Kirjailijakuva

Nathan Field (3)

Teoksen The Many tekijä

Katso täsmennyssivulta muut tekijät, joiden nimi on Nathan Field.

2 teosta 14 jäsentä 3 arvostelua

Tekijän teokset

The Many (2016) 11 kappaletta
Ancestral (2018) 3 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Sukupuoli
male

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

This was a fast paced, suspenseful story that straddled the line between psychological thriller, and horror. Fans of either genre should enjoy this book.

Karl is having difficulty finding work, and so is staying for the time being with his older sister Stacey. All is well between the siblings until Stacey goes out on a blind date with a man she met on the internet. At first the changes in her are just a bit odd, but that quickly escalates to outright inappropriate and then violent behavior. Desperate to help his sister, Karl does everything in his power to find out what occurred on this date, and discovers that his sister is not the only one this has happened to. 4 out of 5 stars from me.
I received a complimentary copy for review
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
IreneCole | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jul 27, 2022 |
I’m always down for reading a new psychological thriller, perhaps because more often than not, they remind me just how twisted a person’s mind can be. It’s what took my breath away in Gone Girl, after all. Unfortunately, I was not impressed with Nathan Field’s The Many. While it was short, it was a painful read that left me with far more questions than it answered – some of which deal with the writer’s knowledge in particular of certain things.

The story begins with an online date that goes bad, but the details are extremely vague. Something happens to the young woman, Stacey, that messes her up mentally. She goes mad and, as a result, ends up killing herself. Her brother, Karl, is left behind to avenge her death and from there, things only get more weird. I won’t go too much into specifics, because I tend to try and avoid spoilers.

The Many is more of a sexploitation book than it is a psychological thriller. While it is true that psychology plays a role in the book, most of the focus is on sex. From personal experience, I can say that the scenes dealing with the psychologist felt extremely unrealistic. In fact, a lot of the book felt that way. In The Butterfly Garden, we met the Gardener and his twisted obsession with young ladies and butterflies, but it was written in a manner that literally gave me the creeps. The Many, on the other hand, approaches it in an extremely crude manner that feels almost juvenile.

My largest and perhaps most ironic complaint is the manner in which Field writes women. I went into this book knowing that it had a strong adult theme. As an avid fan of the worst types of horror, the idea of “[exploring] contemporary themes of corruption, sexuality, and gender” doesn’t phase me. This book does not explore those themes, and if it does, the only one of those that it even really touches on for more than a few fleeting seconds is sexuality. There’s a strong hint of corruption, especially toward the end, but it is of the “supreme beings overlording humans” variety – something that could have been more fleshed out, really. The “exploration” in this book appears to be mostly in how many ways women can be objectified for their bodies. The reason I find this ironic? Right before I really got into the book, I was telling a close friend of mine that I haven’t really read books where men wrote women in such a manner after she’d linked me to a blog post about “if women wrote men the way men wrote women.”

In addition to horribly written women, there were far too many inconsistencies in the story. They were mostly minor ones, but they were still there. For instance: Karl purchases a gun through his drug-dealing roommate because you have to be twenty-one to buy one in Oregon. That’s fine and dandy, but if he’s twenty, then why is he having no problem buying any alcohol? Better yet, even Dawn, who is younger, is offered alcohol in a restaurant. Do they simply not card? At another point, Karl remarks on how a Civic is not built for speed. While it is true that the year of the one he’s behind the wheel of, a ’98, probably doesn’t have enough get up and go left in it, a Civic is, and always will be, a ricer.

Other inconsistencies come in the level of importance of various minor characters. Some were super important for vital reasons at one point in the story, only to be completely forgotten shortly after.

I’m not saying the story needs to be toned down, though it is a bit too heavily trying to force the whole sex thing; what I am saying is that the potential that the story could have had is not met. Field has, with this “superior being” sort of idea, the potential to create a truly driving story. I think, with a little bit of tweaking to allow for realistic appearances and approaches (the female characters are all drop dead gorgeous), and a bit more focus on the psychology aspects of the book, it would have been a great read.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
agrimscythe | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Mar 20, 2018 |
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Karl and Dawn were two characters linked together by the deaths of their loved ones. Stacey, Karl's sister and Isobel, Dawn's mom both found their dates from online dating sites. A seemingly harmless blind date resulted in both's creepy and weird behaviors afterwards until their deaths. Karl and Dawn both knew something happened that night when their loved ones went out with their blind dates. With the help of detective McElroy, Karl was able to get in touch with Dawn. Without any support from the local authorities, both have decided to find out the truth on their own.

At first, with all the creepiness that's happening to the characters, I thought there's a supernatural involved, but no. This is not a horror read; it falls under the thriller (medical)/ mystery genre. There were lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing, and I was surprised to find out what was actually going on. It's not what I expected, which is good because it wasn't predictable. Although, I enjoyed this read, it wasn't enough to give me that book hangover. I wish there were more details regarding the “faceless men” and the “breeding” stuff they're into since the explanation why they're doing it had me that “huh?” moment. Also, I've noticed that there's a repeated part in the book.
This one: “Stacey's unpaid leave ran out on Monday........” (located at 16% and 17% on my kindle)

The Many is an intriguing read with creepy vibe, unexpected twists, and a touch of dark theme. If you're up into a thriller read, then this book might be for you.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
bookishailurophile | 2 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Nov 4, 2016 |

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Tilastot

Teokset
2
Jäseniä
14
Suosituimmuussija
#739,559
Arvio (tähdet)
3.0
Kirja-arvosteluja
3
ISBN:t
20