Scarecrows

by Tom Upton

When an ancient evil returns to a small Wisconsin town, the only one who realizes that everybody is in danger is the town "nutcase," a delusional Viet Nam veteran, in whom nobody believes, not even his teen-aged daughter....

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller

397 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Born in Chicago.Studied advanced writing at Columbia College.

Hopeless Romantic most of the time.

Reviews

[KristenR · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm waffling on what rating to give this book. It started off well and I was enjoying the creepy folklore aspect to the story until about 3/4 of the way in when it changed into a zombie fight. (I like zombies, but to me it just didn't seem to fit with the beginning of the book)

The thing that killed me was the multitude of errors. Typos and wrong words (where/were, too/to, etc.) littered the pages.

I'm not sure if I want to give this book 2 stars or 3. As it is without a good proofread, I think I have to give it a 2....but I wonder what my perception would be if it were corrected. I think it would probably be closer to 3 stars, but...?

[PhilipTheWise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really got into this book. Upton seems to have a knack for pulling the reader into the story. The one word that comes to mind to describe his writing is 'addictive.'

There is the creepy, the scary and the demented, and Upton doesn't hold back on anything, giving everything to the reader in vivid images. Also, he has a wonderfully dark sense of humor.

Simply a great horror read. I think, too, that this would make a fantastic movie, with the right director-- say, Sam Raimi.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to start with the most disturbing thing about this book: the grammar, punctuation and spelling. The real horror of this book is that an author with multiple titles would publish something that reads like an English class essay written by an indifferent 8th grader.

As I was reading it, I was trying really hard not to be some blue-haired old lady, nitpicking over commas. But c'mon - there's a reason for grammar and punctuation and that reason is clear communication. Many times, I re-read a sentence or a paragraph, trying to figure out what would be the intended message if the author's English language skills were up to the task. It breaks up the impact of the story. It's annoying.

Part of the craft of a writer is mastery of the language. Whenever I read a book that has numerous errors like this, I immediately downgrade my estimation of the author as a craftsman. People who write love words and people who love words know how to use them. They do not confuse they're with there or their. They do not use reek when they mean wreak. They do not drop articles, use the wrong verb tense, or construct sentences that are so convoluted their meaning is unclear, nor do they punctuate them in a way that confuses the reader even further. If they're smart, they know their limits and know to hire someone to fix all these things. I find no excuse whatsoever for not correcting them in the e-book version after many reviewers have pointed them out.

I'll step down from that soapbox now and get on to the story.

This story is good in most places and brilliant in some, but I found the ending disappointing and anticlimactic. The story starts with good premise, good character development and continuously building tension. If it hadn't, I wouldn't have overlooked all the English errors and kept reading. I was thinking to myself ok, I can see why this book is being rated highly in spite of the obvious problems. Unfortunately, the promise didn't continue all the way through to the end. I thought it ended up a bit of a mess. It wasn't scary or horrifying or thrilling. It was like the story completely lost all momentum and was just in the mop-up phase - and there's nothing thrilling about mopping. I kept reading, thinking maybe it would pick up or there was something unexpected coming - but it didn't and there wasn't. It was like Mark Martin running out of gas a quarter mile from the finish line, then just coasting over it. I'm still puzzled as to why this is being rated so highly in the reviews.

Now, my next favorite soapbox, which is price. This book is $0.99 at Amazon. Is it worth it? I'll read just about anything for that price. If you can overlook the English errors and you have a couple hours to kill, it's a pretty good read for the price.

[Lori Henrich · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really had to struggle to finish this. I don't particularly like horror stories but that along with one particular element (which I won't mention) really turned me off. I kept going only because I needed to complete a challenge. Not a good reason to keep going but I couldn't find anything else to read that would fit.

[Georgiann Hennelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It,s simply a great horror read.It has everything .There is the creepy, scary and the demented. He doesn,t hold anything back. The author has a wonderful dark sense of humor.

