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.

Trapped by Jack Kilborn

Cannonball Read III: Book #8/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 323
Genre: Horror

This is my third Jack Kilborn book. I really liked the first one I read (Endurance) and wasn't crazy about the second (Afraid). I have to say I'm glad I gave Kilborn one more chance because Trapped was definitely my favorite. One of the sickest books I've ever read too. Definitely not one to read before bed.

The book follows a group of juvenile delinquents, who are in some sort of remedial program, and their adult chaperones as they camp out on an island. Unfortunately for them, the island is full of cannibals. Even more unfortunately, the cannibals aren't the worst things on the island.

The Kindle edition that I bought had two copies of the book. The first, was an edited draft and the second was the first, uncut draft of the novel. They were very similar, but I liked the first one better. It trimmed out a few unnecessary parts that didn't add much to the story. The only thing I didn't like better about the first one was the fact that Sara had an infant strapped to her chest who didn't make a sound the entire time she was running around the woods away from cannibals. Why even introduce the baby if you're not going to use it to add some suspense? Like having the baby cry at inopportune times.

Also, in both versions, some of the kids were almost comically stereotypical. I don't know if I could handle one more black kid from a gang using the phrase "hells yeah!". The white kid with ADD of course just said "frickin'" between every other word. The teen lingo Kilborn tried to use was atrocious. However, this wasn't quite as bad in the first, cleaned up version of the novel. By the time I read the second edition, it was just starting to grate my nerves.

Overall, I loved the book. The characters were great, despite the attempts at "hip" lingo. I loved the twist at the end. Definitely didn't see that coming. There were some smaller twists along the way too. I really couldn't put this book down.

Afraid by Jack Kilborn

Cannonball Read III: Book #7/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 372
Genre: Horror

Well, I'm glad I read Afraid after Endurance, because otherwise I don't think I would have bothered. This one was definitely not as good as Endurance.

Afraid is about a small town called Safe Haven (oh, the irony) that is being destroyed by a group of five super soldiers for an unknown reason. I thought it was good until we found out they were former serial killers or death row inmates with some kind of chips in their head (don't worry, we find that out very early, so it's not a spoiler). I don't know why, but I probably would have liked it better if they were just normal men and not super strong half computers. That's probably why I liked Endurance better. To me, real crazy people are way more scary.

I did think the townspeople were well written. So far, I like Kilborn's characters. He doesn't just make them all throw away characters to be murdered. People die, but they're people you care about.

I just started Trapped, also by Jack Kilborn. Hopefully, I'll like it better than Afraid. If not, I don't know if I'm going to be picking up any more of his books.

Endurance by Jack Kilborn

Cannonball Read III: Book #6/52
Published: 2010
Pages: 328
Genre: Horror

I pretty much bought this book because it was only $2.99 on my Kindle, and I love a good horror novel. Also, I might have been born and raised in West Virginia, where this novel takes place. Don't judge me. And no, in the 18 years I lived there, I did not see any mutant inbreeds living in the woods.

Endurance is about a group of people who find themselves staying at a very peculiar bed and breakfast out in the middle of nowhere, WV. Most of the guests are attending an Iron Woman tournament in a nearby town. We have Deb, who lost her legs in a mountain climbing accident who came with a reporter named Mal, a family trio entering the Iron Woman competition (grandma, mom, and 12-year-old daughter), as well as Maria, who went missing during last years competition.

When I first read some reviews on this book, everyone kept talking about the gore and how it was so awful. I honestly didn't think it was THAT bad. It was definitely gory, but it wasn't any worse than a lot of Stephen King books. Maybe I'm just jaded from reading too many horror novels, but if you can tolerate any sort of gore in books, I think you'll be fine with this one. The descriptions of the mutants freaked me out more than the actual gore.

I thought the characters were well written and I actually cared whether they got out alive or not. Although I did think it was kind of convenient that most of them were trained athletes, although they were fairly varied - grandma, young kid, woman with no legs. Although the Cam character (Maria's brother, who along with her fiance, have been trying to find her for a year) felt a little forced. I don't really understand why he was thrown in as a "monster", when we have enough of them to deal with already.

I actually loved the book and already put a few more Jack Kilborn books on my to-read list. I think it's awesome that he publishes his novels on his own as e-books and only charges $2.99. I probably wouldn't have picked up a book by an author I'd never heard of if it wasn't that cheap. Endurance probably isn't the most intellectual book you'll ever read (I hope not anyways), but it's a fun read.