Review for What Is Happening in Egypt, Texas? by Brian Yansky

The main way into Egypt, Texas must be a rabbit hole and not a road because I felt a lot like Alice must have felt in wonderland while reading this book: confused, disoriented, but still intrigued. Even if by the end, that might have turned more toward morbid curiosity than anything else. Despite the issues I outline below, this novel does at least have that going for it. The premise and plot were both interesting enough I was still able to finish What Is Happening in Egypt, Texas? even if it was a close call. Either way, I’m happy I at least stuck it out because this was my very first choice for the reading challenge Around the Year in 52 Books.

July Jackson, the sheriff of Egypt and main character of the novel, largely carried the rest of the cast on his shoulders and not just because he has a hero complex and wants to save everyone. Despite a robust number of actors within this, not many stand out really, even his deputy and love interest. Velcro the dog and Robbie the 12-year-old Houdini prodigy are the only other two characters I engaged with as a reader. Considering just how many characters feature in the novel, that’s all the more surprising.

Egypt itself is not a big town, yet so many of the names are similar enough that I wonder why there wasn’t more variation chosen by the author. Jack, Jackie, Jackson make up one group while there’s also a Karla, Kayla, Carla, and Carlos. Although technically Karla and Kayla are both the same character, the novel just starts with the name as Kayla then flips to Karla for one chapter only to change back again in later chapters. Inconsistencies like this unfortunately permeate the story, especially in terms of things moving around within scenes from one character’s perspective to another.

Repetition and actual errors though are the main reason I went from wanting to read the whole trilogy when I first chose to read the novel to almost not even finishing this one. I’ve read much longer works, but the length here felt bloated because of just how many times the same line repeated at various points. Sometimes because it was thought from a different character’s perspective (the same wording should not have been used if kept this way), but sometimes even from the same character. More proofreading and editing clearly needed to be done. I’m not sure where the disconnect was, but there are so many problems beyond just the errors a reader might be used to seeing. Not just an occasional missed word or grammar issue, but things like periods up against the first letter of the next sentence instead of in the correct position. Some punctuation would even splice the middle of words. I do admit that one made me laugh though it’s tad childish (a ‘tit’ instead of ‘it’).

Part of me hopes I may have just gotten myself a bad copy of What Is Happening in Egypt, Texas? from somewhere. Considering this was the kindle version though, I don’t think so. A diamond in the rough, I would unfortunately not recommend the novel in its current state.

What Is Happening in Egypt, Texas? is available to buy on Amazon.