Archive
Book Review: Fragment by Warren Fahy (Series, #1)
Summary:
When the floating reality tv show SeaLife receives a distress beacon coming from a remote island, it looks like their ratings are going to improve. Henders Island has not been visited since the 1700s, and the scientists aboard the Trident are excited at the possible new species they could find. Unfortunately, the species aren’t as benign as they thought.
Review:
This was recommended to me by a couple of friends who know I’m a huge Michael Crichton fan as a Crichton-esque reading experience. I can definitely say that this falls solidly in the hard, plausible scifi genre that has been so empty since Crichton’s passing.
Fahy takes the concept of an island splitting off from the rest of civilization and evolving separately and runs with it. The creatures he comes up with are fantastic and frightening yet simultaneously plausible, which is part of what makes the thrills so thrilling. Similar to Crichton, there are long passages of science explained at a level easily understandable by anyone with a high school diploma. Also, there are passages that at first seem unimportant but later are revealed to be connected and important.
The characterization is strong enough for a thriller of this sort, although that of the main characters could be a bit stronger. Everyone is easy to tell apart, however, and their motivations are clear, something that can be difficult to pull off at the fast pace of a thriller. In future writings, I do hope that Fahy’s main characters will be a bit more well-rounded, however.
The pacing is a bit bumpy with some passages that remove the previously built-up suspense. Although this was necessary to explain the science, it does seem that it could have been worked in more smoothly. The last quarter of the book, however, is paced perfectly with no interruptions and just the right amount of suspense.
One of the highlights of the book is definitely the inclusion of the reality tv show. It lends it a current real vibe. Things are recorded as they happen. The world sort of knows what’s going on, but not quite. The military has to get involved. Everything reads as very plausible and realistically connected to how the modern world actually works. Plus the scenes involving the reality tv producers are just good comic relief.
I absolutely plan on reading Fahy’s future works, and definitely recommend this to fans of Crichton style scifi.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Book Review: Thinner by Stephen King
Summary:
Billy Halleck is an overweight, high-powered lawyer in a wealthy Connecticut town. He’s getting a bit irritated at his wife and a bit frustrated with his weight, but he loves his teenage daughter. One day, a band of gypsies come to town, and Billy accidentally runs one of them down with his car, killing her. His law firm and the cops, naturally, get him out of the manslaughter charge, but nobody can protect him from the lead gypsy’s curse, uttered while stroking one finger down his cheek, “Thinner.” Now he’s dropping weight no matter how much he eats, and he must race against the clock in an attempt to save himself.
Review:
A book about gypsy curses could easily slide into racist territory, but in fact Thinner actually criticizes the treatment the gypsies have received in the United States over the years, in spite of them not always being the most sympathetic characters in the book. They may be a bit non-mainstream and overly quick to exact their own vengeance, but Billy Halleck and his cronies are a much more frightening type of bad. They’re the bad that comes from too much money and power. The bad that comes from being so self-centered and over-indulgent that you’ve stopped noticing the rest of the world exists.
So, the social commentary is good and not offensive, what about the horror and thrills? That is, after all, what one reads a King novel for. The grotesqueness definitely builds gradually over time, making this much more of a thriller than a horror. At first Billy’s weight loss is welcomed. He was, after all, overweight before. Gradually, though he starts to freak out about how much weight he’s consistently losing in spite of eating as much as he possibly can. He starts to investigate and discovers two others with their own unique and, frankly, much more frightening curses. Although the beginning may feel a bit slow, that is exactly as it should be. Billy goes from normal life to life under a curse to racing against the clock to save his own life. The horror builds perfectly.
That said, this still doesn’t quite read as sophisticated as some of King’s later work. It does almost seem like a bit too obvious an allegory. A bit too obvious a statement being made. In spite of the story providing chills, it’s not quite terrifying or mind-blowing. It’s a fun read, but it’s no Dark Tower.
Overall this thriller provides chills, horror, and a good social commentary. I recommend it to fans of horror and thrillers alike, although slightly more to fans of thrillers.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Harvard Book Store
Book Review: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Summary:
Patrick Bateman is a 1980s yuppie working a Wall Street job with a dark secret. He doesn’t connect to other people except in the moments he’s torturing and killing them. But is he really a psychopathic murderer or is it all in his head?
Review:
I have a high tolerance for and even a tendency toward graphic violence and sex in novels, so I feel the need to warn my readers that this book was shockingly graphic even to me, and I was unphased by Battle Royale. So take that warning as you will. If you can’t handle graphic violence and sex, this book is definitely not for you. That said, this book pushes those with a high tolerance for such things in their reading out of their comfort zone, which is always an interesting experience.
The book is told from the first person perspective of Patrick Bateman. This is essential for us to see and feel what it is to struggle as him. This, of course, is painfully uncomfortable because we are put in the head of a madman while he violently dismembers and eventually kills multiple people, mainly women. Some people don’t ever want to be in that person’s head. Personally, I feel it is essential to understand what drives some people to be psychopaths and Breat Easton Ellis has a frightening ability to get inside that head. It is chilling to feel that Patrick gets the same sense of release from killing someone as I get from having a glass of wine at the end of the day. Simultaneously, I don’t doubt this at all, because that is what it is to be a psychopath.
