Steve Stred's Blog, page 47

Book Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Title: The Road

Author: Cormac McCarthy

Release date: September 26, 2006

I’m one of those annoying book snobs where I typically try my best to read the book before seeing the movie. There’s been a few slips over the years (The Ritual by Adam Nevill being one – but I love both the book and the movie and tonally, the book and movie are not far off from this book/movie here), but back in 2008 when I saw the first trailer for the movie The Road, and saw that it was based on McCarthy’s book, I snagged it and dove in. I was, frankly, afraid to read this one. Not because I knew it was going to destroy me – which it did – but because it was McCarthy and it was so lauded as this phenomenal piece of literature. I’ve talked previously of not considering myself a ‘smart reader.’ If the prose is too purple and the phrases too thesaurus-y for me, I’m typically going to zone out and not tune back in.

But, McCarthy’s story of a father and son at the end of the world doesn’t suffer from that. Instead it’s a delicate tale of losing hope and struggling to survive.

I’ve been wanting to re-read this for some time, but remembering how much the book and movie crushed me, I didn’t know if I could handle it. Things in my life have changed considerably. Back then, it was just me, my wife and our dog. We didn’t have much in the way of stress (other than student loan payments) and we tried our best to enjoy life as much as we could.

Now, it’s me, my wife, a new dog and our son. A boy who we were never supposed to have and who, for six minutes at his arrival, didn’t have. No vitals, no response, no signs of life. I won’t get more into it, other than they miraculously brought him back and he’s here with us today.

Going in, I wondered if I could emotionally handle this. I’ve gone through therapy and counselling and have tools in place to deal with the PTSD associated with what happened to him and my wife (she was also gone for almost ten minutes), but I remembered some of what McCarthy accomplishes, and that alone was enough to petrify me once again.

What I liked: As mentioned, the story follows a father and son, as they walk towards the coast in the hopes of finding somewhere safe and stable. The world as we know it has ended, the surface scorched, the oceans boiled and a steady downfall of ash, rain and snow greet each day. Food is scarce, humans scarcer and all the while the father desperately tries to hold onto hope that he will find somewhere for his son.

I’m in no position to comment on McCarthy’s writing ability, other than to say, as the story goes on he does such a phenomenal job of slowly and methodically making things darker and bleaker. From descriptive words, to the descriptions of the characters to the way the environment around them is treated. It’s masterful and shows the beauty and brutality of words.

The ending of this one is just heartbreaking. I bawled like I the source of water for Niagara Falls. To make it even worse, I finished this while my son was gently snoring away beside me in bed. I gave him a squeeze – not enough to wake him – but enough that I could subtlety tell him that I would do whatever it took to make sure he was safe if we were ever in that position.

What I didn’t like:  I’m a bit of a hypocrite here saying what I didn’t like, as I’m frequently guilty of this in my own work, but I do wish we would’ve learned more about the extra stuff. More about the mom and her ultimate reasons for disappearing. More about the end of the world events and how things go to where it is. Ultimately, it does work really well because it makes everything feel bleaker and hopeless, but even a few snippets would’ve been great.

Why you should buy this: If you’ve not read this yet, I would highly recommend you give it a go. The prose is powerful and accessible, while the characters – even the random secondary scavenger characters – feel real and fill the spaces they occupy with considerable tension.

This one is a book that I don’t believe I could ever revisit again, but one that’ll remain with me for the rest of my days.

5/5

3Q’s – Kyra R. Torres is completely TASTELESS!

How ridiculous are my ‘click-bait’ headlines? Just brutal and I feel ashamed with how sad some of them truly are hahahah! Like today’s! Kyra would probably punch me in the shoulder if she was in the same room as me for how lame of an attempt this was.

BUT…. it does mean a new guest and a new author is here for a neeeeeewwwwwwwwww 3Q’s!

Today’s guest is a fun one!

