Rating: Summary: Horrible horror... Review: If there can be horror at its worst, it is this book. Not any normal person will find this book either exciting or interesting (unless you are interested in a report from a slaughterhouse, of course), and I felt so cheated because of all the enthusiastic reviews I've read prior to the purchase. The narration is fragmentary and leaps back and forth from characters' teenage years to present day: yeah, it probably must mean the "waking nightmares" and "elusive reality" the characters are suffering from, except it becomes clear from the first pages that the author simply has no idea how to go on with the book, so let it be "a mess of delirious dreams". No to mention absurd and repulsive violence and torture scene the author uses "to spice up" his story (don't think I'm too sensitive, BUT THIS TIME THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY OUT OF PLACE,and all the same: dead dogs, skinned cows, torn breasts, red ants... ) The characters during teenage years are portrayed as cruel brats, intersted only in sex and violence, so no wonder they end up in a looney bin and who cares what happens with them in the end? The demon that, as I understood, invides the main characters, is an unwanted child, whose mother wanted to smother it at birth "because she knew it would be a monster" (a very enthralling climax for the book indeed)... END
Rating: Summary: desert horror Review: I had to drop a note on this review area. I picked up You Come When I Call You a couple of weeks back and decided to start reading it this last weekend. I could not put this one down. It is not an easy book to read. I'll give it that much. It is a story of a long stretch of life for four very different people. All of them have had this demonic visitation I guess you'd call it. This book has more lurking under its surface than that. I think it's really about how people have bad things happen to them when their young and then then grow up and not resolve those things by looking at them for what they are. The book is a page turner but it's as much about how we carry around these 20 years histories. The demon is really in our hearts. I shouldn't go on about the metaphorical aspect, but it really struck home with me. Douglas Clegg wrote a really good novel with this one. I was not a fan before but now I'm going to pick up Nightmare Chronicles and see what it's like. I don't seem to find alot of new writers I like, but this one's a keeper. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Stephen King or Dean Koontz or Clive Barker.
Rating: Summary: Not very exciting Review: I guess I just expected too much from Cleeg. The story was a challenge to read all the way through, without much payoff at the end.
Rating: Summary: a beautiful limited edition! Review: This is a wonderful edition of Douglas Clegg's new novel! It's beautiful, well designed, and well put together. Cemetery Dance did an amazing job with this equally amazing novel!
Rating: Summary: very good, but murky and predictable Review: I am a fan of Clegg's, have read many of his other works, most of which I enjoyed more than this one. It was, however, quite good and worth the read. The premise was very exciting, but I got frustrated with dream sequences (in my opinion, almost always a weak device) and the murky nature of the book left me feeling things were not adequately resolved. Some discontinuity with characters who get extensively introduced then just suddenly dropped, both for no apparent reason (the female psychologist); and others who suddenly appear, also w/o purpose (the girl at the end). Good, but in the end disappointing.
Rating: Summary: You tell me? Am I dead? Review: Ok, this one is filled with chills! Clegg does it once again. He manages to fill a horror novel with beautiful prose, mind-grabbing images, unique characters and a fast-building plot. His ability to tell stories within stories shines through in this one. This is a good-vs-bad tale on the epic level. But just who is good and who is bad? It's not all that clear cut. Peter and Alison, now adults, flash back on horrific events taking place in their adolescence. Peter's discovery in an LA bungalow was enough to keep me glued to this novel and to avoid my basement for a few days. Along the way, we get introduced to Charlie (aka, Deadrats...I want more of this character!), Nessie, Stella, The Juicer, Than, Diego, Kevin and wonderfully written Wendy. We also get a glimpse into the small-town life of the young characters with visions of domestic violence, substance abuse, dog fighting, greed...all the seemingly "mundane" forms of evil that help contribute to the power of the demon lamia. We also find Stella who, in her old age, grapples with the guilt of incest, murder, and her part in the birthing of a demon. I raced through the novel to see if and how these characters respond to the demon that calls them, and how the evil is destroyed (or is it?). It's not often that I find horror novels that combine effective, beautiful writing with images that absolutely creep under the skin! If you are trying to decide whether or not to read this one, do it! If you have read this and want more Clegg, I also highly recommend THE NIGHTMARE CHRONICLES.
Rating: Summary: A lot like King! Review: This book has been compared to King's It and I agree - the ending falls short like much (if not all) of King's work. Over all it was a great book, but I felt the ending was predictable and didn't have the "oomph" it should have had. The story was told well and Clegg did a great job of bouncing back & forth between times and places. I also like how he didn't "dumb down" the happenings; he let the reader piece a lot of the story together themselves. Clegg is a promising writer and I will definately read more of his stuff.
Rating: Summary: Tiresome dream sequences pad a lean plot Review: First of all this is the first novel by Clegg I have read and I think he is a talented, visceral writer and will seek out his other works. But this novel seemed heavy-handed and frustratingly murky in content. Great, sordid trailerpark characters...way too much dreaming & illusions that slow the story down..bad editing here I look forward to whatever else you write, Doug..
Rating: Summary: Truly Terrifying You Come When I Call You Review: If you are a Clive Barker or Stephen King fan, I urge you to grab You Come When I Call You. Is it like their books? No. But it's just as original and sweeping a vision as Bag of Bones or The Great and Secret Show. You Come When I Call You is the only book I read so far by Clegg but it will not be the last. I thought it would be your basic horror story because it begins with these kids who are somehow held by a demon in their minds. But maybe they're covering for something in the past? And then, as they each grow to adulthood, the past events in California take them over completely. And as it unfolds, its like a mystery with this disturbing fantastic world of demons taking them over. I read this and I thought it was an instant classic of the genre.
Rating: Summary: WRONG NUMBER/You Come When I Call Review: I expected to enter a world of paranormal activity, scary ghosts and evil forces. Although this book "seems" to go to these places, it comes up very short. The visions shared by the teenage victims, now adults, are repetitious and fill up far too many pages. The villainess never seems real enough. Most of the characters are not fleshed out for that matter. The two old ladies toward the end (Queenie and the Bording Room lady) are interesting and save a few chapters with their endearing qualities. Despite these shortcomings and an extremely slooooooow middle, I was interested enough to finish the book. This was a bubble gum version of the kind of writing Clive Barker produces. I've read worse, and, of course, much better.
|