The (Short) Intro

The Creep is a harrowing story of a detective struggling to find himself, solve a mystery, and avoid his ex-lover. I felt as transfixed reading it as a Sherlock Holmes short story.

The Good

The visuals in this book at first seemed quite ordinary until I got a little ways in. The Creep uses a drastic switch from clean comic book lines to thin, waverly watercolor as a visual cue between the actual world of comic book and the inside of a character’s head. The work in watercolor is spot on. Of course, I am biased; I love watercolor in comic books.  ( *Cough . . . Koko Be Good . . . Cough*) The visual clues throughout the book in regards to the central mystery work with the central plot to confound the reader and alone warrant a second reading.

The plot in and of itself is simple; however, it is masterfully written, with the author taking us along with the character’s thought process, putting aside dramatic irony in favor of a more point-of-view experience, where we know no more than he does.

Add in the complex dynamic of a character dealing with the loss of his health and appearance, his struggle with addiction ignited by an old nemesis, and a puzzling pulpy mystery, which in the end, like all good noir mysteries, is solved by a stroke of luck and good detective work, and you have the recipe for an amazing book over all.

The Bad

The only problem I have with The Creep, as with many serialized mysteries that become collections, is that it is so good you will want to rush through it.  In order to truly savor the mystery and contemplate your own solutions, I feel the book should be digested in bits, letting the author cleverly toy with our logic and emotions. This might be difficult if you are impatient . . . like me.

The Verdict



If you like anything noir or pulpy, make sure you read The Creep, and if you don’t, this book might just make a fan out of you.

Speaking of Creeps, be one. Follow me on Twitter, @maxwbeaulieu, and on my website, www.maxwbeaulieu.com.  Thanks for reading.