I say "little" because although "Crooked Little Vein" by Warren Ellis has almost 300 pages (which doesn't exactly classify it as "little") it is an amazingly fast read. I do read quickly, but even so I blasted through the book in just a couple of hours.

"Crooked Little Vein" is Ellis's first novel - he has spent most of his career writing comic books for Marvel, Wildstorm, and DC, and you can definitely tell. The book is fast paced, rich in dialog but thin in detail, and honestly kind of reads like a graphic novel without any graphics. In most books I would say this is a detriment, but Ellis pulls it off perfectly.

The premise is completely unrealistic but fun, featuring a private detective main character (whom you can't help but feel an odd mixture of affection, distaste, and sympathy for) and a host of strange supporting characters traversing bizarre, gag-reflex triggering, often shocking situations in their hunt for a magical book misplaced by the White House. Novels looking to get in your face by throwing shocking situations at you are a dime a dozen these days, but what makes Ellis's debut really interesting is how surprisingly deep it is.

My favorite scene saw Mike, the main character, having a conversation with a serial killer on a plane. He ends up telling the serial killer about crawling through America's underground, to which the serial killer asks him to share his experiences. Mike does, all he gets for a response is, "I've seen most of that on the internet." The serial killer goes on to discuss what can now constitute "mainstream" and "underground" in this day and age. Really an interesting chapter.

All in all, it was surprisingly thought provoking, but certainly nothing that will give you an epiphany and change your outlook on life. The perverted scenarios are a little off-putting, but I think they actually really enhance the message Ellis was trying to convey instead of just being there to shock you.