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trevert's review against another edition
2.0
Sadly, got to give this one a pretty general "Meh". It was something of a pastiche of "In the Mouth of Madness" and old TV movie "Don't be afraid of the dark" with its little killer gnomes, but I never found myself connecting with the characters. They pretty much functioned as plot pieces to move the story forward, without a real feeling of being actual people, at least to me, alas. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly good either.
labraden's review against another edition
4.0
This book was disappointing. B J Daniels was a new author for me, but I'd read for months what a great book this was, so I purchased it with high hopes. It was a pretty good book, but nothing stood out for me as being outstanding. It was a little light on the romance, as the two main characters didn't seem to consider each other romantically until the book was about 2/3 complete. The mystery was good, but fairly predictable.
carriegessner's review against another edition
5.0
I've been trying to expand my reading horizons lately. I haven't read much horror and am not all that familiar with the genre conventions. I found this to be a quick, enjoyable read that kept me guessing as to what would happen next! I especially enjoyed the history involved and the excerpts from The Journal of Clayton Stone.
historynerd04's review
3.0
Good...but I'm withholding judgement until I read the sequel. Will there be a sequel? I must know!! Too many unanswered questions that I'm hoping will get answered in a potential follow up.
jeanne25's review
4.0
My fifth Barker book and still impressed with how each story carries it's own style and tone. Some of the imagery here will stick with me forever, specifically that of the minions. The timeline was short which made the novel seem to fly by. I enjoyed the alternating chapters and how they got shorter nearing the end, creating a stronger feeling that time was speeding up/running out. This story is book one so there is no tied up ending, but there is an ending and I do appreciate that. Even though I loved The Fourth Monkey series, I have complained heavily about how The Fifth To Die ended. THIS book had the perfect ratio of closure and anticipation for the next. Speaking of which, published in 2014, will there be another?
morticia_59's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book...it was very creepy and I anxiously await his next book!
moonlit_shelves's review against another edition
5.0
This story was amazing and very creepy. I loved the way that Leland Gaunt and the Needful Things store were brought into the story. I can't wait to return to the Shadow Cove Saga when the next book comes out!
aperfectmjk's review
5.0
“Sometimes the most frightening of thoughts can be found hiding among the shadows of our own minds.”
This quote has appealed to me long before I opened the pages of this fantastic novel. This is such an ominous, but powerful statement. The majority of us living inside our own minds, the truly sick and demented trapped by their thoughts like a prison. The mind is something that for centuries that we have longed to understand, to understand behaviors and predict patterns of psychotic behavior, but deception of one's thoughts is far greater than imagined.
To be fair, this novel is about witches, and not the mind... at least that's what you're thinking right? Yes, it is, and it's by far the best novel I have read involving witchcraft. I have to be honest though, J.D. Barker may have set out to write a horror novel involving witchcraft, but this novel delivers so much more, which is why for a debut novel it's no wonder it's set him apart as an author. There is a psychological aspect at play here. J.D. Barker takes a story... a seemingly unrealistic story of witchcraft, and makes it credible. How does he do this you ask? Through the emotional undoing of his characters, it's their distress and psychological state that pulls you in. This is what sets it apart from fantasy, to what could be a truly horrific reality.
I have to say, that J.D. Barker's ability to intermix the telling of the past while simultaneously telling the present is unlike no other. I've read multiple novels from other authors, who shall remain nameless, where they've tried to do this, and have failed. Somehow always falling short and losing the reader in the process, never quite making the connection, and just creating more confusion rather than adding to the suspense intended. This has become a signature of his writing now, I saw this with [b:The Fourth Monkey|31125554|The Fourth Monkey (4MK Thriller, #1)|J.D. Barker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474820373s/31125554.jpg|51739338] , and now with Forsaken. The way he tells the story of Her, the witch, through Thad's novel, intermixing chapters with the present creates the perfect story.
The influences for J.D. Barker is clear in his writing, we can see this by his paying homage to Stephen King's [b:Needful Things|107291|Needful Things|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315767817s/107291.jpg|1812101]. It's common for many authors of the horror genre to look up to the greats such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul, but it's another thing for them to come close to following in their footsteps. I for one have to say that J.D. Barker is well on his way to being one of the next "GREAT" horror writers.
This quote has appealed to me long before I opened the pages of this fantastic novel. This is such an ominous, but powerful statement. The majority of us living inside our own minds, the truly sick and demented trapped by their thoughts like a prison. The mind is something that for centuries that we have longed to understand, to understand behaviors and predict patterns of psychotic behavior, but deception of one's thoughts is far greater than imagined.
