The Quest for Nothing in Particular by Jonathan-David Jackson

The Quest for Nothing in Particular 
by Jonathan-David Jackson

Description:
Oscar isn't looking for anything, since he has just about everything he could want. A wife. A house. A hedgehog that isn't trying to gnaw his face off. But their life of comfort lived under martial law is disrupted when the Red Fist Army suddenly disbands and a nuclear weapon goes missing, leaving it up to Oscar and his wife Penelope to save their town.

My Review:
Ron is still out there, causing mayhem, lurking and watching, stealing orange juice. Oscar knows it. Has always known it, even before the Red Fist tightened its grip on his small town. Even before all the madness that ensued after that fateful day when the mysterious man behind the cooler stole that bottle of Sunshine Juice right out from Oscar’s grasp. The day everything changed. The Quest for Nothing in Particular is the third and final volume of the Paranoia trilogy, and it’s just as eccentric, quirky and humorous as the first two.

The characters are memorable and unique, faulty and broken to an almost superhuman degree. In particular, I love how we really get into Oscar’s head. He’s exceedingly paranoid and knows it, but not everything is in his head. Even as Oscar struggles to separate reality from paranoid delusion, very real things continue to happen around him. Some so odd they are humorous, some quite disturbing. The mix is something I’ve enjoyed from the first book and has remained true through the end of this one.

The animal characters get their own spotlight in this one, and it’s quite fun. No, they aren’t talking animals, but they are just as charismatic and flawed as their human masters/friends are. Mr. Hodge will always be my favorite, but William the rat also steals the show in a surprising way.
And of course the mysterious villain, Ron, is he real? And, if so, what’s his beef with Oscar? These are questions this book finally answers and in a satisfyingly epic conclusion to one of the oddest quests I’ve ever read about.

Besides the characters, one more feature of this book must be mentioned: the footnotes. Yes, there are footnotes. But they aren’t the kind you write for college papers or the kind you see in non-fiction. They are a delightful distraction, tossed in wherever they happened to land in the story. A slow part, an epic battle, a romantic scene, no matter, there’s likely a footnote to lure you away to some odd, factual or even nonsensical tidbit. I make it a point to read them exactly when I come across them for best effect.

Overall, I loved this book as much as I did the first two. I’d definitely recommend it to people who like a humorous, quirky story with a bit of danger and a lot of fun. There’s some adult content, and while it pokes fun at some serious things, the underlying theme is one of accepting people, even when they are flawed.

I received the review copy of this book from the author in return for an honest, non-reciprocal review.


About the Author:

Jonathan-David Jackson was born in Gastonia, North Carolina, at 3 in the morning on May 14, 1987. At first, he could not walk, talk, or indeed use the toilet. After a year of intensive training in NC, he moved his family to Kingsport, Tennessee, where he finally overcame those early disabilities. Soon, he was walking and talking as good as anyone, and perhaps better. Walking and talking wasn't good enough, though, so he also learned to write.

He wrote and wrote, and with gentle encouragement from his wife, he finally wrote a book. Then he wrote this biography. Then he wrote other books. Perhaps he'll do more things; that would certainly be exciting.

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