Customer Reviews

The Condemned

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story line is a great idea, and I like that the author puts you right in the story and backfills you on history as you read. I've always found that method fun to read and often makes a book difficult to put down. In this case though, the "backfilling" is horribly incomplete. When you realize you're 50 pages from the end, you will already know you've been ripped off because at that point, you'd need 150 pages (or more!) to adequately develop the characters, explain the story line, and prepare the reader for the ending. There was so much liberty taken with the story line, that the ending made little sense. This story is just told - not explained. When a situation would take some time to develop and write, the author just makes it "so". At one point, a couple of characters must go through a military checkpoint. They have no reason to be there at that time and in those circumstances, but the man lets them through the checkpoint with very little explanation. In another contrived incident the characters find a conspiracy theorist type stranger with very little explanation of how, get convenient information from him, and return the following day to find he's been hushed by an unknown entity (presumably the government). BUT - surprise, he left them a secret hidden map. He just met them for crying out loud. We don't even know much about the main character other than he's very upset about losing his best friend, and even though he has nightmares about his beloved daughter being kidnapped, he chooses to leave her and his wife to accompany a just met, half-cocked, dingbat kid into certain death. Get this book when you've read all of the other "zombie" books. There are some VERY good one's out there.

I hope the author pulls the book and spends a couple more years making it a complete novel. It could be great.

The Condemned is a richly imagined novel about doing what's right. But it's also about figuring out what's right when nothing at all is clear. Is it "right" to lay low and be safe for the sake of your wife and kids, or is it "right" to risk all to solve/avenge the death of your friend and job partner? Is it "right" to destroy the City People, or are they already being destroyed? The reader is glad to be with Jett, who seems to know intuitively what is right, and who is willing to do it even when doing so puts himself and others at risk.

I really enjoyed the masterful pacing of the novel. Each chapter goes deeper into the characters, the plot, and the familiarly unfamiliar City--without revealing too much or too little. Thus, much of the quiet suspense of the first half of the book is the delightful mystery of what this strange post-apocalyptic world is all about. The second half holds a different type of suspense, of the no-turning-back-now variety, and is full of unexpected twists and surprises that are both gratifying and terrifying.

I also loved some of the nostalgic references to major league baseball, especially in the context of creepy references to the abandoned (?) stadium.

A great read! Highly recommended!

After seeing Will Smith's version of 'I am Legend' and having also read the original by Matheson, plus Chuck Heston's 'Omega Man', I can see strains of all three in this novel.

This story takes place in a nameless city that has pretty much perished under the onslaught of terrorism attacks, with much of its population poisoned via the waterstream years previous. They are light adverse night stalkers who everyone outside the city despises, thinking that they have become vicious animals. The country is at war overseas and essentially we are seeing a world that appears to be winding down, rusting into oblivion with people hanging on, trying to salvage what they can.

We are introduced to Jett, a man who works for the government, hauling scrap out of the city in the daytime hours. It is a risky job, with the City People hiding out and ready to kill those who they get a hold of. His partner died at hands of the city people, or was turned into one when they were making run that ran a little too close to dusk. Enter a new partner for Jett, who we only know as The Kid. He is a war veteran with some secrets and a desire to push Jett to find out what really happened to his partner, plus he has a lust for going after the city people. Together, they set out to find out not only what happened to Jett's first partner but what the real deal is with the City People, who have been condemned by society as outcasts and monsters but may be more than they appear.

Overall, I found this relatively short novel a brisk and easy read. David Jack Bell has a tight and crisp writing style that keeps the pace steady and consistent, revealing small bits and pieces of this tale in an efficient manner that keeps you interested throughout.

I enjoy apocalyptic fiction and besides the movies and books I mentioned above, I also could sense numerous other influences on this work. A world that is slowly dying, war, plagues, famine, potential government conspiracies. It all comes together nicely under the author's deft hand here, in a place where he does not give us much in the way of specific details about the city or about the enemy overseas. We can envision this being a part of our own world in the near future or some alternate reality that none of us would want to be a part of.

I enjoyed this story of this grim and dingy place that the author has created. I do wish there was more depth of understanding of the City People but I realize that our view of this world is through the eyes of the main character, which intentionally limits our perception of things. We do not know where things will lead when the story ends, leaving many things open for interpretation for the reader.

I don't often read in the horror genre - but a friend recommended David Jack Bell's debut novel, _The Condemned_. While there were times that I felt squeamish about the presence of things that go "Bump in the Night", I completely enjoyed the eerily familiar world that Bell's created with this book. We find ourselves rooting for Jett, hoping that he'll slay his personal demons and restore balance to his own life and to his family. In my reading, I especially appreciated the echoes that Bell employs of recent national and global events. He's struck the balance of offering social commentary without sucking all of the joy out of the process for the reader. Bell's _Condemned_ seems to offer to meet the reader where she is: want some good, old fashioned zombie fun? Check. Want a sophisticated presentation of grief and remorse? Check. Want to explore the world that we could easily find ourselves in? Check.