To be fair, this novel is about witches, and not the mind... at least that's what you're thinking right? Yes, it is, and it's by far the best novel I have read involving witchcraft. I have to be honest though, J.D. Barker may have set out to write a horror novel involving witchcraft, but this novel delivers so much more, which is why for a debut novel it's no wonder it's set him apart as an author. There is a psychological aspect at play here. J.D. Barker takes a story... a seemingly unrealistic story of witchcraft, and makes it credible. How does he do this you ask? Through the emotional undoing of his characters, it's their distress and psychological state that pulls you in. This is what sets it apart from fantasy, to what could be a truly horrific reality.
I have to say, that J.D. Barker's ability to intermix the telling of the past while simultaneously telling the present is unlike no other. I've read multiple novels from other authors, who shall remain nameless, where they've tried to do this, and have failed. Somehow always falling short and losing the reader in the process, never quite making the connection, and just creating more confusion rather than adding to the suspense intended. This has become a signature of his writing now, I saw this with [b:The Fourth Monkey|31125554|The Fourth Monkey (4MK Thriller, #1)|J.D. Barker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474820373s/31125554.jpg|51739338] , and now with Forsaken. The way he tells the story of Her, the witch, through Thad's novel, intermixing chapters with the present creates the perfect story.
The influences for J.D. Barker is clear in his writing, we can see this by his paying homage to Stephen King's [b:Needful Things|107291|Needful Things|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315767817s/107291.jpg|1812101]. It's common for many authors of the horror genre to look up to the greats such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul, but it's another thing for them to come close to following in their footsteps. I for one have to say that J.D. Barker is well on his way to being one of the next "GREAT" horror writers.
charshorrorcorner's review
4.0
This was a fast paced novel that I enjoyed! It's a story about a horror writer, (oh no, not another one you may be thinking), but this one is slightly different. A story comes to the protagonist, Thad, almost completely whole; streaming through him like lightning, it comes out on paper. This story is more than just a fictional, historical account of the witch trials in Salem, MA. It may not be fictional, for one thing, and it may not take place entirely in the past.
I liked how this tale was related, with chapters featuring the present alternating between chapters from The Journal of Clayton Stone. It took a little while to get into the flow of things, but not too long. That's because the pacing in this book was very fast and the chapters were short. Before I knew it I was speeding along and then I just had to finish it, (right? You know how it is.), because I was so close to the end.
All of the characters here were flawed, but for me that made them more real. There were a good bunch of creepy times going on in the house where Thad's daughter and his pregnant wife waited for him to return from the sale of his book. As this story went along those creepy times graduated up to scary as hell. Thad wasn't having the best time with his book agent either.
This is a story of witchcraft, the first in a series. I have sworn to myself that I wouldn't start another series until it was finished, but here I am. A friend of mine on Goodreads mentioned that he liked this book, I took a look, claimed it for review at HAD and here we are. I'm glad that I did choose it, because I found it to be well written, fast paced, scary and imaginative. I will be looking forward to the next in the series because it's been a long time since I read such a damn fine witch story. (As an added bonus, this novel is sandwiched between two nods to Needful Things. There may have been other nods to SK as well...Grady's? But that might be just my active imagination.)
Highly recommended!
A free copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review. This is it!
This and other reviews like it can be found at www.HorrorAfterDark.com.
I liked how this tale was related, with chapters featuring the present alternating between chapters from The Journal of Clayton Stone. It took a little while to get into the flow of things, but not too long. That's because the pacing in this book was very fast and the chapters were short. Before I knew it I was speeding along and then I just had to finish it, (right? You know how it is.), because I was so close to the end.
All of the characters here were flawed, but for me that made them more real. There were a good bunch of creepy times going on in the house where Thad's daughter and his pregnant wife waited for him to return from the sale of his book. As this story went along those creepy times graduated up to scary as hell. Thad wasn't having the best time with his book agent either.
This is a story of witchcraft, the first in a series. I have sworn to myself that I wouldn't start another series until it was finished, but here I am. A friend of mine on Goodreads mentioned that he liked this book, I took a look, claimed it for review at HAD and here we are. I'm glad that I did choose it, because I found it to be well written, fast paced, scary and imaginative. I will be looking forward to the next in the series because it's been a long time since I read such a damn fine witch story. (As an added bonus, this novel is sandwiched between two nods to Needful Things. There may have been other nods to SK as well...Grady's? But that might be just my active imagination.)
Highly recommended!
A free copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review. This is it!
This and other reviews like it can be found at www.HorrorAfterDark.com.