[Katie Arias · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe I read the whole book. Probably the worst edited book ever published. Too many misspellings, poor grammar, and bad punctuation.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, you have to get past the poor grammar, spelling and awkward sentences, this is not a well-edited manuscript. Second, read the story that is being told and do not get hung up with the little things like correct tense, word usage or missing letters.

Horror is a very interesting genre, if it is done poorly, it is a travesty, if it is done well, you check under your bed. Mr. Upton has a very good story to tell and if he was blessed with the editors, this writer would be spoken about as a new rising talent.\

I picked up Scarecrows on a whim, read a couple of pages and put down the current Koontz so I could finish this book. Yes, to me it was that good.

When an unforeseen storm blows into a small Wisconsin town, the police force and its band of volunteers are not prepared for the evil that is about to be unleashed on them. Now, we are not talking zombies exactly, more like reanimated dead people. Apparently, there is a fine line between the two and only the town whack-job, a PTSD suffering ex-Viet Nam vet knows how to handle this situation.

There are parts in this book that will make you shutter, there are parts that will make you blush, there are parts that will make you laugh and what is truly funny – it is not always the parts that you would imagine.

This book is not completely plausible, but that does not mean it is not a darn good read and if you are starting to burn out on the current batch of horror writers, check out what Mr. Upton has to offer. Just do not be too meticulous about little things, like everything your English teachers taught you.

[Denise - No Longer on Goodreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked where this book was headed. I loved the creepy folklore aspect, the unexplained phenomena, the madness of Rich Seagrove. I flew through the pages, waiting for everything to get resolved and wrapped up. And then, as another reviewer mentioned, the book became a massive zombie fight.

In all fairness, I was warned of the book's graphic violence (a warning which I was grateful for!), but I was unprepared for the zombie aspect itself, which seemed to have little build up (except maybe the mention of the Tinder Men, which I thought was going to go down a different path).

I give the book a lot of credit though - it kept me reading and kept me wanting to know more. For the things that weren't for me in the book, I sure couldn't put it down, and that says something! I particularly loved watching the development of some of the characters like Rad and Matt.

Like other readers, I downloaded the free ebook version of this, and was also distracted by the typos and incorrect words that frequently dotted the pages. If this was a published hard copy book or a Kindle purchase I would have been greatly put off by it, but with this being a free ebook, I can understand that maybe it wasn't edited properly.

[Carisa Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book. The characters were interesting and I actually loved where the plot went and what the storyline turned into. The wrap up at the end was a bit weak but not enough to complain about. I loved Radcliff. She was interesting and I liked how the beginning got me hooked with her dad's crazy antics and went right into the terryifying storm and everything that happened to the characters stuck in it. It really piqued my interest and held it. I found myself rushing through to finish which, of course, is always what I use to define my most favorite reads. Definitely one of my favorites.

[Renne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of action. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with the changing points- of- view as the story progressed. Rich and Rad, I was glad to see, grew closer during this experience and Rad seemed to understand her father a bit better because of it.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little weird, but still really scary. If you like zombie books this one is a good one and makes you think. It is very graphic and lots of adult language and situations through out. But it was still a good book. Made me a little scared to go to bed at night sometimes.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the book except for the typos, which threw me off a little. Then, in the middle of the book, suddenly there was a guy named Paul, who I assumed was Pat. I would have liked it better if it were edited better...

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually give this book a 3 1/2 star rating. This could not have been an edited version because there were so many mistakes it was hard to read at times. Overall the story was good though. This wasn't the average zombie story, more like reanimated possessed dead. Not bad.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG! This is my first read by this author. Reminded me of some older stories by Dean Koontz. I was riveted and didn't want to stop reading.

[Motunrayo Famutimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok

[E.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was pretty good til 70%, and the last 30 % was like ... WHAT? I wish I knew it was a zombie book. Oh well...

[Ana Campanha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book seemed to be just like one of those really trash bizarre movies that were supposed to scare but in the end were just sad.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, well written... my only negative is that it finished odd, with too many questions

[Alli Littell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cultural appropriation for a cheap thrill.

[Kelly Gressley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got in to the book but I didn't really liked the ending could of been aliilte better