In short - this was a fun and thought-provoking read. And, I think, it leaves the reader wanting more... Bell has discussed, in interviews, his intentions to re-visit this world. If he goes back in, I'll be there.

I have mixed emotions about this book. I enoyed the book overall, but felt a little cheated. It would have been nice to have characters more fleshed out. Under the circumstances, I thought the Mr. Bell did well with what he gave us, but there wasn't much.

The end wrapped up the story but because it happened so fast I felt a little unsatisfied. Perhaps 224 pages was too short to make it completely work.

As for the writing, I breezed through it, and enjoyed it greatly. I liked the story and the characters, but again, the ending was abrupt and seemed kind of like a Horatio Alger ending with everything kind of falling into place too easily. For the trade-paperback price, I was just looking for more.

I will DEFINITELY buy more from this author, but will look for a little more meat.

SPOILERS ALERT! Please don't continue reading if you don't like spoilers.

I didn't like this book very much. It starts off like you just turned the channel into a movie half through. Jett lost is work partner Vince to some tragic accident, although it takes a while to figure this out. Jett starts off by going back to work. The world is at war and someone poisoned the city's water supply. The city has been blocked off to outside traffic due to the infection of the people now called City People. These poor folks have been turned into zombies of sorts. They attack on site and are mindless. Jett and Vince's job is to go into the city during the daylight hours and retrieve cars to be crushed and recycled for use in the war. One day on the job Vince was taken and Jett ran for his life.

On his first day back on the job, Jett is informed they must work in teams now as its too dangerous for solo employees. He's paired up with a young war veteran he calls the Kid. Jett learns early on the Kid is a bit unbalanced and on a mission for more than junk cars. They begin to hunt the City People during the day and kill them. At one point Jett decides he's going to bring Vince back alive or dead because he just can't get over the guilt of leaving him behind. They discover their own government poisoned the city's water supply and Jett quits his job. He barely knows the Kid and basically leaves everything behind in his mad search to kill City People and return Vince to the land of the living. He learns the Kid is wanted for war crimes. The Kid tells Jett the story of how he tortured prisoners. It's a very sexual torture. They get inside the city during night hours and are go to City People headquarters where the Kid dies. Jett discovers that not all City People are mindless zombies. He's taken to Vince who is being used as a lab rat by the City People and kills him. He then promises the City People he'll tell their story and leaves with Vince's body. He's also been infected himself.

Although this book is a fast read, it wasn't impressive to me. Jett allows the Kid to turn him into a killer almost overnight. He doesn't show the kind of remorse I'd expect with his young wife and child leaving him. Jett and the Kid's relationship seems a bit rushed, almost overnight they behave as if they've known each other forever. The war crimes the Kid is accused of are a bit disturbing. There's no needle under the fingernails here; attacking prisoners with toilet plungers sexually is what the Kid enjoyed. This part of the book just didn't seem like it belonged there. And the ending, it was a bit unbelievable for me, he's infected, he doesn't really care, and then he kills his old partner/best friend with a blink of an eye. I didn't care for this book, it is a page turner and it keeps the reader expecting something that never seems to happen. This is not horror or scary to me. And not what I'd expect a zombie novel to be.

An absolutely amazing book. I couldn't put it down. Read it in two sittings. It as the perfect amount of suspense and mystery to keep you hooked to the very end. I can't wait for more books from David Bell, his writing is amazing. He writes very fluently, making it easy to read. I reccomend it to teens and adults alike.

Warning: Don't start this book unless you have time to read it in one sitting, because you won't be able to put it down. Wonderfully readable, the plot sucks you in and doesn't let go. My only complaint is that I want to read the sequel NOW! and I don't think it's in print yet.

It took me to get about a quarter of the way through to start liking the story. Not sure why, i was kinda bored i guess, but after that point i found myself really into it. It's a very alone-feeling, and dreary type of read. The sense of a waste-land, an apocalyptic setting and doom across the land can be felt. Zombie aficionados should pick this one up because its kind of a new take on the genre, but it's not really a zombie book either. It's got government conspiracy, mystery, and creepy scenes.

This book was pretty much what I expected. Being published by Delirium Books, I knew going in that the writing and editing would be solid. I was curious to see what new twist on the zombie mythos this would bring, and overall, I was satisfied.

While the characters were not as layered as I would have liked, Bell's prose is smooth and the pace was consistent. A few of the plot points might have been a bit too convenient at times, but I felt like that was maybe the whole point, that fate was forcing it's hand like the characters had discussed between themselves at one section in the story. However, there was a point where the characters retrieve very important, secret information, and I didn't understand why they didn't go public with what they knew, but rather, decided on taking a much more dangerous, risky route.

I also didn't mind that the zombie action and gore was fairly sparse since I always prefer story and atmosphere to be the main focus of horror. The Condemned is more conservative than my tastes usually run, but it was well written and had a clear, engaging vision. Bell paints a fascinating world here in his debut novel and I know I'll be looking out for more of his work.