
One more weekend of competition. One more weekend. I can do this.
FINISHED SINCE THE LAST UPDATE:
The Jane Delury novel is one that reads like a collection of short stories that are loosely tied together. Having read similarly structured novels in the past, they tend to be something I enjoy, but I will admit to struggling with Ms. Delury’s version. Part of the fun is figuring out just how these stories connect, outside of the fact that they all at least partially occur on the same estate in France. Unfortunately, remembering the wide cast of characters and unraveling the threads that tie them is quite challenging especially because the stories are not chronologically linear. Even worse, some stories jump back and forth through time in the story itself. I found myself scrambling to remember characters that were introduced a few short stories prior and questioned more than once what the point was of the collection. I still have no answer to the latter, making this a disappointment and one I wish I had ended up DNFing after all.
Jonathan Maberry’s newest novel is being touted as a thriller, but I am here to say it is not a thriller. It lands firmly on the side of horror, and it is creepy af. Intense too. As well as depressing and surprisingly philosophical. I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as I expected or as I had hoped, but I will have to dwell on it for a few days for my final assessment.
DID NOT FINISH:
It was close with the Jane Delury book, but I held strong.