Book Review - Afraid

Afraid by Jack Kilborn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So, I had pretty mixed feelings about this book. I started listening to the audiobook a few months ago, and after the first audiodisk I returned it to the library. It was just so violent, and so gross, and so off-putting that I couldn't keep going.

But there were a couple of characters that I was worried about. In one way, I didn't want to finish the book because I was pretty sure the icky and gross things would be the end of them. But I finally had to go back. I got the ebook and finally finished it. A little at a time.

Afraid takes place in small-town Wisconsin, where a helicopter crash has let loose a band of psychopathic, sadistic, nutjob murderers who seem determined to rip every citizen limb from limb. This book is not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of blood and gore, and I skipped large sections of paragraphs of it because it was too much, even for me, the intrepid Stephen King and Dean Koontz fan. There's just too much of it, in my opinion, so even though this book and it's characters were so incredibly engaging that I had to go back to it, I could only rate it three stars.

I mean, taken at face value, this is trashy fiction. But I do like trashy fiction; even trashy fiction is better for entertainment than trashy tv, and we all have our vices. But the characters, for trashy fiction, are actually extremely well written, and one important twist in the book was one that even an avid mytery reader like me - who usually guesses all the twists way in advance - didn't see coming. Though I did guess one of the other "big twists" early on, so there's that. Still, this is worth a read if you either don't mind icky violence or are able to skip it without getting too squicked out. Especially if you like adorable animals like chirpy monkeys and cute beagles named Woof who turn out to be big heroes.

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Book Review - Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

While Camera Obscura takes place in a brilliantly conceived universe, it just wasn't quite my cup of tea.

This was my first "Steampunk" novel, a movement I've had a bit of a fascination with (and have the fascinator to prove it, hah) for some time, and as it came recommended highly by a friend I thought I'd give it a whirl. While the writing was good and the 'verse of the novel highly interesting, I couldn't get past the fact that I found the main character not just unsympathetic but highly annoying. She's pompous, and snotty, and far too in love with herself for my taste. Now, normally disliking a character wouldn't put me completely off a book, but I found myself hoping she'd fail, or hoping something bad would happen to her just so I could get a new main character I liked.

And, well, ... yeah. Eventually I gave up on wishing her destruction, which made me give up on the book, too.

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Book Review - Autumn: The Human Condition

Autumn: The Human Condition by David Moody
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories centered around the Autumn universe, created by David Moody, is sometimes billed as "Autumn 3.5" so I decided that's exactly where I'd read it as I plowed through the series, between three and four. Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have waited until the series was finished.

This was less of a quick read than the other books in the series, partly because I found so many of the stories to be profoundly sad, and because a consistent action oriented plot wasn't at play. I did enjoy getting to see the backstories of some of the characters brought into the story in books 2 and 3. Many of these tales deal with minor characters, and one or two stories deal with characters not seen in the previous books at all. Those tend to be the saddest, mainly because through poor choices or misfortune they didn't make it far enough in this changed world to make it to any of the larger groups of survivors.

You get to find out details of what happened at the community center from book 1, which was of particular interest to me, and at the military bunker once the survivors left. You also, toward the end, get a hint of what's going to happen on the island with Michael and Emma, and that's where I wish I'd waited. If you want to get on with the rest of the stories in this book mid-series, stop before the last one unless you want an abbreviated version of the Michael and Emma future. I'm kind of worried that I've ruined the rest of the series for myself, and definitely would have preferred to to be let in on one particular plot point that's spoiled by that last story - read at your own risk!

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Book Review - Autumn: The City

Autumn: The City by David Moody
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I started this book, so quickly after finishing the first in the Autumn series, my first thoughts were "Oh, no - Where's Emma??? Where's Michael??!! I wasn't expecting to start over at the beginning of the disaster, just in another area of the country. "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." is what I call that kind of book in a series, and it is one of the reasons I sometimes find myself turning up my nose at serial fiction (along with the repetitive, over-explanatory nature of sequels that continually re-hash old events to inform those just tuning in).

At any rate, you finally catch up with Michael and Emma about halfway through the book, when the timeline in the city reaches where they were on their flight from the farmhouse during the first book. Whew. I was almost ready to give up on the series, but again, there is something about these books that I can't quite explain that draws me in and doesn't let go.

I kind of love the fact that not a single character in these books - nor the author, at least not so far - ever utters the word "Zombie". It's so obvious. If I was in this situation, with dead people trying to break into my shelter to get to me, I would certainly proclaim that they were zombies. Somehow, though, it never comes up. Even when they ask each other what is going on. It had to take a lot of willpower for the author to keep true to this one, and I am going to be keeping my eye on it in future books, to see if it ever comes up.

