{"id":11477,"date":"2018-04-13T08:57:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T12:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=11477"},"modified":"2018-04-13T08:57:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T12:57:42","slug":"review-the-boulevard-monster-by-jeremy-hepler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-boulevard-monster-by-jeremy-hepler\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Boulevard Monster by Jeremy Hepler"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11478\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-boulevard-monster-by-jeremy-hepler\/boulevard\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/boulevard.jpg?fit=309%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"309,500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"boulevard\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/boulevard.jpg?fit=309%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-11478\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/boulevard.jpg?resize=216%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"216\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/boulevard.jpg?resize=216%2C350&amp;ssl=1 216w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/boulevard.jpg?w=309&amp;ssl=1 309w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 216px) 85vw, 216px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Boulevard-Monster-Jeremy-Hepler\/dp\/0998067954\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1522028414&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=The+Boulevard+Monster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Boulevard Monster\u00a0<\/em>by Jeremy Hepler<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Bloodshot Books (April 2017)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>300 pages; $14.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChadLutzke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chad Lutzke<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once in a while I\u2019ll start a review with some poetic prose plucked from the pages to give the reader an idea of the skills the writer may possess. \u00a0<em>The Boulevard Monster<\/em> has none of that. Instead, it\u2019s a straightforward, entertaining story with a thrilling Koontz-ish vibe&#8230;and the best book I\u2019ve read so far this year. There\u2019s good reason it was nominated for a Stoker award. Hepler\u2019s no-filler prose is designed to simply tell a story with no literary glitter, which makes perfect sense considering the protagonist. <\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a first-person account of a man who\u2019s telling his side of a story where accusations have been made against him regarding a series of disappearances&#8212;disappearances of local prostitutes, to be exact. The character is no hero. He\u2019s an everyday joe who owns a truck, drinks beer to wind down, works construction, and sports a lucky baseball cap. So when he\u2019s put into a position of body disposal&#8212;a mandatory task given him if he wants to keep his family intact&#8212;courtesy of our antagonist, the predicament feels real. Hepler takes an otherwise fantastical scenario and gives us legitimate reason, where it could have easily gone done a path of predictability,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">where dead horses lie beaten given the antagonist\u2019s identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Hepler is smarter than that and so wrote a debut novel that he\u2019d like to read. That we\u2019d all like to read, rather than the tiresome drivel we\u2019re given on a subject we\u2019re tired of hearing about. That dead horse. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve already said too much, and there\u2019s so much more I want to say about the subgenre this book could fall under yet doesn\u2019t because of the intelligent way it avoids certain tropes, and about Hepler\u2019s ability to keep the reader turning the pages, wondering if what we think is going on is really going on. Yes, I\u2019m being vague, and I really do want to say more. But I can\u2019t, because I believe in spoiler-free reviews. Read the book. You\u2019ll see.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Boulevard Monster\u00a0by Jeremy Hepler Bloodshot Books (April 2017) 300 pages; $14.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Chad Lutzke Once in a while I\u2019ll start a review with some poetic prose plucked from the pages to give the reader an idea of the skills the writer may possess. \u00a0The Boulevard Monster has none of that. Instead, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-the-boulevard-monster-by-jeremy-hepler\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: The Boulevard Monster by Jeremy Hepler&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[957,1156,1425,79,1424],"class_list":["post-11477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-bloodshot-books","tag-chad-lutzke","tag-jeremy-hepler","tag-reviews","tag-the-boulevard-monster"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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