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Incubus

Incubus

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $11.20
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as good as I expected
Review: I was interested in this book after reading summaries and reviews of it but once I had it in my hands, it was a real chore to plod through it. In fact, I am at the last bit of it now, supposedly the exciting part and I am so bored I am up at the computer looking for an exciting book to read next!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I was quite disappointed with "Incubus", especially after all of the good press it had received. I have to agree with the majority of the Amazon.com reviewers who classified it as "boring". The characters weren't developed, and, basically, just not much happens in this novel. A reader had compared "Incubus" to "The Church of Dead Girls" in that it is more if a story about life in a small town disturbed by horrifying events. The difference is that "Church" succeeded splendidly with the story of life in a small town, and how there is no such thing as privacy. "Incubus" just didn't move at all, and life in the small town wasn't captured so as to be interesting for the reader. I won't recommend "Incubus" - there are so many books out there that are so much better (like "Church of Dead Girls").

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spell binding and exquisite
Review: I was scrolling through one of Amazon's lists when I noticed "Incubus." I couldn't believe that it had an average of two stars and was forced to submit a review. I thought the book was richly detailed, the characters realistically protrayed and the writing poetic. The portrayal of New England town life has rarely seen its equal since Hawthorne. Think of it as a Jane Hamilton novel with elements of the supernatural. Everything is in the details! This being said, readers searching for blood, gore, heroic battles between the Forces of Good and Evil, must look elsewhere.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Horror that sneaks up on you
Review: I was surprised at how many people were disappointed in thisnovel, since I was completely caught up in it. It was well-written andI was as fascinated by the goings-on in the lives of the characters as I am with real life people. I agree with the New York Times reviewer that it is Victorian in tone, rather than '90's slash-and-scream style horror. In my opinion, the Victorian tone made the story, but if you prefer horror that hits you in the face, look elsewhere. But if you enjoy horror that creeps up you and disturbs your view of the universe (not to mention your sleep!), then this is the book for you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Couldn't get passed the first quarter
Review: I would have to agree with most of the reviews already written about this book. I thought this book sounded great but I just couldn't get passed the first few chapters, it was so slow and boring. I really appreciate good horror stories (I love Stephen King & Anne Rice) but this had nothing to keep me interested at all. I am very glad that I did waste my time reading the rest of this book, obviously it doesn't get any better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A chill a minute
Review: In 1974, a severe drought and heat wave hits only Dry Falls, Maine while the surrounding area is much cooler and wetter. The male residents have lost so moch of their sex drive that even Viagra could not help. There is also a marked increase in deformed births among local livestock.

The local Episcopal priest Dr. Henry Lieber has felt his faith in God deteriorating even as he records every odd event to strike the town. Henry believes that a supernatural being is destroying his town. His skeptical spouse Cora worries about her husband's well-being. However, she becomes converted and begins to wonder if a demon is raping the women of her town.

The story line of INCUBUS is fast-paced, well researched, and cleverly developed (through the eyes of Cora), leaving readers awestruck by the immense talent of Ann Arensberg. The characters feel so real and the town they inhabit seems like any small New England community. With this winner and her two previous terrific tales (see SISTER WOLF and GROUP SEX), Ms Arensberg has quickly donned mantles worn by the Kings and Deans of the genre.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A horror novel that is literary
Review: In 1974, a severe drought and heat wave hits only Dry Falls, Maine while the surrounding area is much cooler and wetter. The male residents have lost so much of their sex drive that even Viagra could not help. There is also a marked increase in deformed births among local livestock.

The local Episcopal priest Dr. Henry Lieber has felt his faith in God deteriorating even as he records every odd event to strike the town. Henry believes that a supernatural being is destroying his town. His skeptical spouse Cora worries about her husband's well-being. However, she becomes converted and begins to wonder if a demon is raping the women of her town.

The story line of INCUBUS is fast-paced, well researched, and cleverly developed (through the eyes of Cora), leaving readers awestruck by the immense talent of Ann Arensberg. The characters feel so real and the town they inhabit seems like any small New England community. With this winner and her two previous terrific tales (see SISTER WOLF and GROUP SEX), Ms Arensberg has quickly donned mantles worn by the Kings and Deans of the genre.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Deadly Dull
Review: Incubus is scary primarily because it's so badly written, plotted and presented. It's inconceivable that BOMC would offer this self-indulgent claptrap as a selection because the author commits the unforgivable sin of boring the reader. The characters are unlikable, tedious and belabored, and the mother-daughter relationships are especially tiresome. A real disappointment as well as a waste of time and money.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Beautiful writing, great plot idea, disapointing development
Review: Incubus was unfortunately for me a disappointment. The beginning was too weird and disconnected. The great hint of a plot kept me coming back hoping to be drawn into a potentially wonderful story. The genre and literary style is quite unique and shows extreme talent. But the writing stlye alone can't make a good book. The general plot is very unique and could make for a great story. But the author is too engrossed in proving God does not exist; even going so far as to misquote the Bible several times. The compelling but strange relationship between the sister and mom becomes too strange and confusing. It is very hard to care very much about any of the characters. I never could connect or relate with any of them. The resolution is never quite clear and I was left feeling puzzled and frustrated. Great writing, potentially great plot, but it's never developed enough to make the reader care.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: An unbelievable chore
Review: Incubus, by Ann Arensberg was an incredible chore for me to get through. If it wasn't for some curse I have that I MUST finish a book that I start, I would have given up on this book within the first 100 pages. As stated by many other reviews, nothing happens in this book. No action, no suspense and the ending is a ludicrously-contrived, hurriedly thrown in mix of The Exorcist and Poltergeist.

I don't need blood and gore to be happy with a novel of the supernatural. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson is one of my favorite novels, one reason being that it shows that you CAN grab your reader and terrify them with a "less-is-more" approach, with no gory beheadings or buckets of blood necessary. INCUBUS, however, is no HILL HOUSE. One has to wait until exactly half way into the book before the first mention of demons or an incubus is made. Before that, the only action that occurs is three women having erotic dreams and six school girls going a little bit beyond that. That's it. The characters are forgettable and we care about none of them. The narrator's (Cora) sister Hannah, is a self-centered, selfish snob. The mother, besides being unnecessary to the plot, is a martyr mother...she loves Hannah no matter how spiteful or inconsiderate Hannah might be to her. Our hero(?) Cora, is a disbelieving, spineless preacher's wife who won't even speak up for herself when her husband and friends practically make her a prisoner in her own home.

The author's endless insistence with detail concerning plants or food is infuriating. If the author had spent more time writing about the supernatural elements that this book demands than telling us what Cora planted, how she cares for plants, what she's cooked or planning to cook at any hour of the day or night, and the list of ingredients for the dishes that she's made/making....we'd have had a much better book.

I'm usually not this cruel with a review, but this book was so boring to me....I couldn't WAIT until I could be done with it. I really do feel that I've wasted a few days of my life.


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