Tag Archives: Fiction

Book Review

Review: The Troop

12 Comments

The Troop

The Troop
By Nick Cutter
(Gallery Books, Hardcover, 9781476717715, January 2014, 368pp.)

The Short of It:

Fast-paced and intense.

The Rest of It:

What happens to a group of boy scouts when a strange man shows up at their camp site with an insatiable hunger?

The worst.

This is one of those reads that you tear through, cringing the entire time. Without giving anything away, what is supposed to be a pleasant weekend of camping on Falstaff Island quickly becomes something out of a horror movie. Things happen. Their scout master does his best to assess the situation and deal with what is happening but it’s a force that is much larger than him and he finds himself in a very bad situation.

A lot of people say this is a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Ruins. I agree with that, somewhat. It’s more biological than psychological but since we are dealing with young kids and how they deal with the situation at hand, I can see the LOTF’s comparison. This was a tense read and if you are at all squeamish, you won’t want to read this one at lunch but the story held my attention. My only issue with it is that it seemed abbreviated to me. The entire story plays out in just a few days so although the pace was great, the author couldn’t go all that deep within each character but he did an admirable job trying.

While reading a book like this, you want the payoff to be big, but once I knew what was going on, I wasn’t too happy to be spending any more time on the island. So, I have mixed feelings about this one. As a thriller or a suspense read, I was very pleased but I think I needed the story to go in a slightly different direction in order for me to love it. It reminded me a lot of Bait by J. Kent Messum in that the writing was great, but I didn’t care for the way that story played out.

This is a one-sitting read, fast-paced and tense but definitely not for the squeamish.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Book Review

Review: The Last Days of California

25 Comments

The Last Days of California
The Last Days of California
By Mary Miller
(Liveright Publishing Corporation, Hardcover, 9780871405883, January 2014, 256pp.)

The Short of It:

Probably one of the best coming-of-age novels I’ve read in a long while.

The Rest of It:

Fourteen-year-old Jess and her family, including her older, pregnant sister Elise, set out from Alabama to California right before the Rapture. Their mission? To save as many souls along the way as possible. As they travel from town to town, handing out their pamphlets to anyone who will take them, it becomes obvious to the girls that their father has lost his job (again) and that there really isn’t money for a trip across the country. Plus, the parents are clueless about their own daughter’s pregnancy and Jess finds herself in a position to protect her sister’s secret for as long as possible.

I loved this family. For all of their faults, they are a family in the biggest sense of the word. As they head out on this road trip, it’s clear that things are at stake. Life, as they know it could be changed forever after the Rapture but Jess and Elise are not convinced of that. They want to believe, but at the same time, they have their doubts.

Because of these doubts, they test the waters a bit. Hanging out with boys, drinking and smoking and basically experimenting as kids are known to do. But what makes it different for them is that they don’t know if the world will exist by the time they get to California. Will they be one of the saved ones? As they stop along the way, they meet people and have experiences that change who they are and in the process, they come to terms with their beliefs.

Books can be such a personal thing but I LOVED this book. I loved the family, the girls (with all of their faults) and the road trip, yes… I love road trips and reading this book was like jumping in the car and taking off for an adventure. I could easily have been their long-lost cousin hiding in the trunk. I FELT as if I was with them every time they stopped for gas and horribly processed snack foods. And every time they jumped into a motel pool, I could literally smell the chlorine.

This was such a great read. It gave me a lot to think about and it took me out of my world and right into theirs. I read it in just a couple of sittings and if you are worried about the religious parts, don’t. It’s not heavy-handed in any way. As Jess contemplates life, you can’t help but fall in love with her as a person.

To truly appreciate it, you must read it for yourself. I’m sure it will be on my list of favorites for 2014.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.