The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp

A pedophile working as a famous cartoon character ends up dead in the tunnels below a world famous amusement park... are you hooked yet? Well, after a very short time spent with Marshall Karp's hilarious first novel, The Rabbit Factory, you will be. There is some seriously funny stuff here... I totally laughed my ass off more than a few while reading it. The story centers around the detectives who are investigating the murder - Loomax and Brigs - who are two genuine characters with senses of humor. Told mainly in the first person from Mike Loomax's perspective of things, we are treated to an engrossing fast paced mystery. A true page turner whose story is not simply just who killed the rabbit - it becomes quite a large scale thriller... how that enfolds is best left to your reading of the book (trust me, its a fun ride). On many occasions I was laughing out loud while reading The Rabbit Factory, but please don't mistake this book as a one trick bunny (oh boy, a rabbit pun, bet you didn’t see that coming)… beyond being funny, this is a well developed mystery with intelligence and some truly heart touching scenes (one example - the reflection by a character upon the loss of a loved one seems so true to life, you will find it hard not to reflect right along with them). Marshall Karp can write it all - funny, smart, emotions, suspense - check, check, check, and double check. The funny is just the cream on top. Marshall Karp handles it all expertly. The Rabbit Factory never feels like a first novel, just one great read. I highly recommend it.

This book was so good that his second novel was on order before I even finished. Now that I have finished, I plan on reading Bloodthirsty sooner rather than later. Marshall Karp's third novel, Flipping Out, is due out in April. Check out his website for more info and a laugh or two.