31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
RICHARD LAYMON WOULD BE PROUD!!!, January 17, 2009
This review is from: Castaways (Leisure Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
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!
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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
This review is from: Castaways (Leisure Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating Story!, January 29, 2009
This review is from: Castaways (Leisure Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
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.
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