The Dead Boys | Royce Buckingham
A tree down river from a nuclear power plant feeds off the lives of little boys it captures.
This is not a book I would have been able to read as a child, let alone curl up with it right before bed. I read it in about two hours straight. I kept telling myself, well, I'll just take a break to finish my holiday cards after this chapter. Four chapters later, I was like, well, I can take a break to start wrapping Christmas gifts. Once I hit the middle of the book, I realized all resistance was futile and climbed into bed to see it through to the end.
I like the pacing of this story - the action never stops. There was no point that I felt dragged on to long and even the ending, which was different that what I expected, felt good and right despite it's strangeness. I like that Teddy's actions (and reactions) are realistic, as is his relationship with his absentee-for-a-good-reason mother.
For all the creativity of the story, and it's unusual serial killer, aside, it's the fact that Buckingham chose to set the story in his hometown that really caught my attention. The comfort his characters display in the different scenes is the sort of writing that only a local can produce.
And it is with deep, deep sadness but no hesitation that I remove Nanny Piggins -- my previous against the grain of my usual taste choice -- from my short list to replace it with this.
Sidebar: the page forward button on the right-hand side of my Nook, my preferred reading button, cracked last week. At first, I thought it was my own fault for casually tossing it (covered) into my overnight bag, but when I looked it up online it turned out to be a very common issue. I contacted Barnes & Noble and had a certified pre-owned Nook replacement within less than a week. I know it sounds silly, but I swear it feels more subsistancial, lighter and better constructed than my original. I hope that it's not just the trees talking to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment