Brian Keene is one of my favorite writers. I don’t like calling a writer a “horror” writer, a “mystery” writer, or even worse, a “literary” writer. A story or novel can be horror, a mystery, or literary, but the same quality makes all of these types of novels/stories worth reading and that is just plain old good writing. Do I care about the characters? Is the protagonist a compelling figure? Does the plot move along so that I want to know what happens? Is there more going on than just a recitation of events? Does the writer write with a skill that takes me out of the book, beyond the written words, and into the world that he/she is creating? If the answer to those is yes, then that person is a good writer. Period.
Brian Keene is definitely a good writer. The fact that I enjoy the genre in which he writes is irrelevant.
I really like Levi Stofus as a main character and am looking forward to reading more of his adventures. The latest installment does not disappoint. The only complaint that I have, and it is a mild one, is that these two stories are obviously stand alone stories but I wish they had been melded a bit better in this collection. Since the action is sequential and reads like one really long story in two acts, we didn’t need some of the repetitive parts. That sounds a bit nit-picky I know. Oh well.
Anyone who reads and enjoys Brian Keene needs to add this one to their collection.
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