This one plays it smart by never straying far from the realistic, in terms of character's responses.
In the calm before the storm, when andrew and eric are just being a goofy couple on the back porch - i remember reading that scene and thinking how well and naturally they were written that their banter read like actual long-term couple banter with years of relationship history bubbling through subtextually, so it was even more effective once things started happening, because relatable characters being put in extraordinary circumstances naturally makes the reader question themselves - what would they do in eric and andrew’s place. the characters are part of the draw - the happily vacationing family at the center of the situation are eric and andrew and their seven-year-old daughter wen, whom they adopted from china as a baby, and they are as loving and enviable a family as you could possibly want if you were looking to illustrate the “terrible things happening to good people” angle. The plot isn’t the draw, because it’s less traditional plot than it is setting a scenario in motion and letting the characters bounce off its walls. It’s a held-breath kind of book, where you need to know how it’s going to resolve more than anything, but you must resist flipping ahead, cheater! it's page after page of stubborn standoff and escalating tension and raising of stakes and questioning what's real and what's not and how does something like this end for anyone involved? it will get under your skin, i promise you that. not with excess gore or violence or anything like that. I think the whole point of this book is to make the reader squirm. enjoy!”īecause going any further into trying to describe the plot will a) make the reviewer sound insane and b) ruin the thrill of discovery for the reader. It’s pretty telling that the synopsis on here and the back-cover copy of the ARC is basically, “here are many specific details about what happens in the very very beginning, including pull quotes, which is never done, followed by a vague mini-paragraph about the rest of the book. Here’s the thing, ever since paul tremblay wrote A Head Full of Ghosts and slipped in a character named “karen brissette” whose voice sounded an awful lot like the inside of my own (ghostless) head, i’ve been pestering him with, “am i gonna be in the next book, huh? huh? huh? am i?"īut i am so glad to not be in this one because YEESH.
Oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for best horror 2018! what will happen? HAPPY PRIDE MONTH AND ALSO FATHER'S DAY!!
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