Andy Graham Author

Author of dark fiction and fantasy, dystopia, horror.

Reviews

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

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Warning: If you want a well-written, critical review, stop now. I’m about to gush words all over the page.

I’m not sure where to start with this book – it’s epic. I’ll get that out of the way before I start nit-picking.

My issues, and they are minor, are similar to Book One (The Passage).

  • It jumps around a lot. I should have known better than to expect a simple continuation of where the story left off. Story arcs and characters were left hanging as they were between the two sections that make up The Passage. If you want your fiction served up in a straight line, this series is not for you.
  • There are a lot of characters. It was easier to keep track having read Book One, but even so, there were times when I struggled.
  • It dips a little in the middle as characters are being moved into place for the final push.
  • Would the chapters dealing with escalating viral problem be better in Book One? After all, The Passage skips the immediate issues of the virals/ dracs/ Twelve* and leaps almost 100 years into the future. I’m split on this. I think I would have preferred that overall, but it is also nice seeing the origins of First Colony already knowing what happens to them. Alicia’s ancestory, in particular, is nicely tagged on. (Almost like the literary equivalent of a post-credit scenes you get in certain types of overly-muscled superhero movies.)
  • Michael seemed like a new character rather than a development of Book One Michael. I know people change, but this guy was so different to ‘Circuit’ that it threw me.

That’s it.

Not many nits to pick, are there?

Now… the good stuff.

  • The section that deals with the immediate problems of the virus hitting is superb. #istandwithlaststandindenver
  • The section that deals with the concentration camp is harrowing. Not so much for the red-eyes but the normal people who willingly go along with their evil.
  • The ratcheting up of the tension towards the end is compelling.
  • The prose is sublime: minimal descriptions that paint so much better a picture than books stuffed full of adverbs and adverbs; alternating sentence structures that have their own internal rhythm; and a use of language that is, simply, beautiful.
  • There is an attention to detail that doesn’t swamp the plot. (i.e. it doesn’t read like a Wikipedia page)
  • Some of the most effective horror is hinted at: a growing, luminescent green light; a clicking noise; tree-tops rustling (‘They come from above.’); and, worst of all, the inevitable terror heralded by waning daylight.
  • Characters that are so flawed and so real because of it. There’s not even a mention of a kick-arse heroine who can speak multiple languages, holds multiple black belts in multiple mystic martial arts (Including the Approach of Aggressive Alliteration) but suffers from a deep dark secret that only one person knows. As for hard-bitten detectives with marital/ drinking/ authority* issues but are good at their job? Forget it.
  • And how the author manages to bring all the disparate characters and arcs to the climax as he does, I have no idea.

In short this book is phenomenal, a classic example of ‘just one more chapter before I switch the lights out.’ It has played hell with my insomnia. Not only because I wanted to know what happened next, but because the shadows in my bedroom grew claws and teeth.

But despite that pace and prose, the masterful weaving of story lines and complicated/ real characters, despite all that brilliance, there was one line that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go for days: a moment of tenderness in a world beyond hope.

“I’ve got you,” he said, hugging Tim fiercely; and again, over and over, so that the boy would be hearing these words. “I’ve got you, I’ve got you, I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”

Last Stand in Denver

Read The Twelve, you’ll see what I mean.

It is awesome.

*delete as appropriate

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

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OK.

At the time of writing (Oct 2019), I’m forty-seven.

Remember that number, OK?

Right, the book: ‘Salem’s Lot.

In no particular order.

It started slowly. Very slowly. It crawled. But, round about 15%

(Yes, I read on a Kindle so talk about % now rather than page numbers…)

of the way in, I realised that the crawling plot had, in fact, been tying loose knots around my imagination. And when the first few people disappeared, those knots started tightening. That didn’t stop until the end of the novel. And that’s the thing – no one and nothing is sacred in this story. From the initial, chilling sacrifice to the Lord of Flies to the final show down. People drop like, well, flies, I guess. They are there and then they’re gone.

The problem is, most of these people come back. After dark. And these are not nice vampires. They don’t sparkle. They don’t come armed with comedy accents and cliches and dress in cloaks. They are unpleasant and, in some cases, tragic. But the nastiness doesn’t stop there. There’s a house – The Marsten House. Its cellar is almost as scary as some of the monsters. As the author says in the foreword: ‘it’s one of the scary ones.’

