The Killer of Love

Rating:
Summary: Alarmingly real and contemporary, a hard-to-put-down read!
Review: In this gripping account of addiction, alcohol and apathy (or anarchy?), the reader is effortlessly pulled into the all-to-surreal but also hauntingly familiar world of "the Fort". The Killer of Love is a potent account of the unfortunate but ever-present subculture that probably lies just beneath the surface of most college towns. The intoxicating lure of Piper reminds us all how powerful a force intelligence and charisma can be, even when it is embodied in such a seemingly unattractive character. Piper's "charm" is undeniable. The protaganist, Jimmy Love, is both frustrating and endearing at the same time. The rest of the cast offers something for everyone to fear and enjoy. The pace is fast, the story compelling. The author also injects just the right amount of humor to keep the content from becoming too overwhelming. And the message that "as long as you're alive, there's still time to change" is motivating enough that it just might get you to clean up your act - at least for a while.

Rating:
Summary: A Sordid, Yet Powerful Coming of Age Tale
Review: It has been my unfortunate experience to know many young people like the characters that populate this darkly haunting novel. They are the disillusioned, disgruntled and, yes, dangerously misanthropic creatures who prefer life on the sidelines to being a productive member of society. And Jimmy Love is characteristic of so many who fall into this misguided lust to live life to its fullest (i.e. on the edge). Ultimately, of course, he finds his selfish behaivior empty and unrewarding, thus recapturing his soul. I recommend this book to teenagers and their parents because this type of story, though brutal and graphic, honestly portrays the pitfalls of "dropping-out".

Rating:
Summary: Here there be dragons...
Review: Last night after the Titans lost, I picked up this novel. Two hours later I had finished off my cigarettes and sat back impressed by the scope of this tale. I have lived in Knoxville for years, and am still trying to stop bartending long enough to graduate before I am 25. I know the Fort like the back of my hand, and the characters in this book could have been based on people I know. The darker side of man seems to increase exponentially when one combines hard drug use and a bit of intelligence. Other reviews have said the melancholy seemed too omnipresent, too contrived. I beg to differ. Conversely, I felt this novel was all too REAL. I wonder about Piper. I know a few fellows who could be Piper, and many more who could be Jimmy. Most of the counter-culture surrounding campus at UT is exactly as described by Brian Conley ( who looks really familiar, probably served him somewhere). In fact, I could not find any details which were not right on the money. I truly loved this novel. Fresh.

Rating:
Summary: I was there ... this is FICTION
Review: no wonder everyone wanted to beat Brians head in after this POS came out ...
I am one of the people referenced here.

Sheer BS ...
Idolising the "bad" he NEVER knew ... while blaming life on "them"(us) as well

Zzzzzzzzz

Rating:
Summary: A BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL
Review: Piper, Satan personified, inspires Jimmy Love to vent his personal demons on the world in the form of alcoholism and drug addiction. But Jimmy is having an almost allergic reaction to Piper's twisted, depraved outlook. He is at once held by Piper's grip, but also by the not so distant memory of his family. The struggle is age-old. Which path will he ultimately choose? In 'The Killer of Love', Conley thoroughly explores many of the demons that face today's youth and he manages to accomplish this in a very short, succinct 207 pages. This, I think, was possibly intentional since the book is perfectly suited to teens and young adults who might be able to learn a thing or two from a story like this, which seems so realistic that I feel the author must have personally experienced the same sort of struggle with his inner-demons. I give it 5 Stars for being so realistic, yet also working on a metaphorical level.

Rating:
Summary: All right, who stayed sober?
Review: Take it from someone who was there, this book is right on the money. Sure, some of the things in the book probably didn't happen exactly like they did at the real Hippie House and not everyone there was a total wasteoid. But mostly, this book captures the '80's Fort scene dead to rights. I knew these guys and they were true party animals. Hell, I was right there amongst 'em. And, sure, I understand why some of these geezers might be a tad upset to see their gruesome pasts appear so vividly before their eyes but, for me, I was simply amazed that anyone stayed sober enough to write it all down.

Rating:
Summary: Fast-read! Could not put down!
Review: Thank you Mr. Conley for writing a novel that reads fast, well and keeps one fully entertained and wanting to find out what choice Jimmy Love makes; (like the quote says) redemption or damnation. I discovered your book at an independent bookstore in Seattle that the store owner had listed on his best new fiction picks. "The Killer of Love" is refreshingly and frighteningly real. Refreshing because when one reads a lot (and believe me, I do) it is far too easy to come across run-of-the-mill, poorly organized and written books. I enjoyed the richly colored characters, especially Piper (like Browning's Pied Piper of Hamblin) and crazy Don whose accent alone made me laugh out loud. Best of all, I read this book on a Saturday afternoon. I recommend "The Killer of Love" for other busy professionals out there like me who possess a true love for thought provoking reading and who have teenagers getting ready to reach a crucial point in life where temptations such as those in "The Killer of Love" truly exist.

Rating:
Summary: WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE!
Review: The dark side of Knoxville, Tennessee is the topic of this spine-tingling novel of drug-addiction and anarchy. Jimmy Love is a rebellious teenager who comes under the influence of bad company in the form of Piper, who introduces him to alcoholism, drug addiction and general mayhem. Piper mesmerizes Jimmy until Jimmy finally begins to recognize that he is involved in a web of increasing evil and that the end result will be his damnation unless he can free himself of his various demons. This is a book of rare substance and I look forward to the author's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing and audacious
Review: The fact that anyone would publish a book this bad is amazing.The only thing horrifying about this book is its attack on prose. Idon't know what book all these other reviewers read, because the "Killer of Love" that I got a hold of was full of high school level writing and self- conscious hyperbole. It reads like a 1950s "killer teen" trash novel. To say that the characters were flat and "cardboard" would be an insult to paper products everywhere. Piper, the supposed "root of all evil," was only as frightening as the average open mike night poet. I wish whoever is paying these other people to write in would just stop. I only gave this one star because it made me.

Rating:
Summary: I don't get it
Review: The gap between the reviewers who liked this book and those that didn't like it is amazing. I read the book a few weeks ago, after seeing so much of the Knoxville Area press, and reading these reviews. My verdict: it's simply poor writing. The characters are all cliches of "drug hell" literature: the listless but salvageable protagonist, the hyper-intelligent and (we are told by the author) "charismatic" drug gang leader, the dutiful drug groupie girlfriends, the "wild and crazy" decadent bunch. The "metaphors" for various evils, etc, fall flat. The reader is expected to be shocked because the author all but says directly "You are reading something shocking." The women characters in particular are one dimensional. Reading this book just didn't prove to be the "gripping" or "couldn't put it down" experience that has been mentioned here.