Suspense | Book Chatter

Big Driver (audio)
Written by Stephen King
Read by Jessica Hecht
(Simon & Schuster Audio | ISBN 9781442383746 | October 2014 )

The Short of It:

The kind of story you drop everything for. The kids can go hungry, but you’ve got to finish your read. You know the type I am talking about.

The Rest of It:

This little novella was actually part of a collection, originally published in Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King in 2010. But in case you haven’t noticed, King is on the popularity train right now. Many of his books and short stories have been adapted for film or TV or are in the works to be adapted soon and he has another new novel coming out this November, Revival. I have some fun scheduled for that one.

Tess Thorne, a thirty-something mystery writer who lives at home with her cat, runs into a little bit of car trouble on her way home from a book signing. What she encounters is horrifying and every woman’s worst nightmare.

The story is riveting and at times, brutal. I listened to it on my way home from work, and every time I pulled into my driveway I walked into the house with my ear buds firmly attached because it was so hard to stop listening! King’s story is not that unique but there are things about it that creep you out. One, the main character creates voices for those around her, her cat, the librarian and the person she is most afraid of.

These imaginary conversations are very disturbing. More so, because Jessica Hecht’s interpretation is downright chilling. I can’t say that I enjoyed her speaking voice all of the time. Sometimes, the main character, who is supposed to be a thirty-something, sounds like an 80 year-old woman and that’s not just because of what the character goes through. Because of that, at times, I didn’t feel that her reading was true to the character.

King includes all the classic “King” stuff that keeps you coming back for more. The weird little sayings, “It likes you, and you like it.” Said, over and over until you feel like you are on the brink of losing it. The strange mannerisms and yes, the zinger cuss words here and there, coming out of the main character’s mouth. Lends the story a crassness that keeps you on the edge of your seat because you don’t know what the main character is capable of. Is Tess losing it? Holding it together? Giving up? Your heart will beat out of your chest until you know for sure.

This also counts as a R.I.P read.

Peril the Second

As I mentioned above, so many King projects being translated for TV or the big screen. This is no exception. Big Driver is airing tonight, October 18th on Lifetime. Here is a little preview and if you miss tonight’s showing, you can catch it on Sunday, 10/19.

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

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.

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