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Within This Book is Greatness

Revisado: 03-15-16

If you are looking for a book version of the television show The Following, but better - this is the book!

It is believed that 30 years ago cult leader, Jeffrey Halcomb, lead his followers to a mass suicide. The public, police, and true-crime writer Lucas Graham can only deduce what happened from the evidence because Jeffrey Halcomb refuses to give any interviews or speak with anyone regarding the event and obviously all of the other witnesses to the event are dead. So when Jeffrey Halcomb promises an exclusive interview to Lucas, he absolutely jumps on board. He travels cross-country with his 12-year-old daughter to move into the house where the mass suicide took place - where he can immerse himself in the story, dig deeper into the event, and be close to the prison where Jeffrey Halcomb is held so their interview can take place. If you are thinking that strange things will happen inside the house - they will. If you are thinking that Lucas will get so absorbed in the story and his interview that he ignores and neglects his daughter - he will. If you are thinking that his daughter will wind up in a dangerous situation - she will. If you are thinking that you will like this book - you will!

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

Good Story, but Yuck!

Revisado: 03-15-16

I need a shower. This book is graphic and gory, but behind all of that is a really good story. It is disturbing and at times difficult to continue reading (caution: animal cruelty), but still a well-told story.

The Troop is about a small group of Boy Scouts on a camping trip with their leader on a little island just off Prince Edward Island. The first night they are there, while the boys are in their cabin bunk-beds telling each other urban legends, a stranger arrives on the camp grounds who is emaciated and obviously delirious from starvation. What's a Boy Scout leader to do but to follow The Scout Law:

"A SCOUT'S DUTY IS TO BE USEFUL AND TO HELP OTHERS. And he is to do his duty before anything else, even though he gives up his own pleasure, or comfort, or safety to do it. When in difficulty to know which of two things to do, he must ask himself, 'Which is my duty?' that is, 'Which is best for other people?'---and do that one. He must Be Prepared at any time to save life, or to help injured persons. And he must do a good turn to somebody every day."

So despite his misgivings, the leader brings the man into the cabin to share some of the troop's overabundance of food. And thus begins the bulk of the story, but it most certainly isn't where the story actually begins. We are treated to snippets of newspaper articles and courtroom testimony here and there to fill us in on what led the stranger to the island in the first place in his frenzied maddened state; how the parents of these boy scouts, law enforcement, and the military react in real time as this is going on; and finally how it all ends.

This book kept me fully engaged and wanting to read more - although it made me want to read with one eye shut.

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Ho Hum

Revisado: 03-15-16

Another forgettable mystery - one of many that I've read this year.

Again with the word minimum - Aggravating.

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Middle of the Road

Revisado: 03-15-16

This was just a middle-of-the-road book for me. I enjoyed it while I was reading it but once I finished I realized it was nothing to write home about. I never really felt invested in the characters and that led to me not really caring much about the story.

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New Favorite!!!

Revisado: 03-15-16

The book is so great that I wanted to read it again immediately after finishing it. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK and I most definitely will read it again!

When Merry was 8 years old, her 14-year-old sister, Marjorie started experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia and began seeing a psychiatrist. Marjorie and Merry had the typical sisterly love/hate relationship and during the love part of it, they wrote and illustrated cutesy little stories in Merry's children's books. Then Marjorie began stealing Merry's books and wrote and illustrated her own stories in the books without Merry. When she shared her stories with Merry they weren't anything like the fun-loving stories the two had made up together in the past. The new stories were very disturbing and scared Merry. They gave me the creeps too. Merry began barricading her room at night and yet woke to signs that Marjorie had entered her room even though the barricade remained undisturbed. Baffling. Are there spirits at play? Is the house haunted?

When it became obvious that the doctor wasn't helping improve Marjorie's schizophrenic symptoms, her dad sought help from the church. The priest believed Marjorie was experiencing a demonic possession and recommended an exorcism. A television network got the idea that this whole situation would make for a great Reality TV series. The family had exhausted all of their savings and had no means of earning money as both parents became unemployed. The dad was excited about the prospect of a TV show and the mom reluctantly conceded. And so it goes... The TV show was called "The Possession" and it was a short-lived hit. Lucky us - we are along for the ride and get to experience this whole thing right along with the family. We are at a disadvantage though, because we are seeing this all play out through the eyes of 8-year-old Merry, and as a child, she doesn't comprehend everything that is truly going on.

