Helpful Score: 4
One hell of a good ride. A romp through a ravaged and ruined, water stained and grim world, where Lovecraftian creatures of Brian Keene's imagination, are set loose to wreck havoc and to destroy the world as we know it. I've read this book over 52 times, and I have to say, it is one of my favorite books ever. At the very top of my rather long list of favorite books. He puts a spin on the Post-Apocalyptic sub-genre that well leave you begging for more! A definite 10/10, hands down.
Helpful Score: 3
Odd little post apocalyptic horror novel. Or is it post horror apocalypse? Anyway, it effectively marries a disaster of biblical proportions (40 days + of rain) to lovecraftian horrors (man eating giant earth worms among other things). I liked it for the character and voice of Teddy Garnett, an octogenarian survivor in West Virginia. He's sad, doomed, realistic and, something I can't put my finger on.
Anyway, not what I expected, but fun.
Anyway, not what I expected, but fun.
Helpful Score: 2
Keene Continues to be one of my favorites. This one begs a sequel!
Helpful Score: 2
My first outing with Brian Keene - and I have to say it was more fun than I thought it might be! There is the giant worm plot - but the book fractures into 3 sections, each story and tone becoming more outlandish as the book flows. There were some sloppy conclusions to side plots, and the resolution was unsatisfactory - but my end rating is 7.5/10, for the great start and the page turning thrills offered in the first half of the book. It begs to be a modern B movie.
Helpful Score: 1
This one is just like the title says. Very good and entertaining. A lot of fun to read.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a VERY creepy book--I could hardly put it down!
Helpful Score: 1
I haven't read a book where the main protagonist is a crabby 80 year old guy since struggling through King's Insomnia many moons ago. Fortunately, this story is much more interesting. This guy is a lone survivor (or so it seems) in a world nearly buried under water. He has the misfortune to live high up on a secluded mountain when most others have perished in the floods and he faces long days of loneliness, isolation and day after day of rain. His only friend is a little robin who visits each morning and brightens up his otherwise gloomy existence. But then the giant earth worms explode on the scene and begin to wreak havoc. It sounds like a wild premise for a great B horror movie but the characterization makes it all real and surprisingly compelling.
This is a very good apocalypse novel that moves at a crisp pace. The characters are nicely developed with only one annoying me with his heavy handed ghetto speak. The author doesn't throw everything in your face and leaves you and the characters in suspense wondering what awful thing is going to happen next.
This is a very good apocalypse novel that moves at a crisp pace. The characters are nicely developed with only one annoying me with his heavy handed ghetto speak. The author doesn't throw everything in your face and leaves you and the characters in suspense wondering what awful thing is going to happen next.
Helpful Score: 1
Keene has done a couple of apocalyptic novels of the zombie genre. In this one, he tackles giant man eating worms. Far fetched? Of course, but Keene does manage to make it work.
Helpful Score: 1
God must have been smiing on me the day I glanced over and saw this book. Had it been filed under the horror section I would have never looked back. I never judge a book by it's cover, awesome cover BTW, but I don't fancy horror as a main genre (to read) anymore. This book classifed as horror but is what I have heard called "smart horror". There is always a reason for the violence and/or mayhem. If there wasn't I wouldn't be a time and again fan. BRAIN KEENE does use offending language so if your not used to cursing or gore steer clear. But you will miss out on an author whose books you will read in one sitting (almost) guaranteed.
Helpful Score: 1
This was so entertaining I couldn't put it down! I actually felt nervous for some of the characters at times, which was fun. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away but WHAT AN IMAGINATION!
Helpful Score: 1
Okay, I admit the cover struck me as silly..as did the title, but this really was a very good story of humankind's survival in an end-of-the-world book. Told from the viewpoints of an old man of a rural area and a young man of an urban city, it told the horrors of survival as non-stop rain ravaged earth and huge tidal waves swamped the coastal areas of the globe wiping out populations and land masses until only those in the inland high-rises and mountaintops were left to scavage and fight each other to survive...until the giant worms and huge squid-like creatures came after them. What caused the disasterous rain...God breaking his promise to Man after Noah, or global warming? I really couldn't put this book down, and I do not read either sci-fi or horror.
This is a new book from my horror book club. All I
need to tell you is, it is hard to put down. Makes you hope it never rains 39 days in a row. You never know what might come out of the ground...
need to tell you is, it is hard to put down. Makes you hope it never rains 39 days in a row. You never know what might come out of the ground...
WOW!!!! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough! Absolutely creepy, horrific, sensational!! Horror written very very well!!
Mr Keene you are one scary guy. Can't wait to read another one!
I could not put this down, literally. I finished it in one long beach day and the resulting night. It reads like old Stephen King and is just as creepy. The main characters are great, especially the viewpoint from an 80 year old WW2 vet trying to fight for his life.
All I can say is interesting. But thought I'd post that the sequel to this book is on his website for free. He is posting the chapters as he gets them completed. Chapters 1-24 are up there now. This first book was good enough to make me want to take the time to read the second book online.
Giant worms stalk a flooded earth. A nice lovecraftian vibe.
The rains start and won't stop. Creatures are being washed to the top of the ground. Then the real horror begins.
The rains came-and just did not stop.Cities and towns disapppeared under the flood,but that was not the worst part. Even more terrifying was the unimaginable creatures the flood drove up from beneath the earth.Writhing,burrowing creatures devouring all in their path.What hope does an already devastated mankind have against THE CONQUEROR WORMS!
this is a great book , with a old man you got to like as the main character. highly recommened this one.
I loved it!Brian Keene is now my favorite author!!!
Although Mr. Keene has always shown remarkable knowledge of the stories behind the Bible, this particular story was, to me, so esoteric and bizarre that it just never gelled for me. I felt the occult elements were out of place, and this just didn't work, either as a horror story or as an apocolyptic thriller. There are much better novels out there by Mr. Keene, and this one can be left behind.
