June 2019 Group Read #1 Those Across the River

[Latasha]

i thought i owned this- why don't i?! but the library hold says it's any day now....

[Cujo]

Now I know where they got the premises for that Temptation Island reality show. Naked people running around on an island in the woods, couples steppin out on each other for an Alpha male/female, and lots of drama

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Cujo wrote: "Now I know where they got the premises for that Temptation Island reality show. Naked people running around on an island in the woods, couples steppin out on each other for an Alpha male/female, an..."

: D

[Jamie]

This is a DNF for me, I just couldn't get into it.

[Sara]

Loving this book so far! Just finished chapter 7 last night. Can't wait to get home from work and start back up at chapter 8 tonight!! Like others have said this author does a great job in letting you feel like you were there. So descriptive but no redundancy in my opinion. I'm on the edge of my seat because I can "sense" some evil, yet nothing specific has happened to confirm that feeling.

[Sara]

Joel wrote: "Just finished it today. Since most seem to be just getting started, I will wait a bit to add some detailed thoughts, but can say that it is a very good, satisfying read, especially for a first nove..."

No! I hadn't gotten that far yet :( I'm going to try to pretend I didn't just read this.

[Kelly B]

I read this book a few years ago, and loved it! Very atmospheric.

[Felina]

I’m really enjoying this one so far. I love the atmosphere and the writing style. It almost makes me get sweaty in my nicely air Conditioned house.

[Joel]

Sara wrote: "Joel wrote: "Just finished it today. Since most seem to be just getting started, I will wait a bit to add some detailed thoughts, but can say that it is a very good, satisfying read, especially for a first novel..."

No! I hadn't gotten that far yet :( I'm going to try to pretend I didn't just read this.

I'm sorry I spoiled that it's a good book!

[Lisa]

This book is so good. I'm reading it in broad daylight, sitting in my lunchroom at work, and feeling so creeped out. I'm really afraid of what lies ahead.

[Lena]

That’s the mark of a fine author!

[Philip]

Careful with spoilers here, please. I'm 14 chapters in and now I guess there's going to be a werewolf. Oh well.

[Lena]

Werewolves were the theme this month.

[Char]

Yeah, that was kind of a given.

But yes, please use spoiler tags everyone, so that everyone can read at their own pace

[Leslie]

This is the third book I’ve read by Buehlman, and I continue to compare it to the first and best one I’ve read, Between Two Fires. I think he’s a great storyteller. However, this book felt quite loose. Too many characters for a relatively short book, not enough background on all of these slaves being werewolves, and at the end he doesn’t even go back to the estate to finish the rest of them off? And what about the slave boy that ends up with Eudora... we knew nothing about him!

I think some parts of this were great and it didn’t come across as a cheesy werewolf Twilight kind of book, and he’s a great writer. I guess I just wanted it to be a bit more put-together, a bit more disturbing.

[Lena]

What he conveys with (view spoiler)[the personality changes in Eudora is just how different werewolves are: thoughts, motivations, physicality. They are alien and fierce. (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

Spoiler tags, please!

[Phil]

Just finished this, and it is a good read! It got a bit stereotypical in the middle, but the ending was good. 4.5 stars

[Char]

Lisa wrote: "Spoiler tags, please!"

Right? I JUST FINISHED posting that above.

[Latasha]

NOW i get the audio book from Overdrive! i'll be starting this monday.

[Char]

Latasha wrote: "NOW i get the audio book from Overdrive! i'll be starting this monday."

I listened to this one on audio and loved it. I hope you do too, Latasha!

[Philip]

Finished the last hundred pages in one go on Wednesday and I loved the beginning, but (view spoiler)[ the ending devolved from creepy and mysterious to action movie shoot 'em up. Though it was clear that "Those Across the River" had something to do with the slave revolt once we met those now apparently immortal werewolf slaves they were just… bad guys. No time--or, at least, not nearly enough time--was spent on their motivations, etc. It worked on a sort of Netflix Original Movie level, but the first half of the book promised so much more. (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

Latasha wrote: "NOW i get the audio book from Overdrive! i'll be starting this monday."

A friend just told me that the audio narration is phenomenal. Enjoy!

