Stranded - Review

Title: Stranded   

Author: Bracken MacLeod

Synopsis:  “In the spirit of John Carpenter’s The Thing and Jacob’s Ladder comes a terrifying, icebound thriller where nothing is quite what it seems.

     “Badly battered by an apocalyptic storm, the crew of the Arctic Promise find themselves in increasingly dire circumstances as they sail blindly into unfamiliar waters and an ominously thickening fog.  Without functioning navigation or communication equipment, they are lost and completely alone.  One by one, the men fall prey to a mysterious illness.  Deckhand Noah Cabot is the only person unaffected by the strange force plaguing the ship and her crew, which does little to ease their growing distrust of him.

     “Dismissing Noah’s warnings of worsening conditions, the captain of the ship presses on until the sea freezes into ice and they can go no farther.  When the men are ordered overboard in an attempt to break the ship free by hand, the fog clears, revealing a faint shape in the distance that may or may not be their destination.  Noah leads the last of the able-bodied crew on a journey across the ice and into an uncertain future where they must fight for their lives against the elements, the ghosts of the past and, ultimately, themselves.”

Review:  I loved Stranded.  My favorite type of horror novel, or movie, is psychological horror.  I don’t like a lot of blood and guts (unless it’s a zombie novel, but that’s a whole different review), however give me give me ghosts, demon possession, empty wastelands, or a vast nothingness and I’ll be up all night, with all the lights on, because I’m too frightened to sleep. 

     Stranded was a creepy, short novel that I stayed up until 4am finishing and then could not go to sleep.  I could not figure out what was happening until the story told me, which is unusual for me, so I was reading at breakneck speed to get to the end and find out what was going on.  I’ve seen other reviews that compare Stranded to an episode of the Twilight Zone, and I think those reviewers are dead on.  This novel definitely has that creepy, "is this really happening?" feel to it. 

     I really enjoyed Stranded, and if you are a fan of psychological horror and weird shit I think you will too.

Publisher:  Tor Books

If you like this book you may want to read:

Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon (read BookGirlR’s review here)

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The Fold - Review

Title:  The Fold

Author: Peter Clines

Synopsis: “STEP INTO THE FOLD.
                 “IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE. 

“The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.  

“That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step. 

“The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe. 

“Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.  

“As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything.” 

Review:  The Fold was great for approximately the first 70% of the novel.  The story zipped along and I was really into it.  I loved the main character, Mike, and understood his wish to be normal.  I was on the edge of my seat and excited to see how this was going to turn out.  Then, at 69% (I read on a Kindle so it shows me the percent read) something strange happened (not strange good; strange bad).  Up until this point the story, although written in third person, had been following Mike.  We had little glimpses inside his head and knew what he knew and what he thought.  All of a sudden we are following Sasha.  It was weird and it threw me out of the story.  “Wait… This is a story about a man named Mike, why are we suddenly reading about Sasha?”  And then it head hops several more times before the end of the novel.  If you are going to head hop, which I seriously dislike 98% of the time because it isn’t well done, you need to set that precedent early on.  To start jumping around in the last third of your novel, in my opinion, is unprofessional and shows that you rushed through it, or did not plan properly.  The last third of the novel could have used better editing overall.  The characters repeat themselves.  Other reviewers complained about the use of the ‘f’ word, which I do not have a problem with.  But there is a lot of redundancy in the dialog, and in the narration, as if Clines is beating us over the head to make sure we understand where he is going with the story.  Which is another example of the end of the novel being rushed.

     I enjoyed The Fold, and I do recommend it for lovers of weird fiction.  However, be aware that the writing is not of a professional level before going in, and then you won’t be disappointed when you reach the final third of the novel.

**I received a free copy of this novel, in exchange for my honest review, via NetGalley.**

Publisher: Crown

If you like this book you may want to read:

Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon (read BookGirlR’s review here)

Directive 51 by John Barnes

Coldbrook - Review

Title:  Coldbrook

Author:  Tim Lebbon

Synopsis:  “The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook.  Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world.  Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing.  With their breakthrough comes disease.  Billions are dead yet still walking.  The only hope is a cure, and the only cure is genetic immunity.  In the chaos of destruction there is one person that can save the human race.  But will they find her in time?”

Review:  I needed a new book to read.  My to-be-read pile still has about 20 books in it; but none of them were what I wanted at the time.  Plus I was stressed, and when I’m stressed I go book shopping*.  I found Coldbrook.  At first I failed to notice the red eyes on the shadowy figure on the cover.  I purchased this book because it’s by Tim Lebbon and the blurb on the front cover caught my interest.  The blurb reads “Will a door to another earth mean the end for this one?” and my first thought was, “It wouldn’t be much fun if it didn’t”.  So that, combined with the fact that this is a big book (509 pages) and therefore guaranteed to keep me busy for a few days, prompted me to pick up Coldbrook.  I did not realize until page 43 that this was, in part, a zombie novel.  At that point I was thrilled, because I love a good zombie novel.  I also felt very silly, because now when I look at the dark, shadowy cover the red eyes are the first thing that I notice.

          This book was wonderful.  It was just the novel I needed to snap myself out of a stress filled haze in which barely any reading was getting done.  About halfway through I realized that Lebbon was taking the story into a completely different place than that which I had expected and that was thrilling.  I was afraid for a while that it wasn’t going to end in a satisfactory manner (for me), but at the end of the novel I was pleased with how it all wrapped up.            Coldbrook was exciting, horrifying and thrilling.  I was reading every chance I got (although, when am I not?) and reached the critical climax one day while reading on my break at work.  I had to stop in the middle and go back to work!  It was horrible!  I actually had a moment where I was sitting in the breakroom debating just not going back to work until I was finished with the novel.  At that point it would have been 20 more minutes tops!  I think there should be some sort of special allowances for this sort of thing.  Perhaps I’ll speak to management about instituting an extended break for special circumstances such as these. 

          If you like horror and suspense read Coldbrook.  Zombies come through a portal from an alternate Earth and begin laying waste to our world.  There is death, destruction, plane crashes and even a Speed-like bus chase.  Tim Lebbon is an awesome storyteller and I look forward to reading more from him.

* Please note: I basically go book shopping when I’m feeling any emotion whatsoever. 

Publisher:   Titan Books

ISBN:  978-1781168783

Because I loved this book I have added these to my Review Wish List:

 The Toxic City Series by Tim Lebbon

The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill

If you liked this book you may want to read:

The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant (see BookGirl’s review of Feed here)

Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon (see BookGirl’s review here)