Mr. Shivers [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Jackson Bennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010

It is the time of the Great Depression.

Thousands have left their homes looking for a better life, a new life. But Marcus Connelly is not one of them. He searches for one thing, and one thing only: Revenge.

Because out there, riding the rails, stalking the camps, is the scarred vagrant who murdered Connelly's daughter.

One man must face a dark truth and answer the question - how much is he willing to sacrifice for his satisfaction?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2010: With his debut novel, Mr. Shivers, Southern writer Robert Jackson Bennett presents a pulpy, Great Depression horror story where a mysterious killer "trails death behind him." After his daughter is brutally murdered, a revenge-seeking Marcus Connelly leaves Memphis on a hunt across America's hobo camps and ghost towns for the grotesquely scarred, ghostly figure known as "Mr. Shivers." On his quest Connelly teams up with a scrappy band of hobos recovering from their own brushes with "the gray man," and the body count increases as they ride the rails tracking their target. Connelly's spiraling bloodlust begins to rival Shivers's, threatening to take more than just his family and friends away from him. Sprinkled with hobo folklore, Bennett's supernatural dust storm of a debut offers a killer premise and may remind readers of vintage Stephen King. --Brad Thomas Parsons --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Set during the Great Depression and reading like a collaboration between Stephen King and John Steinbeck, this remarkably assured first novel relates a good man's desperate travels through the ruins of the American heartland on the trail of his child's murderer. As he tracks the eponymous fiend, Marcus Connelly discovers that he's not the only person whose life the killer has ruined. The Dust Bowl refugees pursuing Mr. Shivers gradually realize that he embodies an elemental force of destruction, and they begin sacrificing their own humanity for the sake of vengeance. The everyday horrors of a deserted, drought-blighted countryside are interrupted by frightening dreams and fragments of disturbing superstitions as Bennett's characters try to articulate what's happening and imagine a way back home. Bennett makes dark fantasy feel like gritty realism, achieving a rare laconic eloquence that will captivate horror readers hungry for new voices. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; Reprint edition (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780316054690
• ISBN-13: 978-0316054690
• ASIN: 0316054690
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Jackson Bennett was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but grew up in Katy, Texas. His interest in writing came from hearing about the books his older brother was reading and then attempting to mimic them on paper, though when his brother became interested in Stephen King and the stories written for Robert's elementary school class developed a correspondingly high body count it did cause something of a ruckus. He later attended the University of Texas at Austin and, like a lot of its alumni, was unable to leave the charms of the city and resides there currently. His first novel is "Mr. Shivers."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 77 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars After A Promising Start, This Tale of Horror Starts Moving Down The Wrong Path December 16, 2009

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I must admit that when I initially dug into Robert Jackson Bennett's debut "Mr. Shivers," I thought I had uncovered a winner. With its intriguing premise and set-up, I looked forward to seeing this story unfold with moral complexity, insight, and building tension. Set in Depression era America, "Mr. Shivers" chronicles the travels of a vagabond known simply as Connelly. Connelly's life unraveled when a murderer took the life of his only child. Desperate for closure and resolution, he has taken to the rails--moving from shanty town to shanty town in pursuit of the killer. On the road, he meets other vagrants whose lives have also been unsettled by the mysterious stranger known only by the alias of Mr. Shivers.

I loved the setting of "Mr. Shivers!" The idea of a mass murderer stalking the homeless camps and wreaking evil on a nation that is already suffering so much seemed a perfect jumping off point. But as I continued to read, I felt that Bennett missed many of the weighty and relevant issues that might have naturally flowed from this premise. Debating the nature of evil and how far a good man will go for justice, especially at a time when people are being forced to compromise their values, might have given the story some resonance. But as Connelly bands together with the others and they commiserate in the horrors that Mr. Shivers has perpetrated, something is just missing. And as I had hoped to know and be invested in the characters, they are never fleshed out as real people.

Bennett's interpretation of "evil" becomes more and more mythological (and literal) as the novel progresses and moves further and further into the realm of the supernatural. I'm certainly not opposed to supernatural novels, but this tale which started out as fairly grounded ends up in complete fancy. So, for me, the natural tension and suspense dissipated the further we moved away from anything resembling reality. Maybe if the character development has been stronger initially, I would have been more willing to follow this new path. As it was, though, I ended up feeling that "Mr. Shivers" never really fulfilled the potential promised in the set-up. A bit of a disappointment. About 2 1/2 stars.

29 of 41 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Empty, awkward, maybe author will try again soon... November 30, 2009

By Auliya

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The premise was so very interesting I grabbed the book without a second thought... only to find I was reading a book without atmosphere or depth, with characters that never really take shape, written in awkward language that reminded me of short stories written in Freshman college creative writing classes. This last is easily the fault of the editor and not the author at all; the author should be protected by a competent editor, and I suppose this publisher didn't have the time or resources.

Anyway. Aside from the turns of phrase that made me wonder about the book's pre-published life, it also unfortunately suffered from ill-timed pacing. Some "bit" scenes took a bewildering three pages while other seemingly more significant moments took a paragraph or two. And let's not forget the stilted made-for-television dialog, which had me shaking my head. The plot itself was paper thin, fresh only because of the original setting... although not too original, as the book put me in mind of the HBO show "Carnivale" (sometimes the book seemed in homage to the show).

In the end, books like these make me appreciate that the author could at least finish a manuscript, even if it's no best seller this time out. It's a good start, gives him some experience, maybe he can give us a treat next time. If I were his mother I would be quite proud of him, but as a reader, well, I just can't find much praise. Not this time. I hope he'll try again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A promising young writer. February 23, 2013

By Literary Omnivore

Format:Hardcover

Marcus Connelly's young daughter has been murdered. His marriage has fallen apart. With his life a shambles, he wanders the hard roads of the Great Depression with only one thing in mind: kill the man who killed his little girl. Connelly soon finds that he is not the only one who hates the so-called Mr. Shivers. Eventually he will discover that everything he believed about the entire situation may be dangerously wrong, and that his quest is going to be a lot more complicated than he thought.

I don't normally care for books set in the Depression. Too many authors plop a story there with no particular reason for it to be there, and often to the detriment of the story they are telling. This story belongs in the Depression. The author makes the reader smell the dust, feel the drought, and understand the danger and desperation of very hard times. Parallels can be drawn with today's times but the author leaves that to the reader and does not labor the point. This author is a promising young writer. I was impressed with his sleek writing and control of a complex story with dark themes. As I read this it occurred to me that this is the book that Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' was trying to be, with a much harder edge and in nearly 200 fewer pages. If you belong to a book group you could do a lot worse than to read and compare the two novels.