Snowbound by Blake Crouch

I loved this book.  So much so that I read it twice in fairly short order. Although I really love Blake Crouch's extreme horror in the Andrew Z. Thomas series, this reads more like Run which is probably my favorite Blake Crouch novel.  Snowbound pulls in one character from the Crouch/Konrath universe, Javier Estrada, who interacted with Luther Kite in a previous work.  But everything else is fresh meat, and what a great story.

In Snowbound, a lawyer/husband/dad, Will, is working late at home, preparing for a case the following day.  His daughter, Devlin, suffers from cystic fibrosis, and he tucks her into bed, as he waits for the return of his wife, Rachael, who is working late as well.  However, Rachael is about to run into some trouble on the way home, and be kidnapped by Javier.  Of course, the husband becomes the prime suspect in the case, and Will and Devlin flee the area quickly, to live their lives outside of the scrutiny of the local police force.

For five years, they are successful in hiding themselves away, until Kalyn Sharp appears on their doorstep.  A disgraced FBI agent, she lost her sister in a case similar to Rachael's and feels that she's getting close to finding who is responsible.  Will, Kalyn, and Devlin thwart the law and begin their own investigation to find their missing loved ones.  What starts a drive to Javier's home to ask some questions, turns into a flight to the wilds of Alaska in search of "The Lodge That Doesn't Exist."  Will they find the missing women?  Or will it be another dead end.

I found this book to be thrilling, and I was excited to read through it again to catch anything I may have missed the first time around.  Sure, some parts are a little extreme (a girl is trapped naked in the snow, but survives, wolves are somehow trained to attack only certain people) but with a slight suspension of reality, this book was a real trip.  I look forward to more of these types of stories from Crouch.

Stirred by J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch

Over the summer, I became completely obsessed with J.A. Konrath/Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch.  I devoured many of their books, and took a break, wondering if I had a mental disorder for loving the blood, torture, and carnage a little too much.  I never got too hooked on the Jack Daniels series; although she was featured in a few of Konrath's stories, I just couldn't ever picture/identify with her.  Kind of like Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris's books.  But, you know, with decapitations and such.

Stirred called to me, being that I was entirely concerned about the Luther Kite/Andrew Z. Thomas ending in Break You.  The thought of someone being isolated, force fed, mutilated, etc. but still being kept alive, really freaked me the fuck out.  The premise of an ending to all of this was quite promising.

You can definitely read this without having knowledge of the previous Jack Daniels stories, but it's definitely more enjoyable if you've read about Lucy, Donaldson, Kite, and Thomas.  Where Daniels floats from story to story, I find the "killers" more intriguing and unbreakable. 

Stirred picks up 7 years after Thomas was imprisoned, his love Violet, and his son, Max, taken away from him.  Luther Kite is truly planning an awesome revenge against Jack Daniels and others who have wronged him.  Daniels on the other hand is retired and hugely pregnant, essentially engaged to a former fugitive.  She seems uninterested in being a mother, and more focused on her former life of solving crime.  Unfortunately, she needs to be constantly protected by friends and confidantes, for fear that a former killer seeks revenge.

At the same time that Luther concocts his elaborate plan, Lucy and Donaldson are plotting as well.  Shells of human beings, rotting away in a prison hospital, they stockpile drugs and plan their escape.  They, too, seek out Daniels, but also wish to inflict pain on Luther, who burned them terribly after their first escape from a hospital.

What ensues is a mix between Seven and Saw: The Final Chapter, where Daniels must follow clues, and then finds herself in an abandoned city, going through a series of traps set to mimic Dante's Inferno.  Everything is contained in these games, from strangers to friends to lovers to her own baby. 

Although slightly unbelievable at times (a grizzly bear, really?) Stirred was a wonderful collaboration between Konrath and Crouch.   They claim that this is the last Kite/Thomas book, but the ending certainly leaves it open for a sequel.  I've read a fair amount of horror in the last few years, and Konrath/Crouch are the only authors that continue to kill it hardcore.  Rock on, horror brothers.

Break You by Blake Crouch

*Spoilers ahead!*  Break You is the third installment in the Andrew Thomas series.  Violet and Andrew thought they made a clean escape back to their secluded home in the Yukon.  Raising Violet's infant son, and nurturing a burgeoning romance, it seems as if they've put the past behind them.

But the monster lurking behind them has waited for them to feel such comfort so that he can pounce.  Andrew and Violet find themselves living back in a nightmare, which will present painful challenges to save infant Max, and themselves.

They endure incredible amounts of torture, both inflicted by the omnipresent Luther Kite, and each other.  There's less of an actual story behind Break You and really more pain, suffering, and humiliation, all while I'm left to worry about the safety of two infants.  Kite is one tough cookie, but I guess Break You proves that Violet and Andrew are pretty unbreakable as well.

