Readable, but I ended up skimming the last half. It felt dated, published in 1989 but felt more like the seventies. There were hints of the paranormal, but nothing that was fully realized. I didn't find the characters to be that interesting. The ending would have had more impact if there had been some build-up, but it kind of came out of nowhere. I like Bloch's short stories (what I've read of them) but this is the second novel I've tried and been disappointed in. Maybe his work just doesn't age that well. ( )

Pulpy, paranoid, possibly paranormal mystery about a college graduate who returns to her parents' burned-out home and finds an old yearbook, with a picture of a girl who looks exactly like her, dated from before she was born.

The IDW edition has a beautiful cover by Ben Templesmith, but contains a lot of typos. My favorite is "[the door] started to swing shit behind him." ( )

Robert Bloch is a pretty big name in horror fiction. He wrote Psycho, the novel on which the Hitchcock film was based, not to mention that episode of classic Star Trek where the Enterprise crew meet Jack the Ripper. (What can I say? I'm a big Star Trek fan.) So I was expecting something at least moderately impressive from this, the first novel of his that I've read. Unfortunately, that isn't what I got.

Arguably, this isn't even so much a horror novel as it is a thriller with some supernatural/horror elements. But it's just not all that thrilling of a thriller. It's not awful or anything, I guess, but it's also just not that engaging. Bloch makes some attempt to make the characters three-dimensional, but it doesn't really work all that well. And while the plot does start out with some mildly interesting mysteries, most of them end up getting explained in a giant infodump, and the answers turn out to be neither particularly surprising nor particularly interesting. (Although, in fairness, I suppose they might have seemed slightly more so in 1989, when this book was published.) There is one final little twist at the end that could have been pretty cool, if it weren't done in an incredibly rushed and unsatisfying way. But, of course, it was.

So, generally, this was just kind of a disappointment. ( )

2.5 stars

Lori, published in 1989, was Bloch's last published novel before his death. He was continuously known as the "author of Psycho," even though he published more than 50 other novels, 50 other screenplays, and more than 400 short stories.

I’m always eager to dig into a Bloch creation – the man has a natural talent with words that makes writing seem effortless. It’s no wonder that when modern horror greats are asked who their inspirations were, Bloch makes most of those lists. That said, Lori proves the point that writing talent isn’t the only thing a book needs to make it worth reading.

The plot takes turns on the merry-go-round deciding what it wants to be. I’m guessing this wasn’t a pre-plotted piece. It flip flops between a murder mystery, psychological teaser, and all-out supernatural war. Blending the three works superbly if it’s cohesive; instead it turns out some of the hints aren’t fully realized at the end. I read segments and wondered where the story was going, it was impossible to tell; that unpredictability is usually good, but I think now that it’s all said and done that Bloch was finding his way and paving the story’s road while writing it. This caused more harm than success.

It starts subtle, slowly unraveling with confusion, but enough interest to keep me intrigued. Unfortunately the middle keeps confusion up too long where interest starts disappearing. The ending churned out a lackluster revelation, which I had semi-guessed already.

Lori was an okay heroine. She’s always convincing, but more likeable at the start than later. I didn’t understand her attraction to the doctor much and found her starting to get too snippy. There’s not many players in the story, none memorable enough to remember or grow attached to.

Overall Lori is a disappointing read. The very end was decent and slightly creepy, I just wish the entire book had that kind of impact. Bloch will always be worth reading, but this is a weaker offering from his collection. I guess they all had to have them.

( )