bunnieslikediamonds's review
3.0
Nice premise (plucky Satanists on the loose in sleepy small town), well-drawn characters and good pacing, but ultimately frustrating. Too many characters and plot points, not enough depth.
trudilibrarian's review
3.0
Surely fear is the oldest emotion. Not love, not pride, not greed. The emotion urging you to run is older than the one telling you to embrace. ~The Burn PalaceLet's get the Negative Nelly rant out of the way first: I may have just taken too damn long to read this book (it was a hellish work week, and I couldn't seem to find the time needed to just attack the book and submerse myself in it the way it demands). It starts out really strong -- with a great premise -- but somewhere along the way, Dobyns has created so many colorful characters and so many plot threads that the book begins to unravel and stall, rather than gain momentum and tightly coil for the final climactic reveal.
I am officially diagnosing this novel with Attention Deficit Disorder. Because there are so many leads to uncover and investigate, as well as so many people to get to know within the borders of this sleepy little Rhode Island town, the narration flits about quickly often jerkily with no discernible pattern, from character to character, plot point to plot point -- a busy bee desperate to pollinate ALL the flowers in the garden.
Dobyns almost pulls it off. Parts of this novel work extremely well, but it is messy and misdirected in too many places and dare I say a little bit of the investigation starts to feel like
Dobyns has proven in the past he has the writing chops to create memorable characters and capture the psychology of small towns besieged by fear and paranoia. What didn't work for me here, worked exceedingly well I thought in The Church of Dead Girls. The difference between that book and this one comes down to narration. While Dead Girls introduces almost as many characters, I feel the story benefits tremendously from the voice of a single narrator telling the story in first-person. It gives the novel a cohesiveness and determined direction that this one seems lacking in.
Okay, those are my complaints. Here are some things I enjoyed, because overall, I did like this book very much. When I did get the time to sit with it for a few hours, I found it casting a spell over me. The descriptive prose sucked me into the streets and lives of Brewster, Rhode Island. Stephen King has been very supportive of Dobyns in the past, blurbing his books, and this time is no different. King writes:
"I entered the small-town world Stephen Dobyns creates with such affection, horror, and fidelity....Dobyns has always been good, but this book is authentically great. The characters are vivid originals, not a stereotype among them, and the story pulled this reader in so completely that I didn't want the book to end, and actually did go back to re-read the first chapter."Super generous, yes? Reading Dobyns you can definitely sense a "King vibe" going on and it is not a stretch to say that Dobyns has been influenced by King's New England tales of the macabre and small town sinister shenanigans. Dobyns appears to be paying homage to King specifically here with such references as:
1. The novel opens with a baby being stolen from hospital room 217. Later, an abusive father states: "No boy likes to be corrected." (The Shining)Okay, small things to be sure, but they jumped out at me despite that and made me smile.
2. One of the lead detectives is named Bobby Anderson. (The Tommyknockers)
3. Another main character describes reading The Shining, Cujo and The Dark Half.
I also really enjoyed how the kids are written in this story. They are quirky and precocious without coming off as bratty and annoying. They are King-worthy kids, the highest compliment I can pay. I just wish there had been more of them and less of some of the other plot threads.
Spoiler
I never quite got why Dobyns introduces Hercel's telekinetic ability though. It seems out of place in a story that turns out NOT to be supernatural but man-made. Hercel's ability struck me as interesting, and I wanted to know more. Instead, it just basically serves as a Deus ex Machina last minute escape when the children are being hunted by coyotes. Disappointing.So that's it. If only I had more glowing praise to offer. This is a dense book that demands your attention and patience. If you like a challenge, and lots of colorful characters, you may just love this. Dobyns is a great writer and I would never discourage anyone from picking up one of his books.
***Review of ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley.
menfrommarrs's review
4.0
This was a second read for me and I liked it much better this time. I think that the first time around the plethora of characters in the beginning was too much to keep track of, so I lost interest. This time I noted certain characters that I thought were of larger interest in the story and got along much better.
The cliff hanger chapter endings were wonderfully frustrating! I continually screamed "Don't cut to a different scene now!"☺ That and impossible odds, kept me reading on for more.
With quirky townsfolk and a hint of the supernatural, Brewster could be the twin city of Derry.
The cliff hanger chapter endings were wonderfully frustrating! I continually screamed "Don't cut to a different scene now!"☺ That and impossible odds, kept me reading on for more.
With quirky townsfolk and a hint of the supernatural, Brewster could be the twin city of Derry.
vdarcangelo's review
3.0
From Transgress Magazine: http://transgressmagazine.com/2013/02/14/stephen-dobyns-the-burn-palace/
Stephen Dobyns‘ new novel, The Burn Palace, is a difficult book to deconstruct. The narrative is a tangle of shifting perspectives and sharp turns, and stylistically, is a bit disarming at first.
However, we’re in the hands of an old master. What Dobyns does better than most is capture the quirks and suspicions of small-town America, and similar to his 1997 masterpiece, The Church of Dead Girls, The Burn Palace offers us an eagle-eyed, warts-and-all perspective of residents of Brewster, Rhode Island.
As with the loose-ended Church, the horror lives not so much in the conflict, but rather in how the residents respond to the conflict. In this novel, Dobyns’ first in more than a decade, the catalytic event is a dramatic kidnapping. A newborn has been stolen from the local hospital, replaced with a corn snake, and thus, the town of Brewster is shrouded in mystery and controversy.
And fear.
From the local diner to holistic healing centers, Brewster is that odd amalgamation of new age/old age found in many small towns. It is also a town of secrets and tragedy and disaster. Dobyns brings to life the town’s diverse personalities, going to door to door in a literary trick or treat.
It’s kind of like Winesburg, Ohio—if Sherwood Anderson had grown up on Stephen King’s street.
