Thursday, September 8, 2011

Coffin Dodgers by Gary Marshall


Published synopsis:

Eighty is the new thirty. Nobody's having babies, the old massively outnumber the young and the hip crowd has become the hip replacement crowd. Twentysomething barman Matt Johnson would be bored senseless if someone wasn't trying to kill him.

When Matt isn't playing silly pranks on his elders with his colleague Dave or laughing at Dave's dating disasters, he's trying to summon up the courage to ask best friend Amy out on a date. Then Matt narrowly escapes a car wreck, and he discovers that his accident was no accident. Someone's murdering young people, and dozens are already dead. Can Matt, Amy and Dave stop the killings? The answer involves guns, gangsters, an angry bear and plenty of irate pensioners.

Review:

Being in your twenties when most of the people in the world are in their twilight years isn’t easy. Most entertainment, music and wealth is controlled by the elderly, and businesses that may have once catered to a younger crowd have closed up shop. To keep themselves from being bored completely out of their minds, Matt and Dave liven things up by playing the occasional prank on their elders.

Matt’s biggest concern in life right now is how to get up enough courage to ask his Dave’s best friend Amy if she would like to be more than just friends. At least, it is until a car accident exposes a conspiracy that is big enough to get them all killed. With the very reluctant help from a police detective, the three friends race to catch the bad guys before the bad guys catch them.

In a world where having children has become virtually impossible for those who can’t afford IVF, you would think that society would value its youth. But instead, society has reverted back to the old philosophy of ‘children should be seen, not heard.’ And there are some who take this idea to the extreme.

In Coffin Dodgers, Gary Marshall has written laugh out loud comedy. His characters could be the guys who live next door – you know, the ones you want to hang out with? And despite their penchant for teasing each other, the reader has no doubt that their friendship is based on genuine affection. The story line is a fun twist on the most often dystopian idea of what the world would be like if only a hand full of women could have babies. Instead of the doom and gloom, Gary Marshall creates a world where society adapts with gusto. Elderly, wealthy members of Generation X are happy to have the world revolve around them as they age. Who needs youth if you have money, right? I don’t know if I would like to live in Mr. Marshall’s world, but I certainly enjoyed reading about it. I thank the author for providing me with a review copy and I give the book 4 ½ stars.


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