Customer Reviews

Thunderland

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Thunderland is a thrilling, twisted mystery with horrific ingredients that will make your hands tremble, your breath catch, and your heart hammer. As your mind races to keep pace with this magnetizing tale, you'll feel transformed into the terrifying pages of Thunderland.

A maniacal, sadistic creature has escaped from the sinister confines of the place where our nightmares occur. This evil essence taunts and horrifies the 12-year-old protagonist of the novel, Jason Brooks, threatening to devour all traces of the young boy's sanity.

With vivid words that elicit visual depictions of horror, and an edginess comparable to the most established horror/mystery authors, Brandon Massey paints a mystery of diabolical and calculating battles with a wicked, menacing entity that stalks Jason, his family, and his friends. Brandon seduces us with mischievous metaphors, graphic details, and a toxic storyline that will keep you magnetized until the last page.

Open Thunderland and enter the wrenched minds of these poignant characters maddened by grief, terror, and a seemingly unstoppable demented source of evilness. CAUTION: Read Thunderland with the lights on, doors & windows locked, and with someone in the room with you!!!!

Finally, African-Americans who are fans of the horror genre can enjoy a book written by one of our own. Thunderland, a debut novel from Brandon Massey is a thrilling and suspenseful read. Beginning with the prologue the reader is deeply submerged into the world of Jason and his family. For the past 10 years, the Brooks family has been far from typical, in fact when referring to them D-Y-F-U-N-C-T-I-O-N-A-L should be spelled with all capital letters. Jason's father, Thomas, inherited the family business-The House of Soul Restaurant-from his father, Big George, 10 years ago. Since that time, Thomas has worked 7 Days a week, 16 hours a day to keep the business running successfully and in attempt to gain the approval of his demented father. Although Big George suffered a debilitating stroke 10 years ago and has since been confined to a nursing home he still manages to terrorize his grown son. Unfortunately, Thomas spends more time seeking his father's approval rather than nurturing and loving his wife, Linda and son, Jason. Missing the love that her husband fails to provide, Linda seeks solace from drinking and terrorizing their teenage son, Jason. Jason, at 14 years old is still a shy kid, who's easily bullied and doesn't have many friends. To console himself he shuts out his parents and seeks solace from his imagination and imaginary friend. One day, as Jason struggles to get away from his abusive mom, he suffers a tragic accident. As Jason recovers he realizes that nothing is the same. His parents commit to renewing their relationship for the sake of their marriage and him. However, a mysterious stranger invades their lives and the happiness that Jason and his parents hope to achieve is threatened. There doesn't appear to be an escape from this evil stranger or any guarantee that anyone will survive.

Thunderland is filled with adventure and action and is a cleverly crafted storyline. The storyline is riveting and compelling and will have you on the edge of your seat quickly flipping the pages as you anxiously seek to know what's going to happen next. Emotions run rampant as you read this book-fear, anger, and frustration just to name a few. The imagery is vivid and the characters and the scenes jump off the page. Fans of the horror genre will love this book and look forward to future books from this promising author.

This is a terrific novel! I have read every author of sci-fi/suspense/thriller/fantasy that you can name, and Massey is definitely on his way! At one point, I stayed up until one o'clock in the morning reading.

I can't wait to get the author's next book!

FROM Vanessa Woodward, Journey's End Literary in NC:

I usually don't read suspense novels, but I am looking forward to another one from Brandon Massey. The way Jason and his friends dealt with the things that were going on was amazing. They had to handle all things themselves because they couldn't tell the adults. They were very brave. I started reading and had to force myself to put the book down. I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.

-- Vanessa Woodward, Journey's End Literary Club

Brandon Massey's Thunderland is like opening a great, unexpected gift on Christmas morning. It's fun, thrilling and very, very entertaining. This book marks the debut of a bright new voice in horror fiction, one you will without a doubt hear from again in the near future.

Jason is a haunted by a horrible recurring nightmare. Then, he sees a message someone has left for him on the bathroom mirror: "Remember". And as if that wasn't enough, strange things began happening all around him and someone is stalking him. Who is doing these things, and why?

With his friends Shorty and Brains, Jason will have to try and piece the puzzle back together in order to get the answers he seeks, all the while trying ot deal with his parents' failing marriage and relationship.

