Very engaging and interesting read. Very well developed and ambitious. Will be recommending to library collection and patrons.

The cover of “The Contortionist’s Handbook” is reminiscent of “The Scream” by painter Edvard Munch. The content of the read contorts reality, blurring the line between truth and lies, creating a roadmap of deception.

He was a con man in the making with a gift of mathematical precision. His difficult childhood was exacerbated by being bullied at school partly due to a congenital anomaly, a sixth finger on his left hand.

John Dolan Vincent learned to palm objects as a young child as he gradually became an accomplished thief…but…no one is perfect. He earned several stints in juvie. At the age of 18, his arrest records were expunged. In first person narrative, “Johnny” documents and details his life as a forger, events that might never have come to light if he didn’t suffer another one of his “godsplitter” headaches. He saw a blue glow...the light was intense…he took painkiller after painkiller, lost count. He experienced no relief. Johnny woke up in the emergency room of a LA hospital. Was it an accident or a suicide attempt? Through the course of a 72 hour hold by the hospital, John Dolan Vincent’s story would unfold. By the way, for the record, he was admitted to the hospital as Daniel Fletcher, the name on his ID.

The Art of the Con

-Choose a new name, not too common..no Jones or Smith. "Something forgettable to anyone who hasn’t met you twice.”

-When applying for Birth Records for a new identity, insist that the County Registrar mistakenly transposed your birth date.

-Choose a non-existent address in an area where rickety dwellings were plowed over to create a new upscale community.

-Change identities and places of work as needed to outrun/outsmart the police/court system. After all, in “The Fugitive” Richard Kimble, a convict who escaped from custody during a train derailment, eluded capture by reinventing himself as he searched for the real culprit of the crime he was found guilty of committing.

-Work a manual labor, driving or courier job, one that requires no references.

During the 72 hour evaluation to determine whether a psychiatric stay should be implemented, Daniel Fletcher, John’s current persona, needed to prepare his answers since he was well aware of the checklist on the Evaluator’s clipboard.

The Afterword surprisingly informs that this debut novel of social commentary by Craig Clevenger was written over 20 years ago. The re-issue, perfect for our times, is written in the voice of an anti-hero. Highly recommended.

Thank you Datura Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This wild ride will keep you engaged from cover to cover. It’s the oddest mix of “Catch Me if You Can” meets “Running With Scissors” meets “Wolf of Wallstreet” in the best way!

The Contortionist’s Handbook follows the life of John (or is it Daniel? Maybe Steve?) as he navigates creating new persona after new persona. Carefully curating the perfect archive of childhood milestones, work histories, and flawlessly imitated forms of identification for each one.

He’s the best of the best at reinventing himself. He knows everything there is to know about falsifying documents and the appearance of unquestionable authenticity. Life has forever been complicated for John, a former juvenile delinquent with absent parents and polydactyly. But he’s always been able to escape the consequences of these characters by trading one identity for the next when things get too rough. He’s too smart for his own good, learning at a young age how to deceive mental health professionals. He’s got their evaluations and tactics down to a science which allows him to breeze right through the psychiatric holds he’s put on for possible overdoses. He suffers from severe migraines and occasionally takes a few too many narcotics to dull the pain.

After meeting a woman at a club and becoming romantically involved with her, he is introduced to her dealer, Jimmy. He breaks his biggest rule of telling NO ONE what he does by letting Jimmy in on his talents. He ends up catching the attention of the kind of people you don’t want attention from. The kind of people who know how valuable his expertise is. The kind of people who send people to “sleep with the fishes.”

When things start to go south, John must carefully maneuver his way through the web of complexities he’s created for himself. The person he reaches out to for help will be the biggest shock of all.

Thank you Datura Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Readers and writers alike love a good "first" or, say, opening.

Things like such:

First sentence
First paragraph
First chapter

In those respects, Craig Clevenger hits 'em dead center. The Contortionist's Handbook is a widow maker of a novel.

Then, because why stop there: Clevenger drops our jaws yet again a few pages in, then a handful, and then on and on and on.

And again and again, all while setting up brilliant connections, carrying us to an ending, a final page, a final sentence as magnificent as the first and all the rest between. And that ending, that last sentence? It sings.

Beyond chicken, beyond cat and mouse, The Contortionist's Handbook is a one of a kind thrill.

I've heard this is a love or hate type of book. I'm apparently in the minority as I didn't care for it. The writing style and voice were off putting. I couldn't get into this story.

