I read this amazing book a couple of years ago called Afraid by an author I had never heard of, Jack Kilborn. Once reading Afraid, I was waiting for more, which sadly never came. On my last Amazon.com order, I looked up Kilborn and found he had also written under his real name, JA Konrath. And among these titles, I found more Kilborn stuff. I bought two more books without hesitation and smashed through this baby in a week because I just couldn't put it down. In my first sitting I read 70 pages. This book didn't warm up, this book jumped straight into it, which is what I loved about Afraid!
Endurance is this crazy, sick and terrifying horror novel that begins with a woman staying at a creepy in called the Rushmore Inn. The inn is covered in presidential memorabilia. The owner, Eleanor, obsessed with the presidential family and hoping that one of her boys one day will become president. Problem is, her boys are horribly deformed. Every single one of them and they have been using this old run down inn for decades to attract people there and keep them locked up for their own sinister purposes. At the beginning of the book, one woman be becomes of this inn, a triathlon runner that is staying to compete. When she goes missing, her fiancé immediately goes looking for her, accompanied by her brother. 12 months later, they find their way to this horrid little inn, and unlucky for some, so have this year's triathlon competitors. A woman with prosthetic legs, a reporter following her for the scoop and a trio of grandmother, mother and daughter also there to compete. All them of them are about to meet Eleanor and her sick and twisted family and only some of them are going to survive it!
And here I was thinking that Afraid wouldn't let me go. This book was ten times more relentless than afraid and actually had me a bit freaked out at night while reading it alone. The words are spot on, allowing you to imagine this in your head so clearly that you actually wish this would become a film! And every single chapter, from the very first one, ends with some one-liner, some hanging sentence that just makes you want to keep reading. But problem is, there are so many characters and each chapter jumps from character to character so you need to read five odd chapters to get back to that person you are dying to know what happens and by then, you have four more characters you are obsessed with too, so the book is one constant relentless roller coaster from character to character and their terrible situations that you wonder how the hell they are going to escape from. Also explains why you plough through this book so fast, you honestly cannot put it down! I found myself reading it at work, in the bath, on the toilet (which I NEVER do!), on the treadmill, on the couch and it came out that many times during a pretty poor movie that I cannot even count. I either need better movies or this book was just addictive! I felt like every spare minute my face was in it and part of me is kinda glad it is over, my head is pounding from reading so much!
The characters in this book are amazing. You have some very strong women in this book, they are not only fit and healthy and strong but also so mentally capable, independent and determined. These women are fighters! And so are the guys that happen to get stuck there too. Even with generations between particular characters, they all have such similar strength and it pays off and ensures for some damn fine reading as they give these hillbilly freaks a good run for their money!
Eleanor and her clan are just terrifying. She is huge and grotesque and her family of deformed sons are even worse than anything I have ever read being described. I thought Edward Lee's Creekers did a good job of dealing with abnormalities and deformities, but Kilborn takes it to a whole new level in Endurance. It is like taking something out of your worst nightmares of monsters that only your brain can make up and then having them roam around a town, serving people in an inn and assisting their mother in her disgraceful need for survival. Not only that but the inn itself sounds run down, creepy and there are secret passage ways and doors everywhere so no one is safe, in any room at all. When some characters are taken from bathrooms, others from their closets and the scariest one, with someone UNDER the bed... the book is filled with the atmosphere to keep you on the edge of your seat from the first pace to the last page. Not only is it called Endurance due to the poor characters stuck in the situation but also for the reader to keep at this book, I felt like I was reading it so fast that I myself was going to run out of breath! So the title seemed fitting on both levels.
Another highly recommended book. I was wondering how Kilborn was going to pull it off and keep it going as everything seemed to happen so fast and I was thinking with it all happening so quickly that it ran the risk of getting boring later on. But no, the movie keeps up this nail biting speed all the way through and finishes as abruptly as it begins. Check it out for sure! You won't be disappointed! Now I have to read Trapped, the other of Kilborn's that I picked up. He says that this one is gorier. I cannot even imagine how that is possible. So here goes....
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From the Publisher
From J.A. Konrath - FOUR THRILLING SERIES, ONE STORY WORLD
Dark Thriller Collective
Twelve edge-of-your-seat thriller novels featuring police officer Tom Mankowski, molecular biologist Dr. Frank Belgium, and ex-military Fabler as they face psychos, evil scientists, and worse...
This series of complete--but connected--novels also ties in with the Jack Daniels Thrillers and the Codename Chandler series, taking readers into a rich, layered world where any character can pop up in anyone's book... and they do.
Jack Daniels Suspense
Twenty-two gripping suspense novels, and dozens of short stories, starring Chicago Homicide cop Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, career criminal Phineas Troutt, private eye Harry McGlade, and too many serial killers to count...
This series of complete--but connected--novels also ties in with the Konrath Dark Thriller Collective and the Codename Chandler series, pulling readers into a rich, layered world where any character can pop up in anyone's book... and they do.
Codename Chandler Series
Join secret agent Chandler, psychotic spy Hammett, and brilliant recluse Fleming as they fight to save the world--while also fighting each other--in eight jaw-dropping action tales...
This series of complete--but connected--stories also ties in with the Konrath Dark Thriller Collective and the Jack Daniels Thrillers, taking readers into a rich, layered world where any character can pop up in anyone's book... and they do.
Timecaster Trilogy
Talon Avalon is a future cop who can forecast the past... and he's about to get in a buttload of trouble.
This trilogy of complete--but connected--novels also ties in with the Konrath Dark Thriller Collective and the Jack Daniels Thrillers, pulling readers into a rich, layered world where any character can pop up in anyone's book... and they do.
This Is The Good Stuff You've Been Looking For
WHAT MAKES GREAT HORROR
Checklist For Readers
- Scary
- Can't Put It Down
- Give You Nightmares
- Great Villains
- Freaks You Out
- Heroes To Root For
- Emotional Impact
- Fantastic Ending
Roller Coaster
Strap in tight, because this is going to be one helluva ride...
The Dark Thriller Collective
Thrills, Chills, & Suspense Galore
Do you like your thrillers on the Dark Side?
Do you like a few scares along with your suspense?
Do you like books that make you turn on the light and check to see if the doors are locked?
Do you like really morbid humor?
Welcome to the Dark Thriller Collective...
GRIPPING
You'll grip the book so hard you'll break your own fingers...
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016
Pulpy, slashery, gory - and lots of fun, if you're into its brand of nightmarish violence and horror
Top reviews from other countries
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- ruggedtoastReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2013
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