Please welcome, Kyra!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
KT: I tend to usually write in the morning for a few hours when I have some alone, quiet time. I don’t have a specific time of day I try to write at, I just take whatever I can find. I’d love to say that I have this set writing goal I try to meet daily, but the truth is that I’m such a mood writer it’s impossible to make that happen! Some days the words are pouring out of me and others I’m lucky to get a few sentences.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

KT: Rayne King. When I got back into writing and discovered the indie community, the first book I read was, “The Creek” by King and it was my introduction back into reading/writing grief in horror. I’m a big fan and he’s a good friend. I know he’d be a good author to finish what I started.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
KT: Tasteless is a sort of horror comedy that takes place surrounding the pandemic and will have you reliving what I’m sure we’ll never forget. It’s very relatable for a lot of us, but hopefully these are symptoms you’ve never experienced!

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

KT: Easy, Kat Dennings!

Excellent choice!

Thank you so much, Kyra!

To find more of her work – check the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyrarenewrites

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21675767.Kyra_R_Torres

3Q’s – Ronald McGillvray goes from Parkland to Dreamland!

Real fun one today with an awesome Canuck! The craziness that is this big world, is that it truly is smaller than we think. Case in point – after connecting with Ronald a few years back, it turns out that he grew up in a house not all that far from where I currently live in Edmonton! MIND BLOWN!

With that random tidbit – please welcome Ronald to the 3Q’s Feature!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Ronald: I prefer to write once the sun goes down. I’ve tried writing at different times of the day but evenings work best for me. I’m also one of those writers who needs absolute quiet when they write. The daylight hours offer too many distractions for me. As for word count, I tell myself I’m just going to write 100 words so it won’t seem so daunting, knowing that once I get going it will be much more than that. In general, I’m happy writing 500 words a day, 6 days a week. I always take one day off to let my brain reboot.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

Ronald: That’s a tough one because there are so many authors that I admire and enjoy. After some thought, I would pick Brian Bowyer because I know he would turn my story on its head and turn it into a crazy, mind bending masterpiece.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Ronald: Of course I would encourage everyone to read my two latest releases, Tales From The Parkland, my short horror story collection and James’ Journey To Dreamland, my children’s fantasy novella but…

I’m close to finishing my new (as of yet untitled) novel and it is literally like a shotgun blast to the face. I’ve written some pretty crazy stuff before but this new one has more carnage than anything I’ve written before. It’s a sprawling tale of a place I guarantee you wouldn’t want to visit.

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

Ronald: As for who I would like to play me, I would go with Tom Holland as a younger me and Chris Pratt as my older self. I think they would be perfect because of their self-effacing humor and great hair.

Great stuff!

To follow along with Ronald’s writing journey, check the links! Additionally, he’s been keeping us up-to-date with his current Novel in Progress and it has been exciting to see!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ronald-McGillvray/e/B09B9FX1T1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonMcGillvray

Website: https://www.ronaldmcgillvray.com/

3Q’s – David Watkins is an Original!

3Q’s heads across the pond today to visit with David Watkins! David has a ton of fantastic releases out there and I’m excited to introduce you all to him today!

Welcome David!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

DW: I teach full time, so my writing time is far from consistent or regular as my day job often gets in the way. However, I try to write each evening, to try and keep momentum on a project. If I’m awake early at the weekend then I’ll get up and write, but my job is demanding, so this doesn’t happen often! I set myself a low word goal of 500 words because that’s always achievable whenever I sit down. I see people hitting 3000 and I’m in awe of that, but I’m not going to beat myself up over it. I used to, and all it did was create stress and imposter syndrome – ‘I can’t be a real writer because I’m not doing x amount of words a day’. But then I went to a talk by Jo Nesbo and spoke to him after the event. He said 500 words on top of a full day was amazing. I’m not going to argue with someone of his calibre!  I know someone who does nothing for months then splurges 10k in a day – great if it works for you, but it really doesn’t for me.

One thing I’ve found helpful with my latest project (The Original’s Rage) is to write down my word count per day. I nicked the idea from someone online who as a way of motivating himself is putting up his daily word count on his first novel. It really works as you can see the words build up every time you write.

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?

DW: Interesting question.  I’m not sure I know any fictional world well enough to even attempt this. That said, I’d love to do some kind of gangster crime thing in the Star Wars universe. I think there’s a whole element of the underbelly of society that’s ripe for exploring. There are, of course, hundreds of Star Wars books so someone may well have already done this.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

DW: My latest release is The Exeter Incident. It’s getting great reviews, with Tim Lebbon calling it a ‘brutal, bloody, brilliant novel’ and Gingernuts of Horror saying, ‘a glorious over the top thrill ride of unrelenting horror’. Reviews are for readers, but comments like that make your year as a writer! Luckily, all reviews so far (not many admittedly) have been excellent.

