Right... I should probably have trusted my instincts and left this book be. This will teach me to never trust a blurb, and to pay more attention to the reviews instead. Still, I loved the picture the blurb of what was supposed to be a supernatural horror slash survival thriller painted, and I did enjoy my first three experiences with Blake Crouch's writing... So I caved and decided to read it anyway. BIG mistake. Basically everything in the blurb is a big fat lie. There is no supernatural element, there is no paranormal horror to spice things up. Sure, the survival part is still there... But the main focus is basically on a whole boatload of people being killed in the most gruesome and graphic way possible. I don't mind things getting dark and violent, but only if it serves a purpose and if it adds something to the plot. In the case of Abandon, it was just gore galore and SO many deaths that I started skimreading the scenes because I just wanted it to be over. The story uses a dual timeline structure, and while the present timeline set in 2009 was initially engaging enough, I absolutely hated the 1893 timeline from the very start. It has an overload of characters, and to make things worse just about the only purpose of most of them is to die in different horrible ways. This also applies to most of the present characters by the way... And that whole hint at a paranormal angle with the psychic and paranormal photographer in the blurb? Another big fat lie, and they could have been circus clowns and it wouldn't have made any difference in the plot. There are so many over the top and farfetched events, there are so many cliches, there are so many unbelievable and extremely frustrating twists... And in the end I wish I had just abandoned this book instead of ploughing on. This is all? Not even close. There is also the religious angle and the fact that the dialogue in the 1893 didn't feel right for the time period... And the fact that basically all men in both timelines are complete bastards. I can keep talking (ranting), but I guess I've made it clear by now that Abandon and me most definitely didn't get along. 

Okay…this just wasn’t the right book for me. Many other folks I know LOVED this book so much. But me…I just didn’t. I will say there’s a lot of creep and scary-teasing and build up. But I wouldn’t call this horror so much as adventure. 

First, it just felt like it took so long to get started and even 3/4 + of the way through we were learning new things. And I disliked everyone. Everyone. And I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really like ghost stories because they’re all tragedies and so sad. 

So in my MFA program I was told over and over to do horrible things to my most likeable characters. I was told this makes great fiction and the reader wants it. Like a safe kind of schadenfreude where it’s just fiction so no one is really hurt. I tho k this is BS advice, though. Yes, testing a person to see how they react will often provide interesting, maybe even entertaining results. But like the “bonus short story” included in my copy of Abandon, at what cost to even a vicarious observer? Yeah, no, no thanks. A story needs complications but I don’t think it needs to be the worst of human nature for nearly the entire cast of characters, which is what this story has. Sorry, I’m not really giving spoilers; just my personal thoughts on why this book disappointed me and troubled me. So I read Lacalle’s Lone Women and it had a similar vibe, similar place and time, but no real cannibals, I guess. That left me with a more uplifted feeling even though it was still tragic. It was creepy and mysterious but not to the point of extreme torture. And there were redeemable people and lots of Justice. I could have used some of that in this novel. 

But look, that’s just me. If you liked gold mining westerns and ghosts you may love this. I hope so.

I did not expect this book to take so many dark turns!  It's definitely keeps you listening/reading. 

“I wonder if this book is ever going to get interesting?” That’s a question I asked myself for the first 60% or so of this book. 

“Lazy” is the best word I could use to describe the author’s writing style. A lot of tropes you can easily rattle off the top of your head are inside the pages. And the “foreshadowing” at the beginning of the book was so extremely blatant that I could do nothing else but hope they were all red herrings to deflect from the ensuing plot twist. Unfortunately, I hoped in vain. 

One of the things that put me off the most was how clearly it is evident that the author is a man, writing a woman as his main character. At one point, someone is literally threatening the MC with torture and death and she thinks to herself that she could envision herself being attracted to him in any other setting. 

She also mourns some injuries that happen to her feet, whining to herself - “Abigail loved her feet - small, feminine, exuding a slender, proportionate beauty her friends openly envied.” I don’t know about you, girls, but I always have conversations amongst friends about who has the most beautiful, feminine feet between us. 

It definitely gives the idea that this man has never had a fleshed out whole conversation with a woman in his life. 

This book has big focus on veteran’s and their mental health post-combat. Suicide rates among veterans is a major, very prominent issue in the real world. In this book, PTSD and suicide attempts among veterans is absolutely nothing more than a shabby and clumsy plot device. It’s honestly embarrassing and shameful. 

The book describes veterans as unhinged, extremely over-the-top violent, cold, and completely unfeeling. It doesn’t offer a sympathetic view into the world of PTSD or post-combat coping methods. It simply villainizes veterans and creates a miopic, singular lens with which to view them as a whole. 

I also really didn’t enjoy in the “1893” chapters that the book constantly refers to Indigenous peoples as “heathens” and “injuns” and simply “Indians”. Regardless of the time period setting, I found every instance uselessly irrelevant and distasteful, to say the least. 

This author presents this book as a supernatural, spooky tale about a “ghost town” and there is basically nothing supernatural about this book, which was a huge disappointment to me, as that was exactly what I was looking for. 

The “plot twist”, if you can call it that, is more of an explanation of events, and quite honestly was predictable long before it was explained. 

The mystery element of this book was definitely there; there were plenty of questions to be answered. Unfortunately, many of them had obvious answers that fell flat when written out. 

The characters are completely detached and hollow with a complete lack of character development or growth of any kind. There is a very feeble and clumsy attempt to build a subplot about Abigail’s relationship with her father but it is so uninteresting and tepid that any resolution that comes is almost boring. 

The only moment in the book that resonated with me emotionally at all was Lana’s story arch, and truthfully she was only used as a plot device so her story doesn’t even get any kind of pay off she deserves. 

I kept reading this book in the hopes that a major twist was coming that would upset all my disappointment and disinterest with the first three-quarters of the book. Unfortunately, the pay off just wasn’t enough.

If you want to read a mystery, sure this will fill the hours, but don’t expect any emotional investment in the characters nor any of the alleged supernatural elements.