Nick

Unfortunately, this book started out really strong and then sort of petered out. As the top reviewer stated, this really does start off as a 5-star read. It then kind of drags on with an OK ending and followed by a truly dreadful epilogue.

I thoroughly enjoyed Malfi's writing style although sometimes his flowery writing was a little excessive. The story itself is a bit bloated and not a lot happens for stretches. I felt like playing a video game where I'm out on a fetch quest that leads to another and another. And speaking of dragging, the final chapter drags on and on and on. It felt so unnecessary and long.

My three star review is a bit complicated in this instance. I'm not saying it's mediocre, and I don't want to discourage people from reading it. I think people can take away different things. It's definitely worth the read, just not mind-blowing. And there is much left for discussion and interpretation.

A slow fire burning indeed. 2.5 rounded up.

I went into this book completely blind. I'd seen tons of reviews, mostly high praise, and thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm actually super glad I did that because the synopsis is quite the red herring.

I really enjoyed how this novel unraveled. It started out with a man mourning his dead wife and how everyone around him acted, from his mother in law to the media to the fringe family and acquaintances. From there, the reader is treated to their story in kind of a backwards retelling up into the present. The entire time, there's just this weird, foreboding aura that one can't shake. This goes all the way up until the ending, and it still left me with an uneasy feeling. Highly recommended for fans of slow burn horror/creepiness.

This might possibly be the worst thing I've ever read. Hopefully the author doesn't see that as an endorsement. It's not. The goal here was to shock and offend, but to be perfectly honest, the only thing offensive was the awful writing.

I've always enjoyed the macabre. I like being grossed out, teased, and given the willies. In Dead Inside, the author takes every gross thing he can think of and throws it at a wall. None of it sticks.

Beyond that, the writing is atrocious. Characters are one-dimensional. Morrison repeats himself often. The book is riddled with grammatical errors. Suspension of disbelief can't be maintained as nothing seems even remotely real. There's not much for a plot. There are tons of inconsistencies packed into such a short story. The author throws in random references to things to show that he, like the main character, isn't a normie. For example, blah blah listening to Ministry. Cool, bro. No one cares.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one. It lacks any kind of story or metaphor or really any other reason to read. It has no charm. It's not B-movie “so bad it's good.” It's just bad. You'll get more story out of a Cannibal Corpse song.

Man, what a letdown. The premise was decent, the writing was great, the characters were good, the story was captivating...and then the last third happened...

Everyone who hyped “the twist” did this book a disservice. Not only was the twist not that good but the whole thing was choreographed miles away. It was like going into an M Night Shymalan movie.

I'm willing to give Frieda another chance because she's really good at setting up a story but the plot to this one was...well, it was bad. The actions the characters made were questionable the whole time. The further the story went along, the less it made sense. The motives for the, ahem, “plot twist,”...I feel insulted.

TL;dr version: Frieda seems like a good writer but this generic, formulaic pulp feels like the hype might have been paid for

I'm not saying the book is bad, but I am surprised that this one caught the hype train. The story is interesting, characters are fine, but the writing seems a bit amateurish. Quite honestly, I read this thinking it was a decent first novel until I later realized this was actually her sixth. Maybe a few things could have been fleshed out a little more. Overall, this book was pretty fun and a good, quick read.

I can tell the author is a smart guy, and there are glimpses of that in this book, but tbh I couldn't wait for this one to end

Wow. And, unfortunately, I don't mean that in a good way. To say I was disappointed is quite the understatement.

This is the third of Matt Ruff's novels that I've read, and this one was by far the worst. It was so dreadfully bad that I'd have written this guy off as an incel, libertarian hack had this been my first. So, if you're reading this and have never read Ruff before, please try something else first!