This is the bare-bone version of the book. I've tried to keep the description simple and brief because giving too much of the plot would be ruining and very surprising and truly enjoyable read. Let's just say that the book also includes a paranormal man, an otherworldly dimension and a lot of mayhem.

This is truly a horror novel. Massey throws plot twist after plot twist our way, all the while maintaining a near perfect pacing and tone. Some iffy dialog aside, and a there is very little to dislike about Thunderland. The ending is solid, the characters dinstinct and realistic and most of the scares are nail-biting good.

This is the kind of book I love. It centers around kids faced with a greater-than-life situation, it has a great villain and enough imagination to fill three or four more books. Give this one a try. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. And mark Brandon Massey's name somewhere in full view, because he'll surely become a major voice in horror fiction.

I happened upon Brandon Massey's site quite by accident a few months ago. His short stories captivated me and I anxiously awaited the distribution of Thunderland. It was well worth the wait. The characterizations are rich and wonderful. Jason may seem a little mature for a 13-about-to-be-14 year old, but kids at that age vary greatly in their level of maturity. Jason's friends, Brains and Shorty, balance that out nicely and lend credibility to the teenage characters. The adults are well developed and intelligent; we know who they are and what they're about. In spite of their problems, Jason's parents are aware of changes in their son and take steps to find out what's wrong; a refreshing view in a genre where so often the parents are portrayed as fools who should be reported to Children's Services. I loved Sam, Jason's maternal grandfather, and wish that his character had been given more page time, but the time he did have was memorable.

This story will draw you in slowly, then hold you prisoner until the bitter end. I dare you to clean those reading glasses, find a comfy chair, set aside a few hours, daylight hours for the faint of heart, then take a deep breath and just try to out run the storm.

but I had to finish it! The book was great, what I loved about it was that it involved other relationship trouble as well as the scary stuff.

There are few books that make you want to call in sick to work, just so you can see what happens to the characters. I could not put this book down. If you are a true lover of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, than you will ABSOLUTELY love this book. Brandon has written an exceptional suspense novel. I'm definitely a Brandon Massey fan after this book and I can't wait until his next.

Five stars does not even begin to describe the true depth of this wonderful work of fiction.

Brandon Massey has created a masterpiece of mystery and action that will have you on the edge of your seat!

The story begin with Jason Brooks who is the minor son of two parents who are so detached from his world, they have no clue as to the depth of his psyche. Jason's father is a workaholic and his mother is an abuser of alcohol. When Jason becomes the brunt of yet another one of his mother's alcoholic fits, an argument ensues. But this times, Jason's decided that the yelling and beatings would stop immediately. After his mother accuses him of not taking out the trash, Jason sasses her which enrages her to a point of physical beating, which he can bare no more. In an attempt to escape his mother's hands, he runs out the home and climbs a tree to his safe haven. A storm brews and Jason must decide whether or not to go back into the house. His mother convinces him to come down out of the tree and an unfortunate fall out of the tree, forever changes his life.

After suffering a blow that renders Jason unconscious and comotose, he makes a miraculous recovery. Then from out of nowhere, someone invades his life and everyone attached to him.

Who is this stranger and at what cost will it take to make him go away?

The story begins a wild and scary rollercoaster ride for all involved and leaves you wondering will anyone escape it all alive.

THUNDERLAND is a very needed adage to the mystery genre and a must read for all!

This is a great horror novel. One of the best I have read in a while. It has all the ingredients needed to keep your heart beating just a little faster and keeping you turning the pages long past your bedtime.

The only complaint or criticism I have is the unlikely style of thinking and talking Mr. Massey has given to his young cast of characters. We are talking about 13 & 14 year old boys. Mr. Massey has them speaking with wisdom and speech patterns well beyond their years, which ends up sounding phony and silly. That is one of the things I enjoyed so much about THE FACE by Dean Koontz. His young character talked and thought the way a young boy would. Mr. Massey could learn a trick or two from Mr. Koontz's style. Does this take away from the greatness of the book? Not at all. This is a must read for anyone who likes to be scared. Buy this book, curl up on the couch with a nice cup of hot chocolate and prepare to start looking around you and jumping at every single noise, and if you notice your watch has stopped, welcome to Thunderland.