{"id":6601,"date":"2026-06-16T11:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T11:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6601"},"modified":"2026-06-16T11:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T11:57:00","slug":"bunny-slippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6601","title":{"rendered":"Bunny Slippers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A beefy satirical thriller packed with revenge, intrigue, subterfuge, and destruction that\u2019s deliciously over the top<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Imagine a secret guild for mercenary assassins as old as Freemasonry, part of an organization possessing militaristic arms and other resources on the scale of nations. This is MARI. It\u2019s capable of mobilizing those vast resources to destabilize a chosen world superpower on relatively short notice. A conspiracy theorist\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n

Yet MARI can possibly be bested by its best\u2014a man with the code name Bunny\u2014on whom MARI has placed an exorbitant bounty\u2014\u201c$10,000,000 for Bunny Tail, $5,000,000 bonus for Bunny Slippers\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u2014to entice its thousands of assassins. In as stark an example of putting one\u2019s eggs in one basket, MARI finds itself vulnerable. For Bunny over the years has become integral to the design of almost every device, vehicle, structure, strategy, etc. He knows MARI inside and out.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

What instigates the bounty is Bunny\u2019s refusal to kill an executive, a client of his security software company. Bunny, like many of his fellow assassins, is highly successful outside the guild. Their ventures span multiple industries and generally complement MARI\u2019s aims. Except for Bunny, the conflicts of interest are getting complicated. This isn\u2019t his first instance of insubordination, just the one that pushes MARI over the edge as they:<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . initially thought that MARI would have access to all the information that Bunny\u2019s security systems would be protecting. That somehow, Bunny would eventually turn the keys over to them and let them use the wealth of knowledge that his systems had access to, to further MARI\u2019s goals. But in the end, that wasn\u2019t the case. And from MARI\u2019s perspective, he had turned against them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bunny adopts a best defense is a strong offense approach by going after his pursuers. He recruits a sidekick in nephew Darcell, a rawer, brasher, less experienced version of himself. Later Bunny involves his highly capable, oversexed main squeeze, Kitty, a renowned fashion designer who moonlights as a jewel thief. A David versus Goliath proposition despite Bunny\u2019s inside knowledge.<\/p>\n

He must rely on superior physical and other advantages to stay ahead of MARI. A master of disguises, his ability to travel incognito provides mobility. And by letting the mercurial Darcell choose targets, it foils MARI\u2019s algorithms\u2014they know him well too\u2014thus their movements are hard to predict. Bunny needs this because:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen two members of the same assassin\u2019s guild or opposing guilds recognize each other in public or in private in a chance meeting, the most important thing to recognize and understand is that there is no such thing as a chance meeting between assassins. If you\u2019re not the one with the assignment, then it is with total certainty that you are the assignment and that the other assassin is there to kill you.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The pair exploits these advantages to breed mayhem with panache. Bunny and his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 are artistes when it comes to killing. They devise increasingly intricate, nasty ways to dispense key former allies. This serves to continually escalate the battle to cataclysmic effect, including a hilarious visual near the end involving a piano.<\/p>\n

This is a comic novel with satire that works on several levels. It wittily parodies the likes of James Bond and even Austin Powers. MARI is like an inverted version of the British MI-6 as might be operated by SPECTRE. There\u2019s even a counterpart to Moneypenny, with whom the protagonist has an endearing platonic relationship, albeit now as enemies.<\/p>\n

But where parody sets the stage, excess and exaggeration dominate. Whether it\u2019s the size and global extent of MARI or the virility, corporate savvy, and physical abilities of Bunny. He\u2019s an electric character who does tend to overshadow Darcell and others, including those comprising the leadership of MARI as they contend with the Bunny situation.<\/p>\n

That said, some of the best parts are the richly in-depth sketches of Bunny\u2019s ex-colleagues in the lead up to each encounter. Their histories make their characters shine brightly. At least until Bunny casts his foreboding shadow and the violence ensues. The juxtaposition of long-earned success and potential sudden failure is highly entertaining.<\/p>\n

The novel works best when the satire sticks to a more earnest level. It loses steam in scenes that reach for comedy through repartee, particularly with Darcell whose maturity at times drops. He then comes off like an annoying teenager. His more mature, well-educated side is more appealing and along with the younger man\u2019s traits complements Bunny\u2019s in a kind of Batman-Robin dynamic.<\/p>\n

Bunny Slippers<\/em>\u00a0is full of cinematic sprawl that would make it the blockbuster of blockbusters as a live action film. That is, if anyone could afford to make it. Underneath the carnage and rubble of destruction, this is a fast and fun novel.<\/p>\n

The post Bunny Slippers<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A beefy satirical thriller packed with revenge, intrigue, subterfuge, and destruction that\u2019s deliciously over the top Imagine a secret guild for mercenary assassins as old as Freemasonry, part of an organization possessing militaristic arms and other resources on the scale of nations. This is MARI. It\u2019s capable of mobilizing those vast resources to destabilize a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}