As for the content of the book, about 90% of it is just describing playing various games. The other 10% is a very loose narrative with a poor, unoriginal story. Others have pointed out the language used. In my opinion, some of it is over the top and unnecessary. It's clear the author pulled his punches in some spots but then just straight drops a racial slur. All of the sexual content seemed to have been written by a 14 year old too. Just blah all around.,

Tl;dr version - incel Ready Player One, read something else by him

Roth has a way with writing characters. Every single one of them is a complex piece of art for better or worse. In other novels, characters are sympathetic or not. In Philip Roth novels, they just exist in their worlds. So much detail goes into their thoughts, motivations, and actions that it can be hard to believe they're not real.

In Everyman, Philip Roth spins a meandering yarn about a man who has it all until he realizes he doesn't. Themes of love, sex, family, religion, and especially death are seen throughout. While the book can get a little confusing because of all the back and forth and no real plot, this is a beautiful examination of death and the willingness to live and the acceptance (or lack thereof) of the inevitable.

A lot of people put this pretty high in their KVJ canon. I do not. For me, it's like trying to watch Family Guy when I grew up with early Simpsons.

Bad Religion is my favorite band. They've been my favorite band since I was in middle school. I've been there with them through a lot of ups and downs, not from the beginning but from success to turmoil and back again. That's why it pains me to say this: This book sucks.Written like an extended Wikipedia page, I'm not entirely sure who this biography is for. On one hand, a new fan is going to want something a lot more concise or just ask friends. On the other hand, long term fans aren't going to read much of anything they didn't already know. And the casual fan? Probably gonna skip this.The book is mostly in chronological order, spanning high school years of the original band members all the way up to Jamie joining the band and the release of Age of Unreason. There are a few cool anecdotes scattered here and there, but most of this book is told pretty matter-of-factly. The reader doesn't get a lot of fun stories one would expect out of a book like this. For example, in NOFX's [b:NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories 25898266 NOFX The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories Jeff Alulis https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455172307l/25898266.SX50.jpg 45781138], Fat Mike tells a story about playing with Bad Religion and Brian Baker yelling “I invented straight edge” every time he did a line of cocaine. Why aren't there more stories like that? Is a band that's been around for 40+ years really that concerned about their image? I know that's not flattering, but other than Brett, everyone comes off as squeaky clean and boring when I know that's not the case.Now that leads me to another thing: Brett's multiple rehab stints are chronicled. Jay's alcoholism is mentioned. Then, when it comes to Hetson, they kind of just casually mention that his pill use got him kicked out of the band. Behind the scenes, it sounds like he was promised he could come back if he got clean, but apparently the band hired Mike in his place. The authors state that Hetson was allowed to tell his side of the story but refused. Good for him. What a “fuck you” to a guy that was the backbone of the band for so many years. Whereas Brett and Jay had not only become dependent on substances, they also both walked out and Hetson stayed loyal. Now, yes, Greg H could've spoken up in the book, but in my opinion, Bad Religion did a real shitty job of not looking like goons there.Tl;dr version - Just read their Wikipedia page if you want a quick history. Check out https://www.thebrpage.net/ if you want a better, more in-depth history on pretty much anything you could ever want to know about the band. Save your money and skip this one.

When I put this on my “want to read” list, I'd seen some mixed reviews. I see why now. There's nothing groundbreaking about the plot, but Harrison does a good job of setting up the story. Woman goes missing, comes back two years later, and something feels off. Circle of friends decide to go to a fancy hotel to catch up and rekindle their relationship now that the friend has come back. Yadda yadda yadda.

The group of women were pretty hit and miss for me. Some of their conversations were funny but more often just really catty and annoying. And the women themselves, save for the protagonist, were pretty one-dimensional. Because of this, I felt like some of the dialogue seemed forced and unnatural. Tristan and Patsy seemed to have more personality and they were side characters.

I loved the setting. Most of the story takes place at hotel with themed rooms (ex: a gothic fiction room, a pink room, etc) with each woman getting their own hand-picked room by one of the friends. A solid 2/3 of the book takes place here, so the reader becomes pretty familiar with these rooms as well as the bar and dining area. Sounds like a good time.

