Edward Lee (1) (1957–)

Сред второ- и треторазредните автори на ужаси и шокиращи историйки има горе-долу 99% брак, но понякога се появява някакъв блестящ диамант (или покрит с повръщано гноен раков цирей, според както решите да го наречете) като тази книга.

Въпреки малко тегавото начало, Teratologist show more скоро избухва с най-гнусното, противно и извратено съдържание, което някога съм имал удоволствието да прочета. Да, мислите си, че знаете какво да очаквате, но вярвайте ми - нямате ни най-малка представа в каква клоака ще ви потопи Едуард Лий. show less

All Venetia Barlow wanted to do in her summer break was to earn a couple of extra credits by helping to restore St. John's Prior House. But then she starts hearing voices... from Hell, and slowly she discovers the many secrets the Prior House has hidden so well over the years.
A terrific novel which combines a lot of with well-thought-out descriptions (Mephistopolis, the city in Hell with it's different districts is a very fine example) and a suspenseful storyline with steadily mounting show more tension until the story concludes in a brilliant finale, but be warned, on the way you'll encounter a couple of unexpected developments.
I finished the second half of the book in one sitting, it was way too gripping to put down. show less

It's difficult to know what to say about this book, aside from the fact that it's something of a pornographic mess.

The highlights--few and far between--are the passages which focus simply on science, and allow the biological questions and discussions (which should theoretically be more central to the book) to take focus, but these are so rare, they come as a pleasant surprise. And, in truth, they may or may not be all that impressive or even remotely accurate to real-world biology, but show more they're such a pleasant reprieve from the obsession with sex and the unlikable, immature characters, the passages are still refreshing.

But the characters are central to the book's issues. For the most part, they're drawn more like sex-obsessed, body-image-obsessed, unthinking teenagers, and it's a rare moment when any of the supposed professionals act like adults. The book's back cover blurb and even moments in the book hint that the worms are driving the preoccupation with sex--the more disgusting, the better, apparently, to the writer's way of thinking--but the problem with that is that the characters are focused on each other's bodies, and sex, even before they reach the island. And that's all aside from the fact that the characters, simply put, don't act like adult professionals. They feel more like the stereotypes you'd get if you asked 12-year-old boys to think up porn involving nerdy scientists, army guys, and a gorgeous photographer. But then again, I'm probably doing a disservice to 12-year-old boys there.

If you can't already tell, I've been left thoroughly unimpressed, and the totally out-of-left-field twist toward the end of the book didn't up my estimation. I doubt I'll be picking up another book from either the author or the publisher any time in the future. show less

I know what I am supposed to write in criticism of this book, which I rated one star to: Ooooooh, I was soooooo shocked! It was so horrifying!! Golly gee, what a bizarre and brutal place Hell is!!!

The truth is, I wasn't shocked, I wasn't horrified, I wasn't offended: I was just bored. To paraphrase Iggy Pop......I was the Chairman of the Bored when I read this book.

One good thing learned from this experiment: do not assume that you will like any horror genre book; read all the reviews, even show more the ones with spoilers before reading. I'm getting pretty good now at cutting out the deadwood while searching for a book and I won't make this mistake again. show less