beau_reads_books's reviews
203 reviews

Big thrill ride of a first novel, Watson definitely knows how to create and thread tension throughout the plot. Small dialogue descriptor cues, narrative tells, etc. kind of lead the readers into assuming the ending before the author really gives it up, which was dissatisfying, however, this was still a really fun read. I can overlook the ending being kind of obvious but kind of not if I’m enjoying the time it takes to get there.

The characters were likable, the trauma/stress/fear was tangible, and the pacing was fluid. Really solid book, I just wasn’t really wowed.

Kicking myself for not reading Tremblay’s books in chronological order. I think if I’d picked up his first, neo-noir detective novel it would have given me a different light on the two horrors I read from him last year.

“The Little Sleep” blew me away, as I thought it would. Tremblay has such a distinct voice that set this apart from other noirs I’ve picked up from time to time. A little more emotive and modern, this read was even-paced and terribly interesting, two concepts that made it all the more easy to connect with. Fans of the movie “Brick” will dive into this book, and vice versa.

I did feel it could have had a little more something else to give it an edge, though I’m not sure what. Tremblay’s “Cabin at the End of the World”, written nearly a decade later, was such a full, complex work that I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. “The Little Sleep” did not inherently lack anything that fills my cup, but I did want my cup to runneth over more, which I suppose is a me problem.

What a doozy. I finished “The Cabin at the End of the World” in about eight hours. Could not put it down. Tremblay expertly rockets up reader anxiety within pages of the start and carries that trepidation until the final page. Careful character construction and a complex, heartbreaking climax add to the overall tension and finite horror that this book produced.

This book is sad. And even after how much I did enjoy it, the sadness sits there. I wouldn’t recommend to someone who struggles with the inherent anguish in horror writing: someone has to get hurt.

This was fun! I was really intrigued by how the themes of showbiz/theatre would meld with detective concepts and was genuinely satisfied. It wasn’t rushed and it didn’t take forever to build assumptions and hypotheses along with the characters themselves. Even with the right amount of twist and turns, it did seem to lead only to one possible ending, which was somewhat disappointing but still a pleasure to read. Griffiths has a great grasp of mystery, though this series (so far), errs to the side of cozy which doesn’t always spark my interest. Again, I was pleasantly surprised with how much it stayed in my hands and off the bedside table.

I’m not sure I’ll continue with the whole series; I am a completion driven reader but I don’t know that I created a strong enough relationship with the main characters in this series to commit to the next five books. We’ll see!

Classic Koontz formula. Broody male protagonist, cute and fun lady counterpart, throw a couple supplemental characters in for support, sprinkle on a little military propaganda, add a dog and boom: another hit.

In all seriousness, this was definitely a darker Koontz thriller. The rapid-fire chapter changes helped remind readers this is all taking place over a day or so; this also instilled a desperate tension between the revolving characters.

Erring more on the side of sci-fi thriller, Koontz once again earns his place in the suspense/thriller/horror hall of fame with “Midnight”. Graphic depictions of violence and fear, expertly divisive cliffhangers, and emotional character development drive this book home.

3.5 for a fun run ending in a mega cheese finale.

Pertaining to just about anything, it’s hard to follow, what I consider, an incredible debut to a series. Whether or not that series made it past two books is yet to be decided: there’s still time, Paul! I don’t know if he’s left the neo-noir genre in the past for the more recent psychological thriller and horror novels he’s released but I for one would appreciate another couple of detective novels from this author.

Circling back, as I said, follow-up novels sometimes lose the luster that the initial novel creates for readers: a continuance of a story needs to have the same kind of hook and a good reason to bring a reader back. Mark Genevich, narcoleptic P.I., was enough of a hook for me. That being said, I was unsure of his development in this story. Going from a somewhat dumpy, sexless entity in the first novel to having not one but two awkward, I guess realistic, encounters with two different people in the second novel was a bit of a jump for me (the vision of someone tugging on a penis as if to remove stuck gum from hair will forever stay with me.) The reveal towards the end of the novel undid this trauma and brought me right back into the game.

