Castaways [Paperback]

Brian Keene (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2011

They came to the deserted island to compete on a popular reality television show. Each one hoped to be the last to leave. Now they're just hoping to stay alive, because the island isn't deserted after all.

Contestants are disappearing, but they aren't being eliminated by the game. They're being taken by the monstrous, half-human creatures that live deep in the jungle. The men will be slaughtered. The women will be kept alive as captives. Night is falling, the creatures are coming, and rescue is so far away . . .

Deadite Press is proud to present Brian Keene's tribute to the late, great Richard Laymon!

"Bloody, vile, violent and nasty. Castaways is a can't put down page turner." -House of Horrors

"Much like Laymon, Keene provides all kinds of thrills here... But Brian Keene has his own voice, too, one just as good a the late great master, Richard Laymon." -SFRevu

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Deadite Press (September 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936383934
• ISBN-13: 978-1936383931
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

BRIAN KEENE is the author of over thirty books, including Darkness on the Edge of Town, Dead Sea, Urban Gothic, Ghoul and The Rising. He has also collaborated on novels with J.F. Gonzalez and Nick Mamatas. He also writes comic books such as The Last Zombie, Doom Patrol and Dead of Night: Devil Slayer. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French and Taiwanese. Two of his works -- Ghoul and The Ties That Bind -- have been adapted for film. Keene's work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher's Weekly, Fangoria, and Rue Morgue Magazine.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars RICHARD LAYMON WOULD BE PROUD!!! January 17, 2009

By Travis Deputy VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I remember about 5 or 6 days ago Amazon sent me a shipping notice to my email saying this book, Castaways, had been shipped. Well, I forgot about it for the several days after that and much to my surprise and delight it arrived via UPS at my doorstep yesterday. I stayed up all night reading Mr. Keene's Castaways and I'm happy to report it's my favorite of his novels I've read, and I've read about all of them.

It's not a real surprise for this to be my favorite of his novels because I had read the short story in his Fear Of Gravity short story collection and loved it and always hoped he would turn it in to a novel length story. There was much demand for that story to be turned into a novel. As Keene states in the author notes in the back of Castaways, our wish is his command.

This isn't a terribly long novel at about 282 pages, but what a wallop it packs. If you, like me, love monster beastie novels in the vain of Richard Laymon's Beast House series then you are absolutely going to love this novel. I won't tell you about the plot or give away any major spoilers because I want you the reader to enjoy this fantastic novel as much as I did. I will give you a very brief overview of it, though.

Think Survivor type reality show on a deserted island with contestants and film crew thrown on it and with wild, nasty, butt-raping creatures, who are indigenous to the island, running around wreaking havoc and using human females to further propagate(don't think that's the word I'm looking for.... but anyway) their species and you have a general idea of the story. There's much more to it than that, though. Read it! It's wonderful!

Usually, I'm a fairly slow reader and it takes me several days to read a novel this size, but I blew through this like Jeff Gordon blowing through caution flags. I started reading it at about 8 p.m. and finished it around 6:15 a.m. If you haven't already, go buy this book now! It is an outstanding read! My previous favorite Keene reads where Earthworm Gods(Conqueror Worms) and Ghoul. Dead Sea was pretty straight, too!

I think it was really great of Keene to dedicate this book to the memory of Richard Laymon, and to 2 of his bloggers on his(Keene's) website that passed away recently. Richard Laymon is one of my alltime favorite writers and I don't think there will ever be another like him. Hats off to you Mr. Keene for the nod of appreciation and memory to the "Dick". He certainly would be proud of Castaways.

As a bonus, you get a sample chapter of Keene's upcoming novel titled Urban Gothic, which drops in August from Leisure. Sounds like it's gonna be a good one, too. In the meantime, do whatever it takes to get this book, Castaways, take a day off from work if you have to or stay up all night and be sleep deprived at work, but READ THIS BOOK SOON!!! You are going to have a fast paced, fun filled blast reading it!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid horror that I almost wish were a bit longer June 26, 2009

By Dale Albrecht

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Brian Keene has quickly become one of my favorite authors of horror fiction. Every one of his books I've read thus far has interesting characters, a twist or two, and generous helping of the icky. His track record with me is so good so far that I ordered Castaways without even knowing what it was about. The story is pretty basic: reality show contestants run afoul of ancient denizens on remote island but Keene is able to squeeze out some nice surprises and once again I was not disappointed when I got to the last page.

My only problem - at the cost of a star - is that the book seems a bit rushed. The writing is still good but I felt like characters and events were flying by so quickly that I never became fully engaged with what was happening. I think just a little more time fleshing everything out might have made the later thrills and chills even more exciting.

Still, this is a page-turner and horror fans will have a good time with it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating Story! January 29, 2009

By Dan

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have ready pretty much every book by Brian Keene and this is certainly one of my favorites. What I liked was that this book was very different in that it really didn't involve anything supernatural (don't get me wrong, I love that angle but it was nice for something more basic). I usually take quite awhile (easily a month) to go through a paperback but I read this in about 3 sittings over a few days (with the last sitting being 2/3 of the book!).

If you're a fan of his work or just looking for an exciting read, I highly recommend you pick up Castaways.