Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Desperate Souls



Title/Author: Desperate Souls by Gregory Lamberson

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Medallion (October 2010)

Source: ARC

Favorite character: Edgar and Laurel.

Favorite quote:  "They don't call it Black Magic for nothing."

All in all: Slow to start but shot ahead full throttle.

What I liked:  I’m not much of a zombie girl, I’m more into other supernatural creatures, so this is one of the first zombie books I have read. I liked how the zombies (or zonbies) were created, not by an infection or a bite, but by magic and drugs. The very first chapter is told in one of the creature’s perspective and I thought this was original and interesting. I felt his despair and anguish and how he was suffering.  The plot also really heated up making the book hard to put down. Several characters were involved in this story and they were threaded together very well.  There were also a few surprises that blindsided me to the point where I remember saying "Oh my God!" out loud.  The action scenes were exciting, well executed and had me on the edge of my seat.  I also enjoyed that it took place in NYC, which is pretty familiar to me, so it was easy to visualize.

This story is the 2nd book in the Jake Hellman files, who is the main character, but it wasn’t difficult to follow.  There was some re-capping and even though I didn't have prior knowledge to everything being described, it wasn't confusing.  I did not exactly like Jake as a person, but as a character he was top notch.  His honesty and flaws make him realistic and therefore his story believable.

There is violence, but it wasn’t a gore-fest. Well maybe a little, but I guess it's what you're used to and your frame of reference.  There were some parts that gave me the "ick" factor, but sometimes I'm all about the blood.  It was a dark tale, gritty and tragic, but there was also a lot of humor especially between Jake and his friend Edgar.

What I didn’t like:  It was a bit slow to start and there was a fair amount of telling instead of showing.   The italicized one liner thoughts of the characters were also distracting.  Things like,  Oh my God! They’re after me!  I felt there were too many of them and it seemed to chop up the action.  It also felt like a device for telling as opposed to showing.

I give this book a 3/5 stars.

1 comments:

Angelique said...

I'm reading a zombie book right now too =)

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