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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
3.5, rounded up to 4. I really enjoyed the plot of this, but it could have used a bit more dread for me to really make it pop. I thought this book would lean more into Carol's pov, and that's where the dread would come from, but it was more reliant on everyone in the world around her. The worldbuilding was great and I thought the characterization of our cast was well done. This story has a western/old time feel, with bandits who ride the trail from town to town on horses. This is all fine, it's just not the thriller I expected.
There is a heavy focus on the various male characters: her husband Dwight, previous lover and notorious bandit James, and assassin Smoke - a man hired by Dwight to kill James and prevent him from saving Carol. Dwight has taken advantage of Carol's condition that leaves her alive but in a coma like state occasionally to bury her alive and reap the benefits of her fortune. James learns of this and is racing down the trail to save her. I thought Dwight's sleaziness, James' urgency, and Smoke's crazed lunacy were all well written and I often reacted to their actions - frowning at Dwight and cringing at Smoke because the dude was really bat shit crazy (even though you can't help but feel a bit of sympathy once you hear his backstory).
Although things wrap up maybe a bit too nicely for some people at the end, I really liked it. There were several moments where my jaw dropped (ex: Farrah being a total badass, James seeing through Smoke like... well smoke). I liked the solution to the whole ordeal and enjoyed it. and the backstory to that was neat.
Overall, a couple parts of the story dragged a bit but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Maybe I'll have to read more western themed books.
There is a heavy focus on the various male characters: her husband Dwight, previous lover and notorious bandit James, and assassin Smoke - a man hired by Dwight to kill James and prevent him from saving Carol. Dwight has taken advantage of Carol's condition that leaves her alive but in a coma like state occasionally to bury her alive and reap the benefits of her fortune. James learns of this and is racing down the trail to save her. I thought Dwight's sleaziness, James' urgency, and Smoke's crazed lunacy were all well written and I often reacted to their actions - frowning at Dwight and cringing at Smoke because the dude was really bat shit crazy (even though you can't help but feel a bit of sympathy once you hear his backstory).
Although things wrap up maybe a bit too nicely for some people at the end, I really liked it. There were several moments where my jaw dropped (ex: Farrah being a total badass, James seeing through Smoke like... well smoke). I liked the solution to the whole ordeal and enjoyed it.
Spoiler
Carol saves herselfOverall, a couple parts of the story dragged a bit but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Maybe I'll have to read more western themed books.
I liked it but I expected to like it more, because Bird Box was so amazing. Carol, the heroine, was not very well drawn. She was kind of cloudy and a bit helpless, which always annoys me. All the other major characters were male and were much more vivid. There seemed like there were big gaps in the backstories that were never filled in, so my feeling when finishing the book, was frustration.
Intriguing premise but that’s it.
No characterization, no subtext, sparse world-building, no ramp up to suspension of disbelief (heroine states her worst fear on page 5 (really page 3 because of formatting) & it comes true within 9 pages).
The climax is a series of surprise snapshots, some of which are explained after the fact, a couple that defy all logic.
I did appreciate that the heroine needs no man to save her, at least.
No characterization, no subtext, sparse world-building, no ramp up to suspension of disbelief (heroine states her worst fear on page 5 (really page 3 because of formatting) & it comes true within 9 pages).
The climax is a series of surprise snapshots, some of which are explained after the fact, a couple that defy all logic.
I did appreciate that the heroine needs no man to save her, at least.
This novel is about Carol Evers, a woman with an unusual condition where sometimes she collapses and appears to have died. Doctors can't detect a pulse or breathing. Carol lets very few people in on this secret, and she is also very wealthy. This leads her husband to plan to bury Carol alive the next time she has one of her episodes. He figures if he can get her underground before she wakes back up, no one will suspect anything because there will be no sign of foul play, and he will be a rich, free man. Carol is conscious of her surroundings while she is "dead," which adds a level of creepiness and urgency to everything. There are some other characters who get involved - Carol's former boyfriend, who has become an outlaw of sorts; a man named Smoke who is a sadistic hitman hired by Carol's husband to hunt down the ex-boyfriend before he can get to town to save her; the town sheriff, who suspects something fishy is going on; and random others who get involved in one way or another.
Parts of this book were really scary and visceral and made it hard to put down. But then there were also parts that didn't hold my interest as much and just felt kind of scattered. I really liked the concept of this book, but it just felt a little inconsistent in parts.
Parts of this book were really scary and visceral and made it hard to put down. But then there were also parts that didn't hold my interest as much and just felt kind of scattered. I really liked the concept of this book, but it just felt a little inconsistent in parts.
It was fairly entertaining, although it was written at an easier reading level than what I like. Definently geared more towards teenagers.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
2.5 Stars, unfortunately rounded down.
I don't often read books that even touch on Western themes, much less ones that even dare to come close to exploring the complex culture of early twentieth century Western United States. (I cannot confirm that this is when and where the story takes place, however I have every right to believe that it within inferable probability does.) However, when my closest friend, a fellow avid reader, reported that he had just finished quite the shockingly horrible, terrifyingly abhorrent Western Thriller, I took it upon myself to order a copy of the famed novel in hopes of seeing what my dearest reading accomplice was speaking of. With Malerman being the author of Bird Box, another indie darling of a novel, I held the possibility in my heart that perhaps I would enjoy what this novel would have to offer, and perhaps even make me a fan of the Western adventure genre.
