The Three by Sarah Lotz

 

Book Synopsis 

Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he’s right?

The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn’t appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.

Dubbed ‘The Three’ by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children’s behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival…

 

 

My Thoughts

The Three by Sarah Lotz was a very enjoyable read. The premise was interesting, four planes simultaneously crash in different corners of the world and the only survivors are three children. I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints and mediums that were used to tell the story. Part news reports, part interviews, and part personal narrative, all woven together in a tale that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Quite possibly the creepiest part of the book was the description of the Aokigahara Forest, Japan’s infamous suicide forest. I still shudder when I think of it.

It took me longer than normal to finish this book because I kept going back and rereading certain sections. The Three is a wonderful example of how media reports can skew the actual events.

Were the events supernatural, extra-terrestrial, or a sign of the End Times? As I read I came up with several different theories, but I was very satisfied (and more than a little creeped out) with the ending. I certainly will not be traveling by plane anytime soon.

Dark Hollow by Brian Keene

 

Book Synopsis

Something very strange is happening in LeHorn’s Hollow…
Eerie, piping music is heard late at night, and mysterious fires have been spotted deep in the woods. Women are vanishing without a trace overnight, leaving behind husbands and families.
When up-and-coming novelist Adam Senft stumbles upon an unearthly scene, it plunges him and the entire town into an ancient nightmare. Folks say the woods in LeHorn’s Hollow are haunted, but what waits there is far worse than any ghost. It has been summoned…and now it demands to be satisfied.  

My Thoughts 

I never really considered myself a horror fan until I started reading Brian Keene‘s work. Sure, I had read a few Stephen King books and enjoyed them but never really considered a true fan of the genre. I just stood at the edge of the pool and occasionally dipped my toe in. Brian Keene changed all that. I read The Girl on the Glider a few years back and it sparked something in me, something that I had not found in other books in the genre. I am not exactly sure what it is, maybe it is the way that he details the main characters daily routine, getting the reader comfortable and then suddenly jerking the carpet out from under both the characters and the reader. Nothing will ever be the same.

I really like the world building. You have our normal, everyday world, one in which we feel safe, but there is something else out there. Something monstrous, alien, and eternal. The only thing holding this darkness at bay are a handful of people.

The characters are likable and easy to relate to. I wish I had the relationship with my neighbors that Adam has with his.

I want to read the sequel, Ghost Walk, because I want to know what happened to Adam. The ending while chilling gives closure, but hints at more to come.