Essentially, it’s monster in the city of Exeter in the UK. It starts looking like it’s going to be a police procedural, but it changes rapidly. It’s the definition of action-packed and I hope people like it! Folk can check it out here: mybook.to/exeter

Why should someone read it? To help me pursue my goal of world domination and riches beyond my wildest desire obviously….

Or, because they like their horror fast paced, blood soaked but with good characters who feel real and where no-one is safe or has ‘plot armour’. The kindle edition is pretty cheap too…

Steve: Bonus Question! Do you have a cherished book?

DW: More than one! I am very proud of my own books, so does that count as cherished? Or egotistical? Hmm, maybe I should expand this!

I love my copy of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones from SST publications – it is a thing of beauty with thick paper, great illustrations and the story is unusual and great too. Christine by King is the first grown up horror novel I ever owned and so that will always have a special place for me. Recently I bought the Sandman special edition hardbacks and they are just great. Gaiman is such a quality writer – the mythos he invented is staggering and so imaginative. I hope the TV series does it justice and brings new fans to what is his masterpiece.

Very cool! Loved Sandman!

Thank you so much, David!

To find more work from here – you know the drill!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/David-Watkins/e/B00HVW89IU

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshfishkins

Website: https://david-watkins.com/

3Q’s Special: Andy Davidson wants to make you feel Hollow!

Fun bonus/special 3Q’s today!

Andy Davidson is an author who continues to push the envelope and force his readers to follow along and be richly rewarded with each and every release. Andy has a new book coming out tomorrow – October 11th, 2022! I’m so excited to have Andy stop by today!

Please welcome Andy!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
Andy: My writing time builds momentum over the course of several months. First, I spend a few weeks just filling up a notebook with ideas—character sketches, doodles, maps—and gradually those become a structure, and the structure becomes a broad, handwritten outline. All of this is done away from the computer. I sit down in front a screen once I’m building out the outline. Once I get to the ending, I’m ready to start. I may spend several hours a day at the computer five, six days a week if I’ve got a full steam going. Usually, a rough draft comes out in three or four months. I really don’t have a word count I try to hit. Rather, I let the scene guide me. If it’s a good day, I can write a whole chapter. If it’s a bad day—and there are more of those than I care to admit—I usually manage a few hundred words at most. Commitment to the project is the goal I aim for, start to finish, however long it takes.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?
Andy: Share it, if it’s good work. And maybe write the introduction. (I do wonder about writers who die with unpublished work in a trunk. Usually, there’s a reason it’s in a trunk, right?)

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Andy: The Hollow Kind is the story of Nellie Gardner, née Redfern, who inherits her grandfather’s Georgia turpentine estate in 1989. Looking to escape a bad marriage, she flees to Redfern Hill with her son, Max, only to find the estate is actually a broken down farmhouse on a thousand acres of decrepit forest. Soon enough, Nellie and Max discover the lingering presence of something very old and very evil, an entity whose appetite for human souls is rooted deep in the soil—and nourished by Redfern blood.
This is a very special book to me, born out of the great, popular horror stories I loved growing up—from Stephen King’s The Shining to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. In writing it, I basically threw everything I loved as a kid (from John Carpenter to Ray Bradbury to Dolly Parton) into a Spielbergian blender and poured out a tale of 1980s cosmic horror—interwoven with a turn-of-the-century southern Gothic about greed and madness and the evil men sow.
As such, The Hollow Kind also explores the history of where I live in Georgia, a history of land-grabbing and violent retribution—and the exploitation of nature, specifically the logging industry’s decimation of longleaf pine forests, which are only now being reseeded and cultivated. In this, The Hollow Kind reflects a facet of life in the American south that is little known and all too real.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?
Andy: I’m Batman. I have one super power. I’m rich.

Great choice! Thank you again, Andy! Best of luck with the launch!

To find more about Andy and his work, check the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theandydavidson

Website: https://www.theandydavidson.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Andy-Davidson/e/B01N9OMRA8/

3Q’s – Eva Roslin cherishes her travels!