[Latasha]

Yeah, I’ve listened to it before and I thought I owned it but I don’t. I finally got it from the library and started it today while frying my skin and running errands. The narration is so good! It’s a LOT of southern accents but Mark Bramhall does them so, so perfect. Now I remember why this is my current favorite audio book. 🖤☺️

[Latasha]

I’m almost finished. Mark Bramhall May be my 2nd favorite reader. (Simon Vance has the #1 spot). I thought there was an autopsy and fraud on medical records? If there is I haven’t got to it yet. But now I think that may be from All the Heads Turn when the hunt goes by? The 2 are nothing alike so if I did mix them up, idk how.

[Tom]

Latasha wrote: "I thought there was an autopsy and fraud on medical records?"

I've read this twice and that doesn't sound familiar.

[Latasha]

Ok I’ve mixed 2 books up.

[Joel]

Seems like we didn't get much discussion going here. Looks like we get more posts when we pick a bad writer like Richard Laymon. It is more fun to trash than praise :)

[Char]

Joel wrote: "Seems like we didn't get much discussion going here. Looks like we get more posts when we pick a bad writer like Richard Laymon. It is more fun to trash than praise :)"

LOL Sometimes that's true. I'm glad almost everyone seemed to enjoy the book, though.

[Abe]

I just read this one in May and loved it. The writing is so good, I wasn't surprised at all when I learned the author comes from a poetry background.

[Sally]

Oh interesting. I didn’t know he was a poet. I agree-the writing style was my favorite aspect of this book.

[Lisa]

Agreed. He has great talent. The characters, town, occurrences, and situation became tangible. This book was touching and very frightening to me because of his skill.

[D]

I definitely picked up on the poetic qualities of the language in this book but I didn’t know that the author had a background writing poetry.

[Latasha]

I didn’t either.

[Rachel]

I didn’t know about the poetry background but it definitely makes sense. It was so well written I had a terrible time putting it down. The characters were put together brilliantly. Great book!

[Jen]

I just finished this and I really liked it. It was my first time for this author so I'm interested to check out his other books. Werewolves aren't typically my thing, but he did a great job with the creepy factor. I loved the tension and the mystery.

[Latasha]

The Lesser dead is also really good.

[Lena]

The Necromancer's House is even better.

[Latasha]

I didn’t finish that one! I know, I can’t believe it either.

[Lena]

I had to start over after 30% because the audiobook was not worthy of the book.

[Latasha]

Oh ok. I bet I was listening instead of reading it.

[Shainlock]

I wanted MORE WEREWOLF! I mean if we were going to have it be about werewolves, bring it on.

[Sally]

My favorite scene was early on, when he first went into the woods. I like that kind of creepy build where your imagination makes you imagine what could happen. I love that kind of atmosphere. I could take more werewolves too. I like the build of them- to me, wondering what they will do is scarier than what they actually do in any story.

[Shainlock]

Agreed there. His writing was good though.

[lupine]

I really like his writing! The way he writes seems a lot like Stephen King's to me, the way he builds atmospheric tension, the creeping dread, the nagging, almost instinctual sense that something's not quite right... Even the repetition of (view spoiler)[ "Where are your pants, my friend?" (hide spoiler)] is reminiscent of King's writing. Don't get me wrong; I love Stephen King and I am really enjoying this!

The fact that he got his start in poetry is certainly evident in his style, his prose is so beautiful. There's such a lovely dreamy quality to the writing, leading me to believe that maybe even Frankie doesn't really believe it's happening. The events are so incredible I wouldn't be surprised!

The most werewolfy bit I've gotten to so far was (view spoiler)[Frankie's night encounter at Ursie's house and bisecting the home invader on his stairs with the cannon. (hide spoiler)] Although Martin telling Frankie (view spoiler)[to use silver bullets against the "lepers" (hide spoiler)] seems like a dead giveaway for anyone who knows basic werewolf lore. I mean, June's theme was werewolves so I'm not surprised that they're the baddies, but I appreciate the suspense the author built around what or who exactly was ripping through the town (in other words I could see not realizing what sort of antagonist the town was facing until Martin's admonitions or even the raid's events).