Disappearance at Devil's Rock
Ratings59
Average rating3.8
Disappearance at Devil's Rock by @paulgtremblay was the last of Tremblay's current horror novels I hadn't read...so now I've completed the set sans the crime fiction. Perhaps it's fitting that the book about a missing child should be the last to disappear from my TBR. Of course, I do not mean to make light of the subject, and Tremblay certainly does not. With the “is it or isn't it” ambiguity readers have enjoyed in Cabin, Head Full of Ghosts, and Pallbearer's Club, Tremblay challenges the reader to confront one of life's most tragic and terrifying situation and wrestle with the intrinsic drive to find a narrative, meaning, as extraordinary as the catastrophic circumstances. I don't mind admitting I flipped through the P.S. pages at the end because I felt like there were parts of the book I didn't sufficiently comprehend, but overall this novel kept me guessing and held my interest throughout. I also loved seeing the original story a couple of Survivor Song characters originated from. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This year I challenged my partner to nominate five books of hers that I should read. She tends to read more towards the horror side of the spectrum whilst I tend to favour Fantasy and Sci-Fi. The first book that she nominated was this one - Disappearance at Devil's Rock. Straight out I can say that I was impressed.
This one is a bit of a slow burn. It deals with the disappearance of a child and the agony of not knowing what has happened. This is some powerful stuff. To me, where the book really excels is in the day to day mundanity of living that still goes on whilst the world feels like it is crashing down around you in a situation such as this. The slow gradual reveal of what happened feels very true to many a missing persons case. This slow grinding pace really sets up the payoff for the reveal at the end.
This is psychological horror - any supernatural elements are negligible and easily explained away. This leads to a horrifying believability to the story. Ultimately the biggest monsters are usually humans and this does not back away from that truth.
A final note, the edition that I had the pleasure of reading was the fabulous SST one. The artwork and production quality was fantastic!
Elizabeth sends her a list of groceries. As she types milk 1% and diet soda and 1 lb turkey and cheese and bread she wonders how it was she got here, to this particular moment; calmly texting an ordinary grocery list seconds after shutting off a national cable news show discussing the evils of her missing son.
3.5 ⭐️
This review can also be found on my blog.
This took me a bit to get into but ended up being quite thrilling. There were some very spooky bits and the “twist” (I suppose it could be called) was so disturbing it actually made me nauseous and I had to put down the book for a bit. This is an interesting combination of horror and thriller, and it's hard to figure out which the book really is, so I'd classify it as both. I didn't feel any of the characters besides Elizabeth were particularly compelling, but I did find the plot interesting and am glad I read it.
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Well, this was a long read. I mean, no, it isn't, it just took me long enough.
The story itself is intriguing, it is well-written, but it should have been maybe 100 pages shorter. The baginning and ending are powerful, but there are long stretches of padding and repetition in the middle, which is too bad, because the book loses momentum now and then.
But: it wasn't bad at all, and it also mangaes to surprise.
Wavered between three and four stars because of the ending—as in the last few paragraphs.
Decided to go with three because the author, in a follow-up essay included with the book, fully spoils the surprise ending to the film The Wicker Man! So yeah, do not read the footnotes to the essay if you have not seen the films he mentions. Glad I wasn't spoiled!
I wanted to know what happened because the plot was interesting, but the way the dialogue was written was distracting. I liked the various fonts to delineate different voices. It was more thriller than horror or supernatural, like his previous book. I didn't like it as well as Head Full Of Ghosts. But the plot was compelling.
