Sarah Lotz

Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2017/05/22/review-the-white-road-by-sarah-lotz/


The White Road will creep under your skin, fill your mind with all the ghastly things and make you leery of participating in activities like, oh, let’s say caving or mountain climbing. I was totally going to go climb Everest next year, really! Never mind that I have a bum knee, a bum ankle, and maybe I’m scared of heights and also am a wimp, maybe I could have considered it anyway. show more But nope. Not now. None of my more rational reasons for never climbing Everest are nearly as convincing as reading this book. My knee may hurt, but it doesn’t haunt me night and day and give me the creeps. Maybe this is fiction, maybe there really aren’t haunted caves or mountains, either way, I am very content staying planted on the ground (not beneath or above) letting other people figure that out. I will bask in the experience vividly given to me via Lotz’s book. Kind of like how I felt about cruises after reading Day Four.

Lotz has cemented herself as one of my favorite horror authors with this book. The characters are real and fascinating. The book is just downright creepy! I love it! The dark sense of humor that is layered through out is one of the things that makes her work so memorable and enjoyable for me. The vast majority of this book is from Simon’s perspective. He is blessed with this dark sense of humor, he is self deprecating, irreverent (at least in his inner thoughts), and just absolutely wonderful to read. There were a few sections from another perspective and while I did like these sections, and do think they are critical for the book, I did not love them in the same way as Simon’s perspective and it was definitely because I missed the humor. Keep in mind, this is not a criticism, those sections are necessary and good, I just missed the laughs that I was having with the rest of the book. Those types of things that you think “oh, I shouldn’t really be laughing, but damn! That is so funny! So wrong, yet hilarious!”

The story all starts because Simon and his friend want to drive more traffic to their website. It is full of lists whose titles start with things like “Top 10 most disgusting things…”. The type of lists that are all about shock value and can be summed up in one amazing click baity title. It was decided that Simon should venture down into a dangerous (and closed down) cave system, not because the descent would be scary enough, but because deep down in those caves are the bodies of three boys who became trapped and died there. With the cave system being so hard to traverse, there was just no way to recover the bodies. So why not send Simon down and film them for the website? Yeah, this is the type of disrespectful stunt they are willing to pull to gain page hits. Added bonus, Ed, his random tour guide found off a forum on the internet, is about the creepiest fucker I have ever read. Just thinking back to him makes me cringe and shudder.

In terms of traffic to their website, the caves were a hit, however, the trip down Simon’s life forever, haunting him. And wow, it’s changes in some creeptastic ways. His partner in crime decides that his next big venture (to renew interest after the traffic boost gained from the caves starts to taper) is to pull a similar stunt on Everest. Once again, sending Simon to do the dirty work. And in addition to any supernatural type of horror you might find in this book, I have to say, just the description of the vividly harsh conditions on Everest are enough to scare me away from the mountain.

Another thing I love about Simon, is he does have a conscious. He is actually quite conflicted by all of this, and it may be part of why the story really spirals for him. He just does not seem to have the energy or backbone to stand up to his friend. It is often this internal conflict that would give moments of levity as he could see the absurdity of his “mission”. Maybe this could be a lesson to listen to your conscious (and maybe choose your friends wisely). So while, Simon may do some questionable things, I found him extremely relatable and very likable.

I really can’t recommend this book enough. Seriously, I never want to meet a person named Ed. I never want to go caving. I never want to climb Everest. Just to make sure I add something positive, this book may also have shown me the appeal of curling up in a ball. All kidding aside, this is one of my favorite horror books in quite a while. I know this story will stick with me because of how much it got under my skin while reading. Absolutely loved it!! show less

Before I ultimately write my own review, I like to run down the list and skim some of the others, just to get a feel of what's being said, as well as the overall consensus. It's interesting how many people ripped into this book for the exact reason I loved it.

This is not a book told in a conventional manner. It's collections of Skypes and tweets and transcripts and excerpts. The story is never direct. Instead, it's teased out, with clues dropped in one section, only to be explored in a show more completely different area. It's got an international cast.

And it's fascinating as hell.

I absolutely loved this book. I laughed at one review below where they wrote, in bold, I want my motherfucking mystery. I laughed at a second who wondered why this book was considered horror. I laughed, because had they read any of the novel, they would have clued in that there's mysteries wrapped in mysteries, and the horror, while quiet, is subversive. It creeps up on you without you ever hearing it.

So. I loved the characters. I loved the narrative device used to draw out the story. I loved the actual story. I loved everything about this novel.

Sarah Lotz, I now have to read everything you've written. Thanks, because I haven't even caught up on all the stuff Lauren Beukes has written, because she had the same effect on me after reading Broken Monsters.

It's nice to see intelligent horror making a comeback. show less

Before picking up Impossible I'd heard so many amazing things about it, to the point that I was concerned I might have built it up too much in my head. I'm happy to report that that was not the case and Impossible is truly a brilliant book.

One day Nick, chasing up unpaid fees for his writing services, sends a very sweary email to his client….except for some reason that email goes to Bee, a fashion designer with a disastrous love life. They find they have a rapport, something that's hard to show more come by in everyday life, and it seems like fate that they have found each other. After much email correspondence they decide to meet. So far, so fairly expected romance novel. It's what comes after the day they hoped to meet that makes this such an original and engaging high-concept love story…..and I'm not going to tell you what happens next, only to say that you should read this wonderful book for yourself.

Bee and Nick are ideal protagonists. I loved both but I particularly loved Nick's sardonic humour which had me laughing out loud many times, not just in his emails with Bee but in his interactions with friends, family, his irascible neighbour and his nit-picking landlady, not to mention his dog, Rosie. If Nick would make me laugh in real life then Bee is the kind of person who would make a great friend. She's thoughtful and kind and generally sweet-natured.

A delicious mind-twister of a read, plotted to perfection with characters that almost jump off the page, Impossible is something very special indeed. I was hooked from start to finish by Nick and Bee's impossible romance and the question of whether it could ever be resolved really ramped up the anticipation levels, leading to the really rather delightful ending. Never mind Impossible, this book is Unforgettable. I hope it becomes a bestseller. show less

When four aeroplanes on four different continents all crash on the same day, the world is stunned. The only survivors are a woman who survives just long enough to record a message which has far reaching consequences, and three young children. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these children (collectively known as The Three) become the subject of intense media scrutiny and all sorts of theories about how or why they lived and who or what they really are. Some religious fanatics claim that show more there are three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and a sure sign that the Rapture is soon to come. They manipulate this to their own ends, with their machinations affecting the highest powers in the United States. Others claim that the children are aliens or worse.

After opening with a vivid description of one of the aeroplane crashes, the story is then told as a series of Skype interviews with relevant parties, tweets, blogs, newsclips, online chats etc. This means that the reader is given snippets of information at a time, with differing points of view and opinions, helping to fit all the pieces together. It’s an interesting format and one I liked.

As for the story itself, the premise had me hooked from the start, and I thought the book opened really well. However, I don’t think it kept up its momentum throughout; there were some parts that I REALLY enjoyed and others which, although I didn’t actually dislike them, seemed unnecessary and dragged the story down somewhat. I think a bit of extra editing would have made a big and positive difference.

My favourite parts, without giving away any spoilers, were Paul Craddock’s sections – he was the uncle of one of the survivors and events had a huge impact on him; and the way the religious fanatics twisted events to suit their own agenda. These parts actually felt scarily realistic.

I do think the ending let the book down slightly – I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t overseen on what happened. Nonetheless I still enjoyed the book overall and definitely look forward to reading more of Sarah Lotz’s work. show less