Category: Thriller
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Red Team Blues: Cory Doctorow is smarter than us
Red Team BluesBy: Cory DoctorowMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up Ya, Cory’s still smarter than me… I’m nerd enough to know that blogger-activist-author Cory Doctorow represents all things free speech, but not nerd enough to really understand his cyber syfy stories. I remember picking up Little Brother from the library…
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Blitz (The Checquy Files, Book 3): X-Men meets X-Files meets 007
The Rook (The Checquy Files, Book 1)Stiletto (The Checquy Files, Book 2)Blitz (The Checquy Files, Book 3)By: Daniel O’MalleyMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up X-Men meets X-Files meets 007 If you hate having fun while you read, let me just stop you now. The Checquy Files aren’t for you. For…
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The Golden Enclaves: Harry Potter would have been eaten alive. Literally.
The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance, Book 3)By: Naomi NovikMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up The Scholomance would have eaten Harry Potter alive. Literally. Welcome to the end of The Scholomance! Book three has been published, read, digested–and now, reviewed. Already a fan and you just want to know what to…
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The Inheritance Games: Knives Out x The Westing Game x every YA book, ever!
The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games, #3)By: Jennifer Lynn BarnesMy Rating: Four out of five starsBest for: 14 and up Knives Out x The Westing Game x every YA novel ever written It’s been a while since I read an actual factual YA…
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Empty Smiles: Who loves creepy clowns? (ME!)
Small Spaces (Small Spaces, book 1)Dead Voiced (Small Spaces, book 2)Dark Waters (Small Spaces, book 3)Empty Smiles (Small Spaces, book 4)By: Katherine ArdenMy Rating: Four out of five starsBest for: 12 and up Those clowns are the creepiest of all! I know Katherine Arden best from The Winternight Trilogy, her fantastic historical fantasy series set…
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The Comfort of Distance: CSI IRL
The Comfort of DistanceThe Boxwood TorsoWhere the Blood is MadeBy: Ryburn DobbsMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 16 and up CSI IRL… Sebastien Grey doesn’t like CSI. According to him, it’s “improbable.” In the real world, you can’t put a skull in a machine and then have the person’s 3-D face float above…
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Indexing: Extra Twisty Fairy Tales
IndexingBy: Seanan McGuireMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up These twisted fair tales are…twisted! I’ve been trying to rekindle my love affair with Seanan McGuire’s stories since I read and LOVED Middlegame. Unfortunately I keep striking out–time to quit while the happy Middlegame memories are still fresh. I enjoy fairytale retellings…
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Congo: I’ll be skipping the Jungle Tour…
CongoBy: Michael CrichtonMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 16 and up Ya…no. I’ll skip the African Jungle Tour. Thanks though. Oh gosh. Please don’t read Michael Crichton if you aren’t interested in science info dumps. It’s what he does. It’s in every book, and if you’re nerdy enough it’s awesome. Don’t read it…
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A Book Club Guest Review of The Girl in Cabin 13
The Girl in Cabin 13By: AJ RiversReviewer Rating: 3Best for: 18 and up Not for the Faint of Heart(which was almost me)!Guest book review by Julie H Q: What’s the book about? Emma Griffin is an FBI agent Undercover in a small town where people keep disappearing. It’s a definite page turner! I even started…
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A Book Club Guest Review of The Camel Club
The Camel ClubBy: David BaldacciReviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 14 and up Conspiracies and more conspiraciesGuest book review by Julie H Q: What’s the book about? Oliver Stone–not his real name–has three real friends. They are all rather eccentric in their own special fields. They call themselves The Camel Club and meet…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Patriot Games
Patriot GamesBy: Tom ClancyReviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 14 and up Don’t make the IRA angry . . .Guest book review by Julie H Q: What’s the book about? Jack Ryan, before he became a famous analyst! On vacation he impulsively jumps into the chain of a bombing and saves the Prince…
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The Kaiju Preservation Society: Godzilla vs COVID
The Kaiju Preservation SocietyBy: John ScalziMy Rating: Four out of five stars.Best for: 18 and up Godzilla vs COVID Seriously, Scalzi? Not sure how, but Scalzi always seems to be just what I need. I just wish he would be a little less comfortable with the f-bombs. This story is just for the fun of…
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A Book Club Guest Review of American Assassin: A Thriller
American Assassin: A ThrillerBy: Vince FlynnGuest Reviewer Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 14 and up Revenge and retaliationGuest review by Julie H Q: What’s this book about? Mitch Rapp is a college student whose girlfriend was on a hijacked plane. When she died, he wanted revenge on the terrorists and anything to do…
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#TheAndromedaStrain: Impressive Science, Disappointing Fiction
The Andromeda StrainBy: Michael CrichtonMy Rating: Three out of five starsBest for: 14 and up Classic Crichton, Pointless Crichton I’ve read nearly everything Michael Crichton wrote. I read Jurassic Park in high school (before it was a movie) and many times since. I’ve read Airframe, Eaters of the dead, The Great Train Robbery, The Terminal…
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#DarkWaters: More creepy fun!
