The Book Thread Book • Page 92

R.I.P.

 

Picked up the new Ruth Ware from the library on my way home from work. Look forward to starting it when my kids go for for a nap

 

Definitely let me know what you think!

Also unrelated: I am like 400 pages into the Fifth to Die … it is great! This one is a little tougher than the Fourth Monkey to follow because there are a lot of different characters with their own investigations and goals so it is a bit tougher to remember sometimes what happened last, but it is super enjoyable. Excited to see how it ends and excited for the third book next week!

 

I definitely will! Is that one up next for you or did you already read it?

I definitely agree, The Fifth To Die felt very much like a middle book in a trilogy to me. Wasn't quite as compelling as The Fourth Monkey but it sets up quite a bit for The Sixth Wicked Child it seems and I'm really excited to see how it all comes together in the end. He finally announced preorders and whatnot today!

 

I haven’t read the new Ruth Ware yet, I might check it out after I finish the 4MK trilogy!

 

@Vivatoto I know you're a fan of Dan Simmons. I'm listening to The Fifth Heart currently and it's kind of a chore, it's incredibly dense to listen to(and I'd imagine to read as well). Are all of his books like that?

 

Very much so. One of the reasons I’m a fan. I don’t know any other author that researches like him.

 

It reminds me of Bill James, if you're familiar with his stuff. More non fiction but exhaustive research as well

 

Reading Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers and so far enjoy it but something about reading about a character taking a sunset photo on her phone and throwing a few “Instagram filters and posting it to the IG” makes me groan

 

That totally makes sense. I’ve always compared his research to like what Moby Dick was for whaling, haha. His Sci Fi is also ridiculously over the top, I love it.

 

I ordered this the other day, looking forward to it.

 

Let me know what you think. Hoping to blast through it over the weekend. It feels like something Stephen King would write, but probably just having memories of reading The Long Walk

 

I don't believe I've read anything from the author before but I saw a Stand comparison immediately on the Amazon page and didn't mess around before ordering, ha.

 

Any recommendations for getting into horror novels?

 

@Colby Searcy I just finished The Fifth to Die. I’m so sad I thought I saw the next one comes out sooner than August 27th. Gonna be a LONG two weeks.

It was a great ending. So much build up to where we are. Some twists I didn’t see and one I kind of thought COULD happen ... and seems like we are doing it.

 

Have you read any horror novels already?

If so, which ones and did you enjoy them?

@Vivatoto and @Colby Searcy can help with this as well!

 

The Woman In Black would get my vote. Also The Shining

 

The Shining is a really good introduction to Stephen King!

 

What twist could you see happening I'm curious.

It felt very much like a middle book to a trilogy to me and just shows how crazy the finale is gonna be. I actually have an e-galley version of the new one on my Kindle atm

 

I was wondering if somehow they were going to connect Sam with Bishop in some way from the past. Bishop is very calculated on WHO he torments, tortures, and attacks and I got the vibe he really enjoy playing this game with Sam, beyond reasons of his just being the detective. Very curious where it goes!

However did NOT see Sarah being his mom. I went into this one curious of new characters in the investigation, but just didn’t see it coming.
Have you read anything else by J.D. Barker? Forgot if you mentioned this before.

 

Well King is the obvious choice...If you want to get more specific with recs for him let me know. As mentioned, The Shining would be a fine choice. His son Joe Hill is doing some truly incredible things, his best books match up with King. N0S4A2 is sort of like his IT and The Fireman is like his The Stand. Either of those would be great choices.

Two horror authors that I absolutely love that haven't put out a bad book are Adam Nevill and John Langan. Their prose is beautiful, stories wholly original, and they prove that horror literature can be written just as well as any other genre. My favorite from Adam is Last Days, Ritual might be a good place to start, but there's really nowhere you could go wrong with him. All of his stories tie together in little ways like King's Dark Tower so the more you read the more you will love. John's tour de force is The Fisherman.

If you want some real, no supernatural ghosts or demons, violently depressing horror then check out anything from Jack Ketchum. The Girl Next Door is a horror masterpiece.

Paul Tremblay has also been putting out great work recently. Head Full of Ghosts is a favorite around here. All of his books are ambiguous as hell, so hopefully you enjoy not getting answers.

A few other names that come to mind...Ania Ahlborn, Peter Straub, Tananarive Due, Robert McCammon, Josh Malerman (who recently got big thanks to Bird Box), Alma Katsu, and Dan Simmons.

 

Thanks so much! Definitely will check out Nevill and Langan, sounds right up my alley.

When you say "violently depressing" -- is Head Full of Ghosts violent? I don't love gratuitous violence.

 

That was only about Jack Ketchum which even then I was mainly just using that to describe how depressing he is. Although he is insanely violent too so stay away if you don't want that, haha.

And no, you'd be safe with Head Full of Ghosts or anything by Paul Tremblay, I wouldn't consider his work gratuitously violent. Jack Ketchum is really the only one on that list that's super violent.

 

That last twist was wild!

I haven't, honestly I don't know that I'm that interested in his other stuff before 4MK. I AM interested in his book he is writing with James Patterson though that should be good!

This kinda bums me out I'm really interested in Cabin At The End of the World but I basically like everything spoon-fed to me haha

 

I generally enjoy a well crafted explanation over ambiguity but the unexplainable, Lovecraftian approach works well when someone knows what they’re doing and not just under-writing. Funny enough Tremblay just put out a short story collection and almost every single one of them has an ambiguous end and he jokes about it a lot in his story notes.