Zaphirenia's Reviews > Abandon
Abandon
by
by
3.5/5.
So. I am not a particularly big fan of terror books or even films for that matter. They tend to get under my skin and give me a hard time when trying to sleep. But when I discovered the Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch a couple of years ago, I was hooked. And after that, I occasionally come back to his work, pick up a kindle and dive in its mysteries. In view of the above, one could validly assume that I am not an expert of the kind and this would be a fair conclusion. But I will do my best in reviewing this book because I really enjoyed it. And in any case this actually turned out to be more of a thriller/action book rather than a horror book (the description is quite misleading in that regard), although I can't say I'm much of an expert on those either.
To begin with, Crouch is no Stephen King - obviously - but he knows how to make movies in book form. "Abandon" has the rhythm of a good thriller and constantly leaves the reader on a cliffhanger, craving to discover what happens next. So you have to rely on plot twists rather than technique, although I did find his writing improved in this one compared to his other works, smoother than what I was used to and more elaborate on the descriptions (scenery and otherwise), with improved dialogue quality and character development (all of which still need work though).
As to the plot, the story of Abandon is simple and yet inexplicable: in the late 19th century, a whole town, Abandon, is disappeared. All inhabitants have gone missing and no sign of them has ever been discovered. So what happened? How can a whole town vanish into thin air without so much of a dead body evidencing its fate? A strange team comprising of a history professor, a journalist and two paranormal photographers accompanied by their guides visits Abandon in 2009 trying to figure out what happened to the town, only to be caught in a circle of blood, violence and utter horror. I won't say anything else about the story, because anything would be a huge spoiler, except that although the plot twists weren't exactly mind-blowing (some of them even were expected), as was the end of "Pines" (I keep coming to this epic finale!), the pace was very good and the whole reading experience was rewarding.
All in all, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this type of literature. It is a fun page-turner based on a tested recipe: mystery, fear, running, shooting, some more running and the optional metaphysical twist. I think I will definitely read another book by Blake Crouch in the future.
So. I am not a particularly big fan of terror books or even films for that matter. They tend to get under my skin and give me a hard time when trying to sleep. But when I discovered the Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch a couple of years ago, I was hooked. And after that, I occasionally come back to his work, pick up a kindle and dive in its mysteries. In view of the above, one could validly assume that I am not an expert of the kind and this would be a fair conclusion. But I will do my best in reviewing this book because I really enjoyed it. And in any case this actually turned out to be more of a thriller/action book rather than a horror book (the description is quite misleading in that regard), although I can't say I'm much of an expert on those either.
To begin with, Crouch is no Stephen King - obviously - but he knows how to make movies in book form. "Abandon" has the rhythm of a good thriller and constantly leaves the reader on a cliffhanger, craving to discover what happens next. So you have to rely on plot twists rather than technique, although I did find his writing improved in this one compared to his other works, smoother than what I was used to and more elaborate on the descriptions (scenery and otherwise), with improved dialogue quality and character development (all of which still need work though).
As to the plot, the story of Abandon is simple and yet inexplicable: in the late 19th century, a whole town, Abandon, is disappeared. All inhabitants have gone missing and no sign of them has ever been discovered. So what happened? How can a whole town vanish into thin air without so much of a dead body evidencing its fate? A strange team comprising of a history professor, a journalist and two paranormal photographers accompanied by their guides visits Abandon in 2009 trying to figure out what happened to the town, only to be caught in a circle of blood, violence and utter horror. I won't say anything else about the story, because anything would be a huge spoiler, except that although the plot twists weren't exactly mind-blowing (some of them even were expected), as was the end of "Pines" (I keep coming to this epic finale!), the pace was very good and the whole reading experience was rewarding.
All in all, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this type of literature. It is a fun page-turner based on a tested recipe: mystery, fear, running, shooting, some more running and the optional metaphysical twist. I think I will definitely read another book by Blake Crouch in the future.
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