Oliver Brackenbury ‘Junkyard Leopard’ Review

Written by: Myra Gabor

The world is full of people who control our money and therefore, control our lives. Not all of them have our best interests at heart; witness the recent bank failures and ponzi schemes, all played out with our money. What if there was a vigilante superhero who could punish these wrongdoers? In this case, it’s a super heroine who wears leopard skin tights and a faux fur coat.

There are several problems with this set-up. The first is: how does she pick the people to attack? And killing every working stiff in the office until she gets to the big boss just defeats the purpose of administering justice for the little guy. Oh, wait, super heroine killed everyone in a bank, except for one little guy who was trying to renegotiate his mortgage. That doesn’t make our vigilante more admirable.

The second problem is: our super heroine works in a junkyard where she faces all the insecurities of being the last one hired to work in a minimum wage job. She has no job security and barely enough money left to eat and pay rent on her tiny apartment. She walks to work to save on carfare. So, how does this timorous mouse transform into super leopard attacker? You’ve got me. Swinging hammers & crowbars to effect her kind of justice is absolutely foreign to her day personality, yet she manages it.

Then we switch focus. There is the attackee who managed to live through the attack. Even though she blinded him, he lived and continued to do business. Then there is the barista that she’s almost too shy to talk to even though she would love to go out on a date with him. Almost forgot about James. He comes from a nice middle-class home, but takes jobs that don’t pay. He’d like to be a reporter and figuring out the secret of the leopard skin attacker should get him hired by someone.

The author weaves about, giving us the story first from one viewpoint, then from another.

This story grabs you. Then it lets go. Then it grabs you again. It is a carefully crafted book. The problem is that it didn’t hold my interest evenly for very long.

I have two standards for recommending a book: first, is this book fun to read? No, not in this case.  Second, is it a page turner? Again, no. If you believe that a timid mouse can turn into a gore causing killing machine at night, then this is the book for you. If, like me, you are totally disinterested in these people and their lives, then give this book a miss.

Order it here.

Rating: 3/5