Rating: 
Summary: THRILLS CHILLS AND SINISTER INTRIGUE
Review: SIMMONS HAS WRITTEN A EPIC SAGA OF TERROR.CARRION COMFORT HAS A RACE A PSYCHIC VAMPIRES WHO USE HUMANS IN THEIR NEVERENDING WAR FOR DOMINATION.THEY INCLUDE A RACIST OLD LADY, A NAZI
WAR CRIMINAL AND HOLLYWOOD AGENT ONLY THREE PEOPLE
HAVE THE COURAGE TO FIGHT THEM. WHAT MAKES THIS NOVEL A HORROR CLASSIC IS THAT; SIMMONS COMBINES
KING-STYLE HORROR AND COMPLEX INTRIGUE AND ACTION
IN THE STYLE OF ROBERT LUDLUM.
Rating:
Summary: The story of two ordanary people caught in a web of insanity
Review: A holocost surviver and a black girl make an unliky pair as they fight the most savage and powerfull people on the planet. A cross-country battle between good and evil. The best book I have ever read. Surpasses King. I could not put it down, evan the second time. I highly reccomend this book. I came to care for or hate the characters created by Dan Simmons. If you want to read a great horror story about modern day vampires this is it. A must read
Rating:
Summary: This is a really great book.
Review: I enjoyed it thoughly when I read it a few years ago.
It's about time to read it again. I love big, complicated
books!
Rating:
Summary: 1990 Bram Stoker Award Winner
Review: This book is a very ambitious undertaking, with a very
original premise. Taking the lore of the vampire a step further, into the mental stage. This book centers on people
that can control others, like a puppet, through their minds,
becoming "rejuvenated" through Using another person, partic-
ularly for murder. The storyline revolves around three main
"vampires", and a man that has set out to stop them. There is a vaguely "X-files" touch to this, as many of the upper
level members of the government are also "Users". Very
entertaining book, although, some people may be daunted by
it's size (a little less than 900 pages), it is a fast
read, and the last 100 pages are in the "I-can't-put-this-
down" category. Well worth the money spent, I recommend this book wholeheartedly to any and all fans of horror/
thrillers. In fact, I recommend just about anything written
by Dan Simmons, he is a well kept secret in today's better
authors.
Rating: 
Summary: Long winded story that could be told with less effort.
Review: At about 900 pages, you would think is book is an epic spanning
many generations. It is, however, a relatively simple Stephen
King-ish story of "mind Vampires" who, instead of sucking blood,
thrive on violence and death. None of the characters are very
likeable, and the story just goes on and on, into areas that I believe could have been cut out. I like Dan Simmons style, but
here he's just not editing himself. His other book, Hyperion, is
a much better read.
Rating:
Summary: how some people prey on the weakness of others
Review: The best of today's new writers is Dan Simmons. His understanding of people and master control of the art of writing transforms this novel into one scary insight into
the lives of vultures in our society. Makes Stephen King
horror look like comic book reading. Simmons is hard to
label, as he writes sf/horror/fantasy, but he is just a
master at fiction.
Rating:
Summary: how some people prey on the weakness of others
Review: The best of today's new writers is Dan Simmons. His understanding of people and master control of the art of
writing transforms this novel into one scary insight into
the lives of vultures in our society. Makes Stephen King
horror look like comic book reading. Simmons is hard to label, as he writes sf/horror/fantasy, but he is just a
master at fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Tough On Kids...
Review: You can get most of the information you need on this book in the other reviews. There is one thing, however, that I found particularly disturbing (not in a good horror novel way, but in a really unpleasant way) about this book. And that's the unrelenting violence against children.
It begins with graphic descriptions of the treatment of children in Nazi death camps. Progresses to children being shot, thrown down stairs, having wires inserted in their brains through their eyes, being killed in a gang fight against the villains ... and I've still got 400 pages yet to go.
That's right, I haven't even finished the book yet. And frankly I don't know if I want to. The passage I just finished (and the one that caused me to write this review) alluded to the fact that one of the author's "mind vampires" has eliminated several of a family's children because she found them a nuisance to her co-opting the parents to her devices.
And the fact is, children are completely irrelevant to the plot. Simmons just seems to revel in throwing them in for the shock value of having his monsters mistreat them. It's a visceral device that is completely -- and unnecessarily -- overused in this book.
I have read good books where children have been in danger. I have read good books where children have been unfortunate victims of evil. But I have never seen this book's equal for using excessive victimization of children as a crutch in its attempt to create antipathy for the antagonists.
It's mostly a good book. Simmons didn't need to be so heavyhanded with this device.
Rating:
Summary: Now THAT's a horror novel, Mr. King
Review: I was telling a friend that I read King's "The Stand" and later "Insomnia" but I was disappointed by the simple fact that neither book was very frightening. Yes, the overall situations get horrific and tense, but I wanted something that could hit me in the gut. So my friend handed me Carrion Comfort. Let me just say that Mr. King leads you to the edge of the cliff, finally lets you look over, then pulls you back. By contrast, Simmons sends you over the edge via a viscious kick in the back then when you hit bottom, he's waiting there to grab the scruff of your neck and rub your face in it. Terrific.
Rating:
Summary: Simmons is a world above most authors
Review: Simmons is one of the literary world's great treasures. He moves with ease between numerous genres, completely at home in each. "Carrion Comfort" was the first book I read by this author. I enjoyed it immensely. Because of it, I read "Hyperion", which is something, because I despise Science Fiction, by and by. Simmons is different. His "Hyperion" series is much more than typical space opera, with phaser guns and funny aliens. He creates stories of immense depth and feeling. He started that for me in "Carrion Comfort", and continues to this day. I look forward to reading "Ilium" with great anticipation. "Carrion Comfort" is the story of psychic vampires, people who can control others with their minds. Years of this power has bored them to the point where they do it for sport. This started as a novella in one of Simmons's collections and he realized it fully in this novel. Cover blurb compares it to "The Stand" by King. It is only like "The Stand" in length and scope. The stories couldn't be more different. Read McCammon's "Swan Song" if you want "The Stand". "Carrion Comfort" is something completely different by one of America's most brilliant writers. Bravo.
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