Book Review: Low Down Death Right Easy by J. David Osborne

Low Down Death Right Easy by J. David Osborne

Paperback, 188 pages

Published February 2013 by Swallowdown Press

Shooters in basketball never shoot 100%. Batters in baseball are considered amazing if they bat .300. What does it mean then that every single book that Swallowdown press the mutant literary children of Jeremy Robert Johnson has ruled. I mean 100% badass dark bizarro novels from the man himself, Cody Goodfellow, Forrest Armstrong and now two from J. David Osbourne.

The first one was bleak mind fucker about a Russian prison. Osbourne has chosen another Disney worthy local full of sunshine and rainbows in the meth infused rural Oklahoma backwaters. This novel to me feels a bit like Gummo crossed with Winter's Bone.

I mean the McGuffin in this novel is a random decapitated human head found by the characters during a hand fishing trip. Yikes this is not the kinda place I would ever like to hang out. What makes it a readable experience is Osbourne's ability with the written word.

The prose is the special effect here. The characters and descriptions are sparse at times leaving alot to the readers to fill in. Other times random sentences over achieve in character and world building. No one will accuse JDO of over writing.

This book is a must for word smiths with a fondness for dark tone. Big thumbs up.