Dark Waters (Small Spaces, book 3)By: Katherine ArdenMy Rating: Four out of five starsBest for: 12 and up What!? An unexpected cliffhanger!!! I know Katherine Arden best from The Winternight Trilogy, her fantastic historical fantasy series set in long ago Russia. It’s a wonderful story, full of with amazing characters, connections to myths and traditions,…
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#DeadVoices: Go SCARE yourself!
Dead Voices (Small Spaces, book 2)By: Katherine ArdenMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best for: 12 and up If this is middle grade, why was I so freaked out?! I know Katherine Arden best from The Winternight Trilogy, her fantastic historical fantasy series set in long ago Russia. It’s a wonderful story, full of amazing…
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#TheLastGraduate: HP would be so happy! (Lovecraft, not Potter…)
The Last Graduate (The Scholomance, Book 2)By: Naomi NovikMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best for: 18 and up I need a hyperventilate emoji… Gah! Guys, I’m torn between raving and ranting. I loved, LOVED this book–but that cliffhanger! In book 1, A Deadly Education, we were introduced to this wonderfully imagined world from the…
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#ChildrenofTime: How do you feel about spiders?
Children of TimeBy: Adrian TchaikovskyMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best For: Adults Well, that was a mind bender. I hope you’re not scared of spiders… Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clark Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of 2015, which puts it in pretty great company. If you’re a fan of ScyFy,…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Her Last Breath
Her Last BreathBy: Hilary DavidsonGuest Reviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for:14 and up Was it her heart? Really?Guest review by Julie Hilton Diedre’s sister died suddenly. It was ruled unknown heart problem but after her death, Diedre received an email from her sister saying if anything happened to her to know it was…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Murder at Tophouse
Murder at TophouseBy: Clair M PoulsonGuest Reviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 12 and up LA to NZ murder and mayhemGuest review by Julie Hilton A detective in Los Angeles suspects his partner of all sorts of bad behavior but he’s in for a huge surprise when he’s the one who gets suspended.…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Double Eagle Double Cross
Double Eagle Double CrossBy: M. R. DurbinGuest Reviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 16 and up Indiana Jones meets Jim CheeGuest Review by Julie Hilton Ancient Indian ceremony combined with Confederate gold. Knights of the Golden Circle clash with modern day students who get unknowingly mixed up in a search for lost treasure…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Deadly Secret
Deadly SecretsBy: Frank RichardsonGuest Reviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 14 and up From Homeless to Hunted to HelperGuest Review by Julie Hilton Rick, a guy who’s bounced around the foster care system, is now a homeless man. He’s a good guy and helps a woman one night but it gets him mistaken…
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#ProjectHailMary: This book is FUN! (So Lighten Up!)
Project Hail MaryBy: Andy WeirMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best for: 16 and up Come on, lighten up people! Project Hail Mary was fun! Actually, most reviews don’t need to lighten up–this book is getting some great, and well deserved praise. But there are a few reviewers who want to focus on a few…
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#FugitiveTelemetry: Yay! Another Murderbot Book!
Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 6)By: Martha WellsMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up Yay! Another Murderbot book! I’m a huge fan of the conflicted AI with a past so tragic it calls itself Murderbot. This is the 6th story in the collection now, and I’ll be first in line…
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#TheDevilandtheDarkWater: Agatha Christie+Sherlock Holmes+1600’s Hygiene
The Devil and the Dark WaterBy: Stuart TurtonMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was a happy surprise. It’s Groundhog Day + Quantum Leap + Agatha Christie, and if you haven’t read it, you need to. It was so good, in fact, that when…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Code Name Camelot
Code Name Camelot (Noah Wolf Book 1)By: David ArcherReviewer Rating: Four out of fives starsBest for: 16 and up If you like Bourne…Review by Julie Hilton …and lots of details. Hard to tell about this one without giving away some serious storyline, but it’s basically about a guy named Noah with PTSD and feels no…
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#NetworkEffect: #Murderbot is back–Introverts have a new hero!
Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 5) By: Martha Wells My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars! Best for: Adults only All right! A new Murderbot story! If you’re not familiar with Murderbot but you’re a fan of Scy-Fy and good stories, you’re going to want to check out All Systems Red, book 1 in…
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7 1/2 Deaths of #EvelynHardcastle: Clue x Quantum Leap x Groundhog Day = Awesome!
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle By: Stuart Turton My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars! Best for: 14 and up What a great story! The 71/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is Clue x Groundhog Day x “It was a dark and stormy night…” x Quantum Leap x Downton Abby drama. You’re invited to…
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#SmallSpaces: Scarecrows are CREEPY!
Small Spaces By: Katherine Arden My Rating: FOUR out of FIVE stars Best for: 10 and up Katherine Arden wrote The Winternight Trilogy, which I LOVED. So I thought I’d give Small Spaces a try. It’s her first jump into middle grade and quite different from her debut effort. The verdict? Thumbs up! The sixth-graders…
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#TheMurderbotDiaries: Ode to Murderbot
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4) By: Martha Wells My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars Best for: Adults I love big stories pack into little pages. A conflicted AI with a past so tragic he…
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#Origin: Dan Brown strikes again
Origin By: Dan Brown My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: 16 and up You’ve read one Dan Brown, you’ve read them all. Good thing for him…it works over and over again! I actually enjoyed Origin a lot more than I initially thought I would. There is much less of MC Robert Langdon…
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#SixWakes: Clue. In space. With clones.
Six Wakes By: Mur Lafferty My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: 16 and up Clue. In space. With clones. Scene: 6 clones awake to find themselves alone on a ship traveling through deep space with no memory of the previous 25 years…and find their previous bodies have been murdered. One of them…
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#AllSystemsRed (The Murderbot Diaries, #1): You’re going to want to read this…
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) By: Martha Wells My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE starsBest for: 16 and up I love big stories pack into little pages. A conflicted AI with a past so tragic he calls himself Murderbot…but that’s private. As long as no one discovers he’s hacked his governor module, he…
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#InColdBlood: Whoa…
In Cold Blood By: Truman Capote My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Best for: Mature 16+ If you’re looking for a book about the minute details surrounding the random and gruesome 1959 murder of a family of 4, you can stop your search now. You’ve found it. Me? I’m buddy reading it with my…
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#ReadyPlayerOne: Why haven’t you read this yet?
Ready Player OneBy: Ernest Cline, Audio Book narrated by Will WheatonMy Rating: Five out of Five StarsBest for: 16 and up 8/7/2017I had Will Wheaton read Ready Player One this time. Brilliant, obviously. Especially when Will Wheaton reads about himself in the book. Very meta. Two comments. 1) I still love this book. Belongs on…
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#TheLastOne: How’s This for a Hook…
The Last OneBy: Alexandra OlivaMy rating: Four out of five starsBest for: 16 and up How’s this for a hook: It’s “Survivor” on steroids. Conflicting personalities. Social media interaction. Clever edits that tell viewers a story, not what actually happened. Behind the scenes of the guts of the show. Privately, the producers give the contestants…
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#TheRook (The Checquy Files, #1): X-Men Meets X-Files
The Rook (The Checquy Files, Book 1) By: Daniel O’MalleyMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars! The Rook frustrated me for the first 40 pages or so. I was expecting a serious mystery with a supernatural twist, but this crazy author kept trying to be light every time things were getting heavy. What the heck?…
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The Girl with All the Gifts
The Girl with All the Gifts By: M.R. Carey My Rating: Four out of Five stars Wait…this book is about zombies? Those sneaky publishers. Let’s put that pretty yellow cover on it! Let’s make the little-girl silhouette open and hopeful! Let’s definitely not give any hint to what the book is really about in the…
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#TheWhitehallTrials: A pleasantly creepy surprise…
The Whitehall Trials By: Michelle Catherine Walker My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: 14 and up #TheWhitehallTrials: A pleasantly creepy surprise… Those who follow my reviews know about my soft spot for indie authors, and when I find one worth sharing I like to let people know about it. Well, I found…
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The Martian
5/5 stars The Martian by Andy Weir Adults only Holy Crap. That was awesome. I haven’t been that gripped by a book in—I don’t even know. Ever? The detail . . . The humor . . . The suspense . . . The humanity . . . The plausibility . . . I didn’t read…