Bret Easton Ellis also does an excellent job of depicting Antisocial Personality Disorder. Essentially, people suffering from this disorder are incapable of connecting emotionally or empathizing at all with other human beings. Patrick recognizes this disconnect when he is talking with various people in his life. He suffers significantly from this inability to find any connection with anything but violence.
My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape. (Location 8020-8023)
Beyond this, Patrick is completely confused about his world, and he knows it. He is unsure what is reality and what is not. This was one of the first aspects of mental illness to be recognized and seeing it all from the perspective of someone who is suffering from it is eloquent.
My mask of sanity was a victim of impending slippage. (Location 5975-5978)
Of course, beyond the uncomfortable identification with and depiction of someone suffering from one of the most difficult to understand mental illnesses is the depiction of the yuppie environment of the 1980s. What a vain, vapid existence these people lead. Extensive passages feature Patrick delineating every single designer name everyone in the room is wearing. One of the main issues in the week for all of the yuppie characters is getting into what is considered to be the best restaurant that week. Only the “best” alcohol is ordered. Only the “best” food is served, and it is served in such tiny portions that the yuppies are still hungry, yet this is considered to be better than being satiated. Frankly, I found these passages annoying to read, but they are necessary to the book. They show what a shallow, vapid world Patrick is in; one that he feels he cannot escape. These people are so selfish and lacking in empathy in that there is no way in hell they will ever notice anything is wrong with Patrick. It’s a scathing commentary on the yuppie culture.
The only negative from a writing aspect I can say about the book is the random chapters in which Patrick educates us on various musical groups. I honestly have no idea what the point of those are, and I skimmed over them. I definitely think Bret Easton Ellis should have cut them.
Overall, this is definitely a difficult book to read. It’s not comfortable or easy to alternate between identifying with a possible killer and being disgusted by his actions. Feeling sympathy for a killer is not something our society encourages, yet this book makes you feel it. Additionally, the passages depicting the yuppie world are vapid and annoying if for no other reason than because yuppies are vapid and annoying. Those difficulties though are what makes the book work. It takes the reader out of their comfort zone and forces them to confront things that they may not want to confront. Killers are not simply inhuman. They may do inhuman acts, but there are still elements of them that we may identify with. That is the truly scary part of American Psycho.
I highly recommend this book to everyone who thinks they can handle the graphic sex and violence. It will push your boundaries and force you to sympathize with those society depicts to us as the least sympathetic.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon
Counts For:
Book Review: I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
Summary:
Fifteen year old John Wayne Cleaver has an odd fascination with the bodies he helps cremate in the family mortuary. He also has difficulty feeling any emotions. He even has been studying serial killers for years. He is not one, however. At least, not yet. His therapist believes John may have Antisocial Personality Disorder, but both he and John hope John can learn to control his illness, an illness John refers to as Mr. Monster. However, when bodies start appearing on the streets of the town gruesomely murdered, John wonders how long he can keep Mr. Monster in check.
Review:
I originally had high expectations for this book. Then I had to wait for it so long that they waned, and I felt that it was probably just going to be a watered down YA version of Dexter. Then I grabbed it for my camping trip because I am insane and love to terrify myself when sleeping in the middle of nowhere in the woods with strange men with hatchets I don’t know a mere campsite away. It didn’t turn out to be a watered down Dexter. It also isn’t terrifying. The best word I can think to describe this book is relatable.
Dan Wells chose to write a YA book about mental illness and couch it with some supernatural features and a premise that will appeal to any teens, not just those struggling with a mental illness themselves. These were both smart moves as it makes I Am Not a Serial Killer more widely appealing. However, he not only chose to depict a mental illness, he chose to depict one of the ones that is the most difficult for healthy people to sympathize with and relate to–antisocial personality disorder. John Cleaver has no empathy, and this baffles those who naturally feel it.
Yet Wells manages to not only depict what makes John scary to those around him, but also how it feels to be John. He simultaneously depicts the scary parts of having a mental illness with the painful parts for the one struggling with it. John makes up rules for himself to try to control his behavior. He has to think things through every time he interacts with people or he will do or say the wrong thing. John is fully aware that he doesn’t fit in, but he wants to. He wants to be healthy and normal, but he also wants to be himself, which at this point in time includes the behavior that is his illness.
Of course, this is a book about a serial killer, and it delivers there. The death scenes hold just the right level of gruesomeness without going over the top. Anyone with a love of the macabre will also enjoy the mortuary scenes, which depict the right combination of science and John’s morbid fascination. There also is a tentatively forming teen dating relationship that is simultaneously sweet and bit nerve-wracking.
I feel I would be amiss not to mention that there is some self-harm in this book. It is very brief and is clearly shown as a part of John’s illness. In fact for the first time in reading about it in any book I can say the author handled it quite well, depicting the self-injurer and his reasons for doing so sympathetically and correctly, but without making it seem like something the reader should copy.
Overall this book delivers the thrills and chills it promises, but does so without demonizing John Cleaver. It depicts what it feels like to have a mental illness in a powerful, relatable manner while still managing to be a fast-paced YA thriller. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA, books dealing with mental illness, or thrillers.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Support my work with a tip or browse my shop for curated book club guides, how to guides, cross-stitch patterns, and more!
This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 