The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway

The Unnoticeables (Unnoticeables, #1) (Vicious Circuit, #1)

by Robert Brockway

"From Robert Brockway, Sr. Editor and Columnist of Cracked.com comes The Unnoticeables, a funny and frightening urban fantasy. There are angels, and they are not beneficent or loving. But they do watch over us. They watch our lives unfold, analyzing us for repeating patterns and redundancies. When they find them, the angels simplify those patterns and remove the redundancies, and the problem that is "you" gets solved. Carey doesn't much like that idea. As a punk living in New York City, 1977, Carey is sick and tired of watching strange kids with unnoticeable faces abduct his friends. He doesn't care about the rumors of tar-monsters in the sewers or unkillable psychopaths invading the punk scene--all he wants is to drink cheap beer and dispense ass-kickings. Kaitlyn isn't sure what she's doing with her life. She came to Hollywood in 2013 to be a stunt woman, but last night a former teen heartthrob tried to eat her, her best friend has just gone missing, and there's an angel outside her apartment. Whatever she plans on doing with her life, it should probably happen in the few remaining minutes she has left. There are angels. There are demons. They are the same thing. It's up to Carey and Kaitlyn to stop them. The survival of the human race is in their hands. We are, all of us, well and truly screwed"-

Reviewed by Beth C. on

3 of 5 stars

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What if angels weren't exactly what we thought they were? They still answer to a higher power, but...it's not exactly a gracious and loving thing. Even worse? Those angels are in league with the demons - and they were spawned the same way.

This is what Robert Brockway has brought to life in 'The Unnoticeables'. A world where it is possible to see angels and demons, and even to become a "chosen one"...at the expense of your humanity and that of many others.The book moves between an unknown narrator, Carey (living in New York in 1977) and Kaitlyn (living in Hollywood in 2013-14), and illuminates how their lives intertwine in unexpected ways.

The story itself is odd, creepy, sometime scary, and absolutely fascinating. There are definite parallels that can be made between the angels/demons in the book and some religions, though I'm not sure if that is what the author was going for here. Outside of that, however - it's just a really good story. The pace moves quickly and the stranger elements are woven into the novel in such a way that I never found myself questioning them. It is fairly graphic in spots - death and sex are not strangers in this book. I hate spoilers, so I won't give any, but I will say if reading that statement gives you pause, then this *might* not be the book for you.

I believe it was Chuck Wendig that said this book is "Deliriously unhinged in the best way possible...", and I would have to agree with that statement. I didn't find the book "hilarious" as noted by someone one, so I wouldn't necessarily be looking for laugh-out-loud funny. But it had amusing spots, always tempered by a bizarre sober (and sometimes less-than) reality.

Overall, I wouldn't say it was an absolute favorite, but I'm glad I read it. It's certainly spawned from a mind and an imagination that has to have been called "overactive" many, many times. It's a great read, and one that I would recommend.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 August, 2015: Finished reading
  • 21 August, 2015: Reviewed