Customer Reviews

Black Valley

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I grew up in Oregon, and fictional Black Valley is all too believable. The settings, characters, dialogue, are recognizable to any small-town Oregonians. Of course, Jim Brown used to anchor the news in the area where I lived, so he should be capable of painting an accurate picture.

Oh, and what a picture he paints!

"Black Valley" is the epitome of suspense fiction. Full of bizarre scenarios, walking dead men, and gruesome deaths, this book will take you by the throat and shake that slumber from your eyes. I tried to go to sleep a few times, but, no, "Black Valley" insisted that I press on to the wild finale.

As with Brown's "24/7," the story is tightly plotted, and he juggles his characters without dropping the reader in the process. Also, as in his debut novel, he allows only brief moments for us to care about these characters. Intermittently, I was touched by their inner dilemmas, but Brown relies on the plot to chase us through each chapter. In the end, despite the flurried page turning, I had little concern or connection with those thrust into this horrendous maelstrom of suspense.

If you want intelligent storytelling that takes your breath away, Brown is a master. Both his novels will satisfy. He comes up with terrific premises, and, just when you think the ideas are too farfetched to believe, he comes up with ways of making them palatable--even frightening. No time for deep characterization here, but no time for sleeping either. These books will grab you by the throat.

I was riveted from the first sentence to the last. Black Valley is without a doubt one of the best books I've read this year. It kept me guessing, kept me terrified and, most importantly, kept me reading.

According to the bio, Jim Brown is a television anchor man (now I know what they do durrng the commercials -- they come up with bone chilling ideas -- or at least this one does.

I liked it so much I'm going and read his first novel, 24/7.

I always take a moment to read other reviews before I write my own to get an idea how my opinion agrees or differs. I found with this book, people either loved it or hated it, there wasn't any in-between. I am one of those who loved it.

A young man is buried alive and years later, comes back to exact his revenge. The story was a cross between night of the living dead and Dr. Who!

This book had much to offer. The story moved along nicely, without any odd moments. The author didn't waste a lot of paper describing unimportant things just to have an epic novel. I like that in a book, just get to the point. The characters were believable and well developed. I find people are much too hard on horror writers. It's fiction at its finest and at no time needs to be believable. It's purpose is to entertain, and having said that, let me assure you that Mr. Brown did a bang up job entertaining this reader. It was not overly technical or hard to follow. I loved the book and hope you will too.

Mr. Brown does a fine job with this book. Keeps you quessing right to the end. How are the murders happening? Who is the real killer? And whats up with the Bum with the biblical name? Highly recommended Fast read IE a Page turner. I just love time travel books and this one has it all Past Present and Future. And he makes it all seem likly. However the ending sets up a paradox. But that could be solved by a time line split.

I enjoyed 24/7 by this author and was looking forward to his second book.

I am not sure what to say about "Black Valley". I see by the other reviews (most of them anyway) that it was highly enjoyed. My comments are mixed. This book was extremely well written. The suspense was present from the beginning and kept me riveted...until 2/3 into the story. When "Dr. Dean" starts figuring out what is happening, I lost interest. The problem: the ending belonged in a science-fiction book. I would have been happy with either a supernatural ending or a "thriller" ending, but this story ended up in Robert Heinlein land. I HATE SCIENCE-FICTION, that is why I buy thrillers. I think it was a mistake for the author to do this.

So, for me, this one only rates 3 stars.

There are for readers few pleasures that surpass picking up a novel and having one's expectations, however high they may be, simultaneously exceeded and turned upside down. 2003 has been a good year for such an experience, what with SMALL TOWN by Lawrence Block and SHUTTER ISLAND by Dennis Lehane, among others. It is, however, an unexpected and welcome event to have a writer accomplish such a feat with a sophomore effort. This is precisely what Jim Brown has done with BLACK VALLEY.

