Reviews

The Tormentors by Jack Phoenix

maureensbooks89's review

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3.0

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Jack Phoenix with the question if I wanted to read and review his book ‘The Tormentors’. This book is a horror novel and not something I would have chosen normally. But I like a new challenge and decided to give this book a change. So a couple of days ago I started reading ‘The Tormentors’.

What I immediately liked about ‘The Tormentors’ was the writing style and the way this book immediately grasps your attention. From the very first page the excitement and horror starts. Reading this book you can obviously tell that Jack Phoenix is a great story teller. This book I well written and full of dark twists.

I didn’t really like the characters in this book. But in the end I think these characters aren’t meant to be liked. The main characters Roderick and Elizabeth are not what they seem to be. Roderick is just a terrible person and Elizabeth I found to be a very selfish person. Elizabeth was not a bad person but she just really needs to get her priorities straight.
I think the only character I liked a little was Wade, Elizabeth’s friend. He is a great friend and does everything he can to help Elizabeth. And he loves books..

The horror aspect of this book wasn’t really for me. I found the three ‘hellish women’ a little disturbing. Not quite scary but very gross. What I did like was the way these women where after revenge and really went after the right person. In most horror movies I saw it’s always the good person who’s got the devil after him. Never the bad guy. I really liked the way the bad guy got punished in this book.

So at the end of reading this book I can conclude that this book is very well written, full of twists you can’t imagine but still not a book for me. But for people who like horror and a couple of disturbing hellish women this is definitely a nice read.

wolverinefactor's review

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4.0

I started chatting with the author on-line one day and the topic of Joe Hill came up. He said he'd heard the comparison when his book "The Tormentors" is talked about. He offered up a review copy so here we are!

The book starts off strong and fast. Much better pacing than the last book I finished (The Troop)and it's actually nicely written and doesn't feel like fan fiction which most novels like this do. I found the characters likable, even our anti-hero as he spirals out of control and everything around him starts to crumble.

There's a few great scenes. The scene with the snake really grossed me out and was completely unsettling. The vivid delusions are always entertaining to read and often unique in one way or another.

The entire final act goes guns blazing and never relents. The little twists were fairly obvious, to me at least and I was left feeling a little sour with the ending but I can see what it ends the way it does, just not how I, the reader, wanted it to end. One of the few horror stories that actually maintained a good pace and some fun thrills. Not Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box but it just might be the next best thing.
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