Scan barcode
dantastic's review
3.0
All Jackson Smith wants to do is go to a job interview. When a suicide disrupts traffic, Jack hoofs it and finds that's just the tip of the iceberg. Why are people all over the city killing themselves? And can Jack keep himself from being next?
I got this from DarkFuse via Netgalley.
"The suicide plague hits" would be a good way to sum up this novella. People all over town are gripped by suicidal thoughts and are offing themselves in various horrible ways. Jackson's struggle to find his girlfriend and not become one of the massed victims is palpable and very well done. The Sleeping Dead of the title are even creepier than the actual suicides.
The way Richard Farren Barber depicts the suicidal thoughts invading Jack's mind was chilling and all too believable. I liked the way Jackson and Susan banded together without falling repeatedly on one another's genitals.
My only real gripe with the book was with the ending but that was a matter of personal taste. The DarkFuse Novella series continues to impress. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I got this from DarkFuse via Netgalley.
"The suicide plague hits" would be a good way to sum up this novella. People all over town are gripped by suicidal thoughts and are offing themselves in various horrible ways. Jackson's struggle to find his girlfriend and not become one of the massed victims is palpable and very well done. The Sleeping Dead of the title are even creepier than the actual suicides.
The way Richard Farren Barber depicts the suicidal thoughts invading Jack's mind was chilling and all too believable. I liked the way Jackson and Susan banded together without falling repeatedly on one another's genitals.
My only real gripe with the book was with the ending but that was a matter of personal taste. The DarkFuse Novella series continues to impress. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
mxsallybend's review
4.0
Damn, but I liked this! Creepy and paranoid, dark and disturbing, The Sleeping Dead reminds me of an old episode of Tales from the Darkside - so much so that I could actually hear Donald Rubinstein's theme song running through my head as I read it.
Richard Farren Barber (who is definitely going on my list of authors to watch) has crafted a simple tale that is as relentless as it is unforgiving. All Jackson Smith wants to do is get away from the crazy man on the bus and get to his job interview on time, but a traffic snarl up ahead prompts a change of plans. When he gets out to walk across the bridge, Jackson finds himself drawn to the dark waters below, nearly seduced into leaping over the rail into their cold embrace. Up ahead, at least one other person has heard the same siren call, and not even the police seem able to motivate themselves to stop him from jumping.
When he arrives at the interview, Jackson finds one his future bosses rocking and moaning like the crazy man on the bus. Disoriented and off his game, he blows the interview and then is forced to watch as that very same man bashes his head against a window repeatedly until he falls to his death. After that, escaping the building is as much a matter of avoiding the other suicides as it is resisting his own. Fortunately, he finds one other woman fighting against the voices, and the two of them will drag one another through town, alternately trying to talk one another into and out of their own suicidal thoughts.
Like I said, this is a simple tale, but the dread is distinctly palatable. Barber gets deep inside our heads and makes us feel that same sense of hopeless despair as his characters. As much as we want them to succeed, to carry on and save the day, we can't help but feel they might be better off joining the piles of bodies that litter the streets and the river below. Instead, we get a journey that we have to be strong enough to see through, for there's no happily ever after here, no answers, and respite. It's a dark tale, but the courage of two strangers and the strength they take from one another is more powerful than any bonds of love or family ties.
We may never understand what drives The Sleeping Dead, but that's fine, because some horrors can never be adequately explained. Instead, Barber leaves us to listen to our own voices, and determine for ourselves what dark truths they might hold.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
Richard Farren Barber (who is definitely going on my list of authors to watch) has crafted a simple tale that is as relentless as it is unforgiving. All Jackson Smith wants to do is get away from the crazy man on the bus and get to his job interview on time, but a traffic snarl up ahead prompts a change of plans. When he gets out to walk across the bridge, Jackson finds himself drawn to the dark waters below, nearly seduced into leaping over the rail into their cold embrace. Up ahead, at least one other person has heard the same siren call, and not even the police seem able to motivate themselves to stop him from jumping.
When he arrives at the interview, Jackson finds one his future bosses rocking and moaning like the crazy man on the bus. Disoriented and off his game, he blows the interview and then is forced to watch as that very same man bashes his head against a window repeatedly until he falls to his death. After that, escaping the building is as much a matter of avoiding the other suicides as it is resisting his own. Fortunately, he finds one other woman fighting against the voices, and the two of them will drag one another through town, alternately trying to talk one another into and out of their own suicidal thoughts.
Like I said, this is a simple tale, but the dread is distinctly palatable. Barber gets deep inside our heads and makes us feel that same sense of hopeless despair as his characters. As much as we want them to succeed, to carry on and save the day, we can't help but feel they might be better off joining the piles of bodies that litter the streets and the river below. Instead, we get a journey that we have to be strong enough to see through, for there's no happily ever after here, no answers, and respite. It's a dark tale, but the courage of two strangers and the strength they take from one another is more powerful than any bonds of love or family ties.
