Customer Reviews

Vegetation

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4 star:		(2)
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I hate to say, I TOLD YOU SO, but Mark LaFlamme belongs right up there with the masters of horror: KING, KOONTZ, SAUL, JACKSON, and all the rest! I said that after reading his first novel, THE PINK ROOM, and I stand by those words.

The opening paragraph of his third novel pulled me in as easily as a fisherman hooking a batch of seaweed! Does this grab you in the same way?:
<< The ivy came for him first. A common ivy that hung over its pot like the hair of a mythical beast. A tendril dropped onto the back of his satin robe, snaked up over his shoulders, and coiled around his ear. >>

Ooooooooh ... creepy! If that isn't great horror writing, I challenge you to show me better.

VEGETATION is a story of revenge, a psychological fantasy horror as much as a character study of an arrogant, pompous, self-centered man, Bertram Luce. Luce has antagonized the entire plant kingdom by a heinous crime against an environmentalist who loved and nurtured plants.

And just how can plants get revenge on a human? What can they do to him? How many forms and varieties of vegetation does it take to get the best of him? In answering these questions, author LaFlamme captures the essence of each plant, taking his readers on the adventure of their lifetime.

VEGETATION is an unusual book because there is no protagonist, just an arrogant, unlikable antagonist who's getting his "just desserts," so to speak ... or should I say "just salad?" I suppose, technically, the plants themselves could be considered the "protagonists" of this book ... or even Gladys Fogerty, manager of a plant nursery, who's the first to notice trouble in her plant kingdom.

It's obvious that LaFlamme did extensive research when writing this novel. Not only did I enjoy a nail-biter of a story that kept me turning pages till dawn, but I also learned more than I ever wanted to know about flora; it's amazing how many products use plants in their production.

Kudos to Mark LaFlamme for writing such a high-concept, unusual book and making it come alive in believable fashion. This would, indeed, make a fine horror feature film--but only the best animators would be able to create the devious vegetation that springs full-blown from this author's awesome imagination.

I loved his debut novel, THE PINK ROOM, but I do notice that his writing in VEGETATION has become a little more clear and crisp.

The only drawback for me is that I doubt if I'll be able to eat my "veggies" for a few days ... or weeks ... or months. I wonder if the author is having that same problem?

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2007

I loved this book. In his first book, The Pink Room, LaFlamme proved he could give us a good scare. In Vegetation the scare is more of a creepy "what if" scenario but just as entertaining.It grabs you on the first page and keeps its vine-like hold on you to the end. Vegetation will appeal to many people--those who like a thriller read, those who love the world of plants and those with a strong sense of justice who like to see the bad guy get what's coming to him. I also thought LaFlamme's writing was even better this time out--crisper, tighter, and sharper. I really feel that Mark LaFlamme is a writer whose work we will all be reading a lot more of as time goes by. He gets the job done and entertains well. I've bought and read quite a few books this year--a couple of them by big name authors which disappointed badly but my money was well spent on Vegetation.

I enjoyed every page of this book and hated to see it end! Mark LaFlamme has come out as one of the best writters of the year! This book will truly take your breath away and the reader will find that justice is a dish best served with greens. I highly recommend Vegetation to those who enjoy seeing the law breaker get just what they deserve. I can see this book being made into a movie and I can't wait for the next Mark LaFlamme book to appear!

After watching most of my plants die from my black thumb over the years, I am not sure I'll ever be able to own another live plant again after reading Vegetation. What a SUPERB read. I was lured into this from the very beginning and couldn't wait to see what would happen to Luce next. It was like a roller coaster for Luce that we all got to ride along with him. Brilliant writing, must like LaFlamme's first book, Pink Room. Keep them coming, I can hardly wait for the next book to come out.

or whatever it is that plants use to kill people.

The plot line is simple: rich, successful, arrogant Bertram Luce kills his wife and gets away with it. Bertram's wife was an important environmentalist. Like all of us, Bertram was surrounded by plants, all in his case intent on vengeance for her death.

LaFlamme did intensive research on the plant kingdom, more challenging research he says, than he needed on string theory for his first book, The Pink Room. LaFlamme did his research well. It's astonishing how many ways plants found to exact their vengeance: gardens, trees, food, clothing, you name it, Bertram learns about them first hand.

I read about LaFlamme in a Review by an Amazon Friend. There are no LaFlamme books in the entire 62 library Bergen County system. If this book is any indication, that oversight will soon be corrected.

Robert C. Ross 2008

I read the Pink Room, so when I found out that Mark LaFlamme had another novel out, I promptly whipped out the credit card, then waited by the mailbox. The excitement spent on waiting for this book was not wasted because this book was worth every penny! Just like the Pink Room, Vegetation had me on edge from the first page to the last. Yes, LaFlamme has done it again and once more, I'm impressed. A man who has murdered his plant loving wife and the plant kingdom is after him for revenge? Now that is genius! And these plants are unrelenting as their pursuit of the main character, Luce, intensifies by the page. The things these plants do to him will have you giving any form of vegetation some cautious glances. The part that affected me the most out of this novel was when Luce was in one of his countless violent battles with the plants, and he was fighting with an African violet. "The African violent, still anchored to it pot, was...pulling itself across the floor." The visual it gave me was stunning, vivid, and quite unsettling. Vegetation had my adrenaline pumping and I loved it. Thanks for another good read, Mark LaFlamme!

