Full disclosure: This review will not be unbiased in any way. Full bias ahead! Jacob and I have been friends for nearly ten years, I’m his biggest fan, and I had a direct hand in this book. Now that’s out of the way, let’s dive in.
Godfather Death, MD, is the story of Danny Grimm, who suffered the loss of his parents and most of his siblings in one tragic event, ten years ago. Since then, he’s lived under the shadow of loss and public scrutiny, trying to live a normal childhood, when everyone knows his story. On the anniversary of the accident, Danny’s mysterious and estranged godfather comes back into his life, triggering a series of events that bend the laws of time and morality, and set everyone on a collision course with destiny. Danny is the only one who can fix the timeline, but it would mean an even bigger sacrifice
Characters
Danny Grimm is a teen navigating the transition out of high school, into the larger world, trying to figure out who he is. However, the citizens of Costa Linda only know him as that boy who survived the car crash that killed almost his whole family. Some even believe him cursed. He’s hot-headed, reactionary, and impulsive, but also open-minded, introspective, and sentimental. He’s a deeply wounded kid, just trying to heal and figure out where to go next.
Dr Miguel Moritz appears at this crossroad in Danny’s life, and at first, looks like he’ll be the mentor that Danny has been searching for. He’s warm, steady, easygoing, and wise, but he comes with a strict no-contact rule from Danny’s aunt, Cass. Something mysterious, something related to Miguel’s true identity, happened in the past to cause a rift between him and the Grimm family.
Macy and Logan are Danny’s best friends. Nurturing and mystical Macy and goofy-but-skeptical Logan are foils to each other, and both temper or encourage Danny’s traits. They also kind of act like a Greek chorus, foreshadowing and adding insight to the events of the story. Also, they each have some of the best lines. I love them so much. Fun fact, it was actually Macy’s tarot scene that got me involved in this project- and then I dug my claws in!
Honourable mention: the late Grimm family. Danny is the youngest of eleven kids, making the nuclear family thirteen strong. Jacob managed to give them all distinct personalities and distinguishing traits. I won’t list examples, but it’s so good.
Plot
So obviously, I’m not going to spoil what actually happens. I will say that there was one twist that completely floored me, and just flung the whole book into a completely different trajectory, and it was already unpredictable, up to that point. It follows a kind of nonlinear structure, in a way, but it also flows organically, and feels very natural. We go on an emotional journey from Costa Linda to an interdimensional (extradimensional? The literal Underworld?) space, through alternate timelines where the past, present, and future exist concurrently, and end up miles away from where we started, as changed as the characters themselves.
Themes
I won’t lie to you, this book is heavy. You all know what I’ve been dealing with over this last year, and I was critiquing this book as it was happening. Jacob hit me up in January to have a look at the opening scenes and Macy’s tarot reading, then Breanna passed in February, so for me, Godfather Death, MD and dealing with losing Breanna are inextricably linked. As the name implies, especially to those familiar with the Brothers Grimm story, this book is all about processing grief. However, it’s also about figuring out where you fit in the world, figuring out where you fit with the people around you, and also juggling public perception of your situation. Not to mention the mental and emotional changes you go through with extreme and sudden grief. It changes you, as a person.
Change is also a big theme. Danny is on the edge of adulthood, his friends are going off to college, and he’s trying to figure out his next steps. After the accident, his two surviving, much older siblings, moved away- one started a new life and one festered. That’s part of why Miguel is such a warm light- Danny doesn’t know why, at first,but Miguel is one of the few things in creation that doesn’t change and won’t leave, for better or worse, and there’s a comfort to that. More than anything else, Danny wants things to go back to the way things were…and stay that way.
Time and timelessness also feature heavily. Obviously, clocks and hourglasses are symbols of death, but the story also plays with the idea of time and how it works and what is immune, and what happens when time stops. This goes back to change, as well, because some things are not meant to stay static.
Liminality is also, well, hmm. It’s hard to explain. But that’s also liminal, isn’t it? There’s a lot of discussion of the space between things, the spaces outside of things. Things that aren’t just one thing or another, but both and neither. Time, space, relationships, personal identity- nothing is concrete or what it appears to be.
Like most of Jacob’s books, another central theme is family. The Grimms, for being a huge family, were close and tight-knit. Danny’s found family is just as important, in some ways and at some points, even more healthy and beneficial than blood relatives.
Lastly, Godfather Death, MD asks the nature of story. Is mythology inherently fictional, are imperical facts immutable? Can the details of a true story be changed or interpreted? Just because a story is made up, does that mean it’s not true?
Style
Jacob’s style is so breezy and conversational, it reads like a friend telling you the story. He usually writes for a Young Adult and Mixed Generation audience, and one thing most readers familar with his work will notice is all the swears! *gasp!* This book has Big Kid Words, for sure, but I actually feel like it adds to the pathos. Danny is an adult, he has been through a lot, and there is some mind-bending shit going on. I think he’s allowed to drop an f-bomb, if he wants to. It also highlights the anger issues he has that are very likely related to the trauma and stress he lives with. I also think it really drives home that this is not a Kid’s Book. Of course, children do deal with grief and dark matters, but this book is definitely on the older edge and quite a bit more high concept.
Conclusion
It’s taken me all day to write this post because I want to do it justice. I’m not exaggerating by saying that it’s been a huge part of my healing journey. It gave me something to do, it’s been the most ‘work’ I’ve done all year since I’m not writing. When Breanna passed, Jacob actually considered giving me some space from it, but I was like, ‘no, I need this’ lol. The biggest part of it, though, was that it was the story I needed at a time when I needed someone to know what I was going through. Danny feels like a therapy partner for me, I feel like we went through this together. And Jacob has a way of wording things I’m too unfocused to say right. He put what I was feeling into words, and that was so validating. I also connected a lot with the other characters; from Mystic Macy to Logan with his conspiracy podcast and Hardboiled Katie, Older Brother Zeke, my INFJ goth king Miguel. Everyone feels real, like someone I know.
This book is just really important to me, and I can’t say enough about it. Plus, it’s a really exciting story, on its own, and I’m so honoured that Jacob asked me to be a part of it.
I’m a very proud Fairy Godmother.
Avon Van Hassel 