‘Don’t waste time blaming yourself for losing what the world was gonna take away no matter what.’

Having only read Jones’s short stories, I was pleasantly surprised at how well he was able to sustain a much longer story, and how that story was able to morph from an intimate, tight, 3X5 index card space into something much larger—getting close to the dreadful and nihilistic ending of something like ‘Revival’ but somehow steering it to more hopeful (not sure that’s the word) shores. Maybe this line gets closer: ‘It was like he had painted a person at the exact moment of heartbreak. The very second hope left them.’ Hopeful for maybe a milli-second might be better.

So yeah, Julian’s a painter, but ‘most people didn’t even know his name, they just knew him as the kid who picked his nose until it bled.’ And although he doesn’t paint strictly with drops of blood that fall from his nose (that concept gets turned up to eleven in the later parts, IV bags and all), they do create these things called ‘blood tickets,’ possibly glimpses into how/when certain people will die. But it’s not an exact science, not even close. Let’s just say, ‘the bigger the canvas, the more Julian can see.’

Jones hits hard on the heartstrings, and ninety percent of the time it chisels away at your chest. There are a few moments where it feels like the characters are just going through the motions, though, and some of the more existential exposition can get a bit heavy-handed, but that’s just me being super picky about a pretty bulletproof story.

The pacing is greased-lightning (you can get through this one in 1-3 sittings, easy) and the prose is lean and to the point. It’d be interesting to know if Jones pantsed or plotted or did a little of both, because the hard left turn at roughly the half-way point is jarring yet consistent (something like ‘The Shop/Institute’) and opens the way for a devastating ending. Jones’s voice really shines through in the last few chapters, and he’s especially gifted at writing child characters, not an easy feat to pull off.

If you like ‘Firestarter,’ ‘Final Destination,’ or that one X-Files episode ‘Tithonus’ S6E10, you’ll love Depth Charge. I highly recommend this one, and look forward to Jones’s next novel.