Unspeakable
£5.17
Sounds better than it reads - Unspeakable appears rushed and is not up to the standard of the majority of Graham Masterton s usual body of work. The blurb refers to a string of disappearing women but this is not an element of the book! The shoe of one missing woman is mentioned as having been found but the reader never knew that she, or anyone else, was missing. The book has a leisurely build-up which is fine as there is plenty of detail, but not about missing women, and although the child abuse details are unpleasant, they seem relevant to the development of the story but ultimately seem to be extraneous information and the reader is aware that the end of the book is approaching and yet the main thrust of the tale has not been established. The final chapter/page is a total zonker!
What are others reading??? - I am a huge GM fan and have been since being ooohhh about 13 and yes, some of his books leave me feeling oh mmm right, what was that all about and others WHOA what a ride. This one......... well, I have to admit that about 3/4 of the way through the book I was feeling a little When is this going to get started but the twist on the last page was like hitting a brick wall. I was like.....OMG, HE CANNOT DO THAT!!!Not a brilliant book, and yes, some people may not like to be made aware that children are used and abused in this dispicable world, but it does happen and personally I think that GM dealt with writing about it very very well. All in all a canny little read to fill in a few hours till getting your teeth into his next grim novel.
Unspeakable (Almost Unreadable) - Oh boy! How to write a book in a week. Very light weight book with some gratuitous porn thrown in. This is one of the poorest masterton novels I have read and disappointed is an understatement.
A different angle - Of late Masterton is turning out light reads, both in terms of horror and in genre. There are still American Indian references, yet the usual bone-chilling terror is not present. This said however, Unspeakable does not follow any expected paths, it s unpredictable, wily and at times quite shocking. When the central protagonist of the tale is deaf, you should know that Masterton is using that a vehicle to create scenarios that will unnerve you, and he does this, not consistently, but enough to remind you that he has the book has the potential to be nasty if it needed to be. That is the crux. Unspeakable is not a horror book, yet a dark and unsettling tale of the horror in our world, the danger we pose to our children , and with only a faint supernatural background. It ll grab your interest, and fill a few hours (it s only a short book) and is a worthy addition to your Masterton library, but it s not strictly horror.
What happened? - The whole book goes along quite nicely, easy to read and a straightforward plot line. There are a few red herrings and wolves in sheep clothing but over all a great read. Then the last twenty pages is like being on a runaway train and the last page is when you finally hit something with a very large bump. Never has a book left me actually thinking what the hell happened there? I hope this is Masterton back after his long sabbatical with kiddie horror. I really miss books like Tengu and Charnel House. Now off to read Manitou Blood, wonder what this will end with?