Cannonball Read V: Book #19/52
Published: 2006
Pages: 174
Genre: Horror
I have to admit, I put off reading this book for a long time due to the reviews saying how gory and disgusting it was. I've read a lot of horror and I'm pretty sure my goal back in high school/college was to find the grossest horror novel of all time, but since I've gotten a little older I've realized that I no longer like gore just for the sake of gore. I like a story and good characters too. So ultimately, that's why I finally decided to read this novel. Although it's hailed as being extremely gross, it also supposedly has solid characters.
Roger and Tooth are best friends. However, this past year Roger went off to college while Tooth stayed in their hometown. The reunite over the summer and take a trip into the woods to drink beer and do some target practice. When it's almost dark, they hear a woman screaming. After some debating, they decide to go find her in case she's hurt or needs help. Unfortunately, the crazy man who is chasing the screaming woman starts chasing Roger and Tooth as well. Then he chains them in his basement and tortures them.
The reviews weren't kidding - this book is gory. If the most horror you've read is Stephen King, this is much worse, but if you've read stuff like Jack Kilborn or Jack Ketchum you'll be fine. So is this book just torture-porn? Well, yes and no. Torture-porn tends to be gross without having characters or a storyline to back it up. That's where this book is different. I LIKED Roger and Tooth. They're not perfect, but they're really likable guys. The whole reason they are caught in this mess is because they tried to help a screaming woman even though they were tired and half drunk and just wanted to go home.
For such a short book (less than 200 pages), I thought the character development was great. I've read 500 page books that I remember less about the characters. Even Skinny Man (the crazy guy who chains them up) is an interesting character. He's not just pegged as sick and evil like a lot of villans - he seems to actually have some sort of mental issue as well (he talks to himself and has conversations with his dogs). I mean, most killers probably aren't totally right upstairs, but I liked that the author gave this killer more symptoms of a mental issue than just killing.
Roger and Tooth were great characters as well. They were just so honest and real. They weren't heroes or anything. They even debated whether or not they should even help the screaming women - just like drunk 19-year-old boys probably would do. I also liked the honesty of Roger being both sad, but mostly grateful, when Skinny Man was torturing Tooth instead of himself. That just seems like how people would REALLY think if they were in that situation, no matter how awful or selfish it may seem.
I'd highly recommend this book if you can stomach it. The writing and characters are probably the best I've seen in a horror novel in a long time.
Cannonball Read V: Book #18/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 298
Genre: Thriller
I tend to be weary of some of the cheap/free Kindle books because some of them are really bad. However, every once in a while you find a gem. This is one of them. It's a pretty solid thriller that follows Daniel Ash after his neighborhood was purposefully subjected to a killer virus that claimed the life of his wife. Fortunately, Daniel is immune and so are his two kids, but now the mysterious people behind the virus want Daniel's family for testing. Daniel escapes, thanks to the help of some even MORE mysterious people and tries to wrap his head around the entire thing as he comes up with a plan to save his kids. There is also a few subplots woven in mostly involving the virus threatening to go global.
This book was surprisingly great. It was suspenseful and left enough questions to keep you wanting more but also provided enough answers to keep the reader from losing interest. I guess this is supposed to be a trilogy, which I didn't realize until after I read the book. I think it stands pretty well on it's own, but I'll definitely be checking out the sequels as well.
Cannonball Read V: Book #17/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 320
Genre: Thriller
Will Ennis's wife goes missing one night on her way home from work. He's left alone to care for his daughter, Devlin, who has cystic fibrosis. Flash forward five years, and Will & Devlin are on the run since Will was the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance. One day, a rogue FBI Agent named Kalyn shows up at Will's house who claims to want to help him find his missing wife. Kalyn's sister disappeared too and she thinks the two disappearances are related. Will, Devlin, and Kalyn the start on a journey that eventually takes them Alaska to find the missing women.
This book started out promising. It was exactly what a thriller should be - fast paced and leaving me wanting more. Then once they actually go to Alaska and find out where the women are and why they were taken, it starts to go downhill. I won't spoil it, but I thought Crouch was going to be a little more creative with explaining why the women were kidnapped. Then things just keep getting more and more ridiculous with cartoonish bad guys and lots of guns.
Overall, it was a short read and at least the first half was really good. I just wish the second half was better.
Cannonball Read V: Book #16/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 252
Genre: Memoir
Natalie grew up in the Children of God cult. It's also been known as "The Family" and currently as "The Family International". I'd heard of the cult, but knew virtually nothing about it before reading this book. I was completely shocked at how sick the leaders and some of the people in this cult are and I'm surprised that it doesn't get more attention than it does.