I think what I like so much about these books is regardless of how much we can trust a narcoleptic, hallucinogen plagued narrator, I love listening to him. Saying, “he tells it like it is”, is too undercut: he literally tells us exactly what he’s experiencing. The building suspense of these novels is kind of taken away but replaced with a really satisfying, blunt, “oh shit” feeling. The sentences are short and run together and all of a sudden a man is in my house and he’s not supposed to be here. That kind of feeling.

Similarly to the first, this novel takes you on a cattywampus joyride through a winding, modern noir case with a narcoleptic nihilist at the wheel. There’s going to be suspension of belief at times and that’s kind of the point, not even Mark believes himself at points. It’s unstable, clever, and emotional. Something is missing, and like the first, I can’t tell what.

3.5 bumped up to 4 because I just really like how Tremblay writes.

I’ll be processing this one for awhile. The pacing was great, literary images of pain and grief were powerful and unique, and the dialogue was perfect. The book challenges reader’s expectations of narrators and also their own personal limitations of empathy and sympathy, at least, it certainly did for me. Other reviewers have critiqued the main character, Miranda, as unlikable and insufferable. And isn’t that the point the author is making? Awad pushes the narrative of “women’s pain” a little bit further with “All’s Well” and highlights the extremes some people face when they are facing inconclusive and unhelpful answers to torment.

3.5 bumped up to 4 for the really poetic metaphors and descriptions of feeling and suffering.

I live in Iowa. I’ve lived in Iowa for 23 years. Darnielle masterfully detailed the general solitude and simultaneous small-town gossipy energy of low population Midwest towns. The soft, eerie quiet of driving through tiny, rural strip mall streets and then the shriek of wind blowing through cornfields as you push 70 down I-35. Everything was there. Everything was perfectly intact and in place and the malaise and the grief and thirst of exploration but the settling for okay. What an enchanting read. Until…what?

What is this book about? I get the big picture. I understand the nitty gritty. I feel the characters. A few meandering plot lines that are maybe supposed to snake together to completion in the end, but don’t? Not really, at least.

It’s so hard to describe a book that I really truly loved, and was so well written, and was so unsettling and suspenseful. But at the same time, I’m left so unfulfilled, so frustrated.

This book is going to get picked up by A24 in a few years and turned into some art house horror movie and I’m going to like it, obviously, but I won’t understand it, still.

Blown away by this collection from Tremblay. As a tried and true lover of flash fiction, short stories, essay compilations, etc. I was excited to find that my newest favorite author put this out a few years ago. Excited once more to find that some of the stories in “Growing Things” harken back to my favorite novels of his.

It’s as if Tremblay himself is walking us, hand in hand and room by room, to each separate story and to each different narrator. “Growing Things” is carefully arranged to build from the visceral first few stories, into an elaborate, self aware, crescendo with “Notes from Dog Walkers,” ending precisely with “The Thirteenth Temple.”

Each story props themselves up as a unique part of this balance. Wouldn’t take or leave any of them. To rile up the spectrum of emotions from smaller fiction pieces is work in itself and Tremblay punched in and out of this shift with ease and skill.

5/5 all around.

This book jumped out at me from the library’s “New Fiction” shelf and I’m glad the flashy orange font on the spine grabbed my attention. A riveting read with an easy enough, without getting boring, plot.

The characters are likable yet fallible, not so much a tightrope to walk in this genre but Shepherd does it well. There were some plot holes and character inconsistencies but it didn’t entirely take away from the book or make a mess of things: a few jumps that would make sense in a suspense-kissed fantasy novel where not everything has to make sense because reality is…literally suspended.

The spooks are earned with the depth of the story. It would have been more fulfilling if the readers had a chance to peek behind the veil a little more: the brief descriptions in the beginning of every chapter were really, really cool but we’re still at a loss of really interacting with some of the more sinister bits and pieces of the story. Ending was a tad cheesy and a little YA but all in all this was a blast to read.

4/5 for the neat-o haunted “Pagemaster” vibes