Erik J. Larsen

Good start, clever story, a little too clever

Revisado: 01-06-25

I had watched the PBS Mystery shows 'Magpie Murders' & 'Moonflower Murders', and looked up the source material, arriving on Mr. Horowitz's other series, Hawthorne and Horowitz. I decided to give it a try. I liked the clever use of dual stories set in different time periods which made one have to think a little harder.

In this series, it is semi-autobiographical version of Mr. Horowitz as he is contracted to write a series of books showcasing the investigation(s) into a murder being solved by a former detective inspector Hawthorne, whom has a shady past, a crass personality, and an annoying habit of calling Mr. Horowitz 'Tony'.

No need to spoil anything here, but I will warn you that by the time the crime is solved, it will have taken so many twists and turns that you would have needed to actually take notes in order to keep track of all the characters, events, relationships, lies, etc... which does detract a little from the overall enjoyment.

In between the mildly repetitive interviews with the same characters you get a 'behind the scenes' look at what its like to be a BBC Television writer married to his Producer and also the author of a successful series of young adult spy novels (Alex Rider). Some of it is interesting, some of it tediously uninteresting.

Anyway, it is an enjoyable story, narrated wonderfully by Rory Kinnear, who imbues all the voices with style. I look forward to future stories in the series.

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I Should have read it when it came out...

Revisado: 10-16-24

I think my impression of this one suffers from the fact that I have read a lot of post-apocalyptical fiction and watched a lot of them in the movies and on TV. So it is very hard for me to be unbiased when comparing it to the Strain by Chuck Hogan (and Del Toro), or World War Z, etc...

The Good: Narration & vocals are easy to follow, so its a comfortable read. Also, there are some things introduced about these vampires that are very interesting ideas. Prose is top-notch, as with most, if not all F. Paul Wilson novels. Characters are pretty well formed and explored.

The Bad: The story sort of meanders for the first half, introducing characters and constantly switching POVs until a little over half way, when it finally focuses on two or three, but even then we still get POV from characters that have little or nothing to do with the story. That constantly switching of POV really takes you out of the story. And the thing that happens to Lacey about halfway through (I won't spoil it here) I felt like it was sort of glossed over and she's back to normal within a few hours. And the final trip into New York City is laughably silly (how many time can flashing your boobs really work on these guys?)

Anyway, if you haven't read or watched a lot of Post-Apocalyptical stories/shows, you might enjoy this more than I did. It has very good action, pretty well defined characters, and it definitely has horror.

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If you like popular TV and Movies...

Revisado: 03-27-24

I can only say it sooooo many times: Television and Movies as a medium are very different then writing novels in both approach and execution. I have written for both.

Yes, there are similarities between the themes of some movies and books, but there is so much more. There are plots, themes, and even events that work on screen that are almost impossible to convey in a novel.

Anyway, I stopped after about 3 chapters. The author seems to spend as much time explaining why she is saying what she is saying as she does giving advice or explaining her story ideas. This seems like one of those books you read in order to avoid actually writing the book itself.

If you haven't read a lot of story/plot/theme books, maybe this one will resonate, otherwise you'll probably not make it through it.

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1 hour of action narrated over 11 hours...

Revisado: 03-20-24

It reminded me of that fact that if you watch an NFL game whistle to whistle, it is actually only 13+ minutes of action. The rest is just huddles, lining up, kick offs, punts, etc...

I stopped listening twice as it was sooooo boring. The amount of Reacher-splaining was off the charts. Every action he took came with 5 minutes of him explaining all the options, all the risks, all the over-simplifying his every decision. Reacher is best when he acts on instinct, but there is little or non of that in here. I mean, there was one 5 minute passage where he explains how and why they can't just walk up to a mailbox and get a cell phone he stashed there, only to do that very thing.

I guess I've just probably read a few too many of these, but it really lacks the air of mystery or unseen danger from the other books. It just feels like a short story inflated to a novel.

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Not what I thought it would be...

Revisado: 02-26-24

Kudos for putting it out, but I thought it was going to be a little more of a peek into the weird wild world of Horror fiction, but it really was mostly writing advice from a variety of successful authors, most of which would be in almost any how-to for budding novelists.