Cosmic justice has many faces, and this time it has the face of plants...

For egotistical, arrogant Bertram Luce, life couldn't get any better. He's a famous author. He's rich. He lives in a gorgeous mansion and drives luxurious, expensive cars. Oh yes, and he's also gotten away with murdering his kind, plant-loving wife. That is, until the world of vegetation decides to avenge her death and make him pay; and pay he will, in the most bizarre, unusual way possible...

In the beginning, Luce believes the strange incidents to be coincidences, but it's not too much later when he realizes the 'accidents' he's been suffering have a lot more to do with premeditated acts than with mere chance. But is he going insane? For how can a tree branch or an orchid mean him any harm? Is there such a thing as a unified, vegetative consciousness? Or is this simply his own guilty conscience playing tricks on his psyche?

Vegetation is an unusual, enjoyable read, one filled with bizarre and sometimes downright hilarious scenes. The writing is crisp and vivid and the pace flows well. In spite of the attacks of plantlife on the protagonist being a bit repetitive at times, the author keeps a strong sense of suspense and, to be fair, it takes ingenuity to create so many segments where Luce is attacked by the various plants and flowers. Since the protagonist is such an unsympathetic character, the reader will perversely enjoy all that befalls him until the very satisfying, surprising ending.

LaFlamme continues to prove his talent and skill as a horror writer. His first novel, The Pink Room, which I also had the chance of reviewing, makes for compelling reading as well.

---Mayra Calvani, The Dark Phantom Review

That is the word that runs through my feeling for this book.

Unsettling.

I was unsettled and uncomfortable through the whole thing. His first two books seduced and scared me. Both comfortable places to be.

But this book, this world was unsettling. Nothing was safe. No place is free. Both externally unsettling and worse, internally. What was seen and what was not seen.

The set up was different than most. The deed was done. We were in the house and the mind of the guilty party. So what now? We go down the long dark worm holes of madness.

Unsettling.

How could this end? What justice could or could not be served? Was there any redemption?

The ending left me unsettled.

But that is the point. We can hide ourselves in anti-bacterial, anti-septic, air conditioned, prefabricated, man-made molded cocoons, yet we are never above our world, never truly alone from the world. Never truly safe.


Unsettling.

There is not much plot to Vegetation. It is a tale of the vengeance taken against Bertram Luce for the murder of his wife, pure and simple. Except that the avenging party is not a bereaved family member, is not even human, but rather happens to be the collective flora of the world. Even so, it is apparent from the start exactly where Vegetation is headed.

So the pleasures of Vegetation do not lie in intricate plotting, although the plants devise many clever means of attack. Rather, the fun -- and there is much fun to be had -- comes from two sources. First, there is author Mark LaFlamme's dry, darkly humorous writing. LaFlamme's omniscient narrator is almost another character in the novel, stepping in to further belittle Bertram and almost giving a voice to the plants who, of course, are unable to actually speak for themselves. For example, when Bertram feels wronged by a bank teller early in the novel, he longs to drive away dramatically after verbally harassing her. But as the narrator makes clear, Bertram is not quite up to the task: "He was so angry, he even considered squealing his tires to add exclamation to his dissatisfaction. Sadly, he did not know how it was done." And again, the narrator laughs with us (and with the plants) in setting the stage for another floral assault in Bertram's own bathroom: "Two things he learned very quickly: the rigid, pointed leaf of a Mother-in-Law's Tongue was as capable of piercing flesh as a combat knife. And a cactus does not belong in the bathroom."

Vegetation's other amusement, while perhaps more base, is no less genuine. For Vegetation is a novel for those of us who can admit that, on some level, we enjoy seeing evildoers suffer. Sure, some might argue that finding amusement in the torment of another, regardless of whether that person can be said to "deserve" his fate, only deadens the soul and begets more violence. And perhaps those people are right. But regardless of whether it is ennobling, the desire for vengeance is powerfully present in the human psyche. Watching it played out, even (or perhaps especially) in a fictional context (where no one is truly harmed), can be very cathartic. And seeing the pompous, amoral Bertram Luce increasingly harassed by the plants -- the novel makes clear that they are proponents of playing with their victims -- on the road to his ultimate punishment is, to be frank, emotionally satisfying.

But Vegetation actually is not quite so simplistic. LaFlamme goes out of his way to give us the background of Bertram's wretched childhood, so we can better understand the man (and the murderer) he grows up to be. As a result, we are not allowed the unfettered glee of uncomplicated justice. We know how Bertram came to be a monster, and so, even while applauding the plants' revenge, we also sympathize with the boy he used to be.

Yet LaFlamme's sympathy for Bertram, in turn, also is not quite so simplistic. LaFlamme comments on one occasion (after an incident during which Bertram has been brought especially low) that, if Bertram could only maintain the fleeting feelings of empathy and contrition he has been forced to experience, the plants might back off of their retribution. Bertram, however, is incapable of real change. So perhaps we are meant to understand that Bertram is beyond redemption after all, and that his punishment truly is deserved. I don't know if there is a right answer. But I credit Vegetation for being smart enough to raise the question, and nimble enough not to let it detract from the novel's overall fun.