This whole story is told to us 15 years later when Merry is interviewed by writer, Rachel Neville, for a book she is writing about the family/TV show. Admittedly, Merry says she sometimes gets confused as to what really happened, because it is muddled by what was documented on the TV show via live footage and actors' reenactments (which she has watched way too many times over the years), and what was written on the internet via blogs and things. Speaking of blogs, dispersed throughout the book are snarky blog entries written by Karen Bissette. She poo-poo's the whole Reality TV show and delves into how the producers of the show used every trick in the book from all of the horror classics. This is a very entertaining blog and a most welcomed interruption to the tension felt while reading about Merry's recollections of her sister's descent into madness. Or was it that the house was haunted by spirits? Or was Marjorie possessed? Or was Marjorie faking the whole thing? Or does the twist at the end change all of your theories about the possibilities? Stop what you're doing right now and read this book and see what you think.

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A Class with King

Revisado: 03-15-16

This is by far the most interesting book I read all year! Exploring the horror genre through the eyes of Stephen King - what's not to love? Sometimes the book is written as if the two of us are sitting down and having a cup of coffee and discussing horror films and books. Other times the narrative feels like I am attending a lecture course in college - a good one - the kind that everyone fights to sign up for and actually attends. Either way, King gives great insight into the world of horror.

I purchased the revised book version with the essay "What's Scary" as a forenote and I really loved what had to say 30 years later.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

The Kind Worth Reading...

Revisado: 03-15-16

This book was so much more than the summary. What I thought was going to be a remake of Strangers on a Train turned into a novel with a much thicker plot. A little twist here and a little twist there and you've got yourself one heck of a book. I loved every bit of it!

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Killer Concept!

Revisado: 03-15-16

This book has a very interesting concept - a teenage girl who believes that serial killers are born not made. She believes this because she has grown up with an inborn "itch" to kill. She has managed to keep it under control until now. Since she is now feeling the overwhelming need to act on her “Killer Instincts” she has decided to take it in a vigilante direction and channels her hate to those who deserve retribution for their unpunished crimes. So we tag along with Lane as she sits in the local court room - under the premise of being interested in become a lawyer – and this is where she finds her victims – those that are found not guilty of crimes she is sure they actually committed.

Lane is still a teenager and so we also see her trying to be a “regular” girl in high school and interacting with her family. Coincidentally, Lane’s parents are both in the FBI and working on a case involving a serial killer who has been killing one woman every September for the last 14 years. Even more coincidentally, this year the serial killer struck in Lane’s hometown and she is all about tracking down the killer to delve out her own kind of justice.

This book has a lot of unbelievable elements to it that I frequently see in YA books. I don’t want to go off on a rant here, but WHERE ARE THE FREAKING PARENTS of these teenagers?????? Aside from that there are a lot of things that are contrived in order to make the whole story play out.

What I did like is that it is a quick read, there are a lot of red herrings thrown about, and there is a twist at the end that had crossed my mind, but didn’t give it away.

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The Key to a Gripping Story

Revisado: 03-15-16

Even though I thought that some of the ending was a little far-fetched and/or coincidental, I still enjoyed this book. Occasionally the jumping back and forth between 1978 and 1998 confused me and it would take a bit for me to figure out that we were now back in 1978 with Beatrice or vice versa, but it didn't stop the flow. Despite the fact that there are two parallel storylines going on and both are fairly complex with quite a few moving parts and subplots added in for good measure, the book as a whole is easy to follow and one that I found myself picking up at every opportunity to see what happened next.

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You'd Think the Storytelling Would Be Stellar...

Revisado: 03-15-16

This book was littered with coincidence and moments that were supposed to be poignant but were laughable because they sounded like they were scripted for a movie. While I enjoyed the stories regarding Minka's plight during the Holocaust, I found the rest of the book pretty ridiculous. So many thing made me say "Oh, come on!" aloud in disbelief. One example is that Sage's co-worker only speaks in haiku. Yes, haiku. I'm not kidding. But there are at least another dozen things I could list that were ridiculous in this book, but I'll let it go because I'm talking myself into lowering my rating. So bottom line: Minka's story which takes up about half of the book is good; Sage's story is two thumbs down.

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