Craig Clevenger wrote this perfectly and enjoyed the overall feel of the storyline. It had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed getting to know the characters and how everything worked with the plot. I was invested in what was going on and was glad I got to read this.

This is one of those books I pick up on a whim and end up totally addicted to the writing. Clevenger’s voice is distinct making the Palahniuk and Welsh comparisons apt. This book is an insanely interesting life story wrapped up in this box of a mental evaluation following a(nother) questionable overdose. John is incredibly clever and likable and so much of this book was fascinating.

The entire forging concept was wild and the detail Clevenger puts into the various sects of the book makes me wonder where his research originates from. Overall I loved it.

I could definitely relate to many of the themes presented in the book which only made it more compelling. The prose is beautiful and not overly simplistic but also not particularly verbose. “He put a bottle to his head and pulled the trigger for years.” Simple in structure but wholly accurate.

John, Keara and even Carlisle were all well nuanced and flawed in relevant ways. I loved the simplicity of the ending but easily could’ve continued reading this book and would’ve loved it to be longer. I’ve found a new-to-me author and I can’t read to read his other novels.

A "cult classic" for a reason, this book falls solidly in the love it or hate it category. I've never met someone who read this book and felt "meh".

I like the world-building, the characters that more the story and feel like people I've met. People are messy, complicated, hypocritical, and so are Clevenger's characters.

An astounding literary highwire act -- evocative of the best Jim Thompson, but completely its own beast. A must for lovers of noir and crime fiction, but impossible to slot as just that. Why this book isn't better know is beyond me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Datura Books for an advanced copy of this reissue of a cult novel from the early part of this century that deals with living a life that is a lie, forging a new path for oneself and others, and of course making money any way one can.

I have always loved to watch and read about professionals doing what they are best at. As long as they are the best they can be at their trade, doesn't matter if it is cake decorating, doing sanitation work, dancing on a pole or making people disappear, both physically and on paper, I can't get enough. The lingo that people use, their tricks honed by years of experience. Even the confidence. There is something reassuring when the world is going to heck, that some people out there care about what they do. From knowing how to carry a garbage can, to chilling a cake before icing, to knowing how to age paper stolen from the end papers of old books to create false birth certificates. I also like books that I have no idea where the plot is going, but I am willing to take the ride, for in this book we are in the hands of a professional, and what a ride it is. The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger is a reissue of a book that was known to few, but those few were incredibly passionate and we as readers get to enjoy this psychological noir about a man with a unique skill, able to create fictions that seem real, and the trap he has set for himself.

Daniel Fletcher is found on the floor of the apartment he shares, first by his blind dog, than his girlfriend. Fletcher has taken an accidental overdose one that nearly kills him to deal with a chronic migraine that does not seem to want to go away. Stomach pumped and body flushed Fletcher is ready to go home, but must pass a medical evaluation to make sure that the accidental overdose was truly an accident, and not a self harm moment. Fletcher knows this as this has happened before. At least 6, which is the exact amount of fingers Fletcher has on one hand. Along with a skill for sleight of hand. And a secret. Fletcher really is Johnny Dolan Vincent, a man of rare skill in finding ways to make documents that help people disappear. And the longer he stays to be evaluated the more things in his life might fall apart. Vincent has a few commitments that need to be done, he wants to see his girlfriend, one he has just set up a new name and papers for. Most of all he wants a way out of the life he has made for himself, but first he has to fool a psychiatrist into believing he is who he says he is. Or is he.

A book that the term fake it to make it was invented for. This is noir study of a man who is smart, talented, and cursed equally, living a life on the margins, because nothing in his life every made him aim for more. Vincent spends most of his day trying to act normal, to fit in the way that he presents himself, giving himself headaches, and guilty feelings for how he is. The writing is very good, funny, real and mostly focused on Vincent with a lot of professional memos discussing Vincent from a difference. Craig Clevenger has a great way of writing, not showing but telling how to fake an id, to pick a name, and a past. To create the clutter that fills a life, not a clean stark life, but one with notes, pictures, receipts, old tickets, and detritus that make a person what they are. Clevenger keeps the story going, and slowly ratchets everything up, until there are so many way things can go wrong, one can't even figure out how it can go right. A real lost story of 90's America with a sleeze and scruffiness that is timeless.

I'm glad this book has been reissued, as I never heard of it when it came out. This was quite a surprise, and much better than I expected. For fans who like their stories dark, mean, and yet hopeful.