Stacy's Heart

Rating:
Summary: Very original story
Review: Highly recommended reading for vampire story fans, Very unique story and writing style.

Rating:
Summary: Very original story
Review: Of late, I've been disappointed in what the horror genre has had to offer as far as new talent is concerned. For years now, I've been patiently waiting for a new generation of authors to come onto the scene like King, Barker, Straub, McCammon, Koontz, Campbell, etc. once did (seemingly eons ago) and shake things up - but the wait has been long, and I was beginning to wonder if I was waiting on nothing more than an illusion. However, Cary Rainey's first novel, Stacy's Heart, has breathed new life into my hopes.

Stacy's Heart tells the story of Kyle Crader. Kyle grows up in Birmingham, Alabama, and by the time he leaves home for Califonia on the night of his graduation he has learned to hate it with a white-hot passion. Intending to mock his hometown, he writes a satirical novel filled with rampant bigotry and sexism. The book is an immense hit, spawning a series of hate crimes across America, as well as a movie and a big-money book contract. In the course of promoting the film, Kyle is asked to return to Birmingham, and does - trying to believe it's for the money while knowing in his heart it's because he wants one last shot at the girl he's always loved from afar. Stacy. They say that home is where the heart is - and Kyle is about to discover the truth of that in ways he never imagined.

This book avoids the pitfall that a lot of first novels seem to fall into, that type of prose where you can almost see the writer behind the scenes feeling his or her way around. That can be a very distracting thing, and makes it difficult to keep your mind *in* the book as opposed to just on it. But Stacy's Heart has a very mature voice, a wonderful ebb and flow, and I was very quickly pulled completely into Kyle's world and swept along with its currents. Mr. Rainey's take on the south is perfect in this book - honest enough to be believable, but surreal and twisted enough to play right along with the unfolding tale. And he's not afraid to rack up a body count, either.

The climax this book builds to is nothing short of unbelievable - in terms of the story itself as well as the manner in which it is told. I don't wish to give anything away, and so I'll leave it at saying that, among other things, there's an apocalyptic graveyard battle scene which you do *not* want to miss. Don't start the last hundred pages of this book unless you intend to read every single one of them, because you won't be able to put it aside.

An excellent read, and the best first book I've read in a long while - especially in this field. If the horror genre has a few more Cary Raineys in the up-and-coming pipeline, then that "revolution" I've been waiting on shouldn't be too far off.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, a horse of a different color
Review: Of late, I've been disappointed in what the horror genre has had to offer as far as new talent is concerned. For years now, I've been patiently waiting for a new generation of authors to come onto the scene like King, Barker, Straub, McCammon, Koontz, Campbell, etc. once did (seemingly eons ago) and shake things up - but the wait has been long, and I was beginning to wonder if I was waiting on nothing more than an illusion. However, Cary Rainey's first novel, Stacy's Heart, has breathed new life into my hopes.

Stacy's Heart tells the story of Kyle Crader. Kyle grows up in Birmingham, Alabama, and by the time he leaves home for Califonia on the night of his graduation he has learned to hate it with a white-hot passion. Intending to mock his hometown, he writes a satirical novel filled with rampant bigotry and sexism. The book is an immense hit, spawning a series of hate crimes across America, as well as a movie and a big-money book contract. In the course of promoting the film, Kyle is asked to return to Birmingham, and does - trying to believe it's for the money while knowing in his heart it's because he wants one last shot at the girl he's always loved from afar. Stacy. They say that home is where the heart is - and Kyle is about to discover the truth of that in ways he never imagined.

This book avoids the pitfall that a lot of first novels seem to fall into, that type of prose where you can almost see the writer behind the scenes feeling his or her way around. That can be a very distracting thing, and makes it difficult to keep your mind *in* the book as opposed to just on it. But Stacy's Heart has a very mature voice, a wonderful ebb and flow, and I was very quickly pulled completely into Kyle's world and swept along with its currents. Mr. Rainey's take on the south is perfect in this book - honest enough to be believable, but surreal and twisted enough to play right along with the unfolding tale. And he's not afraid to rack up a body count, either.

The climax this book builds to is nothing short of unbelievable - in terms of the story itself as well as the manner in which it is told. I don't wish to give anything away, and so I'll leave it at saying that, among other things, there's an apocalyptic graveyard battle scene which you do *not* want to miss. Don't start the last hundred pages of this book unless you intend to read every single one of them, because you won't be able to put it aside.

An excellent read, and the best first book I've read in a long while - especially in this field. If the horror genre has a few more Cary Raineys in the up-and-coming pipeline, then that "revolution" I've been waiting on shouldn't be too far off.