The Order of Odd-Fish * Written by James Kennedy
After a mysterious absence of forty years, aged Hollywood starlet Lily Larouche suddenly finds herself back in the Ruby Palace, her old mansion in the California Desert, with no memory of where she has been all this time. At the same time, she finds a crying baby girl in her washing machine, with a note: “This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a DANGEROUS baby.” As the novel begins, Jo, now 13, is trying to stay out of the way at one of her “Aunt” Lily’s out-of-control Hollywood costume parties at the Ruby Palace, when a strange, old Russian colonel sneaks in and informs her that he has come to protect her because his intestines told him to do so. Soon, the Russian has taken a bullet for her, a package with her name on it has fallen out of the sky, the Russian’s ascot-wearing, talking cockroach sidekick has shown up on the scene, and a Chinese billionaire who is an aspiring diabolical villain is after all of them. And that’s only a taste of all that happens in just the first few pages. Every time I thought the story had settled into its comfort spot and would just flow along, Kennedy turned everything on its head and upped the absurdity ante again, and again, and again. And, amazingly, every time it works splendidly. Overflowing with laugh-out-loud moments, totally unexpected plot twists, and off-the-wall fantastical details, this is the most fun I’ve had with a book in a long time. Highly recommended, particularly to anyone who gets bored easily, and anyone who has ever wondered what a novel written by Dr. Seuss might be like.
Delacorte Books
416 pages
ISBN: 978-0-385-73543-8
Release Date: August 2008