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The Tragic Downfall of Various Delightful Jacks
The Tragic Downfall of Various Delightful Jacks
by M.D. Wiselka
Genre: Speculative Fiction, Contemporary Gay Romance (M/M)
To save the life of his fiancée, 25-year-old chef Jack Macrae throws himself in the path of an out-of-control delivery van. His life is over—but his troubles have only just begun.
As Jack takes temporary possession of the bodies of a succession of men named Jack, all who’ve met untimely deaths like himself, he acquires a host of problems not his own.
How do you make a life out of the borrowed scraps of several others?
Jack is determined to find out—or die trying.
by M.D. Wiselka
Genre: Speculative Fiction, Contemporary Gay Romance (M/M)
To save the life of his fiancée, 25-year-old chef Jack Macrae throws himself in the path of an out-of-control delivery van. His life is over—but his troubles have only just begun.
As Jack takes temporary possession of the bodies of a succession of men named Jack, all who’ve met untimely deaths like himself, he acquires a host of problems not his own.
How do you make a life out of the borrowed scraps of several others?
Jack is determined to find out—or die trying.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2020
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 31, 2024
Slow start, but overall interesting.
Speculative fiction isn't a genre that I often read. Paranormal, sci-fi and horror I do, but rarely something specifically described as speculative. I really don't know what to expect or how to evaluate this through the lens of that particular genre. Gay romance, contemporary and all other kinds, is my favorite and most read genre so I will mostly be reviewing this from the romantic angle.
Overall, I rate this 3.25 stars. It's slightly better than okay, but not enough to get to a like or loved it. There are three reasons for this, 1) I misinterpreted the blurb, 2) the story didn't really start working for me until about 30% in and 3) Johns are Jacks?
1) For the blurb, with this being categorized as a gay romance, I somehow thought that the story would be about Jack having a male fiancée and working to keep them together through each of his iterations. That absolutely was not the case. The original Jack died to protect his female fiancée, Sara, despite their relationship not really being one worth dying for. The story is really about Jack exploring and finding himself through the lives of the other Jacks he somehow comes to inhabit. There is a connection to another male on his journey, but it's not what I really call romance or what I look for in romance. Lionel and Luke are more what I like, but their story is not the focus anymore than Trinity and Max so Jack's romance should be the key and, for me, it wasn't. I'll be honest, if he had ended up with Enrique, it would have tickled my romantic fancy much more because Enrique was always able to see Jack Macrae no matter the body he was in.
2) A lot of the slow traction, for me, is I was constantly looking for the romance when this is very much speculative fiction with mystery elements. Once I shifted the way I was reading it and the plot picked up steam toward the end of Jack Chase's week, the story really did improve and I read it with more speed. There are definitely some interesting elements here that are really good.
3) The idea of a spirit, soul or consciousness like Jack managing to find new dying Jacks to slip into was fascinating because there are lots of Jacks out there. The story, though, is quick to limit this to only Jacks in the area of Red Grange, Washington, a city of roughly 65,000 people. Would there really be that many Jacks dropping dead in this town to keep Jack going when he only gets one week in each new form? Given the uniqueness of this experience, there aren't exactly known rules to follow and "Jack" becomes a bit optional, like it could be the given legal name or a nickname. When I first saw that I excitedly wondered if he'd get to experience a week as a woman called Jack for Jacqueline or any number of feminine names that result in Jack as a nickname. Sadly, that doesn't happen. We just get two guys legally named John but somehow called Jack and one of those was actually more known by a stage name with nothing to do with Jack or the letter J so how was his body chosen by whatever is happening? We don't get any answers and I feel that that's probably the whole point of speculative fiction, ideas and questions without solid answers so that the author and readers can speculate on whatever. I don't hate that, especially not here when the character of Jack has all the same unanswered questions we do because he's experiencing all of this without any guidance. I don't love that either, though, so, for me, it's just an okay read in the end. Others may absolutely love it or completely hate it. I don't regret checking it out and would recommend it if you're looking for something pretty different in terms of gay fiction.
Speculative fiction isn't a genre that I often read. Paranormal, sci-fi and horror I do, but rarely something specifically described as speculative. I really don't know what to expect or how to evaluate this through the lens of that particular genre. Gay romance, contemporary and all other kinds, is my favorite and most read genre so I will mostly be reviewing this from the romantic angle.
Overall, I rate this 3.25 stars. It's slightly better than okay, but not enough to get to a like or loved it. There are three reasons for this, 1) I misinterpreted the blurb, 2) the story didn't really start working for me until about 30% in and 3) Johns are Jacks?
1) For the blurb, with this being categorized as a gay romance, I somehow thought that the story would be about Jack having a male fiancée and working to keep them together through each of his iterations. That absolutely was not the case. The original Jack died to protect his female fiancée, Sara, despite their relationship not really being one worth dying for. The story is really about Jack exploring and finding himself through the lives of the other Jacks he somehow comes to inhabit. There is a connection to another male on his journey, but it's not what I really call romance or what I look for in romance. Lionel and Luke are more what I like, but their story is not the focus anymore than Trinity and Max so Jack's romance should be the key and, for me, it wasn't. I'll be honest, if he had ended up with Enrique, it would have tickled my romantic fancy much more because Enrique was always able to see Jack Macrae no matter the body he was in.
2) A lot of the slow traction, for me, is I was constantly looking for the romance when this is very much speculative fiction with mystery elements. Once I shifted the way I was reading it and the plot picked up steam toward the end of Jack Chase's week, the story really did improve and I read it with more speed. There are definitely some interesting elements here that are really good.
3) The idea of a spirit, soul or consciousness like Jack managing to find new dying Jacks to slip into was fascinating because there are lots of Jacks out there. The story, though, is quick to limit this to only Jacks in the area of Red Grange, Washington, a city of roughly 65,000 people. Would there really be that many Jacks dropping dead in this town to keep Jack going when he only gets one week in each new form? Given the uniqueness of this experience, there aren't exactly known rules to follow and "Jack" becomes a bit optional, like it could be the given legal name or a nickname. When I first saw that I excitedly wondered if he'd get to experience a week as a woman called Jack for Jacqueline or any number of feminine names that result in Jack as a nickname. Sadly, that doesn't happen. We just get two guys legally named John but somehow called Jack and one of those was actually more known by a stage name with nothing to do with Jack or the letter J so how was his body chosen by whatever is happening? We don't get any answers and I feel that that's probably the whole point of speculative fiction, ideas and questions without solid answers so that the author and readers can speculate on whatever. I don't hate that, especially not here when the character of Jack has all the same unanswered questions we do because he's experiencing all of this without any guidance. I don't love that either, though, so, for me, it's just an okay read in the end. Others may absolutely love it or completely hate it. I don't regret checking it out and would recommend it if you're looking for something pretty different in terms of gay fiction.
Displaying 1 of 1 review