Abandon by Blake Crouch (CBR-V #38)

Cannonball Read V: Book #38/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 452
Genre: Thriller

 Abandon is a thriller that is told in two parts. Half of the book is set in the present day and follows a group of people who on an expedition to explore the old abandoned mining town called Abandon. The other half is set in the late 1800s and tells the story of how Abandon became, well, abandoned. 

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I thought the two stories meshed well together and I really liked how they paralleled each other, but I just couldn't get into the characters. I finished this book a week ago and can't recall a single character's name. I could barely keep track of who they were while I was actually reading the book. I know there was a father/daughter duo in the present-day exploration, but I thought their rocky relationship could have been fleshed out more. 

I also thought the missing gold storyline was sort of cliche -- complete with bad guys and old west saloons. It did start getting interesting towards the end (the reasoning behind the mysterious disappearance of everyone in Abandon was original and I definitely didn't see it coming), but by that point I had zero investment in the characters and didn't really care that much.


However, I'm not one for historical fiction, so I may not be the target audience here. I don't like westerns or books set in that time period, so those sections really dragged on for me. At least the ending was decent.

Snowbound by Blake Crouch (CBR-V #17)

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.

Desert Places by Blake Crouch (CBR-IV #37)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #37/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 289
Genre: Horror/Thriller

I'm a huge fan of Blake Crouch, but I didn't think this was his best novel. I think it's one of his earlier ones, so maybe that has something to do with it. Andrew Thomas is a writer who finds a strange note in his mailbox one morning. It says that there is a body buried on his property with his blood on it and if he doesn't do what the note says, the police will be notified about the body. 

The story had a great setup, I'll definitely give it that. However, the rest of the book fell a little flat. I struggled through finishing it, which is pretty bad for a thriller. In my opinion, thrillers should always leave you wanting more and I figured this would be a quick read. 

I finished this book about a week and a half ago and honestly can't even remember enough details to write any more about it. That probably says something. It didn't stick with me and was ultimately pretty forgettable. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't BAD, but I wouldn't start with this book if you're just getting into Crouch. 

Eerie by Blake & Jordan Crouch (CBR-IV #30)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #30/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 284
Genre: Horror


At first, I thought maybe this was father/son writing team, but after reading the interview with the authors at the end of the book I found out that Jordan Crouch is Blake Crouch's little brother. Interesting. I like Blake Crouch, so I figured I'd give this book a shot.


The book had a really good synopsis: It starts out with a horrible car wreck with a brother and sister and their dad. The dad is severely brain damaged and the kids are left parentless since their mother had died not to long before the accident. 


Flash forward thirty years and now the little boy (Grant) is detective with the Seattle Police. He hasn't seen his little sister, Paige, in years -- ever since he tried to conduct an intervention to get her away from drugs and prostitution. One day he gets a lead on Paige's whereabouts. She's now a high-end prostitue in the area. Pretending to be a new client, Grant ends up at Paige's house.

When he reunited with his sister, he thinks she is still on drugs because she looks awful -- too thin with bags under her eyes. However, Paige has a different problem. There is something living under her bed that won't let her leave the house. If she tries to leave, she gets violently ill. And now that Grant has been inside the house, he is trapped to.

Then...everything just goes downhill. The plot gets boring after a while (they can't leave the house! What is that thing under the bed?). Literally half the book is them just being trapped in the house with nothing really happening. Mostly, I just wanted to know that the heck that thing under Paige's bed was. Until I found out that is.

Which bring me to the ending. The AWFUL ending. I'm STILL not sure what happened. I won't spoil it, but I was really disappointed. It's was definitely one of the most WTF endings to a book I have ever read -- and not in a good way. It was a complete letdown.

I think this would have been a better short story or novella than an actual novel. The plot was intriguing, but it really needs a better ending. 

Fully Loaded by Blake Crouch (CBR-IV #13)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #13/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 230
Genre: Thriller/Short Story 


     Blake Crouch is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. His books are great thrillers and he's always offering free/reduced price e-books (not to mention his e-books are generally less than $5 regular price). Previously, these short stories were only available separately, but now they're offered in this short story collection.

     Since there are ten separate stores in this collection, I'll just comment on my favorite/least favorite:

-The Meteorologist was probably my least favorite. It's not that it wasn't any good, but it wasn't really a thriller. It was about a guy who chases extreme weather conditions in his RV. It wasn't even as exciting as the plot sounds. It was mostly about him and a woman he meets.

-Serial was probably my favorite. I've read it before (it was co-written by J.A. Konrath and was included in one of his collections) and it really plays to both Konrath's and Crouch's strengths. Crouch is more of a thriller writer while Konrath knows how to bring on more of the horror aspects. Serial follows what happens when two serial killers target each other. It's an insanely good read.

-Shining Rock was also one that stuck out to me. A couple goes camping in the woods when a weird guy shows up. I won't give anything away, but some interesting things are revealed that completely flip who you want to make it off that mountain alive.

     I thought it was a great book! I look forward to reading more by Blake Crouch in the future.

Run by Blake Crouch (CBR-IV #8)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #8/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 284 
Genre: Horror/Thriller


I loved Blake Crouch's collaborative efforts with J.A. Konrath (aka Jack Kilborn) and I've read a few of Konrath/Kilborn's solo works, so when I saw that Run was free on the Kindle for a limited time I decided to pick it up. I love that these two authors independently publish these ebooks, so their books sell for around $2.99 apiece (and frequently show up for free!). It's great marketing on their part and obviously has worked out well for them since they seem to sell a ton of ebooks. They definitely got me hooked and I keep buying more!


Run follows the Colclough family as the country is being swept by an alarming amount of mass murders. The action begins almost immediately as Jack hears his name and address announced on the radio as a soon-to-be victim of the widespread violence. He then gathers his wife, Dee, and his two kids, Naomi and Cole, into their SUV. The rest of the book is non-stop action as the family is on the run from the crazy people who want to kill everyone who hasn't gone crazy. 

I liked the characters. They were well-written and startlingly real. Jack and Dee have a strained marriage, Naomi is dealing with the normal issues of being a young teen as well as the problem of running from people trying to kill her, and Cole is possibly one of them (the crazies). The family has to deal with trying to reconnect while facing possibly the most stressful situation I can imagine. 

Overall, I will definitely be adding more of Crouch's novels to my to-read list. He's great at these suspenseful thrillers and I loved the originality of this book (a end-of-civilization book with no zombies or nuclear bomb wastelands!). 

Serial Killers Uncut by Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath (CBR-III # 33/34)

Cannonball Read III: Book #33 & 34/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 600 (14,481 total pages so far)
Genre: Horror

I'm going to count this as two books since it's described as a "double novel" and includes two previously published books (Serial Uncut and Killers Uncut), along with a bunch of novellas and short stories by the same authors as a compilation. This book basically includes every Konrath and Crouch character written so far and strings their stories together chronologically.

There are over twenty characters throughout the book who keep running into each other in various stories. Sometimes that got a little confusing, but it helps if you've read any of the author's other books. I've read several, but sometimes the characters got a little fuzzy anyways.

Overall, it's a great book if you're a fan of the genre. It's definitely gory, but not as bad as some of the reviews make it out to be. I've definitely read worse. I'd recommend trying a few other Crouch/Konrath novels first though, or else the story might get a little muddled with all the characters.