Dexter Boomstick is a book that I kept seeing pop up all over Instagram it seems.  “Why don’t I have this, too?!” I cried out.  And it’s as if the bookstagram gods parted the skies and I opened up my inbox and saw a message from the author, M.P. Lombardo, asking if I wanted a copy of the book.  HELLZ. YEA. 
 

Starting out, I love the premise of the book and the underlying story.  Lombardo’s creativity is on another level with some of the things he comes up with (especially some of the “monsters” or “demons”).  A downside here is that I wanted even more of his creativity to shine through.  The monsters/demons seemed to come and go in a matter of paragraphs.  I did not really have enough time to let the terror build up inside me.  I was able to read enough about them to want more but then I was disappointed when nothing else came.


On to the characters.  I definitely enjoyed the titular character, Dexter.  He is a confident guy who knows how to swing that golden bat!  If you don’t have a strong lead, the rest of the book can crumble around it.  One scene in here I really loved was when Dexter was in attack mode and we are told to imagine Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People” song playing.  I TOTALLY pictured it and could see each jump and swing of the bat to the rhythm of the song.  I loved that Lombardo was able to make that scene even more alive and real in this experience.


Then there is Joe.  I love Joe, I hate Joe, and  I also love to hate Joe.  He is the quintessential fratty douchebag kind of guy that we have all been annoyed with over time.  But he still makes me laugh and I gotta love him for that.

Roxanne is Dexter’s girlfriend and I wish we had seen more of her.  It would have been interesting for her to be a stronger character and allow us to see through her eyes what all is going on.  All we really get is a lot of, “Oh, Dexter, I am so scared! Save me!” type stuff.  But maybe she was excluded to draw some mystery onto whether or not she was alive or dead the whole time?  Who knows!  I just wanted more of her and I wanted her to be stronger and less co-dependent. 

NOW we get to Gabby.  Gabby.  I never liked girls like this.  Thirsty, desperate, pathetic, homewreckers.  Leave Dexter alone and support his committed relationship, yo!  HE DON’T WANT YOU!  

 
This is a 3.5 out of 5 read for me.  It was fun, campy, and had certain horror elements that I thought were executed well.  I do recommend this to people and at 170 pages, it can be ready fairly quickly if needed.  Thanks to M.P. Lombardo for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and I definitely look forward to seeing this series continue and grow!  And I want to read more about the scary monsters!