Tag: bookreview

Book Review: ‘Thinner’ by Stephen King

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So, I read Stephen King’s ‘Thinner’ for book four of our Santorini trip.

I’ve always had a copy of ‘Thinner’ but never got around to reading it. Other King premises, such as killer clowns, vampires, and apocalypses, drew me in better. Part of me reasoned that he wrote it under his Bachman pseudonym so that it would be worse than his ‘real’ novels. And the book follows a man with a gypsy curse to make him thinner. How scary can that be?

It turns out: very.

‘Thinner’ gets downright nasty at points, and quite a few plot developments shocked me. The story caught me off-guard in many places. And the ending? Beautiful in its ugliness. I cannot imagine how anyone read this—before the truth about Bachman came out—and didn’t know King had penned it. It’s got his fingerprints all over it.

Please don’t make the same mistake I made.

‘Thinner’ is a classic King novel that deserves your time.

Book Review: ‘Meg’ by Steve Alten

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For book three of the honeymoon, I read Steve Alten’s ‘Meg’—rather appropriate for on a beach!

Sharks have fascinated me since childhood; something about their terror and beauty. ‘Meg’ has always been on my radar, even before the recent Jason Statham movie. I recall a made-for-TV movie about it from the late nineties that scared me, but I can’t find it now.

I had a great time reading ‘Meg’. Alten’s style lets the pages rip past, and the action is nonstop. The ‘science’ is like ‘Jurassic Park’. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s close enough to suspend disbelief.

Anyway, this book posed quite a problem in reviewing it. Do you review a book in the context of other books, or do you judge a book based on its aim? Before ‘Meg’, I read King’s ‘The Dead Zone’. Does ‘Meg’ pack the same emotional gut punches as that novel? Not even close. But that’s not what Alten aims to do with his book. His story is about a giant shark and how scary they are. In this light, the book smashes it out of the park. The book is, in essence, a big summer blockbuster.

Don’t go in expecting your worldview shattered and your sense of self disturbed.

Go into the book expecting great setpieces where sharks eat people, and ‘Meg’ will please.

Book Review: ‘The Dead Zone’ by Stephen King

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I read Stephen King’s ‘The Dead Zone’ as book two of my honeymoon.

As you all know, I’m a massive King fanboy. I went through a phase in my teens/early twenties where I read nothing but King. Somehow, I managed to read every classic book of his except for ‘The Dead Zone’—I guess it slipped under the radar!

Anyway, I tore through this pretty hefty novel in no time. The old-school King style wrapped me in a warm blanket of nostalgia. I love all stages of King’s career, but—man—for a time in the seventies and eighties, he was untouchable.

The story follows John Smith, who has had a life plagued with bad luck. The poor chap conks his noggin as a kid and again as an adult. As a result, when he touches people, he gets a hint of their future. Of course, this labels Johnny as a pariah. I had no idea where the story would end up, and I won’t spoil it here. But let me say this: it’s unsettling how prescient King’s view of the future of America was.

If you still need to read ‘The Dead Zone’, go out and get a copy; it’s King at the height of his powers.

Book Review: ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ by Max Brooks

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So, I better review the books I read on my honeymoon! (Regina and I loved Santorini and had the best time ever.)

For book one of the honeymoon—and book twenty-one of the year—I read ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ by Max Brooks. I’d read ‘World War Z’ many moons ago and loved it. I’d always meant to get around to ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ but never found the time. But when waiting around at airports or sunning yourself on a beach, you have time!

I enjoyed ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ quite a bit, although I prefer ‘World War Z’ if memory serves. This reason isn’t due to any fault on Brooks’s behalf. The book guides the reader through surviving the zombie apocalypse, as advertised. Thus, the book lacks any real story until you reach the end. If you need a narrative to propel you through a book, there might be a better book for you. You’ll have a blast if you like humourous and well-thought-out world-ending scenarios. And, at the end of the book, Brooks regales us with ‘historical’ zombie tales of survival (and death, of course). This part reminded me of ‘World War Z’ and might be the best part of the book for some.

