CRESCENT by Phil Rossi

Crescent coverRATING: Four out of Five Sigs.

I listened to all of Phil Rossi's podcast novel CRESCENT.. I loved it. I think Phil has a big future ahead of him. Now, don't get me wrong here - I don't like Phil Rossi. He's a pretty boy. He gives hard-drinking (and horribly out of shape) authors like Hutchins and I a bad name. You hear me, Phil Rossi? Damn you and your hair! But the man can spin a cool-ass tale. Think of HP Lovecraft, in space, knocking boots with the slutty love child of Phillip K. Dick and Anne Rice. That's Crescent. Sign up now, and thank me later.

The strengths of CRESCENT are the mood and the setting. Rossi paints a dark texture all over this thing, with people doing what they have to do to stay alive in lives that don't really thrill them. It reads like a dark urban novel, only set in a city in space. As for the setting, the Crescent Station is a fantastic set. You really get a feel for this massive, unfinished city -- has that essence of an Earth city that could be great, if only it hadn't run out of public works money before a recession kicked in. Put Detroit in orbit, and it's Crescent.

There were were a couple of dings with this book. First of all, it was quite a bit longer than it needed to be. Once CRESCENT gets a strong edit, it's going to move faster and pack more punch. Second, I kind of got lost at the ending. There was no end to the action, but elements started to kick in that weren't explained properly in earlier parts of the book. That dulled a great listening experience, because I was enjoying it so much I wanted the ending to just knock me out.

Bottom line here, folks, is that if you like my podcast novels, I think you're going to love CRESCENT.