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Summary: The cover blurb reads:
Review: "A tight, taut, dark fantasy with surprising plot twists and a lot of spooky atmosphere. Mary Ann Mitchell is definitely somebody to watch!"
--Ed Gorman
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Summary: It gets no scarier than this! This one rocks!
Review: Carl was supposed to have died long ago. A secret from a tribe deep in the Amazon kept him living. It was a simple technique which let him pass his death to someone else. Carl fell in love with Beverly though. He did not want to pass his death to her. But he either did it or wasted away himself. So Beverly was the one who started to rot away. Beverly DID plan on taking Carl with her somehow. Megan would be the key to her revenge. *** WARNING! This is a sick book! I loved it! In fact, it gave me nightmares for two nights! Mary Ann Mitchell will make her readers cringe while they read the horror within her pages! ***
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Summary: Great premise, not-so-greatly told
Review: Drawn to the Grave begins on a wonderfully creepy premise: The idea of going through the decay of death, without the actual death. However, the telling of the story is lacking. First, it is hard to develop empathy or concern for any of the characters--one is appallingly arrogant, another is breathtakingly stupid, and the third is so shallowly rendered that even as she suffers a terrible fate, she doesn't evoke concern or pity. Second, the ending was a huge letdown--I cannot explain much without giving a spoiler, but I can tell you I ended up with a BIG unanswered question. Third, and this is the most important, the writing was, at times, eye-rollingly bad--verbiage that screamed "FIRST TRY!" Note especially Beverly's short soliloquy to the sun--I haven't seen such completely unrealistic dialogue in a long time. This book won't kill you, but I don't think it'll enrich your life either. However, it might set your imagination rolling--it could be much more effective with more characterization, more realistic dialogue, and more real horror, rather than just a couple vague existential questions and some (admittedly very effective) grossout.
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Summary: Bram Stocker Award Nominee for the Best First Novel of 1997
Review: Drawn to the Grave has been nominated for the Bram Stocker Award given by the Horror Writers Association for the best first novel of 1997.
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Summary: International Horror Guild Award
Review: Drawn to the Grave has won the International Horror Guild Award for best first novel of 1997.
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Summary: Sounded good, but...
Review: Good premise, amateur presentation. I liked the idea of a woman who was slowing decaying without knowing true death. I read the cover blurbs, the back cover, and thought: Great! Not so great. The characters are one-dimensional, the plot is slow and plodding, the suspense nearly non-existent. Very often the plot makes NO sense whatsoever. I mean, this woman is cursed to become a living corpse by her lover so he can live forever while she rots for him. Okay. Sounds good. But this woman lives out in the middle of nowhere and has no car for reasons never explained...so she can't drive to the hospital or doctor to get looked at when she first starts coming apart. Why doesn't she have a car? Doesn't she know anyone who does? I would think most people who live in the middle of nowhere would have some form of transportation, some means to contact the outside world in an emergency. I mean, c'mon, this isn't the 1890's here. Things like this, made me roll my eyes on this one. The idea of being trapped in a rotting body isn't actually an original one and was handled much better in Gordon Honeycombe's "Neither the Sea nor the Sand." The scariest part about this loser is that a sequel will soon be released! AHHHH! I'm giving this one star not because there was anything worthwhile here, but because the author got this published, actually got paid for this!
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Summary: Sounded good, but...
Review: Good premise, amateur presentation. I liked the idea of a woman who was slowing decaying without knowing true death. I read the cover blurbs, the back cover, and thought: Great! Not so great. The characters are one-dimensional, the plot is slow and plodding, the suspense nearly non-existent. Very often the plot makes NO sense whatsoever. I mean, this woman is cursed to become a living corpse by her lover so he can live forever while she rots for him. Okay. Sounds good. But this woman lives out in the middle of nowhere and has no car for reasons never explained...so she can't drive to the hospital or doctor to get looked at when she first starts coming apart. Why doesn't she have a car? Doesn't she know anyone who does? I would think most people who live in the middle of nowhere would have some form of transportation, some means to contact the outside world in an emergency. I mean, c'mon, this isn't the 1890's here. Things like this, made me roll my eyes on this one. The idea of being trapped in a rotting body isn't actually an original one and was handled much better in Gordon Honeycombe's "Neither the Sea nor the Sand." The scariest part about this loser is that a sequel will soon be released! AHHHH! I'm giving this one star not because there was anything worthwhile here, but because the author got this published, actually got paid for this!
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Summary: Not Worth the Money
Review: I bought this book based on reviews, and the promise of an unusual premise. Many first novels are wonderful, but this is not one of them. The characters seem one-note personalities, without development (unless you count rot as movement), and thus hard to care about. While the idea of the story is compelling, the plot is manipulated to the point that I stopped looking for logic, reason, or even the power to suspend disbelief. The book is horror-fantasy, to be sure, but if I can't believe a word of it, then it doesn't work for me. The prose seems wooden, and I was finally so frustrated with it that I threw it on the floor. I don't often have a book tantrum, but unfortunately, this novel brought one on. I hate to discourage first time writers, but I hope Ms. Mitchell gets better editing on her next effort, because her work this time out really doesn't seem ready to be presented as a finished, polished book.
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Summary: Not Worth the Money
Review: I bought this book based on reviews, and the promise of an unusual premise. Many first novels are wonderful, but this is not one of them. The characters seem one-note personalities, without development (unless you count rot as movement), and thus hard to care about. While the idea of the story is compelling, the plot is manipulated to the point that I stopped looking for logic, reason, or even the power to suspend disbelief. The book is horror-fantasy, to be sure, but if I can't believe a word of it, then it doesn't work for me. The prose seems wooden, and I was finally so frustrated with it that I threw it on the floor. I don't often have a book tantrum, but unfortunately, this novel brought one on. I hate to discourage first time writers, but I hope Ms. Mitchell gets better editing on her next effort, because her work this time out really doesn't seem ready to be presented as a finished, polished book.
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Summary: A new voice
Review: I couldn't put this book down. From a simple fantastic premise, Mary Ann Mitchell draws a web of horrific consequences and startling plot twists. And underneath it all, this compelling page turner reveals itself to be a modern morality tale. So many current novels in the horror and suspense genre sound monotonously similar. Here is a genuinely original new voice, poetic and spare. More, please.
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