Important things you need to know about the book:
Pace: The pacing of Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect is fast. This book started fast and stayed fast the entire time. Even with everything going on and the multiple POVs, the author didn’t slow anything down. I expected lag because of that. I was surprised when there was only minor lag in the middle of the book.
Trigger/Content Warning: There are trigger/content warnings in Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect. The author did mention that in the book’s blurb. If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading this book. They are:
- Gore (graphic)
- Blood (graphic)
- Murder (graphic)
- Body Horror (graphic)
- Child Death (graphic)
- Confinement (graphic)
- Gun Violence (graphic)
- Sexual Violence (graphic)
- Slavery (graphic)
- Violence (graphic)
- Kidnapping (graphic)
- Cannibalism (graphic)
- Toxic Friendship (graphic)
- Death (graphic)
- Emotional Abuse (moderate to graphic)
- Physical Abuse (graphic)
- Rape (graphic)
- Suicide (graphic)
- Human Trafficking (explicit)
- Grief (graphic)
- Alcohol (graphic)
- Alcoholism (moderate to graphic)
- Drug use (moderate)
- Pedophilia (moderate)
- Death of a parent (moderate)
- Forced Incest (moderate)
- Bullying (minor)
- Anxiety and anxiety attacks (minor to moderate)
- Depression (minor to moderate)
- Forced Pregnancy (graphic)
Sexual Content: There is graphic sexual content in Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect. It is wrapped up with rape and sexual assault scenes.
Language: There is graphic cursing in the book.
Setting: Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect is set mainly in New York State (New York City and Upstate New York) and California (Los Angeles and Beverly Hills). There are a couple of chapters set in Illinois.
Tropes: Monsters, Aliens, Humans Can Be Evil, Bad Things Happen at Night, Cults and Religious Extremists, Backing into Darkness, Severed Limbs, Deal with the Devil, Creepy Settings, Defeated Monster Comes Back to Life
Age Range: I recommend Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect to anyone over 21.
Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):
Jigglyspot is a five-foot half-human, half-warlock. When not working at a traveling carnival, Jiggly spends his time running errands for demons and murdering unsuspecting teenagers. But this year, Jiggly has a lot on his plate. He has been selected as the event coordinator of a gathering of demons. It will be on the Summer Solstice and held at the prestigious Cannibal Cafe. Spread thin, Jiggly hopes that the higher-ups see the sacrifices that he is making to make this happen. But there are forces at work that want to disrupt the event, and some of them are working on the inside. Will Jiggly be able to make everything happen, or will everything (including himself) be destroyed in the mayhem that his enemies will cause?
Main Characters
Before I get into the character section, I want to give everyone a heads-up. Besides Christopher (who is thirteen) and Mills, there are no good guys in this book. Everyone has done something heinous to get to the Cannibal Cafe. So, keep this in mind while reading my views on these characters.
Jigglyspot the Clown: Jiggly was a complicated character. Don’t get me wrong, he was pure evil. The things he did to his victims at the beginning of the book turned my stomach. But, after he arrived in California, his character started to evolve. He was still a sick SOB, but he showed a human side. But that human side only extended so far.
Tyler Reese: Like Jiggly, Tyler was a complicated character. What he did to his best friend was awful. Considering what he wanted to do, I liked that the author chose not to go down that path. Unlike Jiggly, though, Tyler wasn’t pure evil. He was getting there through the bullying and the abuse his father put him through. But when he entered the Cannibal Cafe, he was at a crossroads. I was pretty satisfied with the path the author chose to have him go down.
Shannon Mable: I didn’t like Shannon, and my dislike of her grew as I read her chapters. She was willing to do whatever it took to make it in Hollywood. I was a little surprised at the turn her character took, but considering how her character acted in the previous chapters, it made sense. I felt that she reaped what she sewed towards the end of the book.
SC John Mills: Besides Christopher, he was the only adult in this book that I felt bad for. He had been shaped and toyed with by Jiggly for decades (the flashbacks of what Jiggly did to his wife and daughter were awful). Everything that Jiggly did to him had a purpose, leading him to the events in the middle of the book. That didn’t sit right with me, and I was glad that the author then did another quick turn with his character. That fundamentally good man was allowed to shine at the end of the book.
Delilah (Lily) Hempstead: Initially, I was amused at her portrayal. The author did have her spot on as one of those reviewers who eviscerated everything they read. But my amusement soured the more I saw her interactions with her children, mainly Christopher. I can’t go much more into her character other than to say that she did do a 180, and she did what any mother would have done. But it didn’t wipe her slate clean, and the implications at the very end of the book grossed me out.
Christopher Hempstead: Christopher was the only innocent person in the entire book. My heart broke for him at several points during the book. You could see his character growing up and becoming the man he would be during several key scenes. It is what made that scene at the end of the book so sad for me.
My review:
Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect is a well-written and terrifying book. It took my slight dislike of clowns and morphed it into a fear. I will never look at a clown the same way again.
Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect follows several people (Jiggly, Shannon, John, Tyler, Lily, and Christopher) on the days before, on and beyond what happened at that horrible carnival. Some very explicit and very gruesome scenes turned my stomach. But they also kept my attention and made me not want to put the book down.
The storyline with Jiggly and his work to get the celebration of the Solstice turned my stomach and almost made me cry in some places. I did have to give him props for the ingenious way of gathering recruits and sacrifices. How he did it was original (and I will never go on a ride like that again!!).
The storyline with Shannon and her quest for fame bored me until her boyfriend took her to dinner. Then, my interest was caught. Again, it was horrifying and made me wince during several scenes. Shannon got what she wanted and then some. I also felt that she deserved the result.
The storyline with John was one of the sadder ones. He was hot on the trail of a serial killer (Jiggly) until something awful happened to him. I won’t get into this storyline much, but as I said above, he is a fundamentally good man, and you cannot change that.
The storyline with Tyler started awful, and being in his head, reading his reasoning for things was sad. But Tyler became an anti-hero during the last part of the book. He did redeem himself in my eyes.
The storyline with Lily and Christopher bugged me. Lily was a mean drunk who belittled Christopher all the time. Her hobby as a book reviewer made her a pompous know-it-all, too. But, Lily slowly (think turtle slow) morphed into the mother she should have been after the events of the carnival. The ending of this storyline bugged me. It showcased Christopher’s loss of innocence, and it hinted at something much, much more profound and grosser. It wasn’t the way I wanted that storyline to end (even if I didn’t like Lily).
The horror angle of this book was spot on (chef’s kiss). I was terrified but kept reading because I wanted to know when everything would end for the characters. Each chapter went deeper into depravity. I will admit there were some scenes that I was uncomfortable with.
The end of Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect made me wonder if there would be a second one. While the main storyline (with the Cannibal Cafe) was wrapped up, well, sort of, the rest were not. It was the very end and mentions of characters that were in Golem that made me think that. I would love to see more of this universe and what was glimpsed when Tyler was with Kera.
Many thanks to PD Alleva for allowing me to read and review Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect. All opinions stated in this review are mine.