After losing her parents in a manner similar to the death of
Jayne Mansfield, seventeen-year-old Hilda knows life is
temporary and death stalks us all. Benji is one of the few
people not weirded out by her loss; in fact, he finds it
intriguing. Exploring the shadows of sunny L.A., they bond
while collecting artifacts of death from sites of faded
tragedy where actors, writers and other Hollywood icons met
death through murder, misadventure or suicide.
On a quest for the death site of a forgotten silent film
star, they meet Hank, a gruff old man with secrets beyond
living, in an apartment with bathroom tiles that saw
suicide. As Benji's fascination steps past sane boundaries,
Hilda is torn between the comfort she finds in the study of
death, and hints that life has more to offer her.
JOHN BELUSHI IS DEAD sidesteps the thinly-veiled moralizing
many first novels leap into with both feet.
Although some might find the subject matter and profanity
offensive, the language used is rough and real and I
consider this a wonderful novel for young adults or anyone
else who appreciates a rich, meaty read. First novel or
(hopefully someday) tenth novel, Kathy Charles writes a
hellava good book.
An offbeat and unexpectedly moving debut novel about two
teenagers who let their obsession with celebrity death
interfere with living life.
IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.
Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your
typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging
out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban
culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and
suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and
Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in
favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in
Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity
death.
Hilda and Benji’s morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn
when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a
dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star
once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda
feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care
deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies
together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when
Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter,
inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at
Hank’s terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she’s
come to Echo Park searching for . . . and whether her
fascination with death is worth missing out on life.
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