BLACK VALLEY opens with what could be called a "locked coffin" mystery --- what else do you call it when you lock someone in a coffin, bury them, unearth the coffin a few hours later and find it empty? The story then picks up 22 years later, as things in Black Valley, Oregon begin to rapidly and inexplicably reach FUBAR status. The action seems to gradually center on five people: John Evans, the town sheriff; Nathan Perkins, the mayor; Clyde Watkins, the area's congressman; Mason Evans, the founder of a successful construction company and John's cousin; and Dean Truman, self-effacing genius, Nobel-prize winner, and professor at the local college. The five were boyhood friends, and all except Truman were involved 22 years before in the prank burial of a dangerous misfit named Whitey Dobbs, a burial that went suddenly and horribly wrong.

Now Whitey Dobbs, missing from the casket and Black Valley for 22 years, suddenly reappears, as inexplicable events begin to occur in and around the town. Truman holds to his core belief that there are no phenomena that cannot be explained scientifically. His belief is shaken, however, when occurrences in and around the town become more mysterious, and more and more deadly. Truman slowly realizes that he may hold the key not only to the reappearance of Dobbs, but also to the deadly events that are occurring --- and that he may well be responsible for them. And the key to everything may partly lie in the secret that Truman has kept for decades, the secret that has prevented him from leaving BLACK VALLEY.

BLACK VALLEY is a genre-blurring book, mixing equal parts suspense, mystery, horror, and a few other things as well, to create a novel that from beginning to end is impossible to predict or anticipate and that surprises from first page to last. Brown, who created the expectation of more great things with 24/7, his first novel, meets that expectation and surpasses it. There is no doubt he will continue to do so: books as good as BLACK VALLEY don't come along by accident. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This was one of the best novels that I've ever read! Jim Brown is a truly talented author. Black Valley was hard to put down. The very first chapter was so shocking and inspiring to me, mere words cannot describe the feeling that it gave me. The best thing about this novel is that I could not predict what would happen from one chapter to the next. I was reading Black Valley while writing Twisted Christians. Jim Brown's story set the standard for my first novel, tearing down the threshold that separates the imagination from reality. In Jim Brown's world, anything is possible.

--Scott

My dad whom is a fire fighter and a 'tough' guy read the first few chapters and said it was too scary, so I would keep that in mind. I on the other hand read the whole book in 2 days, it was that good. It's a book that will definately keep you on edge but hooks you right from the start. Hope you read and enjoy it, I know I did.

Jim Brown's first novel 24/7 impressed the heck out of me, so I was excited to see that his second book, Black Valley, was now available. I went out, bought a copy, and began reading. Fortunately, this happened on a day when I didn't have much on my agenda, because once I started Black Valley I could not put it down. Having to abandon Black Valley midway, even for a few hours, would have been hard to do!

If you like mysteries, this book is definitely for you--Jim Brown has woven an intriguing tale that mystery lovers will enjoy trying to solve (although Black Valley has so many fun twists and turns I didn't even come close to guessing any of its secrets!) If you love horror, Black Valley will not disappoint you--Jim Brown's imagination rivals that of Stephen King. If you love science fiction, you are definitely in luck as Black Valley is filled with fascinating explanations and plots. If you like suspense, then all I can say is hang on and buckle your seat belt, as this book will literally make your pulse pound--I see from reading other reviews that I am not the only one who had such a reaction while reading this incredible book.

I won't bother going into the plot, as it has already been well-described up above, but I do want to comment on the villain, Whitey Dobbs. Dobbs is easily one of the most evil and creepy bad guys I have ever encountered in literature, and I loved every heebie-jeebie filled minute of him. Part "Killer Bob" from Twin Peaks, part "the Ghost" from Harlan Coben's novel "Gone for Good" and part Freddy Krueger, Dobbs is still a unique and original villain that may just haunt you for days long after the book is finished.

I highly recommend giving Black Valley a try--you won't be disappointed! And I cannot wait for Mr. Brown's third novel--please keep them coming!

Kudos to Jim Brown for coming up with this truly entertaining horror/sci-fi thriller. This would be awesome to see on the big screen with todays special effects.
Many reviewers are comparing Jim Brown to Koontz and King. Well the reason must be that he comes darn close.
This novel was better than his first and I suspect his next one will top this one. Keep'em comin' Jim.

Highly recommended.