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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
In summary, greed makes people do terrible things. Not a feel-good read for sure.
Actual rating: 3.5
This book was a relatively fast read, and I found that once I started reading, it sucked me into the story and made it hard to put down. However, it also felt predictable, in that if you thought of "what could go wrong at this point in the story," it usually happened that way. Overall, I'd call it a decent read.
This book was a relatively fast read, and I found that once I started reading, it sucked me into the story and made it hard to put down. However, it also felt predictable, in that if you thought of "what could go wrong at this point in the story," it usually happened that way. Overall, I'd call it a decent read.
Week 4 of the 2016 Reading Challenge: A book by an author you discovered in 2015.
I read Blake's Wayward Pines trilogy as part of last year's reading challenge and really enjoyed it so thought I'd try another of his. I loved this book and could not put it down. The book alternates seamlessly between 1893 when an entire town disappeared to the modern day as a group of people visit the town to try and find out what happened. It grabs you from the start and there are so many twists and turns, you aren't sure where it's going.
I read Blake's Wayward Pines trilogy as part of last year's reading challenge and really enjoyed it so thought I'd try another of his. I loved this book and could not put it down. The book alternates seamlessly between 1893 when an entire town disappeared to the modern day as a group of people visit the town to try and find out what happened. It grabs you from the start and there are so many twists and turns, you aren't sure where it's going.
Abandon opens in the year 1893 with an eerie scene in which a mule driver wanders into the town searching for his missing brother, only to find the mining community completely deserted. This is an odd occurrence since his last stop to Abandon only a week before revealed a town populated with hundreds of people. The scene ends rather shockingly and catapults you into modern times where we are introduced to a brand new cast of characters. All of these characters, for different reasons, decide to embark on an expedition into the ghost town in an effort to discover exactly what caused every man, woman, and child in the town to seemingly fall off the face of the earth. Abigail Foster is a freelance journalist who comes to Abandon to meet up with her long-estranged father Lawrence, a history professor at a local university. Lawrence has been obsessed with the mystery behind the disappearance of the town of Abandon for decades and convinces Abigail that accompanying him on an expedition would make a great story, as well as give them a chance to perhaps heal some animosity that exists between them. Tagging along with Lawrence and Abigail are a psychic and paranormal photographer husband and wife team who lost their child at a very young age, as well as two tour guides hired by Lawrence to lead them through the deserted town. Was there a supernatural component connected to the disappearances? This is just one of the many questions that the expedition team has to face as they embark on their journey. As the story unfolds, we are periodically sent back to 1893 and to the events leading up to the incident so that the reader can essentially experience what the characters during that time experienced. These flashbacks also serve to give us incremental clues as to the potentially dark secrets that put the town on a collision course with disaster. As Abigail and the others conduct their expedition of Abandon, they only begin to scratch the surface of a sinister past that has its roots in the once-prosperous goldmine, when they are violently interrupted by a group of armed men who are also interested in the town for very different reasons. Who are these men and why are they so interested in Abandon? Couple this conflict with a snowstorm that is closing in on the area and the possibility of ever finding out what occurred over a century ago is placed in immediate peril. Blake Crouch has truly delivered a winner of a thriller with Abandon. This is a uniquely multi-layered thriller where just when the reader feels comfortable in assuming that they know what is going on, the author sweeps you back to the 1893 storyline where those assumptions are tested and put into doubt. I thought that the interspersed flashbacks worked especially effectively because they served as an explanation of what was only being speculated at in the modern storyline. It is a real balancing act when using this type of method for a book, but Mr. Crouch pulled it off incredibly well. The author gives small tastes without revealing too much and I always felt like I wanted to continue reading to find out what the ultimate mystery was. I was also caught up in the individual stories of the characters and what motivated each of them to explore Abandon. These are truly human stories that everyone can relate to and prevented the book from being just an "empty" thriller. My only criticism, if you can call it that, was the significant amount of detailed and excessive violence, which is just a matter of personal taste. Just know going in that Mr. Crouch describes every agonizing detail of the bad things that happen to each character. If this does not bother you, then dive into this story because you will definitely be rewarded for your investment. All in all, Abandon by Blake Crouch is a superb thriller wrapped in the mystery of a town that one day simply ceased to be. Going along for the ride to unlock this mystery is half the fun and lends an intriguing storyline to a tremendously entertaining thriller. Abandon is highly recommended for both mystery and thriller fans alike.
