Author: David Terruso
Release Date: 7th January, 2015
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Mystery | Fiction | Dark Comedy
Edition: Kindle
Pages: 307
Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital
Source: NetGalley

BLURB

Bobby Pinker hates his humdrum corporate job. He only has one friend at work, a comedian named Ron. Just as their friendship starts to blossom, Ron is found dead in the office parking garage.

The police rule Ron’s death a suicide, but Bobby becomes convinced one of his coworkers murdered him. He starts snooping around the office, slipping voice-activated tape recorders under desks, breaking into the HR filing cabinet, and tailing people home.

Bobby’s investigation will likely get him fired. It will possibly get him arrested. And if he isn’t careful, it just might get him killed.

Cube Sleuth is a dark comedy and an amateur-detective murder mystery.

A tragedy told with comedic timing.

And a raunchy tale of a twenty-something bachelor whose libido leads him down a dangerous path.

If you like mysteries with richly developed characters, crisp dialogue, bizarre twists, and boner jokes, this is the book for you.

RATING

REVIEW

PLOT | STORY

Cube Sleuth is an excellent book with an awesome plot line and mind-boggling twists. The story is pretty straight and simple to grasp but the twists make it a great mystery and will keep you thinking the entire time. I had a hard time figuring out who the possible murderer could be but, being an excellent mystery this book is, it proved me wrong like the hundredth time! The pace of the story was great and the morbid humour kept me entertained the whole time.

CHARACTERS

The characterisation is great. The lead character, Bobby pinker, is really well-developed and very well-thought-out character. David did a great job in making the readers understand Bobby, as an emotionally fucked-up character, very clearly. The personality of Bobby is that of a typical guy who lives in denial and his own thought-prison, unable to love anyone and running away from those who love him, thinking low about his own self.

ROMANCE

There’s quite a lot romance going on in the book. First Booby is in a relationship with Nancy and everything goes good, but the he cheats on her and dumps her as he felt that he wasn’t good enough for her, which really made me think of him as a jerk. Then he gets involved with Ron’s girlfriend, Helen, and both try to keep the relation going as they thought of each other as a substitute of Ron in their life. That relation ends when Helen cheats on Bobby. Then he realises his mistake and tries to do God-knows-what by sending Nancy (who’s still in love with him) a bunch of roses, that apparently he never did before. Well… as I said, Bobby is a typical “emotionally fucked up” guy.

WRITING

Cube Sleuth is a brilliantly written mystery with a sprinkle of dark comedy. The writing style was really simple and made this book a comfortable read for me. I really liked David’s sense of dark humour. Sometimes while reading in public I even giggled like a loon. David’s writing style is really unique. first he describes what’s going on and then he takes you back some days ago and starts to explain how that actually happened. This is how the chapters are written in the book, which was new to me and to be honest, I really liked it. At the beginning of each chapter I’m like “What!” and then by the end I’m like “Oohh!” So it kept me totally engrossed. I’m hoping to read more books by David in future.

BEGINNING

The pace of the book was great from the start. You get a clear idea about where the story is going and what is the plot about just in the starting pages. In the beginning I was convinced that Ron’s death was nothing more than a suicide but after just a few pages I was confident it was a murder, but it took me just few more pages to think again. It kept me guessing from the start, I really like this book for it.

ENDING

The ending is something I wouldn’t have expected even if someone would have told me beforehand! Yea, it was that impossible, and mind you, I’m not taking about ‘who the murderer was?’ but about the way it ended for Bobby. I was speechless after I read the last few lines and felt like I was in a void for some minutes. It was a really strong and effective ending.

BLURB

The blurb says it all. It couldn’t have been better and to the point.

COVER ART

I like the covers of both the editions. they plain and simple yet elegant.

You can also read this review at Goodreads | Amazon.

OTHER STUFF

Opening line: I stand at the front of a meeting room, an uncomfortable smile like a wet leaf on a windshield stuck to my face.

Highlights: Brilliant writing and excellent sense of dark humour.

Lowlights: None

Memorable Quotes:

You know your career is in bad shape when you find yourself wishing you were the janitor.

No matter how beautiful a girl is, how sweet, how kinky, the one thing she can never be is another girl.

My mother starts to fear that I died in my apartment and no one has smelled me yet if we go more than four days without talking.

Memorable Paragraph: 

A woman in my department once told me that we are all dying a little more each day. death doesn’t happen the moment you keel over to get shot or your parachute doesn’t open. Death happens cell by cell from the moment of your birth. Maybe it starts in the womb. Everyday is a death, she said. This idea seems truest when I’m at work. that familiar smell in the office that I’ve never been able to place: it’s probably the subtle scent of gradual death.

My parents met in Catholic school in 1960. They were both eight. Liz was Italian, Michael was Irish. When they started dating at sixteen,  their ethnicity was a huge issue for both the families. i have no idea why.Irish people and Italian people are exactly the same. It’s the difference between pasta and potatoes, getting drunk on beer or wine. the Italian flag is green, white, and red. The Irish flag is green, white, and orange. But there’s still some tension between the two families to this day.

Final Thoughts: A brilliantly written book.