The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan (CBR-IV #14)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #14/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 401
Genre: Horror


      I generally don't care for vampire books (or werewolves or zombies or any sort of "creature horror"). But I do love a good earth-destroying virus story, so I figured I could give The Strain a try. After all, I did really enjoy The Passage and it's a vampire virus book. Ultimately, The Strain let me down despite the good reviews I read. 


     The plot started out promising: a plane full of people lands in New York and just stops on the runway. Everyone inside is dead and there is no appearance of any sort of panic or struggle. Okay, I'm intrigued at this point. Except the rest of the book never really lives up to the exciting mystery they present in the beginning. 


     There are a few characters that try and figure out what happened on the airplane, but honestly, none of them were fleshed out enough for me to really care about them except for the old man who owned a pawn shop. Setrakian was in a concentration camp during WWII and realizes that the evil master vampire that he saw over in Europe has now hitched a plane ride to New York (in a giant black coffin, no less). He's been following him ever since and I'm pretty sure no one in New York would have figured anything out about this case without him. Frankly, I'm surprised anyone actually listened to him because his story is pretty outrageous. 


     I guess the story was just a little too campy for my taste. The vampires turned people by shooting a worm/tongue thing out their throats and their blood was milky white (which just made me think of the cyborg guy from Alien.) While I can appreciate that the authors didn't want to go for cliche vampires, in my opinion they got a little TOO creative to the point where they were like  cartoon characters created by a 12-year-old boy's imagination. 


     Mostly, I was just underwhelmed and ultimately bored by this book. I didn't care about the characters or what happened to them, so I have no interest in reading the rest of the trilogy. It's too bad, because I really wanted to like this book. 

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.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (CBR-IV #12)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #12/52
Published: 1996
Pages: 202
Genre: Non-fiction/Biography

     I saw the movie that was based on this book back when it came out and was intrigued by the story. I was too young (elementary school age) to remember when the actual news story came out about Chris McCandless and his ill-fated journey into the Alaskan wilderness, so the movie was my first I'd heard of it. The book has been on my to-read list ever since. It's a short read (200 pages), so I finally decided to pick it up.

     Chris McCandless was a bright college graduate who decided to burn all of his money and trek into the Alaskan wilderness with nothing more than a bag of rice. Some think he was crazy or had a mental illness. Some think he was just heavily influenced (and misguided) by some of his favorite authors which included Thoreau and Jack London. No one's really for sure WHY Chris McCandless decided to give up what looked light a bright future to be alone and live in a bus in Alaska.

     I've previously read Jon Krakauer's Morman biography, Under the Banner of Heaven. I'm not a huge non-fiction reader, but I enjoy how Krakauer presents the story. It feels more like a story than just facts on paper and in this case Krakauer even journeyed to Alaska to follow McCandless's trek through the wilderness. It gave the book a more personal feel than if he had just relied on interviews and newspaper facts. 

     The book is very sad. Most people probably know how it ends, whether from seeing the movie or remembering news reports, but it still packs an emotional punch. It's worth a read before you decide whether or not McCandless was an idiot or incredibly brave. He may not be as easy to label as you might think.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (CBR-IV #11)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #11/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 603
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


**This is the third novel in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. There are spoilers regarding the first two books in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and The Ask and the Answer.

This final book in Patrick Ness's trilogy ties up the journey of Todd and Viola in New World. In the end of the last book, we were left with another cliffhanger as New World's natives, the Spackle, join the war against the already divided humans. This book jumps right into the action as a huge battle breaks out.

The first book was just from Todd's perspective, the second switched between Viola and Todd's thoughts, while this final book adds a new narrator, one of the Spackle. This Spackle is significant because he was the only one left of the Spackle slaves after they were massacred in the war between the humans. He has a tumultuous history with Todd as well. I liked seeing the different perspectives and it was a clever way to keep the reader in the middle of each side of the war. 

Overall, I really loved this trilogy. My only complaint is that this final book was maybe a little too long at 600+ pages. However, there were quite a few surprises and lots of action, so the slower parts weren't very frequent. This was one of the best YA series I have read. It actually relies on plot and suspense over romance. So, if you've been looking for a good dystopian YA that is light on romance and heavy on action, try this series. 

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (CBR-IV #10)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #10/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 519
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


**This is the second novel in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. There are spoilers regarding the first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go.


Todd and Viola are separated as Mayor Prentiss (now President Prentiss) overtakes Haven (now known as "New Prentisstown"). Todd is taken prisoner by Mayor/President Prentiss, while Viola is sent off to a healing house due to her gunshot wound from the end of the last novel. The healing house women (and Viola) eventually run off and form The Answer, who are opposed to President Prentiss and his tyranny.


Todd and Viola spend the entire book apart and this time half the book is written from Viola's perspective (the first novel was written just by Todd's). I liked that separating the two allowed us to see both opposing sides of the coming war. They are also each heavily swayed by both sides and the reader is never sure which side they may choose. Like the first book, I was never sure what was going to happen next. 


This book was also more brutal than the first. I thought the first was dark and violent, but this ones takes the cake. First treating the Spackle (the planet natives) like cattle, then the women -- not to mention the torture that was going on to try and get information from the other side of the battle. It was horrifying.


And the ending! Wow...I can definitely say that I never saw that coming. Patrick Ness is an amazing author. He knows how to build up tension and keep you guessing with his characters.  I can't wait to read the next book to figure out what happens next.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (CBR-IV #9)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #9/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 496 
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first book in Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy. It's gotten rave reviews, so I decided to check it out. I'm so glad I gave it a chance because I loved it! 


Todd Hewitt lives in a town called Prentisstown in New World. In New World, only men are left after a disease killed all the women and caused everyone to be able to read everyone else's thoughts (or "noise"). Or so Todd is taught. He's the youngest male left in Prentisstown and his mother left him a book with the truth in it. A month before Todd becomes a man (his 13th birthday), his two caretakers send him out of town with a map and his mother's book to learn the truth. 


The plot description really doesn't do this book justice. I've had it on my to-read list for a while, but the blurbs about it just didn't excite me enough to pick it up, despite the good reviews. It's a very intricately woven story that reveals itself better if you don't know much about it. I went in pretty much blind and was really surprised at a lot of what happened. 


Even though the main characters were 12/13 years old, this book is definitely for older teens/adults. There is no romance (it's about time we had a decent YA book without a romance), but there is plenty of violence. 


One suggestion though: Have the second book on hand. This one ends on a HUGE cliffhanger. 

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!).