By JW Schnarr
Northern frights Publishing
ISBN:978-0973483789
Review by: Ronnie Tucker
Review posted 08/03/2011
Alice and Dorothy is, in essence, a road movie novel. It also pulls in inspiration from, as the author admits, Alice in Wonderland, and (to a lesser extent) The Wizard of Oz.
Alice is a drug addicted prostitute who often visits her dealer who is, shall we say, a 'friend with benefits' which works both ways. One night she begins convulsing, and her dealer (being the nice guy that he is) takes her to the hospital. Unfortunately he drops her off and bolts. Alice ends up in the funny farm and it's here she, and we, meet Dorothy who, the doctors suspect, tried to killer herself. They eventually become friends, even lovers, and decide to make a jail break. Along the way things go horribly wrong involving a brick of dope, guns, hallucinations, and (of course) death.
My main complaint is that the Alice hallucinations really confuse matters as you, like Alice, begin to wonder what's real and what's hallucination. Having Alice as just a plain Jane good ol' psychopath would have been just dandy, and would probably have been a nod toward realism such as Aileen Wurnos the female serial killer.
Every so often there's be several words in italics, I assume, emphasized something, but sometimes the part emphasized didn't make sense, and I'd have to go back, and re-read a sentence/two to see what the emphasis was for! That really popped me out of the story on many occasions.
Still, a good story none the less. It has a strong female character, a hint of madness, and plenty of gore. I'm sure if you're a fan of Alice in Wonderland you'll love it even more.
The official Alice and Dorothy Page http://andjws.blogspot.com/