Although I did indeed find myself enjoying the ideologies of Western culture in this novel, the writing in itself was so bad that I often would begin to laugh at points in the story that certainly were not meant to harbor laughter. There were multiple grammatical mistakes, several historical inaccuracies, and quite the large amount of purely incorrect inconsistencies and plot holes within the novel's expenditure. Not to mention the questions that are often left unanswered - What was this Illness that was spoken so disastrously of? We lead off the novel with a man dying of it and the procession of his funeral, which leads one to believe that it'll be an important part of the novel and provide a sense of paranormal mystery. However, it indeed is never touched on, and is used in the sense as if we already comprehend how horrifying and deleterious it is to the state of Harrows.
Another thing that comes to mind when I consider the thoughts swirling around inside my brain concerning this book is the severity of pure bullshit that these characters continuously never fail to spit out in any chance that they can. Smoke, our main villain, is purely psychotic for no reason at all - we never once hear anything about his backstory or why he's so obsessed with arson. I had seen a previous review that labelled him as a "memorable psychopath", which is the consolidated truth and I certainly stand for the belief of it. Smoke, as a villain, is nothing but a crazed lunatic who is so randomly trigger happy and obsessed with murder that we tend to remember him based off solely how purely laughable he is as a character. All of the characters follow in this fashion, including Carol herself and the love interest, James Moxie. Every character latches onto a trait that they possess with little to no context, and proceeds to wring its existence drier than a desert in the midst of a July midsummer afternoon.
The inclusion of Rot, a mere hallucination(?) makes things even more intensely confusing, as we never comprehend anything about his existence or why he does anything that he does, besides just wanting to ruin the lives of people and torture others by making their existence comparable to that of a decomposer's supper.
Overall, this novel attempted to be good, and in occasional, sporadic moments, it succeeded. There were lines or paragraphs that I found to be clever or moving, and I won't neglect that fact. There are indeed lines within the confines of this novel that do make legitimate sense and are of somewhat substantial quality. However, these lines are incredibly rare to come by and instead are proceeded and exceeded by gorgeous pieces of prose such as : "Could be the doctor's legit." "The fire was good and it felt good." and various other shocking fragments of purely incorrect writing. I wanted to enjoy this novel as I do for any instance, but I unfortunately only gained a dislike for Mr. Malerman's description of disabled people and a slight enjoyment for Western novels.
TLDR ; Woman gets buried, and that's not good. If you like historically inaccurate pieces of writing that occasionally reflect decent themes, this novel might be enjoyable for you. You might even want to bury yourself in it.
I don't often read books that even touch on Western themes, much less ones that even dare to come close to exploring the complex culture of early twentieth century Western United States. (I cannot confirm that this is when and where the story takes place, however I have every right to believe that it within inferable probability does.) However, when my closest friend, a fellow avid reader, reported that he had just finished quite the shockingly horrible, terrifyingly abhorrent Western Thriller, I took it upon myself to order a copy of the famed novel in hopes of seeing what my dearest reading accomplice was speaking of. With Malerman being the author of Bird Box, another indie darling of a novel, I held the possibility in my heart that perhaps I would enjoy what this novel would have to offer, and perhaps even make me a fan of the Western adventure genre.
Although I did indeed find myself enjoying the ideologies of Western culture in this novel, the writing in itself was so bad that I often would begin to laugh at points in the story that certainly were not meant to harbor laughter. There were multiple grammatical mistakes, several historical inaccuracies, and quite the large amount of purely incorrect inconsistencies and plot holes within the novel's expenditure. Not to mention the questions that are often left unanswered - What was this Illness that was spoken so disastrously of? We lead off the novel with a man dying of it and the procession of his funeral, which leads one to believe that it'll be an important part of the novel and provide a sense of paranormal mystery. However, it indeed is never touched on, and is used in the sense as if we already comprehend how horrifying and deleterious it is to the state of Harrows.
Another thing that comes to mind when I consider the thoughts swirling around inside my brain concerning this book is the severity of pure bullshit that these characters continuously never fail to spit out in any chance that they can. Smoke, our main villain, is purely psychotic for no reason at all - we never once hear anything about his backstory or why he's so obsessed with arson. I had seen a previous review that labelled him as a "memorable psychopath", which is the consolidated truth and I certainly stand for the belief of it. Smoke, as a villain, is nothing but a crazed lunatic who is so randomly trigger happy and obsessed with murder that we tend to remember him based off solely how purely laughable he is as a character. All of the characters follow in this fashion, including Carol herself and the love interest, James Moxie. Every character latches onto a trait that they possess with little to no context, and proceeds to wring its existence drier than a desert in the midst of a July midsummer afternoon.
The inclusion of Rot, a mere hallucination(?) makes things even more intensely confusing, as we never comprehend anything about his existence or why he does anything that he does, besides just wanting to ruin the lives of people and torture others by making their existence comparable to that of a decomposer's supper.
Overall, this novel attempted to be good, and in occasional, sporadic moments, it succeeded. There were lines or paragraphs that I found to be clever or moving, and I won't neglect that fact. There are indeed lines within the confines of this novel that do make legitimate sense and are of somewhat substantial quality. However, these lines are incredibly rare to come by and instead are proceeded and exceeded by gorgeous pieces of prose such as : "Could be the doctor's legit." "The fire was good and it felt good." and various other shocking fragments of purely incorrect writing. I wanted to enjoy this novel as I do for any instance, but I unfortunately only gained a dislike for Mr. Malerman's description of disabled people and a slight enjoyment for Western novels.
TLDR ; Woman gets buried, and that's not good. If you like historically inaccurate pieces of writing that occasionally reflect decent themes, this novel might be enjoyable for you. You might even want to bury yourself in it.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced