2023
3.5⭐️
Overall I really enjoyed this book, however I only finished reading it on my third try as the plot is a meandering amalgamation of short stories. The first two tries, the book just lost my attention, but I always felt deep down “I’ll return to that at some point later and finally finish it.” The magic in it all though is the first time I tried to read this book I had only lived in Florida for 2 years in the heart of a city. I now have been here 6 years in multiple places. Reading this book in the start of summer was such a treat while baking in the South Florida sun. I’m glad I returned to this book and could share with Jimmy a love for Florida’s swampy magic, ruthless heat, and undeniable charm 🫶🏻
Overall I really enjoyed this book, however I only finished reading it on my third try as the plot is a meandering amalgamation of short stories. The first two tries, the book just lost my attention, but I always felt deep down “I’ll return to that at some point later and finally finish it.” The magic in it all though is the first time I tried to read this book I had only lived in Florida for 2 years in the heart of a city. I now have been here 6 years in multiple places. Reading this book in the start of summer was such a treat while baking in the South Florida sun. I’m glad I returned to this book and could share with Jimmy a love for Florida’s swampy magic, ruthless heat, and undeniable charm 🫶🏻
November 12, 2019
This story's still rattling around in my head since I finished it a few days ago; that's usually good sign.
The novel is set somewhere in northern Florida near the fictional Alligator Zoo-Park, a tourist trap a few grades above your standard-issue snake farm. Jimmy, the narrator, whose propensity for generous servings psychedelic mushrooms, weed, and beer yields a foggy perspective, somehow manages to retain his status as a sympathetic character throughout. His story centers on his lifelong friend Jeffers, a extraordinary and unorthodox magician.
All of the novel's characters live close to or below the poverty line in the community of trailers and broken down houses near the Zoo-Park.
The novel is set somewhere in northern Florida near the fictional Alligator Zoo-Park, a tourist trap a few grades above your standard-issue snake farm. Jimmy, the narrator, whose propensity for generous servings psychedelic mushrooms, weed, and beer yields a foggy perspective, somehow manages to retain his status as a sympathetic character throughout. His story centers on his lifelong friend Jeffers, a extraordinary and unorthodox magician.
All of the novel's characters live close to or below the poverty line in the community of trailers and broken down houses near the Zoo-Park.
August 27, 2020
Hooks' first novel is a nice little epitaph to a loved one. There are some funny southern smilies relating to butter and classic religious undertones, albeit the many not so PG references to drugs and alcohol. The plot is somewhat wandering and built upon an amalgamation of small, increasingly dramatic stories during what seems to be an endless party in the present. Hopefully Hooks has more fun prose to come.
March 6, 2019
Who is Jeffers!?! Is he more than just a man? We know he is a magician that works in an alligator park... but how is he doing these otherworldly tricks. This book is a hell of a drug and alcohol induced ride. Magic, alligators, hot rod minivans, and lastly a story of friendship. Go get this book today and learn how to speak Florida.
5 out of 5 beers 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
5 out of 5 beers 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
May 22, 2019
A fun trip full of southernisms, biblical allusions, mysticism, and antics. At times, the book is a bit campy and it relies a little too much on stereotypes that limit character development.
July 20, 2019
A really fun read! Someone described the book to me as having a lot of heart. They were absolutely right. Looking forward to picking up more from this author and publisher.
February 10, 2020
I loved it. It's a fun ride from start to end with great characters, and wonderful beer, weed, shroom soaked Florida trailer park poetry.
October 28, 2021
excellent description of a group of people I'll probably never meet
April 3, 2019
You feel caught up in the lives of the guys you see along the side of the road on a Florida country road, up to something you think may be a bad idea.
January 4, 2022
What I especially love about Alligator Zoo-Park Magic is the voice of its protagonist, Jimmy. C.H. Hooks nailed that trailer trash, bogan vibe that I love so much while maintaining humor and cleverness throughout. Really enjoyable read! I'll be sure to check out Eye Teeth to see how his short stories compare.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews