Customer Reviews

Abandon

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Blake Crouch has written one captivating mystery with "Abandon". In 1893 the entire town of Abandon disappears under mysterious circumstances and then 116 years later, a team of explorers go to the town to do some research and take photos. When two of the guides are attacked in front of the rest of the group, the mystery becomes even more mysterious. Alternating between the two time periods, Crouch has the reader watch as events unfold in the past, and how the tension builds up as we discover what the real reason these people are here. I, at first, was skeptical, thinking this was a supernatural type of story but was completely and happily surprised that this was as suspenseful thriller based on greed. Great book.

I love books that revolve around a huge mystery, in this case: How did the entire population of a Western town disappear on Christmas Day, 1893?

More than a hundred years later, a group goes to investigate. And the horror begins, again.

Crouch is a master of suspense, and he creates some of the best villains in modern thriller fiction. Abandon is his best work, and it hits like a brick to the teeth. Be prepared to stay up all night reading, and make sure your doors are locked...

Crouch creates a very strong storyline with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Just when you think you have things figured out, something changes! Great imagery and vivid descriptions paint a creepy and haunting setting. Speaking as a historian with a special interest in the old west and having visited many of the old west boom towns, the historical details used in the story are very accurate. Though the story itself is fiction, these details create a realistic plot. The blizzard creates a wonderful adversary and amps up the dramatic energy brought on by the human adversaries. This is a great read, especially for enthusiasts of the American old west and is especially powerful when read in the dark of night. In fact, just after finishing reading for the night and hearing a strange sound outside, I was pretty freaked out! Beware, you WILL spend hours reading and be bitten by the "one more chapter" bug!

A lot of the other reviews discuss story details and plot. What I want to talk about is the writing itself.

I'm 43 years old and I started reading Stephen King over 30 years ago. He's been my favorite author my whole life, and no one has come close to being comparable in my eyes. Until now. Blake Crouch has hooked me from the first page of every single one of his books.

Where another reviewer complained about the description of the weather, I will praise it. Sitting by the pool in 105 degree heat, I could feel the cold on my skin. I hoped and prayed that the snow would stop so that our protagonists could find their way to freedom and safety. Rather than just writing about how white the snow was and how cold the wind was, Crouch managed to turn the storm into just as much a villain as the actual villains in the book.

Some say it was too gory. I say hogwash. Again, King has long been my favorite author. I don't mind gore. In this book, there are two or three graphic descriptions of bodily injuries, but the way they are carried out goes to show more about the frame of mind that the characters were in than any other words could do. There are reviews that say it was hard to care about the characters? In the final showdown, one that I never saw coming, I literally held my breath and turned the page as fast as I could because I was so worried that it would not end well for the character on the run. And let me tell you, when that ending came, I just... Well, I'll let you see for yourself.

In short, Blake Crouch may not be as polished and experienced as those he's help up against in comparison, but I have no doubt that it won't be long before his name WILL be mentioned alongside Stephen King and other great writers. While the genre is a little different than Stephen King (King being more about horror, while Crouch is more about thrillers), Blake Crouch is as riveting and masterful a storyteller as King.

I've read a few of Crouch's stories, and Abandon is the one that finally pushed me to want to spread the word about him. Give it a try. I think you'll be glad you did.

When I was 12, I read and saw Stephen King's PET SEMETARY. 20 years later, I am still unable to sit on the bed with my feet on the floor, for fear of Gage Creed and his scalpel. One of the characters in ABANDON meets a fate that I'm fairly certain will stick with me in a similar manner.

Unlike most of Crouch's other stuff, this one takes a minute to get cooking, but once it does... Crouch recently commented that he felt this book was probably his best work, and I think I'm inclined to agree with him.

I enjoyed this book very much and had a hard time putting it down! I loved the way the present and past flowed through the book and it was so descriptive and I could only imagine being there. I did have one favorite character in the book that I felt so sorry for but I am not going to reveal anything else on that because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. And too, like it's always been said, money is the root to all evil and it's not suprising how far people will go to get it. I look forward to reading more of Blake's books!!

Abandon is an easy fun read! There is an eerie feel to the town of abandon. Abandon is a great idea for a book. Blake Crouch took an interesting topic, ghost towns, and made it more fun. It is always fun to visit a ghost town and think about what happened to the people. This book is fast paced and easy to follow along. It gets the imagination going as well.

I read this book when it first came out in hardback a couple of years ago and decided to buy it for my Kindle and read it again. The setting of the story (the area around Silverton, CO) is my favorite in the world and I love books set anywhere from Durango to Ouray and all spots in between.

Crouch did a superb job researching this book, from the descriptions of the terrain and old mining towns to the vernacular used by the folks in the Old West of the 1890's. I felt like I was right in the middle of this story, living it right along with the characters.

The story was incredibly action packed, flipping back and forth between 1893 and 2009, and the dual storyline held together on both timelines.

Loved the writing, loved the story and will certainly keep reading Blake Crouch. And, by the way, "On the Good, Red Road", a short story included in FOUR LIVE ROUNDS gives a good lead-in story for one of the main characters in "Abandon".

With Abandon, Blake Crouch takes the thriller genre into the territory of literature. The immersion in old west vernacular and gritty storytelling was amazing. The pace picked up at a rate that I could not imagine how the author would continue for hundreds of pages, but he introduced numerous twists with ease. Flowing back and forth through time was a treat; I could feel the ghosts of the past pressing in on the present. Well done Mr. Crouch.

Love this book. Well written and enjoyed the back and forth between past and present. I like the way Blake reveals the various aspects of the mystery and doesn't leave a lot of unanswered questions. Highly recommended.