I woke super hard to have this 3Q’s space as inclusive as possible and featuring authors from all levels of success and experiences. The goal is to try and introduce YOU the reader to as many fantastic writers as I can. Today’s guest is a great writer and a fellow Canuck and someone I hope you all discover.

Please welcome Eva Roslin!

Welcome, Eva!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Eva: My writing time varies a lot – I have tried to be more methodical with the approximate time of mornings before the administrative stuff of the day has made my brain hurt LOL I do try to write at approximately the same time. There was a time when I was better at joining write-ins and sprints, but I wasn’t able to keep up so I curled up into a ball of shame. In the past, I definitely had word count goals I attempted to hit or especially when I participated in NaNoWriMo, but these days I try to focus more on the completion of writing sessions rather than attaching word count or pages to it.

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?

Eva: There are so many cool things from which to choose! I think I would like the Anita Blake vampire hunter series because I loved reading it years ago and the first five or so books in the series set my world on fire in a good way. I would probably most love to do work on the world of a video game series, Legacy of Kain, because Kain and Raziel are two of the most interesting and nuanced vampires I’ve ever encountered, and their storytelling arcs are so rich.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Eva: My newest release is a short story called “The Sparrow’s Promise” in the anthology Kaleidoscope A Queer Anthology 2022, and I think folks should read not only my story but the others as well because they’re great explorations of relationship dynamics that resist harmful tropes in queer stories that have been pervasive for a long time in genre fiction and elsewhere.

Steve: Bonus Question! Do you have a cherished book?

Eva: I have several! One of my most cherished is a used copy of the National Geographic Traveler’s Guide to New Orleans, Second Edition that I picked up a few years ago. It captures the history of Louisiana, the complex meanings of things that are exceptional about New Orleans like food, music, architecture, and more. It also includes these amazing, in-depth maps and diagrams of the most granular details of what makes New Orleans so unique!

Oh wow! That is very, very cool!

Thank you so much, Eva!

To follow along with Eva, follow the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvaRoslin

Website: https://roslineva.wordpress.com/

3Q’s Special: Daniel Kraus brings the WRATH!

Hugely excited for today’s special/bonus 3Q’s! (Not gonna lie, I’m excited for every single guest!) BUT – today’s guest has me excited because Daniel Kraus is an award-winning, best-selling author who has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, while also churning out his own phenomenal work! With his next release dropping in a few days, he kindly stopped by!

Please, do welcome Daniel!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Daniel: I run my operation like a factory, where I’m the foreman as well as the one who operates all the machines. And it’s been 64 days since our last accident! Seriously, though, that’s pretty much how I work: jump out of bed, shower, and eat breakfast in front of the computer as I’m getting started. I usually lunch break for an hour max, then work again. I get in about a full eight hours a day. Sometimes, I must divide my days between art in the morning (writing) and business in the afternoon (press stuff, editorial stuff, and on and on). If I’m in a period where I must write on two things at once, I’ll usually have an A project that I work on Mon-Thurs, and a B project for Fri-Sat. It’s all pretty repetitive but that’s what works for me. I want no surprises in my writing life so the writing itself can be full of them.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Daniel: Who would ever say keep it for themselves? What kind of maniacs do you have answering this thing? I’d probably make a photocopy so that there were at least two copies in existence, then, yeah, I’d route it to whoever it belonged to.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Daniel: That’d be WRATH, cowritten with geneticist Shäron Moalem. We’re hoping to fill that Michael Crichton-sized hole in the publishing world. It’s about a technology that’s not even near-future – it’s HERE, albeit so far only in countries with different laws on genetic editing. It’s about a company called EditedPets that is creating Sammy, an adorable, brilliant pet rat edited with human brain genes. The prototype Sammy finds itself able to communicate with a child with cochlear implants, who busts it out. The issue scientifically-speaking (and apocalypse-speaking) is that the scientists haven’t figured out how to turn off the brain growth. So, Sammy’s getting smarter as its brain gets bigger – but the brain can only get so big before it shoves up against the skull. That puts us into the Flowers for Algernon territory, where Sammy begins to go insane. And if Sammy sexually matures and multiplies? We’re talking full-on rat apocalypse, with brilliant armies of coordinated super-rats chasing all humans from cities within five years. Not good!