Natalie was born into the cult, her parents having joined as young adults. Although they are from France originally, Natalie's family spends most of their life moving from compound to compound in various countries in Asia and off the coast of Africa. The compounds usually consisted of a few other Children of God members and their families who made a living by trying to get locals to buy their self-produced videos and books that were hopefully to be used as recruitment tools. As a result, they were often very poor and the kids often struggled to even have food.
Besides the lack of food and sometimes adequate clothing, leaders in the group were often physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive. The kids were home-schooled using Children of God curriculum. Natalie was sexually abused when she was four by a man who was supposed to be watching her and her brothers. Sexual abuse ran rampant in the cult, especially since it was condoned by the cult leader, David Berg. He wrote letters that were read out loud to members (the cult has members scattered all over the globe - most of them only have contact through the leader by their letters. David Berg is now dead, but his former wife is now the cult leader).
Berg was insane and an alcoholic who came up with bizarre new rules such as "Flirty Fishing", where members would lure in new members by having sex with them. As a result, there were a lot of pregnancies (they also have a no birth control rule). Berg's own wife had a son as a result of "Flirty Fishing" and the passages regarding that poor child were possibly the most horrifying thing I've ever read. I won't go into detail, but they self-published a book that went around the cult that showed how children should be allowed to enjoy sex (with adults and with each other) and used that poor kid as as an example.
Although this book was hard to read at times, I give Natalie a lot of respect for telling her story. I thought that she did a great job with not only telling her personal story, but also giving a good background of the cult itself.
Cannonball Read V: Book #15/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 432
Genre: Adventure/Thriller
4 stars: Very good. Would recommend.
This book kind of looked like a generic thriller book at first, but the Kindle edition went on sale for .99 so I figured I'd give it a try. I've always like caves anyways - I grew up in a rural area that had two local caves that did tours and stuff, so we went there a lot for summer camp and school field trips.
The book seemed kind of long at first, but it quickly got my interest and then I couldn't put it down. Basically, an antibiotic-resistant skin eating bacteria is rapidly spreading through the armed forces stationed overseas. It's extremely deadly (only 10% chance of survival) and is now spreading through military hospitals. Within a few weeks, most of the population could be wiped out. The only hope for finding a cure is deep inside of a Mexican supercave - one of the deepest caves in the world. Hallie Leland has been there before and discovered a substance dubbed "moonmilk" which has shown success in treating this particular bacteria. However, they need more samples, so Hallie leads a group back down the cave to retrieve more.
The caving stuff was fascinating. I like that James Tabor has written a nonfiction book on caving, because you can really tell he knows his stuff. Easily the best parts of the book were the caving sections. However, there was a LOT going on throughout the rest of the book. The group at the disease lab was relevant and interesting, and so were the scenes in Afghanistan with the doctors and soldiers over there. But there were way too many other random subplots that probably should have just been left out. Any more than two or three subplots and everything just gets sort of muddled.
Overall, I did enjoy this book. It flowed well and made me want to keep reading. I might check out the author's nonfiction caving book soon.
Cannonball Read V: Book #14/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 431
Genre: Dystopian
4 stars: Very good. Would recommend.
The Year of the Flood is a sort-of sequel to Oryx and Crake, which I read last year. It's more of a companion novel than an actual sequel. It takes place in the same future dystopian society and has a few crossover characters that weave in and out, but it can definitely be read on its own as well.
This book switches back and forth between two main characters (with their lives interacting at some points through flashbacks). Ren used to work at a futuristic strip club called Scales and Tails before an incident broke out and she got locked inside alone. Toby has been holed up in a spa she used to work at since the incident happend. Before any of that, Ren and Toby were both part of a group called "God's Gardeners" who warned of a "waterless flood" that was coming (the incident). Most of the book is told in flashbacks that explain how each woman joined God's Gardeners and how they ended up where they are now.
I really love Margaret Atwood. Her writing style is great and I love how she slowly reveals things through the flashbacks and eventually everything connects towards the end. The characters from Oryx and Crake were seamlessly woven into the story, giving them a richer background if you've read the other book, but still making them stand alone characters in this one. The ending is a great connection to Oryx and Crake as well.
I can't wait to read the third book in this trilogy (I think it's going to be released later this year) and I'll definitely be reading some more Atwood books before then.
