Customer Reviews

Mr. Shivers

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

Robert Jackson Bennett is a fresh new voice. Mr. Shivers was highly anticipated by myself, not because I had ever heard of Mr. Bennett, but because the story so intrigued me.

Mr. Shivers is the story of a man, named Connelly, who seeks Mr. Shivers, a boogeyman of sorts, who killed his little daughter. This journey to revenge takes place in the plains/west during the Great Depression. Ordinary men become hoboes and ties to home are shattered. Nomadic pursuits are the rule, while comfort and civility are the exception; an interesting concept that is only heightened by the creation of a new mythology.

So why only three stars? Unfortunately it tended to drag early on and in the middle of the text. I was surprised how little intrigue the book created considering its plot. It should have been fast paced and exciting. But there were only several times that I read voraciously. Plus, I saw what was coming in the end.

I read it, and I am glad I did; however, I thought it would be a more compelling read. Try it for yourself. If you can get through some of the slower parts, I think you will be rewarded with an interesting story.

The story starts the reader off thinking that Connelly is after a serial killer. The plot is very suspenseful and keeps the reader wondering where the man out for vengeance will go next. It takes place during The Great Depression so traveling by train and meandering as a hobo was a constant part of the story. Connelly is a strong character with much depth. The reader feels his pain and relates to him in wanting to get revenge on Mr. Shivers.

The supporting characters were a little more shallow and not as developed. At times there were too many characters for the reader to keep up with.

All in all, this book was very well written. It creeped me out and that takes a lot for a book to do that to me. I will be looking into more books by this author.

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.

While others have compared this to Stephen King's stories, I can find no such similarities. I would not even necessarily classify this as horror, although it contains horror to be sure. I am reminded more of the writings of Cormac McCarthy; think "Blood Meridian" with a splash of "The Road" and a dash of "Suttree", albeit on a smaller scale. Perhaps the author has read and been inspired by those works.

For a first novel, this is quite impressive, if flawed. Wanderers all seeking revenge on the same man for similar reasons, they've given up all else in their obssessive quest to find and kill the horror that is Mr. Shivers. So much so that they mutate into something other than themselves, which is perhaps the evil one's intent. The crazy (or not) philosophers that the protagonist, Connelly, runs across in his travels have long, cryptic conversations with him about the nature of Mr. Shivers and this is where I am reminded of McCarthy. But too much is left hanging - the two/three sisters in the remote cabin seem to be a vague allusion to the three witches in Shakespeare's play, though this is not made plausible, at least to me.

The supernatural touches that many other reviewers seems to dislike are actually what fueled this story for me. Sure, they were just a wee tad over-the-top but this did not bother me in the least. The ending was something I figured out about halfway in and I was interested to see how Bennett would rein it all in.

I think Bennett is a very good writer and if he uses a little spit and polish with his next novel, it'll be a winner.

During the Great Depression, Marcus Connelly lives for one thing only. Vengeance! He stalks the killer of his beloved daughter Mr. Shivers. Everyone in the homeless camps and on the rails knows of this serial killing fiend, but none alive know who he is.

As Marcus gets closer to his target while the Dust Bowl grows, he will find nothing is quite what it seems. He is beginning to understand simply killing a mortal murderer is not what will Happen. Mr. Shivers is much more lethal if Marcus believes the proof he has gathered about this killing machine is true. He also wonders if his grief has painted a super unnatural hell spawn from an amoral predator.

This historical horror tale will grip readers from the clever set up, through the switch from cat and mouse suspense into the paranormal, to the fabulous climax. The key throughout the super story line is the grim setting as the rails and the Dust Bowl are depressing and lonely in a stark environment even before the audience realizes Mr. Shivers is something besides a psychopathic serial killer. Robert Jackson Bennett sends shivers up and down the spine of this deep Depression Era thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Replete with elegant, beautiful prose and interesting characters. Well written until you hit the end; unfortunately, the last two chapters were muddy and unclear. The plot's ending wasn't what I had hoped for, but does fit the horror genre. This book will definitely give you the shivers!

