shanviolinlove's review
1.0
Perverted. Disappointing. The intriguing story described on the bookflap does not appear past chapter 2. What sounds like the story of a man desperate to save his daughter turns into a sick man desperate to de-pants the psychotic woman living next door. And it's a very perverted attraction he has to her. Every character in this book is disgusting--even the cop who has to "sneak away from his wife" to look at pictures of bloody homicide victims on the internet. Do NOT waste your time reading this.
leilaniann's review
3.0
The book started out strong. I loved the descriptions of the setting, and the background of the main characters. Unfortunately, not far into it the story started dragging and it got confusing. The ending was boring enough that I already forgot it the day after I finished the book.
tashaw's review
DNF at p.45. It's one of those things that bothers me, that some people prefer. Tell me they have a dialect, don't type all the dialogue in it. It's distracting.
oland94's review
2.0
Its very interesting, but the story line is kind of hard to follow (at least for me it was.) I read a little over half way through it before I finally just set it down.
underwater_reader's review
3.0
In a small Newfoundland fishing village Joseph Blackwood, recently divorced, takes his daughter, Robin, to Bareneed to spend some time with her and to get some rest. The vacation isn't as restful as it should be and as soon as father and daughter arrive in town strange things start happening: centuries old corpses rise from the water appearing as if they had drowned just yesterday, ghosts come out to play, sea monsters appear, an epidemic plagues the town causing the residents to not be able to automatically breathe on their own any more and peoples behaviors take a turn towards violent.
This book was reminiscent of Chris Bojilain's The Night Strangers in that waterlogged little girls try to steal away a human daughter from an affected father, ghosts only reveal themselves to certain characters, the fathers personality takes a dive, eccentric old ladies run about the town and water is a main theme of both novels. The plot was obviously more character-driven than action driven. It was also a very Stephen King-esq book where it was an atmospheric spooky story without the cheap, scary overkill.
Since the book was so character-driven I really liked how there was no actual one "main character" and instead we got a group of characters from a seven year old girl to a ninty-plus year old woman. The story was told in third person narration and I think that was best as I was more likley to believe a third person narrator, especially when dealing with topics like dementia and sea creatures.
I didn't care for the fact that none of the characters were particularly likeable save for the Tommy character and the Miss Laracy character. The book is a hefty one coming in at 468 pages which gave Harvey ample time to flesh out each character, which he did very well- he just forgot to make them likeable and as a result, I didn't much care what happened to them. Let them eat cake (and drown).
The book could move very slowly at times and I found myself wondering if Harvey wrote in some of the descriptions and some of the scenes just to add page numbers. This book is definitely not the theatrical version I would have prefered, instead it had ALL of the deleted scenes intact. Towards then end I found myself skipping parts. The one good thing about the ending was the epilogue which is told from one of the main characters first person POV many years later. If you find yourself skipping parts towards the end, you're really not going to miss anything, but do make sure to read the epilogue!
This book was reminiscent of Chris Bojilain's The Night Strangers in that waterlogged little girls try to steal away a human daughter from an affected father, ghosts only reveal themselves to certain characters, the fathers personality takes a dive, eccentric old ladies run about the town and water is a main theme of both novels. The plot was obviously more character-driven than action driven. It was also a very Stephen King-esq book where it was an atmospheric spooky story without the cheap, scary overkill.
Since the book was so character-driven I really liked how there was no actual one "main character" and instead we got a group of characters from a seven year old girl to a ninty-plus year old woman. The story was told in third person narration and I think that was best as I was more likley to believe a third person narrator, especially when dealing with topics like dementia and sea creatures.
I didn't care for the fact that none of the characters were particularly likeable save for the Tommy character and the Miss Laracy character. The book is a hefty one coming in at 468 pages which gave Harvey ample time to flesh out each character, which he did very well- he just forgot to make them likeable and as a result, I didn't much care what happened to them. Let them eat cake (and drown).
The book could move very slowly at times and I found myself wondering if Harvey wrote in some of the descriptions and some of the scenes just to add page numbers. This book is definitely not the theatrical version I would have prefered, instead it had ALL of the deleted scenes intact. Towards then end I found myself skipping parts. The one good thing about the ending was the epilogue which is told from one of the main characters first person POV many years later. If you find yourself skipping parts towards the end, you're really not going to miss anything, but do make sure to read the epilogue!
rbudd24's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
persypie's review
DNF, not rated
I love horror, I love suspense, and I love an original plot. Unfortunately, there was something missing with the first two criteria. I quit after the first 100 pages.
I love horror, I love suspense, and I love an original plot. Unfortunately, there was something missing with the first two criteria. I quit after the first 100 pages.