Wednesday 1 March 2017

LOCKED DOORS by Blake Crouch

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE


How I discovered this book:  I've read and reviewed a few of this author's books, and had just read the prequel, Desert Places - had to know what happened next!

Desert Places was jolly good, but this is even better.  Obviously I can't say anything about the plot because it's a sequel, and it would give away what happens in Book One, so I'll give the reasons why I liked it:

There's no exposition-type recapping of the previous book, and the situation of the main character, writer Andrew Thomas, seven years on from the end of the last book, is all that you would hope for him.  He's in Yukon, and I loved the description of the lonely cabin where he lives (okay, okay, I wanted to live there too....).  When the psychopathic Luther Kite beckons, though, he can't help responding....

The pace is terrific.  It alternates between characters, and from first to third person, and each change is just right, building the suspense perfectly - I'd swear that on occasion I got that adrenalin flutter of excitement as I moved from one section to another!

The new characters brought in are terrific - there's young Christian detective, Violet, plus Andrew's 'biggest fan', Horace Boone... and the parents of the evil killer. 

It's realistic - although all books of this type (serial killer thrillers in which your average guy takes on ultimate evil) can get a little far-fetched, all of this is well within the bounds of feasibility.  It's not predictable, either.  Just when you think it's going to be okay, it gets bad again.  And Crouch shows no fear about killing off people you badly, badly want to stay alive.....

A fab example of its type.  Really looking forward to the next one, Break You.  The reviews for that aren't so good... we'll see.  Incidentally, like all Blake Crouch books, this one finishes by about 80%, followed by excerpts from other books and bits and bobs generally telling you how awesome Blake Crouch is.  I don't mind this, if the book's been really good, but some people feel ripped off by anything that doesn't end at 99%, so I thought I'd better mention it.

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