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your superpower?

Daniel: I’m not a superhero fan. So I’d say it’d be the power to get me out of the comic book ASAP!

So, I guess you’d be like, Transporting Man? HA! Thanks so much for doing this Daniel!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Kraus/e/B002O1RDT4/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielDKraus

Website: http://www.danielkraus.com/

3Q’s – Austrian Spencer begins his Chorus!

3Q’s today is with the fantastic Austrian Spencer! Austrian is an avid reader, reviewer and is about to re-release his heralded The Sadeiest, as well as the follow ups to that tome.

Please welcome Austrian!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Austrian: I have a terrible, awful, chaotic schedule. I write only when I know it’s the right time to write. I know – right? When I’m ready, I can write between 3000-17,000 words. There’s no limit, when I feel like it’s a good time to stop, that I’ve achieved what needed to be done, then I stop.

It is madness, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Chaotic neutral, baby!

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?

Austrian: If I could write in anyone’s fictional world, I’d want to write in Iain M. Banks’ Culture – I know it’s not horror, but that’s the point, imagine an artificial intelligence ship that was chaotic, a dark book in his world. It would be phenomenal. His “Use of weapons” was the nearest, and it’s one of the only books I’ve read where the twist surprised me, and changed the entire book. Yeah. Horror in the culture would be awesome.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Austrian: I’m about to release The Sadeiest again (my re-imagined Death (the grim reaper) novel) at the end of August/early September, I’m parting ways with Darkstroke after my contract runs out in August, and after that “The Dawn Chorus” is looking like a late November release – It’s a Creature Feature Apocolypse novella, about invisible creatures that phase into our multiverse, that have always been on earth but have previously only hunted smaller woodland creatures. After Covid, and all of the vaccines we used that contain Pangolin DNA (or after repeated contamination from Covid), humans finally become visible to them, and their diet changes rapidly and catastrophically (for humans). We join the story two years after the first wave of takings, and the earth has become an abattoir, yet genetics also play a part in our survival, and certain traits in the survivors become apparent for the survival genes they really are

I’m hoping to release The Masocheist, the sequel to the Sadeiest, in early February next year, and I’m thrilled that Daniela Sera is on board doing the covers on all three novels (Sadeiest, Dawn Chorus, Masocheist). You should read it because invisible predatory creatures that make humans fodder are awesome, frankly.

Steve: Bonus question, do I have a cherished book?

Austrian: Yes, The Player Of Games, also from Iain M.Banks – It’s so cool. I love everything about it, and it’s such a fantastic springboard into his sci-fi novels. It killed me that he died so young, but I have his last novel, waiting for me unread so that I will always know there is more of his writing waiting for me to discover.

Thanks for having me, Steve, and to all of the authors out there, I hope to read you soon, and review your work!

Awesome! Best of luck with the re-launch and the follow ups!

To follow along and find more work from Austrian, click the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Austrian-Spencer/e/B08J1D7ZWG/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpencerAustrian

Website: https://www.austrianspencer.com/

Book Review: The Last Sentinel by S.T. Lane

Title: The Last Sentinel

Author: S.T. Lane

Release date: September 27, 2022

I don’t typically start out my reviews how this one is, but I’m going to in the hopes this helps S.T. Lane. I’m not sure when we started following each other on Twitter, but it’s been a little bit and I was excited to see her debut novella – ‘The Last Sentinel’ – would be arriving. I somehow missed her release date post, but saw a tweet from her yesterday where she said she’d only sold one copy, and while she should be sad, she was still happy that someone would be reading a good story. I went to take a look on Goodreads at the synopsis and couldn’t find it, so I went to Amazon. I snagged a copy, knowing I could read this in a single sitting easily and get a review up for it, in the hopes of getting some more eyes on it!

The cover is intriguing when coupled with the synopsis, and while I’m not sure if this is part of a longer tale to be revealed going forward, this would make for an excellent jumping off spot for a sequel.

What I liked: The story follows Stanley, a coward who turned to alcohol when aliens invaded earth. Now, with his son and wife gone, he needs to muster the courage to try and find them, even if it means he dies while doing so.

The story is fast-paced with a lot packed into it, in a good way. We get a really solid grounding and understanding of Stanley and why he is how he is and how he’s struggling with alcohol withdrawal in the face of the invasion.

