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A review by billymac1962
The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz
4.0
I very rarely accept friend requests from authors. Most of them are looking to expand their visibility, and I don't begrudge them that: it is their livelihood after all. I'm just not interested in being used like that.
However, when I checked out Jonathan Janz's profile, he was not only an author, but an active Goodreads reader and reviewer of books. And we had the same tastes, and he did not offer free material for 'honest review'.
So I never felt obligated to read him. I hate being obligated to read anything.
Then a few weeks ago I was listening to Brian Keene's horror podcast and he mentioned Jonathan Janz's Dust Devils as one of his top 10 favourite reads in 2014. Well, the name sounded familiar and lo and behold, hey, this guy friended me on Goodreads last year!
So I checked him out a little closer and discovered that Keene had also raved about his first, The Sorrows. So that did it, I slapped it on my to-read list.
Now the obvious dilemma: What if I don't like it? I have to maintain my integrity as a reviewer (I was THE Bill of Bill's Brutally Honest Book Reviews website, don't you know), and he seems like a really good guy.
So I threw the dilemma to the wind and started reading it.
And, oh shit...this really wasn't working for me. This revelation happened on a Friday night, and with my favourite reading morning a mere eight hours away, I decided at 30% that I was no longer interested in it, and I would start Saturday morning with something new. I'd just delete the book and not review it at all.
The morning came and, undecided on what to read next, thought I'd read just a couple of more pages to give it one last chance.
And got severely hooked.
Janz had a couple of story arcs going at this point, and each were intense and very very absorbing. I could hardly put it down. This, to my delight (and relief), was destined for a five star rating.
So what happened to the five star rating? Well,
Janz had me in his grip until he crashed the helicopter onto the island, which struck me as the literary equivalent of throwing everything into the pot and turning up the heat to max.
Once this happened, all of the brooding suspense and unease vanished. The story devolved into an Action movie, lots of gunfire, ANOTHER helicopter, just so no one is left out, and some unrealistic feats of heroism despite near fatal wounds.
Incidentally, earlier in the novel Eddie dove into the ocean and his lungs filled with water. Not only did he not drown, but it seemed to be something he shrugged off easily. I'm a stickler for things like this, so this really bugged me and was one of the reasons I was going to drop it.
Anyhow, the whole action filled climaxing will work for a lot of people, but I much preferred the tone of the 30-75% of the novel.
I was going to give this three stars overall. But he was so stellar for a good chunk of the novel, I think he deserves better than that. So four it is, and I will likely read him again.
However, when I checked out Jonathan Janz's profile, he was not only an author, but an active Goodreads reader and reviewer of books. And we had the same tastes, and he did not offer free material for 'honest review'.
So I never felt obligated to read him. I hate being obligated to read anything.
Then a few weeks ago I was listening to Brian Keene's horror podcast and he mentioned Jonathan Janz's Dust Devils as one of his top 10 favourite reads in 2014. Well, the name sounded familiar and lo and behold, hey, this guy friended me on Goodreads last year!
So I checked him out a little closer and discovered that Keene had also raved about his first, The Sorrows. So that did it, I slapped it on my to-read list.
Now the obvious dilemma: What if I don't like it? I have to maintain my integrity as a reviewer (I was THE Bill of Bill's Brutally Honest Book Reviews website, don't you know), and he seems like a really good guy.
So I threw the dilemma to the wind and started reading it.
And, oh shit...this really wasn't working for me. This revelation happened on a Friday night, and with my favourite reading morning a mere eight hours away, I decided at 30% that I was no longer interested in it, and I would start Saturday morning with something new. I'd just delete the book and not review it at all.
The morning came and, undecided on what to read next, thought I'd read just a couple of more pages to give it one last chance.
And got severely hooked.
Janz had a couple of story arcs going at this point, and each were intense and very very absorbing. I could hardly put it down. This, to my delight (and relief), was destined for a five star rating.
So what happened to the five star rating? Well,
Spoiler
Janz had me in his grip until he crashed the helicopter onto the island, which struck me as the literary equivalent of throwing everything into the pot and turning up the heat to max.
Once this happened, all of the brooding suspense and unease vanished. The story devolved into an Action movie, lots of gunfire, ANOTHER helicopter, just so no one is left out, and some unrealistic feats of heroism despite near fatal wounds.
Incidentally, earlier in the novel Eddie dove into the ocean and his lungs filled with water. Not only did he not drown, but it seemed to be something he shrugged off easily. I'm a stickler for things like this, so this really bugged me and was one of the reasons I was going to drop it.
Anyhow, the whole action filled climaxing will work for a lot of people, but I much preferred the tone of the 30-75% of the novel.
I was going to give this three stars overall. But he was so stellar for a good chunk of the novel, I think he deserves better than that. So four it is, and I will likely read him again.