In short, there's one word that I would use to describe Rico Slade will Fucking Kill You by Bradley Sands: Hillarious! Several times, I found myself laughing out loud during the book. Okay, that's too short of a review, so let me see if I can expand on this.

The novel follows the antics of Chip Johnson, a Hollywood movie actor famous for his role as the action movie character Rico Slade, who has a penchant for ripping out throats. After a particularly stressful day, Chip snaps and comes to believe that he really is Rico Slade, and proceeds to travel around Hollywood kicking everyone's ass whom he sees as an enemy, which pretty much everyone. He does this in pursuit of his (Rico Slade's) archnemesis, Baron Mayhem, played by Chip's former lover George, and all while pursued by his (Chip's) body-hair-obsessed psychologist, Harold Schwartzman, who Chip/Rico keeps mistaking for his (Rico's) sidekick, Joe Pesci. Are you still with me?

The novel skewers the Hollywood stereotypes pretty savagely, from plastic-surgery obsessions, tour buses, traffic jams, and ranting action-movie director Jared Bruckheiny (guess who that's supposed to be). Sands also mock/pays tribute to action movie stereotypes, with repeated, over-the-top martial arts moves, constant explosions, and loud rock music playing in the background. I kind of got the feelings that the author may have had the movie “Last Action Hero" playing in the background while writing this novel, or was at least inspired by it. At the same time, I found myself identifying with Chip in a way. I mean, who hasn't wanted to snap after having a really bad day and go on a rampage through the city? Anyone? Anyone? Just me? I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that.

If I have any complaint, it would be the ending, but it's a big enough complaint to detract a full star and left me a little cold. For obvious reasons, I won't divulge the ending, but suffice to say that it was disappointing in the least. Not surprising, just disappointing.

Overall, though, it's an enjoyable and downright fun read that still gets a recommendation. It's a fun journey, but the destination is ultimately more like Grimsville than the Carribean.

Rico Slade Will Fucking Kill You by Bradley Sands earns 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

I thought this book was going to be funny, like “Shatnerquake”, but it just left me asking:

WTF?

I think this is the story of an action star suffering a psychotic break with reality because he cannot admit his homosexuality…. but I’m really not sure.
( )

When I first saw the title of this book, I already knew that I shouldn't take it too seriously or expect too much from it. Still, I still feel slightly disappointed with the contents of the book. The first pages seemed promising, I even cracked a smile or two. But the quality of the language from random things just goes downhill to the gross out swear words.
The story itself is not THAT bad. If you think about it, it is even... interesting, at the very least. To sum it all up, an actor of action movies in the best Arnold Schwartznegger style has a break down and goes bananas.
The story is short, there are very few characters. There isn't much room for a complex story here. It's just something to make time go by faster. ( )

I've been so busy lately that it took me almost a week to read a 112 page book. This is sad. I am a sad Brandon. That being said, there really isn't a whole lot to say about this one.

Honestly, this is totally insane. There's no better word to describe it, really. There are a lot of awesome one-liners and the humor is just completely off the wall. Next time I threaten someone, I'm totally going to tell them that I plan on "punching them in the fucking face a bunch of fucking times".

Short review is short.

Thank you. ( )

It's hard to know whether this is borderline brilliant or just plain stupid, but in the end I come down more on the side of stupid. Action hero actor flips out and goes on a rampage (mostly in his head) through LA. Once you get past the first couple of pages, which could be mistaken for the work of an amateur, and accept the loopy, almost stream-of-consciousness narrative, it can be a lot of fun--up to a point. But as Sands piles on one outrageous event after enough, the parody becomes a little tiresome. And it is completely lacking in any sort of local color for the story to play out against. This is like something I could write if I had just the right amount of alcohol in me and was feeling sort of pissed off. ( )