Customer Reviews

Michael

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The Mistress of the Macabre scores yet another hit with "Michael"! From the first few pages the reader's thrown into a ride that they better hang on to for dear life because it's one wild rollercoaster!

One of the things I love most about Andrea's writing is her ability to take the reader from reading about the most brutal and vicious acts ever to enter the mind, and then, in the blink of an eye into the type of love story seldom heard of in this day and age.

If I were to find any fault it would be that the ride ended all to quickly for me, but I'm selfish and say that about all Andrea's works.

What I'm Reading: "Michael" by Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc
Three words can sum up why this book is great and so different; angry zombie erotica.

Well, I guess I should qualify that by saying angry zombie erotica of the homosexual variety. Either way, even as a bisexual woman, I rather enjoyed this book's sex scenes.

Most of the story centers around a character named Michael, hence the book's title. Michael is a zombie. Or at least he's walking around in a dead body. He's actually a disembodied spirit of some sort that hijacks the body of a recently dead young man in order that he might pursue a life with his one true love, Taylor... Oh yeah, and he survives by eating human flesh.

Taylor is a completely heterosexual college student who likes to visit the graveyard where Michael's spirit has been hanging aournd in limbo for the last untold centuries. Taylor is a helpful, nice sort of fellow who immediately offers assistance and friendship to Micheal, who he believes is human of course. But all the same Michael's romancing of him gets off to a very rocky, and violent, start. The finish isn't too peaceful either, but I won't give that part away.

My only real complaint about this book is in the development of the character of Danny; a cop investigating the town's rash of missing persons and cannibalistic murders. The reader is meant to dislike Danny for his small mindedness and cruelty yet empathizes with due to the unfair way in which he's fellow officers treat him, or at least that was the impression I got. In the end I found myself having rather mixed feelings about him, but that is not my complaint. Danny behaves in a way and makes statements a real cop would never make, even if he or she were corrupt, racist, and homophobic.

Beyond that this is one of the best pieces of fiction I've read since... Well, since I read "Playing Devil's Advocate" by Andrea Dean van Scoyoc.

WOW - What a imagination Miss Van Scoyoc has! I finished her tremendous novel MICHAEL a short time back and simply loved it! I enjoyed this book so much that I sought out her other novels THE TWO and A MAN OF TWO WORLDS which I devowered with equal glee! MICHAEL is one hell of a read and is not for faint of heart or the sqeamish (Read:Adult subject matter).The author has concocted a literary cauldron whos brew runth over in facinating as well as quite disturbing characters and circumstances. My interest was easily held throughout as the story was emotive, creepy, heartfelt, romantic, erotic, disturbing, and at times absolutely disgusting. I found the characters to be well fleshed out, and I just don't mean the leads Taylor & Michael - as the supporting cast were interesting and breautifully executed as well. Miss Van Scoyoc also has the rare knack to create characters that you love and dispise at the same time; intensly difficult to do as the cookie cutter genre "whatever sterotype" lurks everywhere in fiction. I won't get into the story's plot, but it's rather enthralling and I like how it comes full circle of sorts at its finish. If you like contemporary tales of convoluted metaphysical ghost stories with gay male nonhuman and human romance - this is a breathtakenly haunting landscape Andrea has written for all of us! I highly reccomend Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc's MICHAEL (as well as the other two novels mentioned above), and hope someday soon her publisher will put it out in hardcover format. I think this book is that great, and would really prefer to have it in my collection as a hardcover (hint, hint, publishers!)! Do yourself a favor and read MICHAEL now, and check out this extremely creative and wonderfully gothic writer this instant!!!

I love Andrea's work. I so agree with the other reviews. Michael is also my favorite of her books and would definitely be a movie I would not turn away from.

Andrea never ceases to draw the reader into her tales.

I encourage you to purchase MICHAEL as well as her other books such as THE TWO and A MAN OF TWO WORLDS. You will be hooked!

J Michael B is right about how good this book is. Once you read one of Andrea's book, you are hooked. You can visualize the story and live the mistery that is to come. Some of the scenes are cruel, yet, you can not wish Michael Paxtor or Taylor any harm. In these stories you learn to love the characters. Great story. I have already started another of her books. "Left to the Night Alone" is great so far. Give Andrea a try and she will hipnotize you.