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A review by readbydusk
The Fear by Spencer Hamilton
3.0
Reading a pandemic horror during a pandemic? What was I thinking? Yet this book caught my attention and didn't let go until the end. It feels very relevant and yet different enough from the current real world situation for me to be able to consume it. I thought the writing is great, and the way madness seeps into the characters' minds is both horrifying and sad.
That said, I found the middle of the book really repetitive. I also didn't really buy the setup because it feels contrived. The book attempts to make it as close to real life as possible (the real tweets at the beginning of each chapter is an example) yet the characters have isolated themselves for no good reason from the beginning. The villains are obviously evil, there's nothing subtle at all about them. The ending suddenly veers into the fantastical out of nowhere. I'm not an own voice reviewer so I can't speak to the portrayal of one of the characters' struggle with sexuality, but it felt kind of gratuitous at times. Overall, I think this book is still an enjoyable short read but just misses the mark for me.
Thank you to the author for a review copy.
book blog | twitter | instagram
That said, I found the middle of the book really repetitive. I also didn't really buy the setup because it feels contrived. The book attempts to make it as close to real life as possible (the real tweets at the beginning of each chapter is an example) yet the characters have isolated themselves for no good reason from the beginning. The villains are obviously evil, there's nothing subtle at all about them. The ending suddenly veers into the fantastical out of nowhere. I'm not an own voice reviewer so I can't speak to the portrayal of one of the characters' struggle with sexuality, but it felt kind of gratuitous at times. Overall, I think this book is still an enjoyable short read but just misses the mark for me.
Thank you to the author for a review copy.
book blog | twitter | instagram