Rating: 
Summary: Just what the doctor ordered
Review: After sitting wading through dozens of cheap horror and thriller novels that read exactly alike (you know, the ancient evil or unstoppable maddness) it was real nice to read Sineater. Sineater is a coming of age novel reminiscent of Robert McCammon's Boy's Life where a young boy must come to terms with the world around him while that world seems to be falling to pieces. The hero of Sineater is a young boy from Virginia who, because his father is the Sineater, is alienated from the community that he goes to school in. No one will talk to him, no one will be his friend, and even adults are afraid of his touch. Interwoven through this tale are strange disappearances, odd religious practices, and alot of small town strangeness.Sineater works because it is more than a horror novel, more than a mystery, and more than a small town/coming of age story. While the story does take it's time being told, I found the characters so real that the slow pace made the book more enjoyable. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good literature. And I would like to commend Leisure books for their continued support of the horror genre.
Rating:
Summary: A very moving and horrific read.
Review: Being just a few generations away from the kind of rustic, religiously odd, mountain people that populate _Sineater_, I was overwhelmed by the honesty of this horrific novel. The characters in _Sineater_ are fiction, but so many like them exist throughout the isolated mountain areas of Virginia and Kentucky, anyone from the region will recognize them. The fanaticism that fuels the horror of this novel is very much alive in these parts. _Sineater_ shows what a delicate balance exists between tradition and change, and how dangerous it can be when that balance is lost.
Rating:
Summary: Great choice for the Bram Stoker
Review: Excellent. That's my one-word review. Massie demonstrates some of the finest writing talent I've seen in a long time. Her words create images that have stayed with me long after reading SINEATER.
SINEATER starts with the birth of Joel, the newest member of the Barker family whose patriarch is the sineater--the person who eats from the dead in order to absorb their sins. The Barkers are shunned in this small Virginia town and try to live out a quiet existence in their mountain home. No one in town wants to associate with, touch or even look upon a Barker. Then Missy Campbell, a hopeful relgious leader, calls for the townspeople to forego the sineater tradition and to find another way to help the souls of the dead enter heaven. Thus begins a serious of deaths with dire warnings about ignoring tradition and turning away from God. Joel, now in school despite the traditions, struggles to find his place in the world and to make contact with other humans, most of whom turn away from him.
This is one of the most touching horror novels I've ever read. I truly felt compassion and hope for Joel, and I cared about what happened to the characters. The writing style is excellent, and the characters are well-developed. I don't always agree with the choices that award committees make for "best" novels, but in this case Massie deserves all the recognition and applause for her first novel. I will definitely be reading her other books.
Rating:
Summary: Great choice for the Bram Stoker
Review: Excellent. That's my one-word review. Massie demonstrates some of the finest writing talent I've seen in a long time. Her words create images that have stayed with me long after reading SINEATER.
SINEATER starts with the birth of Joel, the newest member of the Barker family whose patriarch is the sineater--the person who eats from the dead in order to absorb their sins. The Barkers are shunned in this small Virginia town and try to live out a quiet existence in their mountain home. No one in town wants to associate with, touch or even look upon a Barker. Then Missy Campbell, a hopeful relgious leader, calls for the townspeople to forego the sineater tradition and to find another way to help the souls of the dead enter heaven. Thus begins a serious of deaths with dire warnings about ignoring tradition and turning away from God. Joel, now in school despite the traditions, struggles to find his place in the world and to make contact with other humans, most of whom turn away from him.
This is one of the most touching horror novels I've ever read. I truly felt compassion and hope for Joel, and I cared about what happened to the characters. The writing style is excellent, and the characters are well-developed. I don't always agree with the choices that award committees make for "best" novels, but in this case Massie deserves all the recognition and applause for her first novel. I will definitely be reading her other books.
Rating:
Summary: A very moving and horrific read.
Review: I should begin by saying that SinEater is very well wriiten novel. Written primarily in present tense -- a narrative mode that sometimes can be very annoying -- Massie's style is smooth and atmospheric. I wish more first novels were written with same confidence of style. My major gripe with the book is that its slow. Real slow. While some of this can be excused, as Massie is building up both character and atmosphere, not much happens for a great deal of the book. Some people die, there is the od tortue and we get a good look into Joel's life and the way he tries to move from the repressed lifestyle of being the SinEater's son. Still, though there are some great scenes and moments of real horror -- especially when a school teacher is caught in a closet filled with squirming rats -- the book only ambles, rather then gallops. Still, this is a good novel, better then most of the Horror lying around. it deserves to be read becasue it is beautifully written, and makes some fascinating comments about weird, clut like religious practises and a young boys need to break the shackles of tradition and fear. For those reasons I recommend the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A very well written, but slow novel
Review: I should begin by saying that SinEater is very well wriiten novel. Written primarily in present tense -- a narrative mode that sometimes can be very annoying -- Massie's style is smooth and atmospheric. I wish more first novels were written with same confidence of style. My major gripe with the book is that its slow. Real slow. While some of this can be excused, as Massie is building up both character and atmosphere, not much happens for a great deal of the book. Some people die, there is the od tortue and we get a good look into Joel's life and the way he tries to move from the repressed lifestyle of being the SinEater's son. Still, though there are some great scenes and moments of real horror -- especially when a school teacher is caught in a closet filled with squirming rats -- the book only ambles, rather then gallops. Still, this is a good novel, better then most of the Horror lying around. it deserves to be read becasue it is beautifully written, and makes some fascinating comments about weird, clut like religious practises and a young boys need to break the shackles of tradition and fear. For those reasons I recommend the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great little horror novel
Review: Massie plays with the expectations of horror fans in the same way she plays with the rural superstitions of her characters. It's a very good read, except for the weak conclusion to the 'whodunit.' She also does an excellent job of giving voice and motivations to the young, something most writers miss. There's a subtlety there that most writers miss.
Rating:
Summary: Great little horror novel
Review: Massie plays with the expectations of horror fans in the same way she plays with the rural superstitions of her characters. It's a very good read, except for the weak conclusion to the 'whodunit.' She also does an excellent job of giving voice and motivations to the young, something most writers miss. There's a subtlety there that most writers miss.
Rating:
Summary: Original and Chilling Horror Novel
Review: Sineater is truly one of the best horror novels I have ever read. Sineater stands apart from many other novels in the horror genre for two reasons: it is extremely well written and original and the story is based on reality instead of the supernatural. Sineater is based on the traditions of an ancient religious culture set in the back woods of Virginia. The Sineater is a man who is shunned by society because he eats the sin of people who have died in order to free their souls for heaven. Unlike other horror novels that are based on the supernatural (vampires, ghosts, etc.) the sineater is a human, a man with a wife and children. This story is truly fascinating. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an original horror novel.
Rating:
Summary: Original and Chilling Horror Novel
Review: Sineater is truly one of the best horror novels I have ever read. Sineater stands apart from many other novels in the horror genre for two reasons: it is extremely well written and original and the story is based on reality instead of the supernatural. Sineater is based on the traditions of an ancient religious culture set in the back woods of Virginia. The Sineater is a man who is shunned by society because he eats the sin of people who have died in order to free their souls for heaven. Unlike other horror novels that are based on the supernatural (vampires, ghosts, etc.) the sineater is a human, a man with a wife and children. This story is truly fascinating. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an original horror novel.
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