We may never understand what drives The Sleeping Dead, but that's fine, because some horrors can never be adequately explained. Instead, Barber leaves us to listen to our own voices, and determine for ourselves what dark truths they might hold.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
andshe_reads's review
4.0
A fast paced short novella that had me hooked from the beginning, I started reading in the morning... and within an hour or so I was done. I never lost track of the storyline and each chapter had my mind wandering further into the story and the hell bent destruction that is suicide that everyone seems to be doing.
'Jackson leaned in close. The man was whispering rapidly. Words churned from him like water boiling in a pan'
'It was almost possible to believe he was taking a mid-afternoon power nap if Jackson ignored the stink of fresh blood and the red liquid pooling on the desk around the body'
Richard Farren Barber has a true eye for detail ensuring I was on the edge of my chair as I felt all the horror, dread and anguish Jackson and later on in the novel Susan felt as the terror continues around them.
A compelling read I will definitely recommend!!
'Jackson leaned in close. The man was whispering rapidly. Words churned from him like water boiling in a pan'
'It was almost possible to believe he was taking a mid-afternoon power nap if Jackson ignored the stink of fresh blood and the red liquid pooling on the desk around the body'
Richard Farren Barber has a true eye for detail ensuring I was on the edge of my chair as I felt all the horror, dread and anguish Jackson and later on in the novel Susan felt as the terror continues around them.
A compelling read I will definitely recommend!!
ctorretta's review
4.0
This one was really strange! Creepy is totally this book’s middle name. I could feel the intensity that Jackson was feeling but more at the beginning of the story than the end.
First Jackson is just having a regular day and trying to get to a job interview. There’s this one guy on the bus that seems really weird. Like not the normal weird that you know is ok but really weird like they may kill someone soon! He gets off the bus but stops long enough to tell the bus driver that something is just NOT right with that guy. Sadly, Jackson didn’t leave the weirdness behind him but walked right into it!
I really enjoyed this. The writing was intense and kept that intensity throughout. People are running around killing themselves, and the people around them, without any sort of explanation. That’s just creepy! The deeper Jackson gets into this storyline the more worried I become for his safety. There is just no where safe and being alone makes that worse.
I think the story progressed nicely but what I didn’t love was the ending. Everything was leading to something somewhere and the ending just felt kind of blah. Like eating your last cookie while watching television so you don’t actually realize it’s your last cookie until you look down and do not remember eating all three cookies but you know you can’t go get anymore! You just ate three!
It was sort of like that… I either wanted to remember the intensity at the ending or I wanted there to be like some horrific thing that happened. Or maybe some answers to why this is happening!
In short: this reminded me of The Happening by M. Night Shymalan. Creepier than the movie but with less answers in the end.
3.5/5
Thank you to Darkfuse for the opportunity to read this for an honest review.
First Jackson is just having a regular day and trying to get to a job interview. There’s this one guy on the bus that seems really weird. Like not the normal weird that you know is ok but really weird like they may kill someone soon! He gets off the bus but stops long enough to tell the bus driver that something is just NOT right with that guy. Sadly, Jackson didn’t leave the weirdness behind him but walked right into it!
I really enjoyed this. The writing was intense and kept that intensity throughout. People are running around killing themselves, and the people around them, without any sort of explanation. That’s just creepy! The deeper Jackson gets into this storyline the more worried I become for his safety. There is just no where safe and being alone makes that worse.
I think the story progressed nicely but what I didn’t love was the ending. Everything was leading to something somewhere and the ending just felt kind of blah. Like eating your last cookie while watching television so you don’t actually realize it’s your last cookie until you look down and do not remember eating all three cookies but you know you can’t go get anymore! You just ate three!
It was sort of like that… I either wanted to remember the intensity at the ending or I wanted there to be like some horrific thing that happened. Or maybe some answers to why this is happening!
In short: this reminded me of The Happening by M. Night Shymalan. Creepier than the movie but with less answers in the end.
3.5/5
Thank you to Darkfuse for the opportunity to read this for an honest review.
andshereads's review
4.0
A fast paced short novella that had me hooked from the beginning, I started reading in the morning... and within an hour or so I was done. I never lost track of the storyline and each chapter had my mind wandering further into the story and the hell bent destruction that is suicide that everyone seems to be doing.
'Jackson leaned in close. The man was whispering rapidly. Words churned from him like water boiling in a pan'
'It was almost possible to believe he was taking a mid-afternoon power nap if Jackson ignored the stink of fresh blood and the red liquid pooling on the desk around the body'
Richard Farren Barber has a true eye for detail ensuring I was on the edge of my chair as I felt all the horror, dread and anguish Jackson and later on in the novel Susan felt as the terror continues around them.
A compelling read I will definitely recommend!!
'Jackson leaned in close. The man was whispering rapidly. Words churned from him like water boiling in a pan'
'It was almost possible to believe he was taking a mid-afternoon power nap if Jackson ignored the stink of fresh blood and the red liquid pooling on the desk around the body'
Richard Farren Barber has a true eye for detail ensuring I was on the edge of my chair as I felt all the horror, dread and anguish Jackson and later on in the novel Susan felt as the terror continues around them.
A compelling read I will definitely recommend!!
More...