There's nothing wrong with it, but it just wasn't for me, mostly because i've been a published author (at least on amazon) so the advice was a bit obvious (write everyday or don't write every day, never give up...) and has been done better in more famous treatise on the craft (i.e. On Writing, by Stephen King).

If you've never read a book about how to write a novel, and are interested in some of the backgrounds on a variety of horror authors, then, go nuts...

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Great collection of his research and philosophy

Revisado: 01-22-24

I've been following Dr. Attia for a few years and was waiting patiently for this book to come out. I think that his ideas are simple to understand, but complicated in practice. I wish there were more doctors who question the tiny bit of information they are taught in medical school about diet & nutrition. He has a calm, engaging demeanor for his narration, so it is very easy to read/listen and follow along.

If i had one criticism it would be the over-explaining of some of the exercise topics. You are either going to exercise or not. I also think that most 'normal' people aren't probably going to have their VO2 max tested or be regular users of Blood Glucose Monitors, but all in all, it was a very thorough treatise on how to live a healthier life now that will also lead to a longer, healthier life in general.

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Misunderstood What it was about

Revisado: 12-07-23

I was hoping for a 'behind the scenes' expose about the wonderful characters, storylines and artwork of 1970's Marvel, my favorite era of comic book collecting (also when I started). Instead, it's more of a long essay on comparisons and contrasts between said stories & characters, and those of other literature. It spends an inordinate amount of time in the 60's and tends to over emphasis some of the salient points through repetition.

That said, if that's your thing, you'll love it, otherwise i'd pass on it.

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Weakest Entry Yet...

Revisado: 11-08-23

(spoilers)

Big fan. Loved the first few novels, but this one was sooooooo long and the tedium of Robin undercover in the UHC was almost unbearable. I started skipping those chapters after 15 or 20 hours in. I thought the Ink Black Heart was tedious with page after page of chat transcriptions, but this was too much. I have never said this before about any audio book, but Audible needs to create an abridged version... i bet it would be much better.

Also, some of the things that Robin does are head scratchers. I guess I just feel like she went against character for a number of the decisions in this story. Also, there is not a lot of impetus for Robin to put herself through the horrors of Chapman Farm. She's risking being raped, humilated, injured, etc... all to help a rich father have a chance to 'talk' to his bi-polar son. And it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't at least try to pull the son out, even given what had happened to another person they rescued. I understand that the UHC is bad, but Strike & Robin usually have much higher stakes to deal with.

I agree with some of the other negative reviews. The stories work best when Cormoran and Robin are working together. They are a nice ying/yang type relationship. Unlike a lot of others, I really don't care if they ever get together.

Still, very well written (as usual) characters are nicely fleshed out and realistic. However, i didn't feel like there was any character growth here. But all in all, I'll probably always listen to these. Too much invested in these characters to quit on them :)

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It's hard without Bill Hodges...

Revisado: 09-14-23

I liked Holly Gibney in all the novels she's appeared in. But I think she is best as a major supporting character. The balance with Bill Hodges was really satisfying, but here all you have is Holly's thought processes, her inner monologues, etc... and it feels, well like it's just too much Holly.

The writing is great, the story is okay (but has never stopped me from loving a variety of King novels), the narration is good, but without Bill there to counterpoint Holly's neurosis's, it just comes off as being a bit depressing.

I also didn't know I was going to get lectured about Covid 19, Trump, etc... on a pretty constant rehashing of what we all lived through. That part of it feels like it's a little too soon to be judging people who acted one way or another, and Holly comes off as extremely judgmental about everyone and everything...

Anyway, maybe other people will look past it. I have read and/or listened to dozens of Kings novels, and maybe it's because I just finished End Of Watch, but this one was a bit of a letdown.

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more of a how-to make money on short fiction

Revisado: 08-18-23

This one is more of a plea to write short fiction and a guide to how you can make money at it than any sort of how-to write good short fiction in a genre. I liked it for what it is and hadn't really thought of short fiction (in sci-fi, fantasy and/or horror) as a viable way to make some side money. But the author shows you how you can take a small to medium sized catalog of short stories in a one of those genre's and end up with 20 different saleable items (individually, anthologies, print, large print, audio, etc...).

There really is no advice here on HOW to write good, compelling short stories, or what makes a good short story in any of the genre's, but there's plenty of books and youtube videos for that.

All in all, I thought it was worth the money.

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