But, outside of Barlow and his vampires, and the Marsten House and its cellar, and the superb depictions of some very messed up people there were a few things that jarred.

1 – the vast number of peripheral characters was hard to follow. We’re talking about a town’s worth. Many appear and disappear then reappear and I wasn’t always sure who was who. Are you the useless cop? The horny (pervy) dump manager? The wifebeater. And so on…

2 – the ending was over too quickly. The set up to the final moments were chillingly good, but the final resolution? Over too soon. Maybe it’s better that way rather than turning the last pages into a B-movie gore schlock fest?

3 – where are the rats? They exist in the deleted scenes at the end of the book but were culled from the finished version. I’d have preferred they were kept as some of those scenes are terrifying.

All in all, though, this is another one of those books where I found myself wondering why I had never read it before.

So. Back to my age. You remember how old I am, right? Go check it you’ve forgotten. I’ll wait.

Back already?

OK.

I read the bulk of this book whilst staying in a largish flat in London. I was on my own. Reading late in the evening. Suffering from insomnia. One night – I think it was near the end of the book when things had really gone belly up for the inhabitants of the Lot – I couldn’t sleep. Not because of my insomnia, but because a doubt had crept up on me, rat-like, whiskers tickling the toes of my imagination. Who, or what, was in the other rooms in the flat? I was there on my own, right? Of course I was. Just me. No one else. Not a soul. Only little old me…

Yup.

A forty-seven year old man got out of bed to check there were no monsters in the closet, under the bed, in the other rooms or hiding on the landing.

Are you laughing at me?

You should be…

Now go read the book. It’s scarily good.

PS Ben Mears (the protagonist) is an author, a ‘serious-minded person’. At one point he meets a young woman’s parents for dinner. After a few beers he goes home while the evening’s young because he wants to write. The reason he gives the woman’s dad is that he owes his current book some pages. I’m paraphrasing (badly), but I think it’s a great idea: an author owing their book words. Guess where I’m going now.

 

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

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I don’t do many reviews. I should, knowing how helpful they can be. But I’m not sure a book like this really needs another review. It won the Pulitzer Prize! But here’s my brief take on it.

I wasn’t convinced at first. Despite the stunning writing, I didn’t really think it was going anywhere. But the more I read, the more desperately beautiful it was, and the more the sense built that something terrible was lurking on the next page.

Some of the throw away lines about what people do to survive, what and who they eat, are possibly better glossed over. I’ve returned to a few of these sentences and actually thought about what is being said. When put in relation to my life (and my kids…), it is horrific.

And any author who can describe a trout as ‘polished and muscular and torsional’ deserves attention.

In short? It’s tragic, touching and brilliant.

Read it.

 

You can pick up a copy of The Road on Amazon US by following the link.

 

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

I Was a Teenage Weredeer by C.T. Phipps and M. Suttkus

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I haven’t posted any reviews for a while. I keep meaning to do it but my good intentions are constantly being battered by my to-do-list. Today, however, I’ll make an exception with I Was a Teenage Weredeer.

Before we get to the book, what’s it about?

Jane Doe is a weredeer, the least-threatening shapechanger species in the world. Blessed with the ability to turn furry at will and psychically read objects, Jane has done her best to live a normal life working as a waitress at the Deerlightful Diner. She has big dreams of escaping life in the supernatural-filled town of Bright Falls, Michigan, and her eighteenth birthday promises the beginning of her teenage dreams coming true.

Unfortunately, her birthday is ruined by the sudden murder of her best friend’s sister in an apparent occult killing. Oh, and her brother is the primary suspect. Allying with an eccentric FBI agent, the local crime lord, and a snarky werecrow, Jane has her work cut out for her in turning her big day around.

Thankfully, she’s game.

My thoughts?

I Was a Teenage Weredeer is a fun read – snarky and sarcastic with a (vaguely) serious undercurrent.

The basic premise is of vampires, shape shifters and other supernatural beings now living in the open along side normal humans.  They, as we do, have their own factions, prejudices, hierarchies, infighting and quarrels.

This story is told from the perspective of a young woman/ deer (Check out the title of the book if that confuses you.) as she struggles to resolve one bloody bout of vengeance.

The world within a world is not a new idea but it’s well done here and the authors do a nice job of were-dovetailing them into our world.

