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    A Good and Useful Hurt
    A Good and Useful Hurt
    A Good and Useful Hurt
    Audiobook7 hours

    A Good and Useful Hurt

    Written by Aric Davis

    Narrated by Luke Daniels

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Mike is a tattoo artist running his own shop, and Deb is the piercing artist he hires to round out the motley crew at his studio of four. The last thing either expects is romance, but that’s exactly what happens when they follow their off-kilter careers and love lives into complete disaster.

    When Mike follows a growing trend and tattoos the ashes of deceased loved ones into several customers’ tattoos, he has no idea that it will one day provide the solution—and solace—he will sorely need. And when the life of a serial killer tragically collides with the lives of those in the tattoo shop, Mike and Deb will stop at nothing in their quest for revenge, even if it means stepping outside the known boundaries of life and death.

    Ink that is full of crematory ashes, a sociopathic killer, and pain in its most raw form combine for one of the most imaginative, haunting thrillers in recent memory. Full of wit and heart, A Good and Useful Hurt delivers the goods with the pain of a needle in skin.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateFeb 21, 2012
    ISBN9781455875511
    A Good and Useful Hurt
    Author

    Aric Davis

    Aric Davis is married with one daughter and lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he worked for sixteen years as a body piercer. He now writes full time. He likes weather cold enough to need a sweatshirt but not a coat and friends who wear their hearts on their sleeves. In addition to reading and writing, he also enjoys roller coasters, hockey, punk rock, and a good cigar. Davis is the author of eight previous books: From Ashes Rise: A Novel of Michigan, Nickel Plated, A Good and Useful Hurt, The Black Death: A Dead Man Novella, Rough Men, Breaking Point, The Fort, and Tunnel Vision.

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    Reviews for A Good and Useful Hurt

    3.5/5

    29 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Why did I read it? It seemed like it could be an interesting story and it was recommended for those who appreciated Stieg Larsson, though, having read it, I am now trying to figure out why.What's is about? Mike is a tattoo artist with his own shop, who is haunted by visions of Sid, his girlfriend who committed suicide. When he hires Debs to take on the piercing and body modification side of things, he starts to live again. Mike doesn't really question it when he receives a request from a customer to tattoo some of the ashes of his son as part of the tattoo of a baseball. When a serial rapist and murderer takes the niece of a friend, Mike has a decision to make.What did I like? The writing style and very short chapters make it quick to read, but some of the subject matter made me a bit squeamish at times; a little less detail would have been fine with me, especially with the body modification, and the fate of one of the characters near the end. It's not an original storyline, but it approaches the hunt for a serial killer in an unusual way, exploring the spiritual aspects of tattooing and body modification along the way, in a manner I've not heard mention of before, making this book a curiosity for that alone.What didn't I like? It cannot say why, but this story just didn't appeal to me, despite the promise of the synopsis and the reviews I'd read. I should like to make it clear, I read both positive and negative reviews, yet still thought A Good and Useful Hurt would be worth reading. Several times, I put the book down, as I just did not care about the resolution of the main plotline, or anything else pertaining to the story, so found other distractions. I can't say I was bored, just wholly disinterested at times.The characterisations are a bit flat at times, though perhaps I was expected to sense a distance between the main character and his friends. Mike seemed such a loner really. Personally, I just couldn't connect with any of the characters in the book.It's not a bad book, nor is it a great book, and Aric Davis adds a new gimmick to a done-to-death* genre, but, it just didn't grab, nor hold my attention.Would I recommend it? Not really, no. I'm not sure to whom this book might appeal.
    • 4/5
      One of the best things about being an established blogger is that you get to read new books from authors you might not have known about otherwise. A Good and Useful Hurt was one of those kinds of books for me.Honestly, it kind of blew me away and I didn't expect that. I accepted the book for review because Aric Davis is a body piercer and is covered with tattoos. Since I have many piercings and tattoos, I wanted to read what he'd written, particularly because of the body modification element. I wondered if he could write about what that's all about because it's not necessarily about getting a tattoo of a butterfly on your ass to make your boyfriend happy.Happily, Mr. Davis does his best writing as he talks about the spiritual side of body modification - the memorial tattoos with ashes in them, the extreme piercings with a significance to the wearer and sometimes to a relationship, the energy exchange that occurs between client and artist, and the sharp difference between tattoos and art that happens to be on your body. For someone who's never been into these kinds of spiritual practices it should be an eyeopener.Turns out the story is great, too! It manages to combine all sorts of unusual elements into a great story that I could not stop reading. I was very attached to the characters and I wanted to know how things turned out for them.Mr. Davis has a great imagination and writes clear and honest prose, placing a tattoo shop at the center of his mystery. Best of all, the tattoo shop is a place you'd like to be filled with people you'd like to hang out with even though they might look weird and scary to you. For me it was a place I'd like to get tattooed.Wonderful book and well worth reading even if (especially if) some of the subject matter is foreign to you.