Imagine My Surprise! is the fictional memoir of Keenan Solomon Harris, a seven-year-old who claims to be the reincarnation of a murdered San Francisco drug kingpin, Kurt Houston. The story follows Kurts descent from failed writer to heroin-addicted criminal, betrayed and killed on his 50th birthday by one of his cronies. Reborn fully conscious 5 years later as a boy named Keenan, he hides his identity while navigating the challenges of childhood in a dysfunctional Bay Area family. He befriends a homeless army veteran, Stoli, who becomes his ally after Keenan tells him where to find Kurts stash of drug money. After making a fresh start with the financial windfall, Stoli helps Keenan confront his killer at a Giants stadium suite. Keenan finally reveals his true identity, sparking a violent showdown. Part coming-of-age story, part crime novel, Imagine My Surprise! is a darkly comic meditation on childhood in the 21st century and the dangers of substance abuse.
Arvustused
Haddock creates a truly unique premise and somehow pulls it off. The story balances hilarity with heart, ending in a satisfying showdown. . . . A story that readers will have trouble putting down. Publishers Weekly/Booklife
An engaging and amusingly crude must-read. Kirkus Reviews
"Imagine My Surprise! is a novel that will make you laugh, wonder, and break your heart. It's a kind of Look Who's Talking meets Pulp Fiction written with the finely-tuned style of a virtuoso novelist." Wes Brown, author of Breaking Kayfabe: A Novel
Imagine My Surprise! is hard to put down, and it entertainingly pushes the crime genre to new possibilities. Mr. Haddock has written an edgy morality tale, a surreal existential crime novel that fuses comedy and tragedy in a surprisingly delightful way." Jeffrey Weissman, Writer/Actor/Director
K.S. Haddock, a graduate of the University of California (B.A. Psychology), is the author of the Gen-X noir novel The Patricidal Bedside Companion (St. Martins Press, 1994). He is an active member of the San Francisco arts community, garnering three Best of the San Francisco Fringe Festival Awards for Thanatics, A Rock Opera (2006), a musical adaptation of Sartres No Exit, entitled Hell, The Musical (2009), and his alternate-universe musical, Hitler in the Green Room (2017). From 2011-2019, he played with the metal-grass band, The Gravel Spreaders. From 2022-24, he directed the Cheapside Music Hall, the headlining stage show at San Franciscos much beloved Dickens Christmas Fair. K.S. is married with children and resides in San Francisco. He makes his living as an Art Director for Industrial Light and Magic / LucasFilm.
