anansi reviewed on
Helpful Score: 6
A horror first, then morphing to thriller - this book is an excellent page turner, and doesn't fall into many cliches unwillingly. This is high praise for a novel of this genre, a genre very hard to break ground in. I hope its not just knowing who his dad is that led me to draw many comparisons between their work, but its pretty much impossible not to do so. Apologies for that, but Mr. Hill starts that ball rolling with his dedication on page 1. Nods/tributes to Steven King seemed to fill the book - maybe its just because SK has so fully explored all the horror archetypes, while building a number of his own along the way. Joe knows the language - and breaks a good deal of new ground himself. It ends well, if a little too cleanly (I'm not saying 'happily')- which is something many horror/thriller writers fail to do.
I'd say the original concepts only carry the book about halfway - and that the second half of the book has outgrown the plausibility established in the first half. The subject matter is handled with a lot of maturity - depending far more on very real human psychology rather than supernatural crutches.
It read as a screen play - with lots of camera direction, I strongly suspect that this was intentional and a businessman's approach to writing (less reworking/reinterpreting to do when/if a movie comes along, which I think is inevitable for this book). This was distracting at times - especially when time motion flicker effects are described (think The Ring or House on Haunted Hill). A novel limited by camera effects - or a novelist calling upon the readers visual vocabulary, you decide.
I give it an 8.5 out of 10 - and though people do seem to love it a bit more because of its 'royal' heritage (Neil Gaiman gives an orgasmic review that comes across to me as excessive and comical), it is defiantly a good read. His comparisons to Clive Barker's first turn out of the gates are apt (Damnation Game is good stuff - highly underrated Barker).
I too have a fascination with the upstarts in the fiction industry - and there is plenty of magic in the idea of Joe Hill following in some very big footsteps.
I'd say the original concepts only carry the book about halfway - and that the second half of the book has outgrown the plausibility established in the first half. The subject matter is handled with a lot of maturity - depending far more on very real human psychology rather than supernatural crutches.
It read as a screen play - with lots of camera direction, I strongly suspect that this was intentional and a businessman's approach to writing (less reworking/reinterpreting to do when/if a movie comes along, which I think is inevitable for this book). This was distracting at times - especially when time motion flicker effects are described (think The Ring or House on Haunted Hill). A novel limited by camera effects - or a novelist calling upon the readers visual vocabulary, you decide.
I give it an 8.5 out of 10 - and though people do seem to love it a bit more because of its 'royal' heritage (Neil Gaiman gives an orgasmic review that comes across to me as excessive and comical), it is defiantly a good read. His comparisons to Clive Barker's first turn out of the gates are apt (Damnation Game is good stuff - highly underrated Barker).
I too have a fascination with the upstarts in the fiction industry - and there is plenty of magic in the idea of Joe Hill following in some very big footsteps.