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#Legion Skin Deep (Legion, #2): More Sanderson Brilliance
Legion Skin Deep (Legion, #2) By: Brandon Sanderson My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars More Sanderson Brilliance Seriously, when is this going to be turned into a TV series? It’d be a hit! Steven Leeds is a genius for hire. He leads a team of experts–currently 47 of them–in solving mysteries and puzzles. Steven…
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The Graveyard Book
The Graveyard Book By: Neil GaimanMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE STARS!Best for: 10 and up Delightfully Charming, Gaiman-ly Creepy… Me to my 13-year-old daughter: “I just finished a book you HAVE to read!” Daughter: “What’s it called?” Me: “The Graveyard Book.” Daughter: [Raises one eyebrow, initiates eye roll] Me: “It’s about a baby boy…
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The Last Colony (Old Man’s War, #3)
4/5 stars The Last Colony (Old Man’s War, #3) by John Scalzi A great series… The Last Colony was a good ending to a great series. I enjoyed the “realistic” science fiction–meaning if humanity really could travel to distant stars and interacted with the hundreds of alien species we found there, this is probably what…
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The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, #2)
4/5 stars The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, #2) by John Scalzi Very cool… The Ghost Brigades was an excellent follow up to Old Man’s War. It’s missing the main character from the first book, but that isn’t a problem. Thus second book does a great job moving the larger story forward…in fact, I think…
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Dracula
3/5 stars Dracula by Bram Stoker Highs and Lows, but Still the Original So it turns out Count Dracula never actually says “I vant to suck your blood!” Huh. He does do everything else, however. Turns into a bat. Sleeps in a coffin during the day. Only has powers at night. Hates garlic and crosses.…
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Dust (Silo, #3)
5/5 stars Dust (Silo, #3) by Hugh Howey I was afraid that Dust wasn’t going to live up to the hype. I shouldn’t have worried . . . Dust is a moving and all around fantastic ending to a story that will eventually be known as one of the greats. When the entire planet has…
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Third Shift: Pact (Shift, #3)
5/5 stars Third Shift: Pact (Shift, #3) by Hugh Howey As expected. Just like the rest. Completely awesome. My only complaint is it went too fast. The Wool Omnibus and The Shift Omnibus and Hugh Howey. You must read them. The end. Now to wait for Dust and the finish.
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The Orphan Master’s Son
5/5 stars The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson PROPERTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA The Orphan Master’s Son is a heavy book . . . and I don’t mean it weighs a lot on a scale. I mean it weighs a lot on my mind. I’ve long been fascinated with The Democratic…
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Second Shift: Order (Shift, #2)
5/5 stars Second Shift: Order (Shift, #2) by Hugh Howey If you’re reading this book, you very likely already know exactly what to expect from Hugh Howdy. You will not be disappointed here. Completely fantastic. My only regret I’d that I wish I’d waited to read 2nd shift until 3rd shift was finished. I hate…
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First Shift: Legacy (Shift, #1)
5/5 stars First Shift: Legacy (Shift, #1) by Hugh Howey How come I’ve never heard of Hugh Howey? He’s quickly becoming a favorite author. Three cheers for self-publishing-indie authors! Three cheers for Amazon and the Kindle that make these books available to me! Here’s a disclaimer . . . if I could write code to…
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#Wool: You’re not prepared for this
Wool (Silo, #1)By: Hugh HoweyMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE STARS!Best for: 14 and up ***In preparation for Dust, the final piece of the silo saga, I have just finished my re-read of Wool…one year and one month after first discovering this amazing story. There were 1600 ratings on Amazon at that time–now there are…
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The Stand
5/5 stars The Stand by Stephen King Stephen King is so good. I’ve read many authors that are good at writing stories. They can write about events and put them in an order and the result is a story. The more successful authors are able to take that story, and by combining just the right…
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11/22/1963
4/5 stars 11/22/1963 by Stephen King I have to say, Stephen King remains one of the great writers of our time. He can tell a story in a way that only a few can. 11/22/63 is the most meaningful Stephen King book I’ve read. That doesn’t say a whole lot; I haven’t read that many…
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The Green Mile by Stephen King
4 out of 5 stars He’s the King. You just have to watch out for adult content in many of his books. The Green Mile is pretty safe. And really good.
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The Talisman by Stephen King
5 out of 5 stars This was my first Stephen King book. I remember it being weird. I also remember it being good. That pretty much sums up most of what Stephen King has written.
One Man Book Club 