Product Description

Homeless Michael Fox is about to commit suicide when a mysterious billionaire surgeon stops him and offers him two million dollars-for his right arm. But Fox-s arm is only the beginning, as the surgeon continues his mad experiments, removing parts of Fox-s body bit by bit and reassembling him from other parts. And Fox isn-t the only one the doctor is experimenting on.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313051 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 289 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780843960129
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

Great Ideas, Average Execution
Michael Fox receives an offer of $2 million to give his right arm to a genius surgeon. As you would expect, things are not as they seem and our hero finds himself somewhat "out on a limb".

The story itself is quite imaginative and has its share of suspense. For the bulk of the novel I found it difficult to put down. Some of the situations really require a massive suspension of disbelief, but that's not such a big problem (this is a horror novel after all). There are some excellent horror ideas in the book too.

The novel does suffer in some areas though. The characters are not well developed at all, especially the villains who are some of the most one dimensional, evil stock characters I have ever read. The dialogue is quite poor and does not feel at all "real". The author also fails to relay a real sense of dread and does not, I feel, really protray the protagonist's suffering to the reader. The hero goes through the worst experiences imaginable, but he always comes out of them the same (despite constantly claiming to be losing his sanity), only slightly more angry.

Would I recommend Jigsaw Man? Absolutley, just take it for what it is: An entertaining piece of pulp horror. Don't expect it to make too much sense and don't expect any depth. Just read and enjoy.

Great fast paced horror novel
This was my first time reading Gord Rollo, and man, what a novel to start with! I believe this was the August book of the month selection for the Leisure Horror Book Club (along with Brian Keene's Ghost Walk) and I immediately picked it up and started reading after skimming the back cover and checking out the gruesome cover. I was surprised at how quickly I was pulled into the story.

This was a fast-paced read with a bit of gore, but a lot of good character development and a really interesting contemporary take on the Frankenstein plot. Here, the story is based on a renegade scientist and his efforts to advance neuroscience by spending his fortune on top notch (but morally questionable) expertise and equipment. Test subjects are recruited from the streets and asked to sign paperwork signing over body parts for the scientist's (Dr. Marshall's) latest research. Rollo's protagonist, Michael Fox, is someone you immediately empathize with, despite his addiction to cheap booze and his life as a less than reputable homeless person (he's not above breaking into cars for the occasional Sterno high). Mr. Fox is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity -- two million bucks, and all he has to give up is his right arm! Needless to say, there turns out to be more to the "opportunity" than he thinks...

Gord cites his influences as Stephen King, Richard Laymon, and Dean Koontz, and you can definitely see their influence at work -- he focuses on the storytelling and keeps the writing simple and clean. There are also echoes of Michael Crichton (think Terminal Man) in the story.

I read the whole book in a few hours and couldn't put it down. Highly recommended for readers of contemporary horror. I will be checking out Mr. Rollo's other stories for sure.

Good but lacking.
Jigsaw Man was a great book, but definitely lacking. Very well written, the reader has no problem diving right into the book and reading through the whole thing in a matter of days because you actually want to read it, and not just to get through it. There was never a dull moment, never a chapter I felt was unnecessary, and each moment I was trying to anticipate what might come next.

Other reviewers have said the villains are too "over the top" and "one dimensional." While I agree that the villains were 100% bad guy, I never felt like they were necessarily "too evil." They didn't have too much depth to them, but they didn't need it and it was clear that we weren't supposed to sympathize with them whatsoever. Unfortunately, where the book is lacking is that I didn't sympathize with the victims much either.

While the book was very well written, there was very little that ever really described anything. I never really felt like the author painted a clear picture in my mind of the setting, the characters, or even the horrible events that were transpiring. My imagination is fairly active and I'm an anatomy teacher, so I was able to fill in the blanks myself for most things in this book, but I imagine that for the average person this book would be fairly boring. Additionally, I felt that the characters we were supposed to sympathize with were far too one-dimensional and lacking much emotion. I never felt what the characters were feeling. I think that's where this book is left wanting.

Overall, a good read, very enjoyable, but hardly terrifying. You won't be getting nightmares from this horror novel, but you will get a few good days out of it. I'd recommend it for people with active imaginations.