I personally am always a fan of ‘when they arrive’ stories and love seeing how each author makes them their own. Lane does a great job of giving us unique extra-terrestrials and the action scenes that take place near the end were a lot of fun to fly through.

As I mentioned, the ending makes it so that this could be a singular stand alone story or leaves the door open to continue you and let us see more of what happens and where they came from.

What I didn’t like: I did find it odd that humanity crumbled and the world’s leaders had no way of figuring out how to stop them, but Stanley knows and goes straight to where it all takes place. Of course, in Sci-Fi/Horror, you always need to suspend your belief in the hard and fast concrete world and let the story play out, but it did still strike me as odd.

Why you should buy this: Currently, it looks like this is ebook only, so hopefully for the physical fans a paperback is on the way soon. For those who read digitally, this book hums along and really reminded me a lot of the TV show ‘Falling Skies’ that aired from 2011-2015.

A quick, snappy, alien-infused read, which I really had fun with!

4/5

Book Review: Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay

Title: Disappearance at Devil’s Rock

Author: Paul Tremblay

Release date: June 21, 2016

I just want to start off by saying – reading this book and posting this review was in no way done with the hopes of me “cashing in” on the random influx of new folks following this site and my reviews! For those who missed it – two years ago I read and reviewed Paul’s fantastic ‘The Cabin At the end of the World.’ Then, on Sept 22, 2022, M. Night Shyamalan dropped the trailer for ‘Knock at the Cabin,’ his adaption of Paul’s book. For some unknown reason – my review skyrocketed in views. We’re talking 20,000 on that day. My review was the 5th result on any Google searches for Paul’s book or the movie. As of writing this, the review is just about to cross over the 40,000 page visits mark. My second highest visited page – my review for ‘COWS’ at 3500.

So, my point – A – thanks again Paul for a sprinkling of your mojo and B – I had already started this bad boy before that review even dropped! So, there! HA!

Anyways – if you’ve followed my Pyper fandom, you’ll know my buddy George is equally a massive fan of Tremblay. We share two difference – 1 – I’ve read more Tremblay books than George has read Pyper (hitch up those britches and get reading!) and 2 – George literally bought a cabin in the woods…

I have had ‘Disappearance at Devil’s Rock’ for a bit now, and when it finally popped to the top of my TBR, I dove in. I will say, I went in almost completely blank. I might’ve read the synopsis at one point, but that had long since slithered out of my brain.

What I liked: The story follows a group of boys living in a small town. One night, they sneak out, one of them taking some of their dad’s beer, and head to a massive rock they frequent in the woods. While there, something happens and one of the boys takes off, disappearing in the woods.

From there, Tremblay takes his time in unravelling the chaos that occurred and the horrifying ripples young Tommy’s disappearance creates with his family and with his friends.

The book is filled with moments of despair, heartbreak but also chills and unnerving moments. Tremblay does a phenomenal job of keeping his cards close to his chest and when the reality of what happens is revealed, it is done with a verbal vomiting that will shatter the reader.

I also really loved how well done the kids were in this story. How they acted and reacted like real world kids. You could feel the fear of consequences coming off the page each and every time something new was shared and they had to fess up.

The ending was just so beautiful and sad. This reader cried. I’m never ashamed to admit when a book moves me to tears. But the way Paul closed this one out was just so perfect and so achingly well done.

What I didn’t like: I did find the book took its time to really grab me and hold me. There was a lot of extra details and descriptions (which do carry throughout) that bogged it down a bit, but once things picked up they really raced through.

Additionally, and this is maybe my fault a bit, but this book is similar to Matt Wesolowski’s ‘Six Stories’ series in that it offers up the potential of horrific other world possibilities but never fully goes there and worked to simply tease the reader. Re-reading the synopsis, I could see that would’ve been something I would’ve known beforehand, but it still always bums me out when a book gets tantalizingly close to going full creature and then keeps them in the shadows.

Why you should buy this: If you’re a fan of Tremblay, you’ve probably already read this or own this. If you’re new to his work, this is definitely a solid point to start with, showing his phenomenal ability to craft characters and the way he delicately pieces together the plot-puzzle, always making sure to keep one piece hidden under his palm.

4/5