The Beloved [Mass Market Paperback]

J. F. Gonzalez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2006

Taken from the text on the back cover - You've seen her before. Perhaps your best friend is dating her, getting himself into debt by taking her out to fancy restaurants and buying her expensive gifts. Yet you see her for what she is... Or maybe he's the guy who has perfectly good excuses for not finding a job, so he lets his live-in girlfriend support them. She works hard to keep a roof over their head and food on the table...and in the meantime, she's running herself ragged emotionally and financially. Of course you know people like this. Everybody knows at least one. They're not who you think they are. They are charismatic, sexually attractive, and they'll completely drain you emotionally, financially, and physically. And then they'll move on to the next person. Don't let that next person be you. They're not human. They're something else...something too terrifying to imagine...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 369 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (December 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843956941
• ISBN-13: 978-0843956948
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,546,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be careful what you wish for, April 2, 2006

By 

Leon "Leon" (Lake Havasu, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beloved (Paperback)

The Beloved is the kind of novel I love. Well-developed characters, a menacing build-up and then heart-stopping suspense and horror. I was glued to the pages and found this book to be superior to his previous novel, Survivor. It's certainly more accessible to mainstream horror readers.

The plot concerns a high school teacher named Elizabeth Weaver. She has a good (if occasionally tumultuous) marriage to Gregg, and a young son. Her younger brother Ronnie is recently divorced from his alcholic wife and has custody of their daughter Mary. When Ronnie gets a new girlfriend, Diana Marshfield, who is recently divorced herself with two kids, he brings her to a family barbecue to meet his parents and his sister's family. But something about Diana doesn't sit right with Elizabeth. Is she being overly cautious because Ronnie's ex-wife is a loser and she's afraid her brother has latched on to another? That's what it appears like at first.

The novel builds slowly yet suspensfully, with subplots introduced. It seems Diana is not who she is making herself out to be. She has seduced Ronnie so completely that soon all he thinks about is her. Soon, he begins to neglect his daughter, his house, his finances, and himself.

What Gonzalez has done is create a horror novel with a creature barely used in horror fiction these days - the succubus. Only this succubus is different than the others we've read about.

The family dynamics in this novel are the heart of this story, and the characters are lively and believable. In short, a superb horror novel that succeeded brilliantly!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Notch Psychological Horror, January 10, 2007

By 

Keith J. Kraemer "A fiend for horror" (Sheboygan, WI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beloved (Mass Market Paperback)

In 2006 J.F. Gonzalez shocked and disgusted us with the over-the-top, nausea-inducing Survivor; arguably the most graphic novel most of us will lay eyes on. In his 2007 follow-up, Gonzalez delivers delivers a tale that pulls a few of the punches in the raunch department, but still doesn't fail to deliver a lasting psychological impression.

Meet Ronnie Baker, divorcee, single parent, and former junkie, who has recently floated from woman to woman, looking to regain his lost love life. All of that is about to change.

Now, meet Diana Marshfield. To Ronnie, she's everything he's looked for, and so much more. Almost instantly, he has built a new home, and is relocating Diana and her children to live with him and form a family. His attraction to her goes beyond lust, bordering on addiction.

Ronnie's family takes an instant disliking to Diana, realizing that there is more to her than meets the eye. Ronnie is doing all he can to support her, emotionally and financially, and it's taking it's toll. Soon Ronnie begins to deteriorate, leading everyone to believe he's once again fighting chemical addictions. Meanwhile, Diana is more beautiful and charming than ever.

Before long, those who disapprove begin to die, and Diana's horrifying true nature is revealed.

Perhaps slow to build, and a bit wordy near the beginning, this book certainly redeems itself by the midpoint. Gonzalez has a way of using words to get inside your head, allowing you to feel the trauma of his victims. The characters may be a bit difficult to keep track of at the onset, but many of them will not stick around for the climax, and once it has come, you'll find that the slow build was satisfyingly worthwhile.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Hidden meets The Thing meets Body Snatchers, April 3, 2007

By 

William M Miller (Bronxville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Beloved (Mass Market Paperback)

3 AND 1/2 STARS

I really enjoyed reading this book, written by the hardcore author that wrote "Survivor", also from Leisure Books. While having a slow pace for the first 150 pages, the writing is compulsively readable and consistent, and once the stuff hits the fan - as they say - it rose to another level of enjoyment.

I have a theory that if I hadn't read the prologue and only started with the first chapter, It would have doubled the suspense for me and I would have been more scared. I say this because after the prologue, you immediately discover that the 'villain' is not human and something supernatural. I would have loved to have pieced that information together myself as the book unfolded, but I realize publishers need an instant hook to grab the reader... but it would have been interesting to see where my mind would have gone if the prologue was deleted.

While not nearly as graphic or violent as Gonzalez' previous work, "Survivor", this book will be entertaining to fans of both horror and science fiction and is definitely worth picking up, especially if you enjoyed the films "The Hidden", John Carpenter's "The Thing", or any from the "Body Snatcher" franchise.