lovelybookshelf's Review of Bacon and Egg Man

by Ken Wheaton

In the halls of Congress, on the streets, in the media, the war on fast food is on. Tofu may be topical, but bacon is eternal.

Bacon and Egg Man, Ken Wheaton's second novel, is a sly send-up of a politically correct food establishment, where the Northeast has split off from the rest of the United States. The new Federation is ruled by the electoral descendants of King Mike, a man who made it his mission to form a country based on good, clean living.

But you can't keep good food down. And Wes Montgomery, a journalist at the last print paper in the Federation, is a mild-mannered bacon-and-egg dealer on the side. Until he gets pinched and finds himself thrust into Chief Detective Blunt's wild-eyed plot to bring down the biggest illegal food supplier in the land. To make matters worse, Wes is partnered with Detective Hillary Halstead, the cop who, while undercover, became his girlfriend.

Their journey takes them from submarine lairs to sushi speakeasies, from Montauk to Manhattan, where they have to negotiate with media magnate the Gawker before a climactic rendezvous with the secretive man who supplies the Northeast with its high-cholesterol contraband, the most eternal of all breakfast foods: bacon and eggs.

Originally posted on my blog, A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall:

A humorous satire set in a dystopian 2050, Ken Wheaton's Bacon and Egg Man was certainly entertaining! Soda bans, obesity, the government, the internet, reality shows, art, global warming, bloggers... nothing is safe from a playful jab in this book.

A danger with this type of premise is that it can quickly take on gimmicky feel. I actually didn't feel that way at any point throughout. The satire was clever; sometimes blatant, sometimes very subtle.

The only thing I didn't like as much: There were a number of distasteful situations and random foul language that didn't seem to add to the story at all. Whenever this showed up (mostly through the middle of the novel) it just felt excessive and distracting.

However, this is a fast, quirky read - dystopian brain candy with enough pieces of reality to keep you on guard. There was a little twist at the end I didn't see coming at all. Overall, Bacon and Egg Man was a lot of fun, especially with its healthy dose of wanna-tick-people-off. I'm interested to read more by Ken Wheaton.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Bacon and Egg Man

by Ken Wheaton

Reviewed by lovelybookshelf on Aug 10, 2013

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