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A review by trevert
Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry
4.0
Wow, this was different, and excellent. If you go in expecting another Maberry Joe Ledger-style action thriller, that is NOT what you're getting... What this is, or at least how it came off to me, was the author writing his own "IT" or "Something Wicked This Way Comes". It's supernatural horror built around human frailty and good and evil, and can be a tough read at times but I thought it was very good indeed.
In a nutshell - Heroine Rain is a struggling semi-recovered junkie who gave up her baby years ago knowing she couldn't support a child. Over the course of the book she acquires a pair of cracked glasses that allow her to see alternate realities, or maybe alternate potentials. Together she and her group of addict friends find themselves thrust into an epic conflict with otherworldly evil Doctor Nine, a Mr. Dark-like character that feeds on hope.
It's really good, but don't go in if you're looking for cheerful. Triumphs here are more on the order of Rain rejecting a fix than Joe Ledger kicking down bad guy doors. It all ultimately leads to a really inspiring message but there's QUITE a lot of grim to get through on the way there. It's also wonderfully creepy at times, and Doc Nine and his evil nurse make terrific villains.
My one other precaution and my one point star deduction is that it takes quite a while to get going. Once you really start learning about what's happening and everything kicks into gear it's a thrillride to the finish, but that doesn't happen until you're almost halfway through the book and the opening half is a very long train of misery, of Rain and her friends all. I feel it could have done with some editing to trim that down a bit and "get good" quicker, but hell, it was still a damn fine horror story. Recommended!
In a nutshell - Heroine Rain is a struggling semi-recovered junkie who gave up her baby years ago knowing she couldn't support a child. Over the course of the book she acquires a pair of cracked glasses that allow her to see alternate realities, or maybe alternate potentials. Together she and her group of addict friends find themselves thrust into an epic conflict with otherworldly evil Doctor Nine, a Mr. Dark-like character that feeds on hope.
It's really good, but don't go in if you're looking for cheerful. Triumphs here are more on the order of Rain rejecting a fix than Joe Ledger kicking down bad guy doors. It all ultimately leads to a really inspiring message but there's QUITE a lot of grim to get through on the way there. It's also wonderfully creepy at times, and Doc Nine and his evil nurse make terrific villains.
My one other precaution and my one point star deduction is that it takes quite a while to get going. Once you really start learning about what's happening and everything kicks into gear it's a thrillride to the finish, but that doesn't happen until you're almost halfway through the book and the opening half is a very long train of misery, of Rain and her friends all. I feel it could have done with some editing to trim that down a bit and "get good" quicker, but hell, it was still a damn fine horror story. Recommended!