OK, so we finally get to the climax, and that's it huh? I'm not exactly sure why Harrison chose to go from mystery to creepypasta, but I was let down. Maybe the marketing hurt this one, but I feel like the synopsis kind of gives things away more than it should, kinda like when trailers spoil all the good parts of a movie. I would have liked, maybe, the ending toned down a bit.

Let me preface this review by saying something: This book was not very good. But, in a way, it was VERY good.

When I review, I try to put a little context into my score. For example, an awesome kids' book is obviously not as in-depth as the most generic mystery thriller, but I may give the kids' book a 5 whereas the crapfest gets a 1. An OK autobiography that was clearly written by a non-writer might get a 5 where a classic that seems lame in hindsight or didn't age well may get rated 2. So, let's delve into that as it pertains to this book and why I chose to explain all of this ahead of time.

One thing I absolutely loved about this book was that it was a great throwback to the PG-13 horror movie trend of the late 90s/early 00s. I'm not sure if that's what the author was going for, but that's what I picked up. The cheesy dialogue, minimalistic plot, and token characters made this a perfect quick read for someone in their late teens. It wasn't too scary or too gory, some profanity thrown in but not over-the-top, and some rebellion against parents that had me nostalgic for the days of Jennifer Love Hewitt yelling “What are you waiting for?!”

Now, the writing was decent but not super strong. I feel like the plot meandered here and there at times and there were some head-scratching moments. I also felt like a couple plot points really didn't have any bearing on anything else in the book. Because of this, the ending felt a bit rushed and just didn't land for me. Once again, though, I would argue the same out of 2000s teen screams.

I highly recommend for anyone into cheesy teen horror.

Nice throwback unstoppable slasher romp chock full of every trope imaginable. Didn't love the story, but I did love parts. The bear story was great. The description is super accurate if you're deciding whether or not to read.

One of my favorite books of all time. Kurt had a way of being unbearably bleak but still managing to find humor in the darkest of subjects. Here, he battles with the horrors of war, solitude, masculinity, depression, and aging. The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, is thrown about space and time because Vonnegut seldom used a direct approach to face his demons. If you've never read Vonnegut, I'd highly recommend this one to start with.

I've gotta ask: who is this book for? It reads like one of those late 90s/early 00s teen horror movies but with Saw amounts of blood and gore. The writing is decent, but probably at a jr high to high school reading level. That's ok because the characters are mostly high school aged, but the blood and guts are so amped up that I'm not sure that that age group was the intended audience. The plot and characters need to be fleshed out a bit more. I feel like a lot more could have been said regarding Lucy's background after being adopted and the Oracle program, in general. Unfortunately, I'll have to recommend a pass on this one.

What does it mean to be human? This is the burning question of Tender is the Flesh.

Let me preface this by saying the premise needs a very liberal suspension of disbelief. Yes, a virus affects all edible animals somehow. The ones that aren't affected are killed just in case? Also somehow, the disease can infect all mammals except humans? And somehow fish, shellfish, and birds get the virus too?

Anyway, once the reader gets over that, they're exposed to a brutal look at late-stage capitalism. The reviews are correct that the descriptions of preparing humans as food are extremely graphic. It's necessary. The ending hits like a semi truck.

So, what does it mean to be human? Are we a product of our environment, or is our environment a product of us?

I liked this book. I didn't love it like others, but that's OK.

Honestly, I had a ton of fun reading this but the plot was super wonky. Cool premise, but kind of all over the place.

First time doing an audiobook as an adult. The reader did a pretty good job, but I won't really get into that.

This one was a slow burner. Last third was way more exciting that the first 2/3. I have a lot to say about the content but it's already been said a billion times in the other reviews. Let's just leave it at: this book was just OK.

