Synopsis:
Poppy Stringer was born to be a star.
An aspiring fashion influencer by day, Poppy moonlights as a grave robber to make ends meet, wheeling and dealing dead bodies across Palm Springs.
When her hero, the flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar Eddie Michaels, unexpectedly dies, Poppy gets a call to retrieve his body from the medical examiner’s office for a lucrative sum. It could be the last job she’ll ever need―if everything goes to plan. But the night’s delivery quickly veers off course when Eddie wakes up.
Now Poppy must fight for her life if she hopes to survive this blood-soaked joyride of carnage and extravagant entertainment.
Review:
A groovy, glittery supernova of a roadtrip novel that will wrap a feather boa around your neck and garrote you, Chuck Tingle’s latest, “Fabulous Bodies,” reeks of hairspray and is the very essence of rock n roll baby. Yet again proving love to be real, this cross country killing spree has crammed into it commentary on idolatry, fame, parenthood, friendship and art, in addition, naturally, to an undead Elton John, who for the record of course, is absolutely, categorically not Elton John. A dazzling glam-rock music video directed by David Cronenberg, “Fabulous Bodies,” is yet another outrageously entertaining entry from Tingle, and buckaroos everywhere will rejoice when it releases July 7th from Titan Books in the UK and Tor Nightfire in the US, leaving a trail of sequins and entrails in its wake.
We follow Poppy Stringer, an influencer who lives well outside of her means. Where the real money lies is in her second part-time job- a little sketchier. She is scrolling socials one morning when she witnesses the brutal death of queer icon and rock n roll star Eddie Michaels. It’s sad, but tragedy often becomes opportunity these days, and things look up dramatically for Poppy when she receives a phone call. Her client wants the body of Eddie Michaels, and will pay big bucks if Poppy delivers. It turns out however, Eddie himself is going to make things difficult, because rather quickly, his thoroughly deceased body still twisted and broken, he wakes up, and he has errands to run.
I view the vast majority of Chuck Tingle’s novels as ridiculous, supersonic trojan horses, or possibly something more interesting like flamingoes or disco balls. As strange a concept as this one in particular is (I would love to hear the elevator pitch) it has nestled in it a whole lot of nuance and emotion. Tingle uses the absurd as a tool to wear down the reader’s cynicism, and like it or not you will come away from this campy, crusty, completely odd book, and all of Tingle’s others having been taught once again that love is real.
“Fabulous Bodies,” has great commentary upon art and entertainment. In this novel, a piece of art in and of itself, Tingle represents the creation of art (the vibrant and the messy) and the ability to entertain as incredibly important- stories matter, music matters, the ability to entertain, to move folks, to make them laugh, cry, dance, feel a little less alone- matters. But really what is art without love? Not very much. Perhaps if one squints hard enough, there is an anti-AI message within that, with, as an aside, everything LLMs churn out being soulless, lifeless, not to mention stolen garbage. Anyway, as well as deeply entwined with love, entertainment is represented as second to it. It’s important, sure, but at what cost? For Poppy, as an influencer, it’s at the cost of her friendships (or friendship singular) and relationship with her daughter Marlo.
Indeed, loving those who love us in turn should always be our prerogative. When we meet Poppy she is a bit of a Rocketman in that she is really great at maintaining her online persona and stealing corpses, but deep down needs to come back down to Earth and spend time with those she loves. The real journey of “Fabulous Bodies,” beneath the offal is that realisation, and it’s rather lovely.
“Drive,” meets “Almost Famous,” in this high-octane, glitter-caked, burnt-rubber maximalist fever dream. A campy, glorious elegy which bundles you into its passenger seat and refuses to stop until the tank is empty, Chuck Tingle remains one of the most interesting characters in contemporary horror and whilst completely satisfied I am in a constant state of wanting more.
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