Please forgive the poor grammar. I am too angry.

I just finished reading this book called "Brown Harvest" by Jay Russell. Words cannot describe how disgusted I feel at this moment. This book is based on a very cute premise. What would happen if Encyclopedia Brown (EB) returned to Idaville - here called Ideaville - a few years later as an older, jaded, young adult. What would become of the once great detective who sat in his garage solving crimes for 25 cents?

What Russell attempts to do is tell a story about the loss of innocence of America. EB returns to town bitter and jaded, there for the funeral of his former partner and childhood sweetheart (sort of) Sally - in this story named Sandy. As the story ensues, we hear all the lewd details of Sandy's fall from grace, tales of prostitution and fellatio involving Bugs Meany, EB's father (the former chief of police) and a slew of outrageous, meaningless characters based on other child detectives (The Hardy Boys) and other fictional characters (Curious George and the man in the yellow hat).

What starts off as a cute premise, degenerates into something between pure smut and outrageous, idiot violence over the last half of the book. Sandy's character is presumed dead at least 3 times, so much so that it fails to shock by the last time it happens. The vicious gunplay that dominatees the final portion of the book and serves to resolve all the loose ends reads like utter drivel and nonsense.

In short, I cannot believe I read this book. My recommendation: Garbage bin!

On the bright side, I now have a frontrunner for worst book read in the 21st century!