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joelkarpowitz's review
2.0
Well that was decidedly dull for what could have been an interesting premise. Keith Donohoe made a bunch of monsters and then doesn't know what to do with them, so the book, like the monsters, just kind of meanders in non-compelling circles, despite what could have been a good central conceit. Pretty disappointing and just too flat.
suzangilly's review
2.0
Rating: 2.7 out of 5 stars.
The Boy Who Drew Monsters can be consider some what of a horror. These were the parts that captivated me with all the "monster" talk the character go through in the book. But apart from that, the book did fall flat for me (despite the mysterious synopsis for it.). Most of the time just wasn't feel the story. The pick up was just show with the details given about this family.
Despite this, when it came to the families encountering this "monster" and strange noises in the night, I was hooked and this was what kept driving to me continue reading. Along with the ending. The ending was something that was a total twist to me.
The Boy Who Drew Monsters can be consider some what of a horror. These were the parts that captivated me with all the "monster" talk the character go through in the book. But apart from that, the book did fall flat for me (despite the mysterious synopsis for it.). Most of the time just wasn't feel the story. The pick up was just show with the details given about this family.
Despite this, when it came to the families encountering this "monster" and strange noises in the night, I was hooked and this was what kept driving to me continue reading. Along with the ending. The ending was something that was a total twist to me.
luisasm's review
4.0
This book is honestly so creepy I stopped reading so many times to scream about it to whoever was near me. "There was this thing and it tried to…" Pretty much no one in this book is sympathetic and there are times where you really think that maybe these people deserve what's coming to them. But again I really can't overemphasize how creepy some of this imagery is. The things are not gory or anything, but they really stick with you, especially at night when you're expecting them to pop up at your window. Be warned, a lot of things pop up in windows in this book. And then, we finally get to the climax and that twist, where again I read the last page and then just had to sit in silence for a while until I recovered enough to tell someone about it. Very suspenseful.
bookgirl4ever's review
2.0
Ever since he and his friend, Nick, almost drowned three years prior, ten-year-old Jack Peter, who has Aspergers, is obsessed with drawing, especially monsters. He has a secret: that anything he draws comes to life. When his parents and Nick begin seeing strange things, they search for answers-in all the wrong places. I tired of the build up during the first half of the novel, then thought it was going one direction, until the very end where it completely ended somewhere else. Still not sure what I think about it.
Adult.
Adult.
zoe_e_w's review
2.0
The Boy Who Drew Monsters was my Halloween read, although I started it a day early. The first few chapters really sucked me in, but near the middle of the book it lost me, and reading the last chapters just dragged on and on because the story both loses momentum and does a terrible job of answering the questions its posed.
Jack Peter, or JP, or Jip, is an autistic boy who hasn't left his house since almost drowning three years before the start of the book. Only that's a lie the blurb tells, and he frequently leaves his house for trips to his therapist. Another lie the blurb tells is that he's just recently started to draw monsters and they somehow come to life. Also not true.
Jack is a boy with extraordinary powers that he has always had, but no one noticed before, somehow. The circumstances of his near drowning are murky, but seem to be an attempted murder that backfired. His parents are friends with the parents of his best friend Nick, although I'm not sure how that can be when Tim had an affair with Nick's mother, and everyone seems to know it even if it's never explained when this all came out.
I guess that's my real problem with the book. All the things I had questions about were glossed over, and the only question that did get answered in the end felt like a really, really stupid answer. I had so little interest in the story that it's taken me this long just to write up a review.
I'm giving The Boy Who Drew Monsters 2 stars. If this is horror, it's the kind of crappy PG-13 horror someone might make for a kid's movie (assuming the one dull sex scene was edited out, that is). It's never scary and wastes the potential it started out with. I can't even think of anyone I'd recommend this to. There are better ways to waste time with. Navel gazing, for instance.
Jack Peter, or JP, or Jip, is an autistic boy who hasn't left his house since almost drowning three years before the start of the book. Only that's a lie the blurb tells, and he frequently leaves his house for trips to his therapist. Another lie the blurb tells is that he's just recently started to draw monsters and they somehow come to life. Also not true.
Jack is a boy with extraordinary powers that he has always had, but no one noticed before, somehow. The circumstances of his near drowning are murky, but seem to be an attempted murder that backfired. His parents are friends with the parents of his best friend Nick, although I'm not sure how that can be when Tim had an affair with Nick's mother, and everyone seems to know it even if it's never explained when this all came out.
I guess that's my real problem with the book. All the things I had questions about were glossed over, and the only question that did get answered in the end felt like a really, really stupid answer. I had so little interest in the story that it's taken me this long just to write up a review.
I'm giving The Boy Who Drew Monsters 2 stars. If this is horror, it's the kind of crappy PG-13 horror someone might make for a kid's movie (assuming the one dull sex scene was edited out, that is). It's never scary and wastes the potential it started out with. I can't even think of anyone I'd recommend this to. There are better ways to waste time with. Navel gazing, for instance.
holly_117's review
5.0
So good! If you're looking for a creepy, atmospheric ghost story, this is for you.
darthbiblia's review
4.0
Entertaining, lesser-known horror gem with some twists. I recommend this one.
j2mpala's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the story, the characters could be a bit much sometimes. Parents seemed to be always making dumb decisions and not seeing the obvious, besides that I still enjoyed it.