Of course, the prose is excellent, and only someone like Dobyns could reconcile this many narratives and POVs in one book. That said, this is a dense work, more so for the constant shifting of perspectives, never setting us on stable ground.
But then again, isn’t that the point? Rather than simply using his words to construct a referent, Dobyns, with his background in poetry, uses the words themselves to disorient, to make us confused, uncomfortable and always uncertain, but excited, about what comes next.
Stephen Dobyns‘ new novel, The Burn Palace, is a difficult book to deconstruct. The narrative is a tangle of shifting perspectives and sharp turns, and stylistically, is a bit disarming at first.
However, we’re in the hands of an old master. What Dobyns does better than most is capture the quirks and suspicions of small-town America, and similar to his 1997 masterpiece, The Church of Dead Girls, The Burn Palace offers us an eagle-eyed, warts-and-all perspective of residents of Brewster, Rhode Island.
As with the loose-ended Church, the horror lives not so much in the conflict, but rather in how the residents respond to the conflict. In this novel, Dobyns’ first in more than a decade, the catalytic event is a dramatic kidnapping. A newborn has been stolen from the local hospital, replaced with a corn snake, and thus, the town of Brewster is shrouded in mystery and controversy.
And fear.
From the local diner to holistic healing centers, Brewster is that odd amalgamation of new age/old age found in many small towns. It is also a town of secrets and tragedy and disaster. Dobyns brings to life the town’s diverse personalities, going to door to door in a literary trick or treat.
It’s kind of like Winesburg, Ohio—if Sherwood Anderson had grown up on Stephen King’s street.
Of course, the prose is excellent, and only someone like Dobyns could reconcile this many narratives and POVs in one book. That said, this is a dense work, more so for the constant shifting of perspectives, never setting us on stable ground.
But then again, isn’t that the point? Rather than simply using his words to construct a referent, Dobyns, with his background in poetry, uses the words themselves to disorient, to make us confused, uncomfortable and always uncertain, but excited, about what comes next.
hgatfield's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
jessthebookworm's review
3.0
2.5 stars.
This novel is set in the small town of Brewster, Rhode Island, a town where nothing big ever seems to happen. Until one night, while a nurse on duty is distracted, a baby is stolen from the hospital and a snake left in its place. From there on, other crimes and strange occurrences start to happen, causing mass hysteria in the town. The police are not sure whether it's due to criminal activity or something in the realms of the supernatural.
I was quite a strangely written book, as it was written as though from a bird's eye view. I kind of felt that I was in a drone looking down on everything, and I think that the result is, I didn't really connect with any of the characters. It was an interesting story though, and everything tied together nicely at the end.
This novel is set in the small town of Brewster, Rhode Island, a town where nothing big ever seems to happen. Until one night, while a nurse on duty is distracted, a baby is stolen from the hospital and a snake left in its place. From there on, other crimes and strange occurrences start to happen, causing mass hysteria in the town. The police are not sure whether it's due to criminal activity or something in the realms of the supernatural.
I was quite a strangely written book, as it was written as though from a bird's eye view. I kind of felt that I was in a drone looking down on everything, and I think that the result is, I didn't really connect with any of the characters. It was an interesting story though, and everything tied together nicely at the end.
jo_in_bookland's review
4.0
Well written, reminiscent of Stephen King's work. I love how you got to really know the main characters A little slow in some parts but I couldn't put it down in the end. You really have to watch those small towns...
lazygal's review
5.0
Talk about the perfect read during a blizzard: it's got possible Satanism, werewolves, a high body count and a solution that doesn't get telegraphed. Add to that a writing style that ranges from "you are there" to sounding vaguely like the Narrator in "Our Town" and, well, yes, I loved this book. I'd first met Dobyns through his Charlie Bradshaw series, then read Church of Dead Girls but then he disappeared, so when I saw that this was available, I jumped on it.
Brewster RI is a small, sleepy town until a baby is stolen from the neonatal unit and replaced with a corn snake. Then a visiting insurance investigator is stabbed, and scalped. And then there's Carl Krause, who seems to be off his meds and acting very strangely, including growling. Added to this are extremely (unnaturally) aggressive coyotes and another girl who was raped and her baby stolen. Soon there are competing police jurisdictions and several widely divergent lines of inquiry, at the heart of which are Woody (a laconic state trooper recently jilted by his finance) and Bobby (an amiable black man who drives a Z). What's really going on is buried under several layers of "alternative" religious rituals and the fear that there might be shapeshifters. Until the very end, I had no idea who would end up alive or who was behind everything. Yay!
ARC provided by publisher.
Brewster RI is a small, sleepy town until a baby is stolen from the neonatal unit and replaced with a corn snake. Then a visiting insurance investigator is stabbed, and scalped. And then there's Carl Krause, who seems to be off his meds and acting very strangely, including growling. Added to this are extremely (unnaturally) aggressive coyotes and another girl who was raped and her baby stolen. Soon there are competing police jurisdictions and several widely divergent lines of inquiry, at the heart of which are Woody (a laconic state trooper recently jilted by his finance) and Bobby (an amiable black man who drives a Z). What's really going on is buried under several layers of "alternative" religious rituals and the fear that there might be shapeshifters. Until the very end, I had no idea who would end up alive or who was behind everything. Yay!
ARC provided by publisher.
amyg88's review
3.0
I imagine this would have been better if I had read it faster. Also, aside from being set in New England, I'm not sure how this work in any way resembles Stephen King. If they mean us to compare it to his body of work, themes, and/or any sort of inexplicable supernatural phenomena, I would say they are pretty far off the mark. I had the same sense of disappointment at the end that I did after watching Scooby Doo episodes as a kid. Those darn meddling kids.