Kitty Horror

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mellick puts a new spin on mob life by creating a world where clowns are the kings of the criminal underworld. The six stories all link to the Bozo family, kingpins of Little Bigtop where they rule the illegal comedy clubs, clown brothels and laughing gas trade. With the French clown mob now muscling in on the action it's up to the clown capos to ensure that business is kept lucrative and any problems swiftly dealt with.

There's some great world building in this book, the author seems to have had all kinds of fun modifying aspects of mob life into a believable and engaging world. One where laughing bullets cause you to laugh yourself to death, hats and balloons are used as weapons and if you're not born a clown you can become one by drinking 'Happy Juice'.

Characters were a little bit hit and miss with Vinnie Blue Nose being by far my favourite clown and I wished he had featured more heavily in the stories. During the first story it was hard to keep track of all the different clowns but as the stories continued they stood out a lot more with Mellick giving some of them character growth.

Only one story wasn't as engaging, the story of Buggy Buttons was not up to the standard of the other stories, Buggy was not a likeable character and I ended up feeling impatient to get done with the story and back to the other clowns.

Mellick's has created another amazing read, it's a world that I hope we see more of in the future so I sincerely hope this is not the last we hear of Vinnie Blue Nose and co.

Highly recommended.