4 stars
Well let me start off by saying I'm not totally sure what to say about this novel. It was far more intense that I would have expected and the cover art was just amazing.
Summary:
Jason Teal, is a hip-hop deejay and producer who dropped out in his last semester as a college astrophysics major and moved to San Francisco with his rapper friends to pursue a career in music. Three years later, the hip-hop group he co-founded has signed a major label deal – without him. Meanwhile, Jason has lost sight of his dream. He’s working a job he hates, and his relationship with his stripper-girlfriend has hit rock bottom. And now, with greater frequency, he’s having hallucinations. He hallucinates walls and trains covered with graffiti pieces (burners).
The book has a strong sexual component. Jason’s girlfriend, Alicia, has become an exotic dancer to support her three-year-old daughter, and to put herself through school to earn a degree in psychology. But as she exploits her sexual power in the club, she also becomes its victim.
The torrid passion that brought Jason and Alicia together has now turned sadistic and self-destructive.Into the chaos of Jason’s downward spiral steps a mysterious figure with ties to a secret society.Cyril has the power to transform Jason’s life overnight. He has money. He has answers. He seems to know everything. But first Jason must prove himself worthy of such a mentor and undergo “The TEST.” The TEST will take Jason down the rabbit-hole into the new paradigm of wave/particle duality where quantum physics meets mysticism at the level of the unseen. In the rabbit hole, he’ll encounter a dominatrix with a chip on her shoulder, a gangster who blew off his leg making a bomb, a man in a wheelchair dressed as a pharaoh beckoning him with ESP, a ginseng store owner who looks like Peter Lorre on speed, CIA MK ULTRA experiments, and many more weird and terrifying things that will lead to a head-on collision with himself, and the Big Bang of consciousness. But in a world where celebrities are treated like gods, and the corporate media molds our notion of Reality, consciousness of this degree comes with a price.
My take:
Burner deals with a whole lot of things that are outside of my normal realm. Dj's, hip-hop, and the like. What drew me to want to read it was the talks of the Illuminati. I'm always a sucker for conspiracy theories. This one though was more complex than I could have even imagined. In many ways I have known quite a few people like Jason.
So smart and talented, but they just can't seem to get out of their own way. How many people everyday could be fantastic but hold themselves back? What would those people, down on their luck, struggling to get by, do to rise to the top. What would you do if fame and everything you have ever wanted was within your grasp?
Burner is an intense read. This won't be one that you fly through, I know I didn't. This is one that you are going to be glad you worked through.
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