Cheechako

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Breakout Novel
Review: "Cheechako (Native Alaskan for "alien" or "foreigner") is a horror novel that forces our eyes open to the real price we pay for our human addictions-whether it is our submission to the lash of the dominatrix or to the pious light that filters through stained glass windows." Not for the faint of heart.
An earthquake registering 8.5 on the Richter scale hits Alaska and unleashes a subterranean deity more wicked and noxious than most could imagine. Even those who have battled addiction and experienced the horrors of withdrawal would have difficulty relating to this creature in his fullness. Pluto, as in the plutonium spill that results from the earthquake, is beyond repulsive. Yet somehow he manages to lure people into his dominion with the promise of comfort, power, and fulfillment through his "magic box" of energy and light. The box lends itself to the needs of the one who uses it...whatever you need, it provides. Sometimes it simply changes your reality. Like being on the holodeck of the Starship Enterprise. Other times it allows you to read minds, teleport, and even hear the dead speak. It lures you in and makes you a willing partner of its master, willing to participate in his endeavors "at any cost."
The parallels between evil and addiction are drawn in so many different ways that even readers who are not in recovery will be able to relate and to perhaps gain a better understanding of how bright, rational, caring people become stupid, insane, selfish idiots when they succumb to mind altering drugs which, by the way, include alcohol. Those in recovery will marvel at their own survival and be astonished at how they have overcome man's proclivity to believe the lies of Satan over the truth of a loving God. As Jocelyn says when talking about her coke addiction, "It gave me wings and then it took away my sky."
Dan McFadden has spent nearly a quarter of his life writing and publishing this awesome work. His writing style is gripping and rich with the humor of a man who has fought and won. Cheechako is brimming with the thoughts, impressions, perspectives, wit and wisdom of a man who has battled his own demons. Demons that come cloaked in pious garb, in the latest pimp gear, and in the everyday clothing of the drunk next door. And, if I were to have one dispute with McFadden's portrayal of Pluto, it would be that he was too obvious. The evil one is much more subtle. If the tempter of mankind came in the repulsive form of Pluto he would be easily recognized and most people would flee him before he ever got a chance to pull out his magic box. I believe that the personification of evil would be more malicious if it came in the person of a beautiful, well-mannered and trusted acquaintance who betrayed you in unspeakable ways. There is definitely more to Cheechako than one can absorb in a single reading. Actually, it might even work better as a trilogy since, at nearly 700 pages, it can hardly be considered a pocketbook even in soft cover. In any case, I am sure that book clubs and study groups will have a fantastic time discussing the many aspects of this book for years to come.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic and compelling novel
Review: Cheechako by Dan McFadden is a fantastic and compelling novel of a group of Alaskan fishing villagers who barely survive an earthquake, only to be confronted with something much worse - a primal subterranean deity who has freed himself to wreak havoc on humankind, by exploiting their lusts, power fantasies, and greed with his double-edged powers. An alternately shocking and chilling 695-page epic which is at times both erotic and horrible, Cheechako is highly recommended as an attention grabbing supernatural thriller from beginning to end.