{TV series}Review: Helix

A team of scientists are thrust into a potentially life-or-death situation in this thriller, which begins with the group being deployed to the Arctic to secretly investigate what could be a disease outbreak.

This is a roller-coaster ride of a series.  I loved it!  Each episode had you believing another version of what the truth might be!  The whole series is played out in a “secret” arctic science lab where more that just lawful experimentation might be going on.    A group of CDC scientists are up against a decease that not even the director of the lab can (or want to) fully explain.  The first season ended on a cliffhanger of sorts and I am very happy that a second season will follow in 2015.

{Audiobook} Review: 14

14
by Peter Clines
Genre: Mystery, Horror, Science Fiction
Date Read: 07 May 2014
Reading with my ears
Narrator: Ray Porter
Unabridged audio - Length: 12 hours 38 minutes

Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.
There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.
Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much.
At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s.
Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends.
Or the end of everything...

My thoughts:
This book was such a nice surprise.  I had started the ebook a while back but had to set it aside for a shiny new title and totally forgot about it until a friend suggested I give it a try.  I expected horror (I love horror!).  But this story was more of a mystery.  The first three quarters of the book, we are trying to figure out where the crazy was coming from (and there are a lot of crazy!).  Huge illuminating cockroaches anyone (I would have not even unpacked!)
Very soon, the tenants of the apartment building getting to know each other, having fake movie-nights so that they can discuss the mystery without the supervisor noticing.  I loved the way that all the friends had their own story and background explained.  There were not many that were not very quickly a beloved part of the story.  

This was a four star read for me until just a few chapters from the ending.  I do not want to give away spoilers, so I will just say that the book took a strange turn that I did not enjoy.  But all in all it was an enjoyable experience.
Audio:  I really enjoyed the voice of Ray Porter.  I think I could listen to him read the phonebook.  His voice is so smooth – it just flows over you.  I just felt sorry for him when he had to read some of the drama in the last few pages – wonder what he was thinking

{Audiobook} Review: The Shining

  The Shining
    by Stephen King
 
  Genre: Physiological Thriller, Horror
  Date Read: 22 March 2014
  Reading with my ears
  Narrator: Campbell Scott
  Unabridged audio - Length:
  15 hours 54 minutes

Danny was only five years old but in the     words of old Mr Halloran he was a 'shiner',   aglow with psychic voltage. When his father became caretaker of the Overlook Hotel his visions grew frighteningly out of control.
As winter closed in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seemed to develop a life of its own. It was meant to be empty, but who was the lady in Room 217, and who were the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why did the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive?
Somewhere, somehow there was an evil force in the hotel - and that too had begun to shine...

My thoughts:
I read THE SHINING a lifetime ago and I still remember how scared I was – I even had to put the book aside for a bit between some of the scenes.  This was the first book that scared me enough to stop me reading.  I loved it! 

I watched the (original) movie a week or two ago and decided to re-read (listen to) the book again.  I must admit that it lost some of the scary-ness for me.   This time round it felt more like a physiological thriller.  It was about a man slowly losing his grip on reality and sinking into madness and not so much about a haunted hotel.  I could see that Jack Torrence wanted to blame everyone around him for his own failures and short comings.  Unfortunately only his wife and son was around and they made excellent scapegoats.  

I have also lost some of my sympathy for Danny (I did not enjoy DR SLEEP as much as the rest of the world).  I realize that he was just a little boy but I was unable to think of him as such.  He seemed to be much more mature than a five year old child.

The narrator of the book, Campbell Scott did not seem like a good fit when I started.  He talked too slowly and in such a dull tone.  But as soon as the real story begun, he was perfect.  That tone just made all the bleakness and emptiness of the snowed in hotel more real.  He quite literally scared me with Jack’s screams a few times.  He was an excellent fit for the story.

All in all, this was still an enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend it.

{Audiobook} Review: American Elsewhere

American Elsewhere
by Robert Jackson Bennett


Genre: Science Fiction
Source: my own copy
Date Read: 06 February 2014
Narrator: Graham Winton
Length: Unabridged - 22 hours; 24 minutes 

Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different.

My thoughts:
I had a really hard time writing this review.  When a friend asked what I thought of American Elsewhere, I really had to search for words to describe my feelings.  

I cannot decide if I even liked it. I know I am in the minority, looking at all the glowing reviews on Goodreads, but I am sure I would have dropped it if it was not an audio version.  I find that I read outside my normal "comfort zone" when I listen to audiobooks (which just makes me love audiobooks all the more!).

The story started off very slowly and is written in very descriptive, what I image, would be considered prose (my reading style is usually much more relaxed).   Huge sections are just very flowery language describing for example the valley and mountains near the village or just the beautiful night and pink moon.   This is not your usual Sunday afternoon beach read.

Towards the middle, the story starts and it is very, very strange. Not sure why some would consider it horror though. It is at most very loosely based science fiction (mostly alien) or maybe fantasy. 

There is some action towards the end and a lot happens in just the last few chapters.  By this time, I was invested in the story and I just had so see what the author would do to tie up all the loose ends.   I think all fell in place very easily.

I would recommend this to readers of more literary fiction or to people like me who enjoy stretching their reading experience with audiobooks.