Another thing I kind of love about these books is that the people are reacting in real ways. Not everyone is a hero. Some people lock themselves up alone with their grief. Some give up and turn to suicide or drinking themselves to death. Some are heroes, but reluctantly, because there doesn't seem to be any other option at the moment. It's gritty and real and made me get up at one point, around 2 in the morning, to double check that that sound outside my bedroom window wasn't a dead guy trying to get in.

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Book Review - Home Safe

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an extraordinary book. Do you know why I say that? I actually got out of bed at almost two in the morning to add a quote from this book to GoodReads and Facebook. I never do that. I never add two quotes from one book either, and I've done that with this one.

Helen, a prolific author, mother of one daughter with whom she shares a strained relationship and wife to Dan, an old-fashioned caretaking husband is reacting to her husband's sudden and unexpected death. She's never taken care of herself, because she's always had Dan to take care of her. Now, thrust on her own into a world she isn't used to, she's lost the one anchor she's always had in her life - her writing.

Oh, how I relate to Helen. I suppose I am her, in many ways, in a younger form. I have a very similar relationship with my husband. I love him in the same ways. I need him in the same ways. I feel about the world outside of our happy life together in many of the same ways. I like to be home, safe, with him, under his protection and in the security of his loving embrace. I have no idea how I would cope if he were suddenly taken from me, though going on this journey with Helen gave me hope - both for her and for me - and made me ache inside.

I love this book. You should read this book immediately.

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Book Review - Autumn: Purification

Autumn: Purification by David Moody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Third in Moody's series of zombie novels that never mention "the z word".

Because rotting corpses... well, rot... things are getting slightly different for the survivors. The creatures that have been tormenting them are changing. They are less on the attack and more on the move for self-preservation. Will this be better or worse for the survivors? Since the survivors are perceived as a threat to the survival of zombies, you do the math.

Our intrepid band, holed up in the underground military bunker they discovered at the end of the last novel in the series, ends up on the move again as, just as Michael predicts each time we think they're safely ensconced somewhere, things begin to fall apart.

Helicopters, car chases, zombie fights, stolen vehicles, airplanes, mass attacks, and ambushes abound. It seemed to me there was more action in this novel and less waiting around, which was a nice change of pace. You know, don't want your scary novel to get too slow or anything! Not a chance of that here.

This is another quick read. These books are like movie theatre popcorn. I just can't put them down where there are a few kernels left to uncover.

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Book Review - Call Me Princess

Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This Danish police detective novel caught my eye while out on a library road trip with my husband. I'd finished the book I was plowing through and scanned the new releases shelves to see if there was anything particularly interesting. While this is the second book in the series with this particular detective, the plotline - a rapist who is finding his victims through online dating sites - struck close to home for me and I decided to try it out.

There are some odd turns of phrase in the novel - common with anything translated - and the names and places are a bit hard to get used to. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out where I was in relation to other settings in the book, having about zero knowledge of the geography of Denmark, but beyond that it was an enjoyable read. Not sure if I'll pick up more by this author, because I found the twists and turns a bit typical/predictable for me.

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Book Review - Room 33

Room 33 by E.C. Sheedy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At the heart of this story is a creepy old 30's hotel which has been turned into apartments. I love creepy old 30's hotels that have been turned into apartments, and lived happily in two of them when I lived in Chicago.

This particular creepy old hotel, along with a hundred grand, was just inherited by Joy, the stepdaughter of the last owner, who completely disinherited his wife, instead leaving a letter for Joy to take care of her mother in the style to which she'd become accustommed. That style involved going through forty million dollars in just over ten years, so Joy has a bit of a quandry as to how to manage following her stepfather's last request.

Rather than sell the place, she decides to investigate what it would take to renovate it and turn it into a luxury hotel once more, and in her tour of the building meets Wade, her stepfather's son, who has been caretaking the place. As the two investigate the hotel's history together, they learn the disturbing history of Room 33 - the room of doom, as it was once referred to in the media before it was closed in the seventies - and of the withered old man who inhabits (and never leaves) the penthouse apartment.

It's a fun mystery, in a fun setting, with likable characters, but nothing super unexpected happens for those who read lots of mysteries. But I liked it anyway :)

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Book Review - Rebirth

Rebirth by Sophie Littlefield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I adore Cass Dollar. I fell for her in the first Aftertime novel, and this, the second installment in the series, only made me feel for her more. It's funny, because I think Cass probably would find herself mostly unlikeable, and might not even understand why I relate to her. Which is why I do.

If you're into apocolyptic fiction, this series is for you. It's a post-famine, post-war, post-terror and post-zombie-apocolypse world. Or, you know, modern Florida. I kid, I kid. I have to, this book kept me up unti - what time is it? - three am getting it finished. It was worth it, even if I wound up a bit loopy from lack of sleep.

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