Novellas: Invisible Fences

[Addy]

Ok folks. This a novella thread. Starting Stuart Keane's The Customer today. 50% mark today. Feel free to join. Right now it's Terry and Addy. We will be tacking Burden Kansas next if interested.

Really excited for this one. I've worked on phones before with customers so this should be interesting....

[Terry]

At 30% (view spoiler)[ The part with Lucy and the seatbelt in their car has to be every parent's worst nightmare! (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

35%(view spoiler)[ You must be a few minutes ahead or behind. I was just going to say that! How horrible! I almost feel bad for Alan but he doesn't need to keep someone hostage for the awful stuff he's been through. Hmm. The plot thickens:) (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

Funny (view spoiler)[ I wondered if its really true, or Alan is just making the story up. Guess we'll see... (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

49% I'm stopping here though the intensity of the story is making it hard to stop(view spoiler)[ Do u mean the hostage part or the story about his daughter? Idk. It's definitely crazy and makes me wonder what the possibilities are. Def give me something to think about while I'm at work...lol. (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

I'm at 49% also and will stop (you're right about it being hard to quit!) (view spoiler)[ Seems like the hostage part is real, but I wondered about the story of his daughter. Of course, that definitely could be a trigger for someone to go crazy! Now, I'm curious about his manager Sarah calling in sick and whether she is the hostage... (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Oh gosh! I didn't think about that but you may be onto something....

Just got my Dark Companions book! Yay!

[Ken B]

I'm interested in both of those. But, I won't be able to get to anything for another couple of days.

[Addy]

You can join us for burden Kansas.

[Terry]

Comment whenever you get to them, Ken!

Addy, my copies of both Dark Companions and The Secret History arrived today, too.

[Addy]

Awesome!

[Maxine Marsh]

I'll join in for The Customer is Always...I'm halfway through now, planning to finish it up tonight! Pretty compelling first half, can't wait to see what happens. Its a very short story so I'm wondering how its going to be resolved so quickly.

[Addy]

Hey Maxine! Nice to have you:) I just finished....wow! I'll wait to see what you guys thought.

[Terry]

Glad to have you with us, too, Maxine. I just finished as well and gave it 4 stars. Didn't quite go as I'd expected.

[Maxine Marsh]

I finished too (couldn't wait 'til tonight). I found it suspenseful and entertaining, good pick!

[Addy]

I wasn't expecting that ending either. What were you expecting Terry? I also gave it 4 stars. I loved how suspenseful it was! Def had me glued!

[Terry]

Good question, not sure what I was expecting, but I sure felt when this one was done like that could really happen. I can imagine hearing that story on the evening news.

[Maxine Marsh]

Terry wrote: "Good question, not sure what I was expecting, but I sure felt when this one was done like that could really happen. I can imagine hearing that story on the evening news."

I agree, it was quite realistic. At first I thought (view spoiler)[ he might have the ex-wife hostage but pretty quickly realized it was the manager. I definitely didn't expect him to show up at the company! (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Yes! Me neither Maxine. That was a surprise!

[Terry]

Good to be surprised, right!

I'm open to start Burden, Kansas whenever we're ready.

[Addy]

I'm ready to start today if u want.

[Terry]

Sounds like a plan to me.

[Addy]

Awesome! I have an event to go to tonite so I'm not sure if I'll make it to 50% but I'll try.

[Terry]

Yeah, I won't make it past about 1/3rd today, myself

[Addy]

Ok, best line in the book so far: "So you know that it's nothing that you know of. That's helpful." I was having a crappy day so this line cracked me up!

[Terry]

Definately a good line!

[Addy]

We shud totally read Hoard after this! By the same author. I may have to double check but I think it's a novella.

[Terry]

I agree. The Hoard sounds interesting. It's only around 200 pages (and pretty good ratings), which is pretty short. What makes it qualify as a short story anyway?

