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Where the Dead Go
In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant, Where The Dead Go wrestles with the timeless question, what happens after death and offers an alternative solution.Dave McMurty is an everyman who finds himself the victim of a mindless murder. Little does he know he is not the only victim. He awakens in the hereafter to find himself at the center of a timeless conflict between good and evil. In a strange world where the very essence of himself is the thing he must protect he must forge friendships and find hidden strengths within to try to become the man in death he could never be in life.
Kindle Edition
First published August 4, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 19, 2011
What happens to us when we die?
Where the Dead Go by E.J. Harrigan is an interesting take on this age old question.
[This review contains some spoilers. Read at your own risk!]
The only way I can describe this book is if Quentin Tarantino decided to write and direct an episode of the Twilight Zone. This is noir as noir can get. It's dark, gritty, disturbing and violent, with some unconventional themes of incest and sexual references. There are some moments that make you realize getting up to go to that 9-5'er that you suffer through just to pay the bills might be a walk in the park compared to some of the events going on in these characters' lives.
Harrigan's writing style and vivid descriptions really help to draw you into the dark and chilling world that he's created for his characters. It's essentially a good vs. pure evil story, and the evil is as evil as they come.
There are a number of characters to keep up with and Harrigan accomplishes a monumental task in making sure that the reader gets to know each character's personality, traits, and enough about them to see just what makes them tick. The female characters are often weak-willed or manipulators. The men are often abusive, liars, or just plain naive. Even the Entity and the other beings that operate the Hive are questionable since they are essentially exploiting the dead for their own purposes.
But the characterizations add an interesting dynamic on the story; and despite not having a favorite character, I ended up really liking the story as a whole.
The characters are intrinsically flawed and imperfect and it seems like there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change this. Harrigan even implies the idea of nature vs. nurture to evil. Despite the Waiter's father's attempts to change his son, the Waiter still succumbed to his mother's evil streak and ends up manipulating his father just as his mother did.
There were a few things that I wasn't fond of, mainly Foxy and Nancy. Foxy doesn't act 14. She acts 24. Yes, she probably had to do some growing up pretty early on given her past. I get that she's probably not the average 14-year-old but one minute she's running from anything that looks at her funny and suddenly in the afterlife she grows a pair and decides that she's the leader of all these grown adult men and they accept it. Just like that. It was almost a complete 360 from her former self.
Nancy easily forgives Jonathan for contributing to her car accident and leaving her to die in a ditch, and Jonathan even decides that he's in love with her as she tends to one of the wounds he received while in the afterlife. Maybe that's a testament to her character, but if I saw the guy who killed me in a car accident and got away essentially "scot-free" I'd either haunt him for the rest of his life or he'd better hope he didn't run into me in the afterlife. It wouldn't end well.
The fact that she brushed it off so easily struck me as a bit odd, especially given some of the more violent moments of the book, but I guess there has to a happy ending at some point.
By the end of the book this unlikely group becomes a real team; some of them utilizing emotions that they had long burried and forgotten. It is in death that they finally learn the true meaning of friendship.
This book isn't something I would normally pick up, but it was an interesting read; and I particularly enjoyed the fresh take on the classic themes of good vs. evil. I'm looking forward to reading more of Harrigan's writing in the future.
Read the full review and summary, plus other book reviews here: http://readinglist-m.blogspot.com/201...
Where the Dead Go by E.J. Harrigan is an interesting take on this age old question.
[This review contains some spoilers. Read at your own risk!]
The only way I can describe this book is if Quentin Tarantino decided to write and direct an episode of the Twilight Zone. This is noir as noir can get. It's dark, gritty, disturbing and violent, with some unconventional themes of incest and sexual references. There are some moments that make you realize getting up to go to that 9-5'er that you suffer through just to pay the bills might be a walk in the park compared to some of the events going on in these characters' lives.
Harrigan's writing style and vivid descriptions really help to draw you into the dark and chilling world that he's created for his characters. It's essentially a good vs. pure evil story, and the evil is as evil as they come.
There are a number of characters to keep up with and Harrigan accomplishes a monumental task in making sure that the reader gets to know each character's personality, traits, and enough about them to see just what makes them tick. The female characters are often weak-willed or manipulators. The men are often abusive, liars, or just plain naive. Even the Entity and the other beings that operate the Hive are questionable since they are essentially exploiting the dead for their own purposes.
