Worm

Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: Cindy Glander uses the art of profiling (as in FBI serial killer profiling) to create a monstrous character that will have you cringing. Each death is cleverly disguised as an accident or suicide, which leaves you thinking, "How will they ever catch this guy if they don't even know to look for him?"

This is an excellent novel which I found intriguing and well worth reading. It is a mystery and a psycho-thriller combined. I have been reading a lot of James Patterson and Dan Brown lately, so it's good to find another writer of mystery and suspense on the horizon.


Rating:
Summary: Solid genre mystery.
Review: Cindy Glander, Worm (iUniverse, 2004)

While plagued with the usual typos one expects from an iUniverse release, and something of an overenthusiastic back-cover blurb writer (also typical of iUniverse), there's a lot to be liked in this little tale of a New England serial killer. The young Worm, a typical social outcast (there are a few at every school), grows up transformed by a stint in the army into a devoted police officer, befriended by his partner, Hank. Hank's best friend Sam had died as the victim of a random crime, and Hank promised to keep watch over Sam's son Maggie as the man died. Maggie took over Sam's pet store after Sam's death, and now Maggie is torn between an attraction for Jake and one for Frank, part-timer at the pet store who also works at the hardware store down the street. Amidst all this, Hank and Jake are tracking a serial killer in New Milford, Connecticut.

Yep, a serial killer in Connecticut, and one whose motives are (to say the least) deeply odd, seeming almost random at the beginning of the story. This adds to the confusion at the beginning, of which there is a great deal. Once you've gotten to the point where you know the characters, however, things progress more smoothly. The mystery angle here is pretty stock stuff, as is the romance angle, and both get relatively predictable about halfway through the book. The pleasure in Worm, however, is seeing how the late Glander gets from the point where you realize who the killer is and who Maggie will end up in love with to getting to the actual scenes, and what sorts of obstacles will get thrown in everyone's way while getting from point A to point B.

Worm isn't likely to grab you by the throat and proclaim itself the best mystery you've ever come across, but it's certainly good reading for those times when you're in need of a good, predictable genre piece that'll keep you turning the pages. ***

Rating:
Summary: Only the WORM know?
Review: The Worm, not the creepy type found in the dirt by the use of a shovel but a man known in his younger days as the Worm. People are dying, but are they being killed or just dying by accidents, or could they be taking their own lives? Only the Worm knows for sure. In the town of New Milford strange things seem to be happening, abusive type people are dying, they are not abusive to people, well maybe they are in some ways but they have hurt animals and now they must die.

Maggie McCarthy a pet store owner seems to have something in common with some of the people in New Milford the nice little town she lives in. It's up to a town Detective Jake Allen to find her connection to the past and present or does he already know? What does his past have to do with what is now happening in this small town and the people that are turning up dead? Just where does the name Worm fit in?

Are you up to the ride through the small town as you make your turns at the corners, seems to be a lot of turns in this town. You will be turning the pages of the book faster and faster to keep up, you only thought a worm moves slowly. A must read-Larry Hobson- Author- "The Day Of The Rose"






Rating:
Summary: An enthralling, suspenseful read cover to cover
Review: Worm is a gripping murder mystery. A serial killer stalks the streets of a sleepy little town, ruthlessly murdering individuals who are cruel to animals. Each victim has some connection to Maggie McCarthy, who only wanted to live in peace; now she is absorbed into a maelstrom of vicious conflict and the mind of a tortured killer. An enthralling, suspenseful read cover to cover.


Rating:
Summary: Worm is a bit of a psycho, while Maggie is the innocent.
Review: Worm is a psycho-thriller murder mystery novel by Cindy Glander that I couldn't put down until the end. It skillfully tergiversates amongst the various characters, leading the reader from one suspect to another. Basically, it is the journey of a psychologically damaged boy called Worm, his parents and their circle of friends, all intertwined with a girl named Maggie. The writer is skilled at surprising twists. For example, when a rabid animal attacks Sheila to her death, I pictured a large rabid dog performing the vicious acts; but in the end, it turns out to be a small squirrel. The juxtaposition of opposites, such as the little squirrel after passages about large rabid dogs, makes the book all the more interesting to read. On the one hand, Worm is a bit of a psycho, while Maggie is the innocent. She is humane to all animals and even runs a pet shop named Critters. Worm is a book about caring for your pets, and at the same time, interleaved, there is a story about a pitiful serial murderer. Or is it the other way around? ;-) I heartedly recommend this book to people who enjoy reading this genre.

Rating:
Summary: A real page-turner!
Review: Worm is the type of book that once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. With a fast pace, an engaging storyline, and plenty of surprises and plot twists, it kept me glued to the pages from beginning to end.

Worm is the story of Jake Allen, a small-town detective with a disturbing past, who finds himself in the middle of a hunt for a serial killer that only he believes exists. Bizarre deaths have been occurring throughout the town, and though they appear to be nothing more than accidents, Jake suspects there is something more sinister beneath it all.

Central to the story is Maggie McCarthy, the owner of the town's pet store, who is completely innocent and unaware that she is the inspiration behind these vicious acts of violence.

Interweaved throughout the story, we delve into Jake's past, to a time when he was an abused boy who went by the name of "Worm", both because of the thick glasses and turtlenecked sweaters he wore to hide his bruises, and his ability to mentally "split himself into two" whenever he was threatened.

Worm starts out like a horror novel, morphs into a murder mystery, then culminates into a psychological thriller. I pride myself in figuring out "whodunnit" in mystery novels well before it is revealed, but in this case, I was completely fooled. You will be, too.

Rating:
Summary: WORM
Review: WORM, the novel, makes you feel its author's presence as the tale unfolds. Here is an author who laughs, snickers, and enjoys the intricate mind games involved in creating a work worth remembering. The characters are at the mercy of their own thoughts and fears while continually remaining subject to the negative and positive effects their lives place on others.
WORM is a very direct presentation of a good psychological thriller which highlights the inevitable scars of mental and physical abuse and its consequences.