- austrianspencer
Heavy Oceans - by Tyler Jones
Tyler Jones’ Heavy Oceans is a gut punch in the cruelest way, the kind of smack to the soul that leaves you bereft of air, your entire body a rock-hard muscle spasming in disbelief that it has been rendered helpless by the cruelty on the pages. Jones leads his characters from one trauma to the next, and you get to watch, horrified, as it gets worse and worse, and progressively worse.
You can’t lap it up quickly enough.
Without giving too much away, the deterioration of the state of a corpse - that is made (I said what I said) within the first couple of chapters - mimics the deterioration of the well-being of all of the characters linked to the disposing of said body. That opening salvo is alone worth the cover price.
But it gets much, much worse.
Jones’ attention to detail, his love of the exploration of the psyche, of examining relationships and the ties that bind, of experience informing reaction, of shared trauma becoming its own language, it all just crashes over the characters and floods the senses.
This book is a gift to the reader, a figurative portrayal of just-how-bad-things-can-get. A whirlwind or whirlpool that leaves no possible outcome other than the destruction of all of your expectations, and full belief in everything that Tyler lays out before you in bloody red raw pain, hurt, and bitterness.
And then body horror hits you just as you get your wind back.
As I stated, this is a gut punch in the cruelest way. Cruel, because it ends painfully quickly. It comes and goes, and leaves you all the better for the shock.
Superb work, Tyler.
5 out of 5 stars.
You can buy Heavy Oceans at the appropriate Amazon, linked below:
You can visit Tyler's website, HERE.
You can follow Tyler on Twitter, HERE.
You can follow Tyler on Instagram, HERE.
