Chapter 1Wen The present tense third person takes a little getting use to, but after I did, I didnt mind it Spoiler Im hooked. I kept waiting for Wen's dads to come out and be like WTF. Those three that came at the end of the chapter with the scary weapons and shit... Im hooked.
Chapter 3 Spoiler Spoiler But really, damn. So unless they pick someone to kill all these natural disasters will happen? I wonder how many would have to occur before I decide to kill my spouse or daughter... Also, wtf was Redmond doing?
Finished. 7/10 Spoiler I was hoping to get some more clarity about exactly what was going on. Are these people crazy or is there something to their claims. The ambiguous ending was a little frustrating, but I think it fit the story of craziness well. I liked this book, but didnt love it. A good summer thriller/horror book. Fast read.
Finished yesterday. 6.5/10 Spoiler I thought it was a decent book. The writing was pretty good, though it did take me a short time to get used to the tense. I listened to the audiobook, and while the narrator definitely wasn't the best I've ever heard, she was far from the worst. So I'm not sure why people were criticizing her so much, unless they just haven't listened to many audiobooks. Anyways, I thought the premise was pretty interesting, and I thought the execution was solid, but the book just never grabbed me. I would've liked some deeper development of the mythology of why the four intruders were doing what they were doing. They never really explained it, at least on a deeper level, and all their statements were kind of vague. I understand that was the point, but since we did get in their heads I thought there could be a little more development there. I thought Wen dying was actually a pretty good plot point, though I saw it coming from a mile away (maybe not the way she died, but I had a strong hunch that she would die -- there were way too many "I'm going to protect you, no matter what" sort of lines to do otherwise). However, conversely, I thought the lack of Eric and Andrew having to actually make a choice (especially after all the discussion of Eric starting to believe) was kind of a cop-out by the author. At the end I was left unfulfilled; it made me wonder what the whole point of the book was. Family over everything? This is the same author I pitched a while back who wrote A Head Full of Ghosts, which one of my friends who's a horror buff said is one of the best recent horror novels she's read. I think I liked this book enough to give that one a shot, even though I didn't love this one. It was well written and a fairly quick read. A good suggestion, something I doubt I would've picked up if we hadn't read it as a group.
Finished. 6.5/10 My thoughts echo both of you Spoiler I like the premise, and it started off promising. I wish we did get a little more information about what was happening in the outside world. I get that it couldn't be too obviously happening or Eric and Andrew would both start believing, however Portland being destroyed, 6 planes falling out of the sky, and bird flu in Chine isn't quite the apocalypse. I didn't love the ambiguous ending as well. I agree with the previous sentiment that it let Andrew and Eric off the hook of actually having to make a decision. Overall I enjoyed it as a quick fun (as fun as mutilation, death and the end of the world can be) summer read and I'm glad we didn't pass on it after lackluster audiobook reviews.
Looks like M. Night Shyamalan is making this into a movie. I’m watching the trailer and I’m thinking this shit seems really familiar. Completely forgot about this book.