Wild Thing by Josh Bazell

You have to be in the mood for something off the wall bizarre to enjoy this book.  You also have to be willing to deal with the bizarre elements mixed with crude language and gory situations.  Check, check and check; I was ready to hunt down a mythical beast.

In the deep woods of Minnesota is a little visited lake reputed to be the home of an incredible beast.  Billionaires are converging on a lodge, each paying a million dollars each, to track and hopefully see the creature.  Little do these intrepid adventurers know but the beast has killed people before.  And it has a bite resembling the fabled Nessie more than any other creature known to man.

This is a loose sequel to Beat the Reaper starring a “reformed” Mafia hit man on the run.  He goes by so many names it’s hard to know what to call him besides “the main character.”  The book employs a technique in fiction that I adore, but some people loathe: footnotes.  I like snarky informative footnotes in whatever I’m reading but fiction most of all.  I skimmed the Appendix and the Source Notes because while they were interesting to have and it was cool that the author included them, they weren’t interesting enough to hold my interest.