This dude really likes jerking off

A cross between Stranger Things and [b:The Girl with All the Gifts 17235026 The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl with All the Gifts, #1) M.R. Carey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403033579l/17235026.SY75.jpg 23753235], this novel is a straightforward sci-fi thriller. Much like the Breakers from The Dark Tower, kids are kidnapped and imprisoned because of their psychic ability and forced to work for a shadowy group. This book is what King does best: Takes a fairly simple premise, sets the stage, and then lets the reader just absolutely devour every word until the end. Dialogue and plot sometimes hit some road bumps, as can be expected with King, but the story itself is what's front-and-center here. The reader won't find anything life-changing here, but it was a very enjoyable read from start to finish.If you enjoyed this one, please check out the aforementioned [b:The Girl with All the Gifts 17235026 The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl with All the Gifts, #1) M.R. Carey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403033579l/17235026.SY75.jpg 23753235] as well.

I don't feel like I can properly express the complexity of my rating without mentioning some spoilers, so please turn back now if you don't want to know what happens.

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This book was a hard one to review because I don't really have one specific feeling about the thing as a whole. The premise here is that a super rich guy approaches a scientist and helps her build a machine that can map and bring back memories under the guise that she'll be able to help her mom and millions others with Alzheimer's. An NYPD detective investigates a woman's death who claims to be experiencing memories as if they really happened. Turns out reliving memories in the machine creates a kind of time travel back to that memory which, in turn, causes discrepancies in timelines to become merged as the newly discovered “False Memory Sydrome.”

Chapter 1 - For me, this was a 5/5. We bounce around the two main characters where Barry's story is a sort of neo-noir crime thriller and Helena's is that of a sci-fi thriller. A woman with false memory syndrome kills herself (a recurring theme in later chapters) and Barry's curiosity leads him to seek answers. Helena is approached by a shadowy figure who offers her unlimited money for a research project.

Ch 2 - The reader starts getting answers as to what Helena's research is actually leading to. Barry gets an opportunity of a life time. Are any of their troubles worth it? Solid 4/5 on this chapter.

Chapters 3-5 - So, this is where things get hairy. I have to give these chapters like 2-2.5/5. Up until this point, there is a cohesive story going on, and Crouch really does his best on trying to wrap things up. It's not entirely his fault. It's just that any time someone does any sort of time travel, by the second visit, things fall apart. This sort of fiction becomes rife with inconsistencies and in-universe rule breaking. Also, because of all the damage Helena's machine has done, there's really no way that the book could have ended with any sort of satisfactory happy ending. The ending he did choose was kind of an ass pull to be perfectly honest.

Going in blind, the tone changes really caught me off guard. I thought I was getting into like a Blade Runner/Maltese Falcon type situation, but then Helena's story made me think it was going more Jurassic Park/playing God type stuff. We're thrown straight into a reality best described by Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and even treated with a quote from the book. That quickly descends into a chain of events that gives us Minority Report into all-out nuclear war. I really wish Crouch stayed with the memory plot and less with time travel/paradoxes. I was happy to Barry's daughter come back and the complexities that arose, but I was rolling my eyes by the time he was married to Helena in a new timeline. That just didn't do it for me. All in all, I really enjoyed Crouch's writing style and would be glad to revisit something that hopefully isn't as convoluted as time travel.

This collection is really good but maaaaaan is it dry. I was reminded of being in college the way this felt like homework. After every story, I had to consult Wikipedia to analyze what I had just read.

Now, having said that. I am glad I read it all. I was under the impression that the whole book would be thought experiments and linguistic exercises but he really did have a variety of different types of stories. We had existentialism, murder mystery, war, fate, etc. all laid out. Very cool stuff, but just go into it knowing that you'll probably be doing outside research to fully appreciate this book.

Really enjoyed the first half, like maybe 3.5-3.75 and was hoping for a better ending but didn't really get it. I'm conflicted on the climax. I get the point of the “exorcism” but it was a little too cheesy for the serious tone of the rest of the book. And, in hindsight, I didn't like the intro. I went back to it after finishing and realized it really had no bearing on the end. All in all, a really good story about growing up and friendship.