I recently saw an ad for some kind of tutorial program done by James Patterson. I didn't delve too deeply into it, but the quoted headline went something like "Focus on the story, not the sentence". I suppose that is fine for the kind of hackwork that comes out under the collective James Patterson byline.

In his mosaic novel, Hearts in Atlantis, one of Stephen King's characters was expounding on the craft of writing and the act of reading. The character instructs a young boy to not be like a snob, and to read for the story. Other times, read for the language. But when a book has both an excellent story, and good writing, to treasure it.

The latter can be difficult to find in genre fiction. Hell, the former can be tough to find of in this day and age of everything goes publishing.

Daniel Kraus achieves the task of delivering a cracking good story with exquisite writing every time he publishes a book. I've been a fan for quite some time, but he has outdone himself with The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (Part 1).

I've enjoyed all of Kraus's previous work, with Rotters being a particular favorite, but nothing prepared me for experience I got from reading The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch. This is an extraordinary book. Think Charles Dickens meets Robert McCammon and you might have an idea of the scope of this novel.

In The Death of Zebulon Finch, the reader is introduced to the titular character in the form of first person narrative. Finch is a boy in the year of 1896. He is taught writing skills and to speak proper English by his mother. Yet he is unhappy, and turns to a life of crime more out of desire for adventure than greed. Young Finch is a cocksure lad, and his recklessness brings him to an untimely death. A temporary death, for Zebulon Finch rises from his watery grave to walk the Earth again.

Wait! Don't run! This isn't another zombie novel, or if it is, it is utterly unlike any you have ever encountered before.

Hungering for revenge and desperate to discover some sort of meaning to his erroneous existence, Zebulon Finch finds himself in strange and violent circumstances: A traveling sideshow where he is mercilessly exploited. The brutally bloody trenches of World War I. Finch lands in the grasp of a deranged doctor who torments him under the guise of research. And Zebulon Finch finds himself in the decadent circles of the early days of Hollywood talkies.

Kraus's long novel alternates between ghastly horror to ribald humor. The language is rich and Finch's voice never errs in the six-hundred and fifty plus pages of the book. And this is merely part one! Each sentence is a meticulously constructed marvel. I'm almost reminded of Clive Barker, but unfortunately Mr. Barker has not published anything this good in ages. If indeed he ever has.

I'm not the only one enamoured by the writing of Daniel Kraus. Fan favorite Guillermo del Toro has collaborated with him on a novel called Trollhunters.

And, I beseech you not to be dissuaded from buying The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch because it is published as a Young Adult title. If you haven't figured it out by now, some of the best and most cutting-edge fiction is coming out in the Young Adult arena. And it's cheap. Where else can you get a brand new 656 page hardcover for under fifteen bucks?

The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch comes out on October 27th. Even if you've never trusted me before, please do so this time. This will be the perfect book to read over the Halloween weekend this year.

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