Reviews

Pain Killers, by Jerry Stahl

bbbarttt's review against another edition

3.0

I really enjoyed the first half of this novel - interesting premise, amusing narrative style, and the type of damaged protagonist that I tend to relish. It went downhill for me around the midpoint when the protagonist's ex-wife goes missing and, after a bizarre course of events, he ends up in the back of a van with notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, and Mengele won't shut up about his "achievements." I've read plenty about the Holocaust and am well aware of the atrocities Mengele committed at Auschwitz, but this was just too much information for me. Way too much.

I truly enjoyed Stahl's style, and the main character is great. I'm curious to read another book in this series and keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't follow the same pattern of wonderful first half and disappointing second half.

alyssaarch's review

2.0

This was an okay read. The characters are fantastic, and I think that's the only reason I was able to get through it. I love the main character and the language of the book, but the plot seemed strange to me. There were a lot of jumps and twists that I didn't understand and much of which I feel like wasn't explained very well. I'm not sure what exactly happened in the novel, but it was amusing and fun nonetheless.

glitterandtwang's review against another edition

3.0

Not nearly as shocking as it promised, or maybe I'm just jaded..? Realized I'd read another book by Jerry Stahl when I was in high school and was similarly unimpressed. It killed a few afternoons and there were some amusing bits, but that's about it.