BOOK REVIEW: Mr Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett

Title: Mr Shivers

Author: Robert Jackson Bennett

Publisher: Orbit

Publication Date: 21 Jan 2010

Genre: Apocaplytic Thriller/Horror

ARC: 327 pages

Rating: 4/10

Summary (Goodreads)

It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life. Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death - a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human. As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge.

Review:

Mr Shivers was one of my top ten most anticipated reads of 2010. I loved the cover and the synopsis but unfortunately, Mr Shivers did not deliver. For me it was just a disappointment and rather dull to boot.

After his daughter is murdered, Michael Connelly sets out to find the scarred man, aka gray man, aka Mr Shivers, to seek his revenge. Along the way he joins forces with an unlikely band of hobos who are also out to kill Mr Shivers. Most of the book is following their journey towards finding this man they all hate and wish dead. When we are eventually introduced to Mr Shivers I didn't find him menacing or scary, which was a bit of a let down.

This book is marketed as a thriller/horror novel, but it didn't really contain any suspense or horror. I wasn't scared or haunted and there was absolutely no atmosphere or interesting descriptions of the environment to give the essence of where the characters were or their surroundings, except for a few dust storms.

I also felt that there was no character development. I didn't get to know the characters, understand them, feel sorry for them. In fact, I didn't really care about them. The dialogue was awkward and didn't give any indication of the personalities behind the words.

I continued until the end, as I rarely give up on a book, but this was very difficult, and, if I'm honest, I skimmed through a few pages. However, I'm forever the optimist and at the back of my mind I'm always thinking there will be something amazing at the end that I didn't see coming and it will just blow me away. This didn't happen. Instead the ending was as flat as the rest of the book.

Verdict:

This is the authors debut novel, but unfortunately, Mr Shivers didn't chill me to the bone. I found it lacking the aspects I expect from a thriller/horror novel. I also didn't like the style of writing and therefore doubt I will read anything else from this author in the future.

Thank you to ORBIT for sending me this book for review.