’Salem’s Lot meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with incredible results.
Set in the remote Maine town of New Hope in the late 1980s, this exceptional debut novel is an enticing blend of supernatural fiction, horror and one young woman’s coming-of-age.
This novel—which works equally well as a YA or adult read—revolves largely around almost-17-year-old Miri Jones, daughter of the town’s police chief. Attractive, intelligent, athletic and tenaciously inquisitive, Jones’ dream is to follow somewhat in her father’s footsteps, perhaps working as an investigator for the FBI. When she discovers the corpse of a young man while jogging on a woodland trail, she embraces her inner Nancy Drew and vows to solve the mystery, even though her father warns her to stay away. With her babysitting charge—13-year-old Christopher Marlowe—as partner, the young detective duo sets out to unravel the circumstances leading up to the bizarre murder. Marlowe, however, is hiding a bombshell of a secret, and once Jones discovers what Marlowe is concealing, the investigation takes a horrific turn. Jones’ worldview is obliterated when she learns that not only do creatures such as vampires and werewolves exist—they are in her own town! Accompanied by a small group of friends, Jones and Marlowe uncover jaw-dropping revelations that could very well get them—and those they love—brutally killed. So many aspects of the story are outstanding: character development, plot intricacy, innovative twists on old myths, setting—Hobbs nails the late ’80s vibe with references to Van Halen, Bob Seger, Steve Grogan of the New England Patriots, etc.—and narrative intensity. Also of note is the novel’s sardonic sense of humor; even in the most perilous of situations, the teenage protagonists still have wits enough to come up with some great comments: e.g., “By the way, there’s a lot of vampire crap at the library.” It’s fitting that Stephen King is mentioned in the storyline. This debut from Hobbs, who was raised in Maine, is very much comparable in tone and ambiance to King’s debut novel, Carrie (1974).
’Salem’s Lot meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with incredible results.Pub Date: May 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1495349638
Page Count: 286
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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