Famous for his bold and edgy comic book scripts (Transmetropolitan, Planetary), Warren Ellis shifts gears to apply his style in a more traditional format: the novel. His protagonist Mike McGill is a bum luck private investigator who attracts trouble of the grimiest kind. The latest incarnation is the US government, employing him to track down a secret alternate version of the constitution, a book bound in alien hide and possessing the ability to reprogram the filth of America into shiny happy pod people. It's an offer Mike can't refuse, and he finds himself trolling the country's underbelly with a wild mannered hottie sidekick named Trix. Ellis proves he can write without the benefit of pictures, and considering the litany of unpleasant rituals the duo encounters I'm glad to forego graphic depictions. Crooked Little Vein is a quick and entertaining read, but it's more like an encyclopedia of bizarre sexual preferences than a real adventure. Ellis seems to favor shocking readers instead of creating atmosphere, which is too bad since any common boingboing follower will already find his perversions passé. (Godzilla suit fetishists pleasuring themselves with giant foam paws? Pfft, so five clicks ago.) The constant barrage of over the top scenarios would maintain excitement across several issues of a comic book but gets dulling strung together as chapters. Some stretches are quite funny and cleverly paced, and like I said it's a brisk book, so not a complete waste of time.

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