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167th out of 487 books
—
293 voters
ASYLUM
by
Claude Bouchard (Goodreads Author)
As Managing Director of the Montreal Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Doctor Matthew Russell has always put his professional responsibilities ahead of all else. That is, until he one day realizes he is losing his wife, Cassidy, and his two children, Stuart and Jennifer.
With only his family in mind, Russell takes an adventure-filled, impromptu vacation of indefinite dura...more
With only his family in mind, Russell takes an adventure-filled, impromptu vacation of indefinite dura...more
ebook
Published
July 11th 2011
by Claude Bouchard
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The main character, Doctor Matthew Russell, is a workaholic. Pushing his family further and further away with each broken promise, Matthew decides something must change and nothing is the ever the same again.
If you love to travel then you will love this book. At every stop along the Russel family vacation is danger. Every member of the family has a near death experience. Luckily, Matthew is there to save his family and keep them safe. Every heroic deed allows Matthew to prove his newly found dev...more
If you love to travel then you will love this book. At every stop along the Russel family vacation is danger. Every member of the family has a near death experience. Luckily, Matthew is there to save his family and keep them safe. Every heroic deed allows Matthew to prove his newly found dev...more
I've been reading Claude Bouchard's work, daily - 140 characters at a time, for months on twitter. His banter with another author (to be reviewed soon) led me to reading excerpts at his website, www.claudebouchardbooks.com and his blog. I have all of his books in my possession. I let this one be the first novel to read completely because of a unique quality: the characters are named after some of the people he interacts with on twitter. My name is in there. Who doesn't want to share their name w...more
This is not a children’s book but is clean, family oriented and intriguing. Dr Russell suddenly decides to solve his family troubles by taking indefinite, unplanned leave from his job, and takes his wife and two kids on the holiday of a lifetime.
What a holiday! Just imagine the most enjoyable tour of the West Coast of North America, staying in the best hotels, doing all the outdoor sports and sight-seeing trips (they missed out Mount Rainier but maybe it’s changed since I went there). Every now...more
What a holiday! Just imagine the most enjoyable tour of the West Coast of North America, staying in the best hotels, doing all the outdoor sports and sight-seeing trips (they missed out Mount Rainier but maybe it’s changed since I went there). Every now...more
With this book it's simple to figure out the ending after the first few pages. I don't necessarily mind that, especially if the events leading to the ending explain how the ending happened. This book does not.
This book is a travelogue -- and not a very good one at that. It's more of a brag book than anything else. It's not scary, or a psychological thriller. Not by a long shot. So the author knows his wines, has been to a lot of the same tourist traps millions of others have been to.
I kept tryin...more
This book is a travelogue -- and not a very good one at that. It's more of a brag book than anything else. It's not scary, or a psychological thriller. Not by a long shot. So the author knows his wines, has been to a lot of the same tourist traps millions of others have been to.
I kept tryin...more
An excellent read! Of course I might be slightly biased because I'm featured in this story. OK, not really me, but Claude used my name for one of the characters (with permission, of course). The story unfolds as a lighthearted romp around the world with a loving family. The fact that the main character apparently just abandons his prestigious position to become "Family Man" seems somewhat odd, but realigning ones priorities can often seem that way. At some point, and I'm not sure when, I realize...more
Wow... talk about a let down. It started off great! You could feel the twist building and then nothing. It turned into a travel brochure for the most unrealistic vacation EVER! I have never seen one family more plagued with troubles than this one. Then the absolutely unrealistic activities and places they went... you knew it had to be all in his head. But the way he took it all the way to the last 2 pages before revealing the twist was ridiculous. I got so tired of the "vacation" it made me feel...more
This book was free on the kindle and definitely worth what I paid for it. After a few pages it was clear what was happening and the book devolved into a very long travelogue (complete with hotel names and locations) wherein the family gets in trouble and super dad saves the day. Over, and over and over again. And really, he pee'd on a man? The ending was expected and abrupt. Not satisfying, but at least it was such a quick read that little time was wasted.