I think I'm drawn to these by Ryker because of a their setting here in Kansas where I've lived most of my life. Burden is only about 3 hours away from where I live now.

[Addy]

I think it's anything under 200 pages but I'm not sure. I used to be a subscriber of darkfuse which would usually print novellas. So I still have a bunch I haven't read. I think Alan Ryker might be one of those authors.

That's awesome that you live so close to Burden. I used to live in Texas so I try to relate it to that. A lot of cattle and ranchers over there too. I know the feeling though. I used to live a few hours from Bangor Maine so anything King writes is pretty cool.

[Terry]

People were referring to it as a novella in several reviews. Seems close enough for me!

I can see the setting being similar to parts of Texas, too. Big open plains and prairies! I remembered that about you living close to SK's usual settings. That's pretty cool too. I've always wanted to visit that part of the country. I picture it as being very scenic and beautiful.

[Addy]

Yes, it can be but I lived way up north like 10 minutes away from Canada so lots of snow all year round except maybe for a couple of months in summer. Lol. I never owned a pair of shorts!

[Terry]

Wow, I would assume you would have to like winter to live that far north!

[Kate]

This one was a lot of fun, hope you guys enjoy it. :)

[Terry]

Thanks Kate, so far so good!

[Maxine Marsh]

I'll join in this one too, just picked it up. I've got the end of a book to finish today and then I'll start in on it. I love the cover.

[Terry]

I agree about the cover, Maxine. Reminds me of 30 Days of Night, too.

[Char]

Burden Kansas is one of my faves, as is the sequel. I hope you guys enjoy this one!

[Terry]

Excellent -I hadn't caught that there was a sequel. Definately going to track that down.

[Addy]

Yeah, I noticed that when I read Charlene's review of burden Kansas. Great review btw:)

[Terry]

I've gone ahead and ordered it, so it will be here next week. I've made it to 70%, but probably won't be able to read any more today. Will finish it tomorrow. I like the way the story flows in this. (view spoiler)[ I like the stories where vampires are real monsters. It's kinda neat how Dennis has become something between monster and human because of the drugs - a hybrid. (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

I'm at the 50% mark so I'm a little behind. This has definitely turned out better than what I expected! (view spoiler)[I can't believe Keith is keeping the vampire, let alone go hunt for another one! (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

Addy wrote: "I'm at the 50% mark so I'm a little behind. This has definitely turned out better than what I expected! [spoilers removed]"

I know (view spoiler)[ Kieth is turning into some kind of bad-ass! (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

I finished it this morning. Five stars from me!

[Char]

Yay! Glad you liked it, Terry.

[Addy]

I think I have an hour left. I reckon I'll finish tonite and then post my thoughts:)

[Terry]

Charlene wrote: "Yay! Glad you liked it, Terry."

Thanks, Charlene! Several of Mr. Ryker's other books look pretty interesting too.

[Maxine Marsh]

I liked this one but there was something missing for me. There were some jumpy transitions from chapter to chapter, and I guess I just didn't like Keith very much. I felt like it could have been a full length novel, a bit more smooth in character development. It started off really interesting but when Keith (view spoiler)[sort of turned into a sadist, what with chopping off the vamp's hands and enjoying his dominance over it, I began to lose interest in whether he actually came out on top at the end. I did, however, like the niece character. (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

I can definitely see that, Maxine. It looks like the second book picks up with the Niece at the end of this one.

[Addy]

I definitely enjoyed this one all the way. I do feel like because he made a sequel, he prob could have just made this a full length novel. (view spoiler)[the only thing I didn't get was was when Jessica said she was Keith's. It almost made it sound like they had an inappropriate relationship (hide spoiler)]

[Char]

Maxine wrote: "I liked this one but there was something missing for me. There were some jumpy transitions from chapter to chapter, and I guess I just didn't like Keith very much. I felt like it could have been a ..."

Sorry it didn't work all that well for you, Maxine.