A review by leari
Lebendig: Roman by Neal McPheeters, Jack Ketchum
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book includes one novella as well as two short stories.
The novella follows a woman being kidnapped right in front of a clinic where she had an appointment with a doctor. The woman is pregnant. The two kidnappers, a couple, bring her to their home and do all kinds of disgusting and humiliating things to our main character. The story is about family, pregnancy, abortion, relationships, power and much more. I liked the horror elements in it and I was rooting for the protagonist. The shocking and brutal things that were done to her were rarely described in detail, both the act itself as well as the feelings and thoughts of the characters involved in it. Whether that is a good thing or not, depends on your taste. I usually like descriptive books, whether we are talking about the horror genre or outside of it. However, the horrific scenes somehow still worked perfectly in this book. It was effective and did not necessarily need a bunch of details to really show the cruel nature of the man who kidnapped the protagonist. The writing style in general was very good compared to a lot of other extreme horror books, where the language gets quite colloquial at times. The book is written from different perspectives, mainly the kidnappers' and the protagonist's point of views. We learn a lot about their daily life, their past, their relationships, their struggles, dreams and ambitions. There is also a cat in the story, who brought some hope and joy into the story.
What bothered me were the bits and pieces about this made-up organisation. It felt like reading a spy novel and did not really enahnce the story in any way in my opinion. I also think that some scenes did not feel very realistic in terms of how the characters were behaving. I felt like it was not the smartest decision to The ending was alright. It did feel more like a thriller at this point instead of a horror novel, but not every book needs to have a bad or twisted ending. I would rate the novella 4 stars.
The short stories are not connected to the main story. The first one follows a girl calling the police because her mom had an accident in the bathroom. The second story is about a woman, her cat and her deceased partner who is haunting the place as a ghost. Again, both stories felt more like a thriller or mystery to me and not like horror. They were also perhaps too short to make a long-lasting impression on me. Or maybe the twists just simply were not interesting enough. I am not sure. I would give them 2 stars each.
The novella follows a woman being kidnapped right in front of a clinic where she had an appointment with a doctor. The woman is pregnant. The two kidnappers, a couple, bring her to their home and do all kinds of disgusting and humiliating things to our main character. The story is about family, pregnancy, abortion, relationships, power and much more. I liked the horror elements in it and I was rooting for the protagonist. The shocking and brutal things that were done to her were rarely described in detail, both the act itself as well as the feelings and thoughts of the characters involved in it. Whether that is a good thing or not, depends on your taste. I usually like descriptive books, whether we are talking about the horror genre or outside of it. However, the horrific scenes somehow still worked perfectly in this book. It was effective and did not necessarily need a bunch of details to really show the cruel nature of the man who kidnapped the protagonist. The writing style in general was very good compared to a lot of other extreme horror books, where the language gets quite colloquial at times. The book is written from different perspectives, mainly the kidnappers' and the protagonist's point of views. We learn a lot about their daily life, their past, their relationships, their struggles, dreams and ambitions. There is also a cat in the story, who brought some hope and joy into the story.
What bothered me were the bits and pieces about this made-up organisation. It felt like reading a spy novel and did not really enahnce the story in any way in my opinion. I also think that some scenes did not feel very realistic in terms of how the characters were behaving. I felt like it was not the smartest decision to
Spoiler
let the kidnapee just walk freely around the house and giving her access to almost every room and everything that was in it. The protagonist's first attempt at escaping the house was not the best either. How about using the phone? Grabbing a weapon? She could have easily done that. No? Oh, okay, nevermind. Just walk outside then and get caught. And nobody noticed this other guy being dead? Hard to believe.The short stories are not connected to the main story. The first one follows a girl calling the police because her mom had an accident in the bathroom. The second story is about a woman, her cat and her deceased partner who is haunting the place as a ghost. Again, both stories felt more like a thriller or mystery to me and not like horror. They were also perhaps too short to make a long-lasting impression on me. Or maybe the twists just simply were not interesting enough. I am not sure. I would give them 2 stars each.