Book Review: Finders Keepers

Finders Keepers

By:  Russ Colchamiro

Publisher:  3 Fingers Prints

Publish Date:  October 2010

Format:  Paperback 298pgs

Genre:  Fantasy

Series:  Stand-alone, yet 1st in 3-part series.

Recommendation:  If you like some fun fantasy that has an enjoyable folly of men journeying through Europe and a farce on beings who create.

Book Synopsis:
On a backpacking trip through Europe, Jason Medley and Theo Barnes stumble through hash bars and hangovers; religious zealots and stalkers; food poisoning and thunderstorms; cute girls; overnight trains; fever-pitch hallucinations - and the spectre of adult responsibility!

But when a jar containing the Universe's DNA falls from Eternity, these new friends find their loyalties put to the test... unaware that a motley crew from another realm is chasing them across the globe, with the fate of the Milky Way hanging in the balance.

Traversing Europe, New Zealand and the backbone of Eternity, Finders Keepers is a buddy story that not only tackles friendship, sex, commitment and desire, but also God, reincarnation - and what really happened to the dinosaurs!

First Sentence:
The last thing Donald and Danielle ever wanted was to wreck their marriage, lose their jobs, get banished from Eternity and jeopardize the Milky Way galaxy.

My Review and Summary:
Newlyweds, Donald and Danielle, make an unexpected stop in the Milky Way Galaxy on Earth - out and away from Eternity, their home.  Not knowing this fun stop could be disastrous for them and the whole Milky Way Galaxy.  They accidentally knocked their assigned jar of CBM (the Universes DNA) off a ledge into a cooling frozen humongous glacier during their hanky panky moment.  Lost.  Now the warehouses the jars are stored in the off hours are being inventoried and their lost jar will be caught missing, leaving them in serious trouble with consequences.

Jason, an English teacher looking for work in New York, agreed to drop everything and go on a backpacking adventure in Europe.  Something completely out of his character.  Not knowing what he was going to do or where to visit Jason finds himself in Europe.  What could go wrong?  The one question you shouldn't ask yourself...  Jason finds another gentleman, Theo, who is on a mission to find a person he was sent to find that can tell him about the strange jar he found.  These two pair up for their adventures.

This book can't be anything but fun.  Look at that cover.  If you could see the back of the cover too you would see that.  This story reminded me of a farce on a fantasy of gods and creators and a folly of men out for fun and adventure.  I loved it.

I enjoyed the way the characters all ended up intermingled with each other.  Even when one sent another to meet someone and they all linked through a line of connections.  Great work here with the character relations.  As I enjoyed the follies of the boys day out, I also enjoyed the Eternitarians.  They were the brief fun release for me with the "punishments" that where given to them for their wrong doings.  Great lessons to be learned here.

In the end the book had touched on many subjects; friendships between different people male and female, love, sex, and touring the country side in Europe.

The journey these men take struck me as a great mans day out... without woman.  The characters learn much about themselves and relationships with others, new and old, in this journey.


I received this book for review from the author.

This book qualifies for my Speculative Fiction Challenge of 2011, Hosted by Floor to Ceiling Books.