All my reviews can be found at The Tiny Reader's Reference! Come on over and say hello!Short & Sweet: Disappearance at Devil???s Rock is a muted, slow burn, character-driven horror story with rich human detail and little plot. This is not a ghost story told by the fireside; it is the tale of a grieving mother, the innocent foolishness of young children, and experiences that can defy explanation. To summarize this novel simply: The devil is in the details. And truly, that is where Paul Tremblay shines, placing small details, both relevant and otherwise, weaving a tale that shines with atmosphere.When I opened the first page, I went in with lowered expectations; the rating on Goodreads didn???t impress me, and the polarity of the reviews is the only reason why I picked up this book ??? and boy, am I glad I did.Plot is put aside for [b:Disappearance at Devil's Rock 27064358 Disappearance at Devil's Rock Paul Tremblay https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464530350l/27064358.SY75.jpg 47104908], and instead, is driven by the characters and their experiences. We learn much more about the backgrounds of every character, from main protagonists Elizabeth and Kate, all the way down to the one-time view of a police officer driving to scope out houses. Throughout these background dumps ??? a fact of this book that did get a bit frustrating ??? are sprinkled small tidbits that are overall irrelevant, but provide a richness to the story and give life to the human connections.Everything in this novel is a slow burn. There are no action scenes, no hold-your-breath with every page turn. It builds and builds, teasing a conclusion only to gently pry it away from your hands and replace it with another. And another, and another, until the conclusion delivers with a nail-biting, page turning swiftness, clearing the mist and bringing you out what felt like a fog of possibilities ??? only to deliver with one final twist, just when you concluded you knew how everything ended.I can see why others may have struggled with this novel, due to the lack of action, the strange dialogue tags that are often employed, and the chapter titles (of which I actually enjoyed). Truly, nearly half of the book is in the quite expansive summary, as shown above. But again, the beauty of this novel is not within plot, or story, or environment, but the very real human element that propels events forward. Nothing felt forced.I know this review is shorter than my others are, and honestly, it???s because there isn???t a lot plotwise here. Tommy goes missing, there is a search, truths about that night are slowly unveiled, and strange paranormal happenings occur ??? or do they? If you???re looking for an emotional, character-driven story with possibilities, definitely pick this one up.
A book of three “bits”. The first bit, 265 or so pages, you are wading through treacle, its pleasant and unpleasant in equal measures, its an effort but there's just enough to keep you going. The second bit, 100 or so pages. free of treacle but covered from head to toe, you find yourself running down a road chased by Bees and you're shouting “OMG” “REALLY” “WHAT” “WHO” “WHY”. Then the third bit, the last 20 pages. you reach the door and close it behind you, free of bees, you are covered head to toe in treacle your favourite trainers are ruined your mum is waiting for you and throws a bag of desiccated coconut over you and you realise no amount of showering is ever going to rid you of the oogy mess.
Formatting on a Kindle made bits of this a chore. The story is kinda a jumble at times, with too many POVs. The ambiguities worked better for me in the author's previous book, A Head Full of Ghosts. Some genuinely creepy moments that I imagine will linger for me.
Edited to add that I've been watching a crazy amount of YouTube year-end round ups of books people have read – the ones they loved, hated, and were disappointed in. One reviewer couldn't say enough about A Head Full of Ghosts, but was disappointed in “Disappearance.” This is exactly my experience. I loved, loved, loved A Head Full of Ghosts, and was deeply ambivalent about “Disappearance.” And now I'm worried that the things I found so refreshing in the first book – the unreliable narrator and ambiguity about the level of supernatural involvement – will grow old if that's the twist in every book.
Sometimes the star system just doesn't cut it. This book is excellent. Would I recommend it? It depends. This is a beautifully written novel about the most horrifying thing a parent could think about. It's so tense that I had to put it down and read something else at night. I felt so strongly for Elizabeth (actually saw through Elizabeth's eyes many chapters). It hurt to read this. It wasn't at all what I expected after reading and loving [b:A Head Full of Ghosts 23019294 A Head Full of Ghosts Paul Tremblay https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1415678368s/23019294.jpg 42563937]. I'm not sure I would have read it if someone described it to me. I just picked it up because Tremblay wrote it. This punched me in the gut, “The urge to be the one who disappears suddenly becomes a compulsion. Maybe the people who go away are the ones who are not afraid, not sad, and not alone. Maybe there's a place where they gather and say things like ‘What is to be done with all the silly people we left behind?'“This frantic, tense story is peppered with supernatural (maybe) elements that may be the result of extreme stress. The story gets scarier and scarier and some of the imagery, while not bloody, is not for the cowardly. The story did not go where I expected it to go and lingered on things I am used to a writer glossing over. I found myself losing patience with it every once in a while. Tremblay, for example, completely nails how pre-teen boys speak to one another. It's completely realistic and not something I seek out to listen to. Because I was forced to I felt I suffered under it a bit. This is me pushing past the urge to constantly read stories about people I feel I can relate to and instead reading stories about people. Disappearance at Devil's Rock is not a horror novel, and I think it's important to say it because a reader looking to read one will be disappointed. It is a novel about a horrific situation. With supernatural elements.
WOW was this an amazing book...
The writing was flawless. The mystery and the way it played out had me turning pages like a mad woman. It was atmospheric, it was creepy, it was heartbreaking.
Definitely one of the best book I have read this year.