(See what I did there? You did. Right. I’ll get my coat…)

The text is chock full of references to popular culture. These occasionally felt forced but should resonate with a broad church of readers. As well as some of those references, I’d have preferred to lose some of the banter and tighten up a few of the scenes. (There were some events that seemed to stretch reality too far, even for a book which is about doing just that.) A smaller cast of characters would also have suited me better as I occasionally found it hard to keep track of who was who. A list of characters at the back would be another option. I have a feeling that if that was done, the descriptions would be ‘creative’, to say the least.

There was one scene (By a lake. With a water spirit.) where the silliness was put on hold for a few pages. That scene was compelling reading and I think the book would have benefitted from more writing like that for the added depth, balance, and darkness.

If you’re looking for a light-hearted read with plenty of cheek, you can’t go wrong. And if you appreciate puns, especially puns about deer, you won’t find many other books on the market that grab that particular genre by the antlers like this one does.

On that appalling dad joke. I’m out.

My rating?

Four stars.

 

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Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

The Rest Will Come by Christina Bergling

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Yesterday you had the interview; today you get the book review – Christina Bergling’s novel The Rest Will Come

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way:

1 – I received a free copy of the book. Since finishing it, I’ve bought a copy. (As I’ve mentioned before, we need to support the arts – musicians, authors, artists and so on. If you don’t, they won’t be many of us left before long.)

2 – Confessions of a Reviewer who are organising this for Christina have represented me in the past.

None of those have influenced my review and what follows is an honest opinion.

So, before we get to the review, what’s it about?

Murder can be risky…and not just for the douchebags on the business end of Emma’s power
saw.
Men only let Emma down. They cheat, and they lie. They send unsolicited pictures of their
genitals. Ready to give up hope, Emma decides to go on one last date. Then it finally happens—
she finds the thing she loves most of all.
Killing clueless jerks she finds on the internet.
Lost in a happy haze of hunting her victims, devising increasingly-clever killings, and
streamlining her dismemberment process, Emma gets careless.
As her need for her murderous outlet grows, she runs an increasing risk of getting caught…or
worse—falling for one of her victims.

The verdict?

I’m afraid to say I wasn’t too keen on this book. It had a lot of potential but failed to live up to it.

(I’m going to try and avoid any spoilers in the review so please excuse any vague statements.)

Let’s start with the good stuff.

Great cover and tagline: murder might be her one true love.

The overall premise is good: a woman who is utterly frustrated by her repeated failures with men (some do sound like ‘douchebags’ to be fair) so comes up with an extreme solution.

The opening is strong.

There are some nice lines in the text (‘roommates with rings’ & ‘wrapped around a digital finger’ spring to mind) and a few choice descriptions.

I like the ‘life reversal’ of the protagonist and her best friend and the feelings that brought up.

The humour is world-weary and realistic.

The passages about running were great. (The author runs and this shows.)

No typos! (Shouldn’t even need to be said…)

However, there were some issues that got in the way of these positives.

The timeline jumped around too much at the beginning. The narrative caught up nicely with the opening paragraphs later in the book, but the initial time changes threw me.

There were some sudden scene shifts throughout the story which weren’t immediately obvious.

I think the prose would have been more effective had the descriptions been sparser. As it is, it slows the pace down too much. There were also a few expressions which left me scratching my head and wondering what the author meant.

A large chunk felt like backstory: why the protagonist does what she does and a blow-by-blow account of how she got where she was. This, again, slowed the book down.

Similarly, I found the action scenes lacking tension. With one exception, everything happened too easily for the protagonist: what she did, how she did it, and how she got away with it. Maybe this was the point, but it made the whole experience too flat.

I think the contrast between who the protagonist becomes and her relationship with her best friend could have been expanded on. It was touched upon near the end, (the relationship between these two people was one of the book’s highlights)  but I think there was so much more potential there.

As for the end, I was hoping for a climax of some sorts. I saw part of the end coming a long way back in the text, but the exact resolution was a surprise. It’s a quirky way of doing ‘a happily ever after’ that is very clever in some respects but left me feeling high and dry.

All in all, there was enough I liked in the story to consider reading another book by the author, but I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this one too much.

Three stars.

If you’re interested in reading the words behind the words, i.e. what Christina reads when she’s not writing, you can check out her interview below.

One Book Interview #39 – Christina Bergling (Author)

 

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Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.