Robert Jackson Bennett's debut has drawn comparisons with John Steinbeck and Stephen King, and I think that maybe unfair to all three writers. The Great Depression (the setting for Mr Shivers) is an era synonymous with Steinbeck and an all-too-easy (not to mention superficial) comparative, and although there are certainly echoes of King's The Gunslinger within Bennett's novel, it's another superficial comparison at best. And who hasn't written a half-decent horror debut without receiving the obligatory Stephen King sound-bite? And that's just the point: Mr Shivers is way better than half-decent.

The taciturn Connelly is the antihero of sorts, and journeys across Dust Bowl America in search of the scarred man and revenge. Along the way he joins a likeminded band of hobos and misfits, and together they head west, hot on the heels of the Shiver-man.

It could be argued that the story is overly simplistic - there are no subplots or twists to speak of (excluding the end, of course), and the manner in which the story develops has a distinct air of coincidence. Every new piece of info is delivered by a chance encounter, a serendipitous crossing of paths, from fortune-tellers to witches - the Mad Hatters and White Rabbits of the Dust Bowl.

Characterisation is equally simplistic; Connelly is a man of few words and gives little away in his actions. His narrative point of view is distant, and the minimal back story leaves the reader in doubt of who Connelly truly is. If fact, you might wonder why Bennett didn't lavish a little back story on the rest of the disparate band, as only Pike really leaps off the page with any colour.

So why does this story linger in the mind? Well . . . Mr Shivers is by far more than the some of its parts. Looking beyond the initial simplicity reveals a beautifully crafted work of fiction. Bennett himself says he has written a mythology, and like all good myths, this one has been delivered in a word of mouth, hand-me-down fashion. It's a campfire story - surreal and strangely hypnotic, and by all accounts, just the way Bennett intended it to be. So why only four stars?

Connelly is painted as something of an everyman - intentionally under fleshed with a myth-like aura not unlike Shivers - the story just wouldn't work with him painted any other way. But this comes at a price. There is no emotional bond between the reader and Connelly himself. Connelly delivers the book's metaphor (which may be different for each of us), and does it perfectly, but in doing so the message takes precedence over the messenger, and for me at least, dehumanises the story.

Regardless of this very minor negative, Mr Shivers is a superb debut that deserves its literary tag, and certainly doesn't need the Steinbeck and King comparisons to mark it as quality. Just read the damn thing. You'll see.

Bennett's first novel is a fine effort that cannot sustain itself. Set during the Great Depression, he uses that backdrop to create a dark and disturbing landscape of a country and people battling economic hardship. Given the despair, many fall back on superstition and folk tales. Among those is the creepy Mr. Shivers who may or may not be a real man. Finding him and ultimately dealing with him is the quest of the main character Marcus Connelly who has had his life ruined by the scar-faced man.

It reminded me of The Odyssey or more accurately the Coen brothers movie treatment of the same, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Connelly and his band of fellow victims track Mr. Shivers across dust bowl America and are confronted by a series of strange characters along the way. I would give the first half of the book a five star rating but unfortunately the last half falls apart due to both supernatural explanations and unnecessary plot devices. It seems the author lost his way along with Marcus and could not maintain the tone, suspense, and more engaging rationale that commenced the book.

Mr. Shivers is a hard book to classify. It's at once a road story, a horror story, a revenge tale and a supernatural thriller (with a bit of western thrown in) all kinda rolled into one easy to read novel.

The plot's pretty simple: in depression era America a normal guy is chasing/following an enigmatic stranger 'Mr. Shivers' whom he belives killed his daughter. Others with similar motivations are tagging along with our protagonist who are also after Mr. Shivers. Along the way they run into everything from natural occurances like sand storms (in one of the novels best scenes) to paranormal oddities like psychics and magical trinkets. In lesser hands all of these elements would fall apart but Robert Jackson Bennett has managed to make every scene of this novel convincing and compelling.

I've read that alot of reviews of this book that didn't like that the supernatural elements in the novel being so literal or presented so practically (at least latter in the book). This didn't bother me one bit and in fact I think it added an unpredictable element to the story rarely seen in horror novels. Even when the novel becomes predictable about half-way through the atmosphere and sense of wonder Bennet has put into his writing made me compelled to read on.

Mr. Shivers is the kind of story most novelists struggle to achieve. Robert Jackson Bennett has written one of the more original stories using the depression as it's back-drop. It's a compelling read from beginning to end!