Break You is a novella, and shorter than the other Andrew Thomas stories.  I didn't like this one as much, because I just couldn't seem to picture what was happening.  The knife fight between the women was contrived and fairly unbelievable.  And although I love the intricate and exciting descriptions of torture that Blake Crouch can work up, as Break You wore on, I found myself questioning whether anyone could actually live through any of this nonsense, nonetheless say that it barely even hurt him.  I also had a hard time picturing the landscape; although I found the desert, the Yukon, and the Outer Banks to be so intricately described, I just couldn't wrap my head around the Detroit urban wasteland. 

I'm looking forward to Stirred, a collaboration between J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch, which will serve as a sequel to Break You, and a continuation to the Andrew Thomas series.  Both Kite and Thomas appeared to have at least a pulse at the end of this one, so maybe we'll see them heal up and come back for the next book.

Locked Doors by Blake Crouch

In a frenzy earlier this year, I basically read every Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, and J.A. Konrath book that I could get my grubby little hands on.  I didn't get around to writing too many reviews, because I was just reading them too fast and never thought to stop and write about them.  Now I've gone back for some re-reads and to write up some thoughts.

Locked Doors is the sequel to Desert Places and is the second book in the Andrew Thomas series.  *Spoilers ahead* because there's pretty much no way to talk about this book without spoiling the last one.  Seven years previous, Andrew thought that he left his brother, Orson, dead, and his friend Luther Kite to freeze to death in the snowy desert.  He has created a new identity, hiding out in a cabin in the Yukon and cooking at a local restaurant.

However, he checks the news frequently to see of anything that surfaces regarding himself, Orson, or Luther.  Most of these searches are fruitless, until he discovers that people he knew in his "previous" life are being kidnapped and killed.  He finds himself on the run once again, in search of the elusive Luther Kite.  Meanwhile, a young detective, Violet King, is also on the hunt for Kite, having been set on his trail by evidence left at a murder scene.

Soon, Andrew, Violet, and Beth (Andrew's best friend's wife) will find themselves in quite the precarious position with the Kite family.  As with most of Crouch's works, it's a fight to the death and often a surprise to see who survives in the end.  Locked Doors is followed by Break You.

Seed by Ania Ahlborn (2011)

It's been a while, since I wrote a book review.  What happened is that I raced through pretty much the entire collection of Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch, and then needed a break from the onslaught of blood, guts, and general creepiness I had subjected myself to.  After a few weeks of trashy romance novels (my guilty pleasure), I decided to delve back into the world of horror fiction and was glad to stumble upon Seed.  The description related this story to works of King, Crouch, and Kilborn, and of course, I was instantly hooked.

Seed is the story of a young family: father Jack, mother Aimee, 10-year old Abigail, and 6-year old Charlotte/Charlie.  Jack harbors dark secrets from his childhood, which culminated in him running away from home at the early age of 14.  One evening, while driving home late at night with his family, he swerves off the road to dodge what he thinks is an animal.  No one else sees the animal, except for Charlie.

After the accident, things begin to change.  Jack begins to see the evil in Charlie that he saw in himself as a child.  In conjunction with the current story, we also get a slow and steady reveal of Jack's childhood.  Charlie becomes scarier and more intimidating, as her older sister and mother shrink away from her.  Jack, however, is intrigued by his changed daughter.

This book had a level of creepiness that is sincerely difficult to achieve.  I read some sentences/scenes repeatedly, as I loved how they were written.  I find it's challenging to paint a child as an antagonist, a la Damien and Reagan, but Ahlborn hit the nail right on the head.  I flew through this book in two days, and literally could not put it down.  I would highly recommend.

Desert Places by Blake Crouch

I got turned on to Blake Crouch while reading J.A. Konrath/Jack Kilborn's array of extreme horror novels.  He collaborated with Blake Crouch on Serial and after I plowed through all the books he had to offer, I knew Crouch was next for me.

Desert Places is the first in a series of Andrew Thomas novels, Thomas being a writer and the main character in these books.  Desert Places starts out hard and fast -- popular horror novelist Andrew Thomas checks his mail one evening to find an interesting piece of correspondence.  It states that there is a woman buried on his property, covered in his blood and killed with a knife from his house.  At first, Andrew dismisses this as a crazy piece of fan mail, but decides to check it out, just for fun.

What he finds is that there actually is a woman buried on his property, and as he follows the other instructions in the letter, he digs himself a deeper and deeper hole.  He meets the writer of the letter, and finds out that this is no psychotic fan.  This person's interest is even more complicated and close to home.  The two will go on a journey...even when they are not together.

Although not as truly sick as Kilborn/Konrath's works, this book was exciting and demented, and left me wanting more.  There were some truly scary parts of the book (the HI MOM! one being the creepiest for me)  You'll be glad to know that there are at least two more Thomas books, which extend this exciting story.

















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