I downloaded "Asylum" during a free promotion on Kindle because I was intrigued by the title and description. As a fan of psychological thrillers, I felt like I would enjoy the book and it did not disappoint. About halfway in, I did figure out the plot, but was still surprised at the extent of the twist at the end.
The heavy detail in the book slows the pace down a bit and as a fan of psych. thrillers and horror, I would have liked to have gone deeper into the psychology of the main character. H...more
The heavy detail in the book slows the pace down a bit and as a fan of psych. thrillers and horror, I would have liked to have gone deeper into the psychology of the main character. H...more
This wasn't my favorite book by this author. I think it would have made a wonderful short story. I felt like it rambled quite a bit. He describes, in detail, each ride the family took, each hotel room, each restruant, and even details about the food they ate. There was way too much filler without substance. It was as if Claude had this wonderful idea for a plot but had to fill in most of the book with mundane details before getting to the surprising ending. I don't know if it was because it ramb...more
After reading about 30 percent of this book, the pace slowed with detailed descriptions of the Russell family vacation. The vacation starts in Canada, down the California coast, eastward to Las Vegas, and on to Florida. They board a plane for Rio de Janeiro. I took time to go to Amazon.com and checked the reviews of this book, and there were many. It appeared the reviewers were split between loving this novel, highly praising the author, or they were very critical and found the story boring. I d...more
Totally disappointed in the book. If you want to take a vacation with Matthew Russell and his family, this is the story to read. I literally skimmed through half the book. Too much detail about the various places visited and every tidbit of food they ate. Not my kind of book. Ending of story left you hanging.
This was a very interesting, well written book with a really "different" plot. Often plots have been told over and over again all by different authors. But Claude Bourchard has delivered a really interesting twist that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is captivating, holding my interest all the way through. I recommend you read it.
I have to admit I skimmed through a majority of this book.... I liked the concept of the book but the characters were way too irritating & the traveling was monotonous and tedious. You have the ending figured out from the beginning - getting to the end was a chore.
It wasn't terrible but wasn't the best either. The detail of the trip got to be a little much and I figured something was up when the family just kept going and going and going on their trip. The ending was a little expected but worked.
This could potentially be the worst book I've ever read: completely implausible, a twist seen coming a mile away, stilted dialogue, and a long, overblown travelogue. Could potentially have been a decent short story.
Though this book has great ratings, I don't get it. To me it was just a guy on vacation with his family and then the end which I won't get into here for obvious reasons. What was so great about it?
view 2 comments
bored,bored,bored. kept waiting for obvious conclusion. was not a shocker ending. surprised by the high ratings. did not give up on this story.
Knew what was coming, just carried on reading to find out when it would be......
a little different....but fairly enjoyable read
So boring I couldn't finish it.
Jun 09, 2012
Lydia Brown
added it
Crazy book but a good read!!!
Jul 09, 2012
TaenneLeigh
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
adults (some older teens)
Recommended to TaenneLeigh by:
other books by the author
This book was quite the interesting roller coaster with psychological thrill, mixed feelings and fantasy. It took me way by surprise and that's what earned it the five stars I gave it. I like it when an author is very knowledgable of his/her surroundings, foods, wines, etc. It makes the story more tantalizing for me because these are areas of interest for me.
And, I'm still reeling.
And, I'm still reeling.
WOW!! This book was definatly NOT what I thought!! You are so drawn in by the story, you get to the
end and you wonder what the hell just happened!! Loved it!!!
end and you wonder what the hell just happened!! Loved it!!!
May 22, 2013
Cat
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2013
Jacob Parr
marked it as to-read
May 09, 2013
Dave Brown
added it
May 04, 2013
Tashan
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2013
Lynne King
marked it as to-read
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Claude was born in Montreal, Canada, where he still resides with his spouse, Joanne as well as the rulers of the household, Krystalle and Midnight, their cats. He completed his studies in human resources, accounting and management at McGill University and worked in various management capacities in the fields of HR and finance for a handful of firms for too many years.
His first stab at writing was...more
More about Claude Bouchard...
His first stab at writing was...more
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