Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot

June 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-Distraught over his girlfriend's murder, Jo-Jo, 17, takes a gun to a secluded Baltimore ravine to kill himself. He discovers a naked dead girl who disturbingly wakes up, introduces herself as Max, and hauls Jo-Jo along to meet her dead friends, members of the Fiendish Lot, the most popular punk band in the Afterlife returning to Earth to test out their new material. Jo-Jo accidentally shoots himself and dies, waking up in the Afterlife where he reunites with the band and accompanies them on tour. In this gloomy place of second chances, the dead can search for their true purpose. Realizing that he squandered his life, Jo-Jo focuses on finding Violet, but his devotion is clouded by his feelings for sarcastic Max. Auseon's darkly humorous novel is outrageously inventive, chaotically plotted, overly long, and ultimately unsatisfying. Details of the Afterlife are intriguing, like the deads' bright interior "sols" that provide the only color in an otherwise monochromatic world. Despite a clever premise, too many random plot jumps derail the story, like Jo-Jo's stint in the Afterlife jail, and are dropped with little development. Vivid characters like Max's grandfather (whose sol literally burns out) are introduced and then abandoned, and attention given to the Fiendish Lot's sol-reviving performances is far too meager. Wildly imaginative and entertaining ideas and images here, sadly in need of focus."Joyce Adams Burner, National Archives at Kansas City, MO"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Grades 8-11 Few thingsintertwine soinfamously than sex, death, and rock and roll. Auseon weaves all three in this tale of Jo-Jo Dyas, a Baltimore burnout whose suicide attempt is interrupted when a dead girl floating in a river stands up and kisses him. Her name is Max, and shes the drummer for the Fiendish Lot, the best punk band in the Afterlife. She and her fellow musicians are briefly life-tripping back to the mortal world to test out some new material. Tragedy sends Jo-Jo to the Afterlife, where he struggles against administrative red tape in his quest to findan oldmurdered girlfriend (while Auseon makes brilliant use offootnotes explaining the death of everyone Jo-Jo meets).Soon Jo-Jos touring with the Fiendish Lot andpondering the strange concept of romance with an undead drummer. Despite the eye-catching cover art and outlandish premise, the tone is melancholic. Its also a bit overlong, but music-obsessed teens will respond to Auseons firm grasp of the transformative and life-changing power of a kick-ass rock show.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)