Thursday, December 26, 2013

Review of Sineater by Elizabeth Massie


I was drawn to this book because of the title and since I read a horror book every October, I thought I would give this a spin for 2013. And it's not a very good sign that I finished it around Christmastime.

What I liked about Sineater were the "keep you guessing until the last chapter" ending and the realistic voice used by the young characters when writing letters to each others, complete with misspellings. The novel is a Bram Stoker award winner after all. Unfortunately, the novel dragged for me. I never felt emotionally attached to the young protagonist. It's as if there is an unwritten law that no humor can be used in a serious horror novel. Who started that, Lovecraft? At times some of the horror was over the top and some of it felt cliched like the use of rats in one chapter (Every modern horror book just has to have them!). There were also a number of typos that were annoying (yes, they make me lose my train of thought) and surprising for a hardback edition.

For these reasons I give Sineater middle of the road marks and wish it had been more in several areas.

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