Ray, a man who is living in the house of his brutally murdered parents, is being menaced by mysterious figures. His cousin Paul is working nights at a plastics factory that becomes a fight for survival, as a monster stalks him and a group of workers. These two storylines alternate between chapters and build to a violent and deadly climax for the both of them.
The Good:
·
The
Atmosphere- Thomas keeps the mood claustrophobic and filled with menace. It is unspoken but there is a darkness
creeping out of every place the characters are not currently experiencing;
behind every unopened door evil and violence awaits.
·
Slow
Burn- The book takes its time getting where it has too, which complements the
atmosphere of menace.
The Bad:
·
Typesetting-
Some problems with page layout that moves sentences around to accommodate the
page. Not major but breaks up the flow
of paragraphs.
·
Slow
Burn- A lot of what happens is the characters ruminations and inner
monolog. There is little action to be
had until the last hundred pages and even then only in the last fifty do things
really take off and the blood starts to be spilled.
·
Characters-
The two main characters fall somewhat flat.
Both stories are lacking dialog, while in line with the main theme (No
Spoilers), makes the protagonists feel underdeveloped and conceived in a vacuum.
The Verdict:
·
Who
should buy this: Fans of Thomas work will want to add this to their
collection. Anyone who enjoys a slow
story that is more focused on the inner lives of its characters.
·
Who
should let this sit on the shelf: Those who like action and quick story progression
and fans of epic large-scale stories and larger than life protagonists.
·
My
Opinion: Thomas’s work is an acquired taste and this book is at the far end of
that spectrum. Start elsewhere, the
short story collection Punktown is a first stop, and then move into this
book. Most will find this book slow
moving and hard to get invested in.
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