Oogie Boogie Central

Rating:
Summary: 5 out of 5 schizos agree...O.B.C. Rocks!!!
Review: Don't let its warped title stop you from taking a hellacious ride through insanity and back! OOGIE BOOGIE CENTRAL is an awesome debut: a complex, gripping novel that turns Multiple Personality Disorder into a psychic battlefield. There is an undeniable 'splatterpunk' influence (in the style of Schow, Skipp and Spector)--a good deal of strong graphic violence, but it's no mere slash-fest. Milo Tucker and Ted Munsch are the most offbeat hero and villain seen in quite some time. A fascinating premise and unique characters make OOGIE BOOGIE CENTRAL well worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: What a ride!
Review: I read Steve Lukac's "But Then Again, You'll Have This..." before reading this book, so I was already familiar with his dry wit and pleasantly off-kilter way of looking at the world. In his first novel, "Oogie Boogie Central", this talent is applied to the telling of a story that is in turns intriguing, amusing, unsettling, but at all times entertaining. Lukac transports us to a universe where Charleston, WV, has a subway system and people have a tendency to get into other people's heads...literally. His characters--especially store detective Milo, his wife Sharon, his friend Keith, the villain of the story (who goes through several metamorphoses over the course of the novel), and the gang of mental entities that leap from person to person as the story goes on--jump off the page and make you wonder if you haven't met them somewhere before. The interplay between these characters is what made this story so appealing to me...this interaction indicates that Lukac has spent a lot of time observing people from all backgrounds and noting how they react to one another and to various situations. The story, which defies categorization (Horror? Adventure? Mystery? Satire? A little of everything, really...) is like a roller-coaster: anticipation mixed with a little trepidation, followed by a wild ride with ups and down and more than one unexpected twist, and at the end those who have truly enjoyed the ride are yelling for more. Count me in that group!

Rating:
Summary: What a ride!
Review: I read Steve Lukac's "But Then Again, You'll Have This..." before reading this book, so I was already familiar with his dry wit and pleasantly off-kilter way of looking at the world. In his first novel, "Oogie Boogie Central", this talent is applied to the telling of a story that is in turns intriguing, amusing, unsettling, but at all times entertaining. Lukac transports us to a universe where Charleston, WV, has a subway system and people have a tendency to get into other people's heads...literally. His characters--especially store detective Milo, his wife Sharon, his friend Keith, the villain of the story (who goes through several metamorphoses over the course of the novel), and the gang of mental entities that leap from person to person as the story goes on--jump off the page and make you wonder if you haven't met them somewhere before. The interplay between these characters is what made this story so appealing to me...this interaction indicates that Lukac has spent a lot of time observing people from all backgrounds and noting how they react to one another and to various situations. The story, which defies categorization (Horror? Adventure? Mystery? Satire? A little of everything, really...) is like a roller-coaster: anticipation mixed with a little trepidation, followed by a wild ride with ups and down and more than one unexpected twist, and at the end those who have truly enjoyed the ride are yelling for more. Count me in that group!

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: Lukac, wow! Where did he come from! OBC is a must read! A world of suspense, horror and fantasy ... or is it? Edge of your seat page turner, once you start you won't be able to stop until you've read the last sentence. And when you finish, you'll turn to the beginning and read it again. A piece of literary art that will leave you breathless, looking over your shoulder and begging for more.

Rating:
Summary: Good, Fast Ride
Review: Stephen Lukac's Oogie Boogie Central is a novel that cannot fully be taken seriously. It was written for the sole purpose of entertaining its audience, something it does quite well in fact. This over-the-top thrill-a-minute ride is so entertaining that it makes you keep on turning the pages.

The book concerns the little voices you often hear in your head. In this case, they are real entities that are residing inside the head of their host. The hosts are called gatherers. Alex is one of them. But you also have hunters, people that can only hold one other resident inside their heads. The hunters are violent and hungry for mayhem.

Add to this mix a security guard who's on the trail of the serial killer that has entered the mind of a hunter, and you get a bloodythrill ride that never has a dull moment.

I really liked the characters and they way they acted and spoke. The dialogue is amazingly witty and real. This book has it all; suspense, horror, mystery... It seems that the whole of it could easily have come crashing down. The book is very busy at time, so busy in fact that you sometimes have trouble following what everyone is doing. But amazingly enough, every time the story blurs a little, Lukac brings everything back into focus.

Oogie Boogie Central is like one of those great B-movies that you want to keep watching over and over again, but with a little more heart and style. I really enjoyed the ride it gave me, and probably won't soon forget it either.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this Book!
Review: Twisted, warped, funny as hell, and 100% original. There has NEVER been another book like this one, and you DO NOT want to miss out. It's worth the cover price for page 149 alone, where I laughed so hard I had an accident...