Reading books… somewhat of a
lost art for me, one that I am trying to re-capture. Now don’t get me wrong I LOVE to read novels,
I used to all
the freaking time! But unfortunately for the last 4 years or so; I don’t have
much energy
or time for them anymore. The pitfalls of work, work, work and more work. Rarely
am I chilled enough to be able to sit down, clear my mind and devour a good horror
book. Well thankfully; I have been doing
some ample traveling this year; which equals “plane reading time”. So here are
my 69 cents on two books that helped keep me sane while stuck sitting between one fat dude and
one smelly ass dude on one of them planes.
CELL
Written By Stephen King:
RATING 3 on 4
PLOT:
Apocalypse is delivered via a mind wiping pulse emanating out of the cell phones of the
world, turning everybody that caught the 411 into a Zombie-ish like state with a
craving for murder and destruction. We follow a group of rag-tag survivors as
they walk the dial- toned crazies filled world in the search of shelter, answers,
retribution and possibly surviving loved ones.
REVIEW: I am a big fan of Stephen King. He is one of, if not my
favorite horror writer. Although I mostly have an affinity for his older stuff (Skeleton Crew, The
Stand, Pet Semetary); now and again he puts out a book that clocks where it
matters… in the gut. Actually, the last books I read before these two
were
King’s Desperation and
King’s On Writing (a must read for anybody who
wants insight on the writing process) and I I mucho enjoyed them. CELL was no different. King is back to hardcore horror!
Who’s not happy?
CELL started off with a big and
gory BANG and then took me on warped trek across a wasted Maine; tantalizing my brain
with mysterious occurrences and an engrossing evolution of the cell
afflicted (named “Phoners”) while thrilling my sorry ass with random (some say too random
– not for me) action/horror/suspense inclined sequences.
Character wise; if you’ve read at least 3 King books, you’ll recognize the
endearing motley crew in this tome. The “comic book” artist, the precocious kid, the wise
elder etc. I felt like I knew these people already and that was okay; I like hanging
with peeps I like and know. On an emotional level; my dead heart strings were tugged now and again with our lead’s
quest for his son and the occasional likeable character buying the farm. Finally; I boogied to the Post 911 vibes of the book
(death on a grand scale – families torn apart by the event); made the story feel very “now”.
On the downside; the book let
me down big time with its final act. The utterly chilling main villain (The
Raggedy Man) was built
up for so long to then be discarded faster than I break up relationships.
Furthermore; the bigger
picture (which absorbed me the most) was tossed aside in favor of a a simpleton resolution that
didn’t address the WHO, WHAT or WHY that was behind the madness. To make matters worse the
ending left me
hanging on a
damn cliffhanger. Basically I invested myself fully into this sucka to get NO ANSWERS
and a CLIFFHANGER at the end! COME ON MAN!
All in all though CELL was still a
solid read with mucho dread, suspense,
gore, a spooky baddie and tantalizing questions being tossed our way throughout.
Sadly at the end; all that build up was nipped in the bud too quickly and the
questions we were given either had quasi answers to them or no answers at all.
ORDER STEPHEN KING’S CELL HERE
NIGHTMARE
TALES
Written by Todd Martin
RATING: 2 on 4
PLOT:
A
collection of eight short and dark horror stories that include: “Ornaments”
which chronicles a couple’s run-in with a nutty family on X-Mas eve. “GWEN”
that tells the tale of a
“break-up” gone mucho sour. “First Date” which is about a loser duder
who hooks
up with the “ideal” broad online… until he meets her in person that is. And more!
REVIEW: Nightmare Tale was one of the quickest and easier reads I’ve
ever delved into (Hustler magazine doesn’t count). Clocking at 133 pages via a moderately large font; short and
sweet were the words and an unarmed Arrow was the result when all was said,
strangled and beheaded. I enjoyed the to the point style of the writing, the
brisk manner in which the chain of events progressed (no padding here), the many
“relationships gone bad” themes that I related to on some levels (somebody break the
author’s heart or what) and
of course the ample red wet gruesome imagery put forward by Mr. Martin.
With that stabbed in your
forehead; the book was a tad too light for my tastes. Reminded me of those
“horror for young teens” books that I tackled when I was a twerping twerp.
I can’t say the stories at hand took me aback much; meaning that the premises
felt deja vu within the genre and I second guessed the unraveling/endings of
most of them very easily. Maybe I’ve just been exposed to too much horror
in my life (on and off screen); but it all felt very familiar to me which took
away from the overall experience. Same can be said about the way characters and
relationships were addressed; felt very surface to me; rarely going beyond
“layer 2′. I like more meat on my bones when its book time and this one didn’t
have enough of it to fill my belly.
With that said NIGHTMARE TALES was far from a lousy read. Effortless and smooth;
it acted as a good time killer. I just didn’t think I was the target audience
for it. It was too “light” for me. So if you’re a young teen or own a couple of your own
(those that you know of)
and you want to initiate them to the joys of horror and reading. Nightmare Tales
would be a good initiation.
Next
book I’m tackling!
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