But the characterizations add an interesting dynamic on the story; and despite not having a favorite character, I ended up really liking the story as a whole.
The characters are intrinsically flawed and imperfect and it seems like there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change this. Harrigan even implies the idea of nature vs. nurture to evil. Despite the Waiter's father's attempts to change his son, the Waiter still succumbed to his mother's evil streak and ends up manipulating his father just as his mother did.
There were a few things that I wasn't fond of, mainly Foxy and Nancy. Foxy doesn't act 14. She acts 24. Yes, she probably had to do some growing up pretty early on given her past. I get that she's probably not the average 14-year-old but one minute she's running from anything that looks at her funny and suddenly in the afterlife she grows a pair and decides that she's the leader of all these grown adult men and they accept it. Just like that. It was almost a complete 360 from her former self.
Nancy easily forgives Jonathan for contributing to her car accident and leaving her to die in a ditch, and Jonathan even decides that he's in love with her as she tends to one of the wounds he received while in the afterlife. Maybe that's a testament to her character, but if I saw the guy who killed me in a car accident and got away essentially "scot-free" I'd either haunt him for the rest of his life or he'd better hope he didn't run into me in the afterlife. It wouldn't end well.
The fact that she brushed it off so easily struck me as a bit odd, especially given some of the more violent moments of the book, but I guess there has to a happy ending at some point.
By the end of the book this unlikely group becomes a real team; some of them utilizing emotions that they had long burried and forgotten. It is in death that they finally learn the true meaning of friendship.
This book isn't something I would normally pick up, but it was an interesting read; and I particularly enjoyed the fresh take on the classic themes of good vs. evil. I'm looking forward to reading more of Harrigan's writing in the future.
Read the full review and summary, plus other book reviews here: http://readinglist-m.blogspot.com/201...
October 20, 2012
Book: Where The Dead Go
Author: E.J. Harrigan
Genre: Horror
Length: Approximately 255 Pages
Wow!
I was intrigued when I read the prologue for WHERE THE DEAD GO by E.J. HARRIGAN. I had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up. The first chapter was a little confusing to me because the author introduced so many characters in it, but by the end of Chapter one, I was in the author's writing flow and had difficulty putting the book down. When I did have to put it down, I found myself looking forward to picking it back up. I love it when a book keeps me interested like that.
I'm a little perplexed on how to write this review because this book was so different than anything I've ever read before. I hate it when spoilers are contained in reviews, so I'm not going to even attempt to summarize the book because I don't want to give any of it away. I want the reader to be just as captivated as I was at what the author had written. I've never attempted to write a horror novel, but I'd have to imagine it must be difficult especially when the author has a way of introducing bust your gut, laugh out loud humor to it so successfully. E.J. Harrigan wrote some things in this book that were so unexpected, either humorous or freakishly twisted, that I found myself snorting trying to contain my laughter and gasping out loud many times.
If you like the horror genre and enjoy some really great creative writing, you have got to pick this book up. I highly recommend it.
Author: E.J. Harrigan
Genre: Horror
Length: Approximately 255 Pages
Wow!
I was intrigued when I read the prologue for WHERE THE DEAD GO by E.J. HARRIGAN. I had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up. The first chapter was a little confusing to me because the author introduced so many characters in it, but by the end of Chapter one, I was in the author's writing flow and had difficulty putting the book down. When I did have to put it down, I found myself looking forward to picking it back up. I love it when a book keeps me interested like that.
I'm a little perplexed on how to write this review because this book was so different than anything I've ever read before. I hate it when spoilers are contained in reviews, so I'm not going to even attempt to summarize the book because I don't want to give any of it away. I want the reader to be just as captivated as I was at what the author had written. I've never attempted to write a horror novel, but I'd have to imagine it must be difficult especially when the author has a way of introducing bust your gut, laugh out loud humor to it so successfully. E.J. Harrigan wrote some things in this book that were so unexpected, either humorous or freakishly twisted, that I found myself snorting trying to contain my laughter and gasping out loud many times.
If you like the horror genre and enjoy some really great creative writing, you have got to pick this book up. I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews