Smooth and funny...

The following is reprinted from Listen and Be Heard Weekly.

A Couple Days' Read

“Secret labs, biological weapons, and a government plot that may threaten all of humanity may sound more like what we expect to hear on the nightly news than fun reading, but, when they are part of a humorous novel by Tony Vigorito they turn out more entertaining than frightening. Just a Couple of Days follows Dr. Flake Fountain into the threatened apocalypse from government experiments gone wrong. A cast of characters that can only be described as zany keeps the otherwise serious subject matter from becoming depressing. Despite the light-hearted telling, it remains easy to imagine how close to reality it could come someday.

I was a good third of the way into this novel when I realized that I didn’t know what it was about. I’d read the blurb on the back cover, so I knew what it claimed it was about, but I had yet to see any sign of a plotline developing in that direction. However, the reason it took me so long to notice the slow plot development was because I was well entertained along the way. Amusing scenes introducing and developing fun characters, interspersed with philosophical sections dealing with the nature of communication and thought seem unconnected. Yet, the writing is smooth, and funny, and there is enough in the mix to get your mind pondering these issues. A good chunk of the novel is past before the meat of the story really begins seriously developing. At last the government’s secret biological weapons research is discovered, and the inevitable crazy whirlwind of events that accidentally unleashes it begins.

Just a Couple of Days is a fast read. In the 346 pages, there are 158 ‘chapters,’ if they can really be called that. Some are only a paragraph long. Once the plot gets going, the action moves along at a fairly rapid pace, not leaving the reader, or the characters much time to ponder what’s going to happen next before it happens. The nature of the biological weapon in question is far from typical. It brings into question what is truly essential to the human existence, and the possibility of destroying humanity, without actually hurting anyone. Too many more details, I’m afraid would spoil the book for those interested. The philosophical interludes do continue to jump in occasionally, and do at last begin to feel related to the rest of the story as the novel progresses...”

Review by Kara Hartz.