3.5 stars - Abandon has alternating timelines. One set in the present day (2009), Abigail – a journalist, and her father, Lawrence – a history professor, along with their two guides and a couple, who are paranormal photographers, visit and explore the town of Abandon. Little do they know, the town may have vanished, but it left a lot behind, and others are coming to claim it. What follows in the present-day timeline is a story of survival and escape, which would likely appeal to readers who enjoy adventure novels set in remote locations, where the characters are not only fighting for their survival but battling the elements – in this case, snow and blizzards so dangerous they could kill. This was my favourite of the two timelines because I enjoyed the urgency involved in the survival and I love novels when the characters have to survive nature’s deadly weapons.
Parallel to this timeline, we have the narrative set in 1893, which tells you what happened to the town of Abandon. This started off interesting to me, but over the course of the book, I felt this narrative was being somewhat dragged out in order to keep the novel having these alternating timelines, as oppose to building on the tension and suspense of the novel.
There were a few standout characters for me in this one, not necessarily likeable, but I liked them – one being Abigail, even though my belief was pushed to the limits at her constant ‘good luck’ but also the two guides, I think they were very well written characters.
There were one or two surprises along the way in this novel but no earth shattering twists, I think this novel is very much about the adventure and the fight for survival. If you chose to read this one, please don’t go into it thinking you’ll get a similar read to Dark Matter, because you will be disappointed – Abandon isn’t as fast-paced or thrilling, it is very much an adventure novel with a mystery at its core. A mystery I did enjoy, especially the latter stages because I think the ending was fantastic! Fantastic because it was unexpected, and I love when a novel blindsides me, I had it in my head exactly how this novel would end and Crouch went with a totally different ending that was better than the one I thought was coming.
My only real issue with this novel was its length, I’m not sure that it needed to be quite so long, and I feel if the 1893 timeline was told in fewer chapters the momentum that was building would have had a greater impact, but instead the novel slowed in places and that took away from my enjoyment. As a whole, I enjoyed this novel and I’m looking forward to reading more from Crouch.
Parallel to this timeline, we have the narrative set in 1893, which tells you what happened to the town of Abandon. This started off interesting to me, but over the course of the book, I felt this narrative was being somewhat dragged out in order to keep the novel having these alternating timelines, as oppose to building on the tension and suspense of the novel.
There were a few standout characters for me in this one, not necessarily likeable, but I liked them – one being Abigail, even though my belief was pushed to the limits at her constant ‘good luck’ but also the two guides, I think they were very well written characters.
There were one or two surprises along the way in this novel but no earth shattering twists, I think this novel is very much about the adventure and the fight for survival. If you chose to read this one, please don’t go into it thinking you’ll get a similar read to Dark Matter, because you will be disappointed – Abandon isn’t as fast-paced or thrilling, it is very much an adventure novel with a mystery at its core. A mystery I did enjoy, especially the latter stages because I think the ending was fantastic! Fantastic because it was unexpected, and I love when a novel blindsides me, I had it in my head exactly how this novel would end and Crouch went with a totally different ending that was better than the one I thought was coming.
My only real issue with this novel was its length, I’m not sure that it needed to be quite so long, and I feel if the 1893 timeline was told in fewer chapters the momentum that was building would have had a greater impact, but instead the novel slowed in places and that took away from my enjoyment. As a whole, I enjoyed this novel and I’m looking forward to reading more from Crouch.
Izgalmas thriller, egy délután és este alatt ki is olvastam. Nagyjából a felénél már úgy éreztem, hogy két kerek történetet végigolvastam (mivel két idősíkon, párhuzamosan meséli el az eseményeket), és elképzelni nem tudtam, mit tartogathat még a regény második fele. Egyik fordulat jön a másik után - egy ponton kicsit már olyan érzésem volt, hogy túl is van tolva - és kb. olyan, mint a Trónok harca: ha ettem volna egy falat csokit minden alkalommal, amikor meghalt egy szereplő, a végére elfogyott volna egy egész tábla.
Meggyőzött a szerző - várom, hogy a többi regényét is legyen időm elolvasni.
Meggyőzött a szerző - várom, hogy a többi regényét is legyen időm elolvasni.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fast, easy read worth the Kindle daily deal price. The premise starts strong - a group of historians goes to investigate a town that was mysteriously abandoned in the 19th century. It's quickly obvious that the ramifications of what happened echo into the present. The "threat behind every rock" device seemed manufactured sometimes to keep the pages turning, and got a bit wearying by the end.
Abandon is richly described and full of action. The twists kept me guessing and the dual timeline narrative gave me two books for the price of one. It's a solid, entertaining, yet gruesome read.
Without a doubt, I hate this book more than any other book I've ever read, or ever will read. It's impossible to care about anybody in the book or about what happens to them because the only people who populate this world, in any time period, are either way over-the-top evil, or just too incredibly stupid to live. It had such good reviews so I slogged my way through it thinking maybe it might get better, but nope. I resent this book for existing.
And you don't call a Marine a soldier.
And you don't call a Marine a soldier.