I’m a zombie nut, always have been, and always will be, so even pages on vehicles in the apocalypse interest me. That said, this approach to a book will only please some. If you need a story but like the zombie genre, try Brooks’ ‘World War Z’.

But if—like me—you don’t care how you get your undead meals, ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ will give you more than a few laughs.

Book Review: “Der Spiegel des Schreckens” by R. L. Stine

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R. L. Stine’s “Der Spiegel des Schreckens” is my twentieth book of the year and my third German book ever.

I decided to continue with my run of “Goosebumps”/”Gänsehaut” books—if it works, why change it? Furthermore, R. L. Stine aimed these books for ten-to-twelve–year-olds, and I loved them as a kid. Hence, they are perfect for me in my quest to learn German.

The story follows two boys and their friends as they discover something in the attic. The object is a mirror that grants whoever pulls its lamp cord the power of invisibility. But the longer the kids stay invisible, the stranger they feel.

There’s no death or injury—it’s a kids’ book!—but the implication of the cursed object is quite creepy. Even so, I had a blast with the book, and I look forward to reading my next “Gänsehaut” book on my honeymoon! (Along with my usual stack of English books, of course!)

Each book I read in German gets a bit easier, and I’m having fun reliving my childhood as I do it.

Book Review: “If It Bleeds” by Stephen King

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Stephen King’s “If It Bleeds” is my nineteenth read of the year.

“If It Bleeds” is a collection of four short stories—King’s most recent collection. And, to get right to the point, I loved it. Of course, with short story collections, there’s always the tendency for the stories to end up hit or miss. But there’s not a single miss in “If It Bleeds”; every piece fires on all cylinders. I’ve not read a short story collection this strong since King’s own “Full Dark, No Stars”.

“Mr Harrigan’s Phone” (now a movie?), “The Life of Chuck” and “Rat” are fantastic short stories. But the book hits its stride with the titular “If It Bleeds”. It’s clear why King chose this to be the collection’s namesake. The story follows Holly Gibney. Holly has starred in “Mr Mercedes”, “The Outsider”, “Finders Keepers”, and “End of Watch”. I have yet to read the last two novels, but I’ll get around to them soon. I aim to do so before Holly’s solo book “Holly” comes out in September.

Without spoiling too much, “If It Bleeds” follows similar lines to “Mr Mercedes” and “The Outsider”. Reading this before I read “Finders Keepers” and “End of Watch” worked fine. Although, it did spoil one thing about those two novels, with which I’m completely okay. It has King’s classic multithread approach, culminating in a thrilling finale. So I’ll summarise it with a single word: brilliant.

If you like King, you’ll like “If It Bleeds”.

And if, like me, you love the man, you’ll feel the same way I do about this short story collection.

Book Review: “The Lost World” by Michael Crichton

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Book 18 of 2023 is Michael Crichton’s “The Lost World”.

A four-year-old dinosaur-obsessed Joshua saw a movie in ’97. That movie, of course, was the summer blockbuster, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” It was everything kid Josh wanted in a movie. Years later, as an adult, although I recognise the first film as superior, I still have a soft spot for the sequel.

I read Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” a while back—sometime during one of the lockdowns—and liked it. I came to the odd conclusion that I preferred the movie. Spielberg refined and focused the book’s ideas and crystallised them. I can say the same about the sequel, for the most part.

But that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book. I loved it. Crichton’s power lies not in writing but in worldbuilding and storytelling.

A fair few parts differ from the movie. The entire premise has a different angle, as John Hammond dies in the first book. A friend of Ian Malcolm is trying to find out where these strange animal corpses are coming from. Surprise, surprise, these turn out to be dinosaurs. Some parts of the book are better—such as Sarah Harding’s character and the dinosaur variety. Some bits are worse—such as the T. rexes’ attack on the trailer and the velociraptors in the long grass. I also preferred Ian Malcolm in the movie.

But, all in all, I had a great time with “The Lost World”. Crichton might have penned it for the movie sequel, but that’s where the book shines. The best parts are the realistic—ish—ways the plot unfolds and the big, bombastic setpieces.

Much like the book’s tagline, I can say this about my love of dinosaurs:

Something has survived.