Jason

Absolutely loved this! Not normally my genre but I was hooked by the accessible writing style and premise.
Good characters and captivating dialogue.
I found the action elements extremely visceral and easy to follow which is often something I find challenging.
This was my introduction to Koontz and gifted to me by a friend. It was a wonderful journey.

I absolutely did not expect to be so moved by such a short story. I haven't cried reading a book for years. It took this tiny little tale to bring it out of me. Beautiful. Sad. Lonely.

ugh

I hate it

I love it

I hate it

I love it

That was my journey with this.

I originally started reading this a couple of years ago and DNF at about 20%. It's one of only two books I've ever not finished.

But it kept popping up as recommended and I had now seen the movie (loved!) and I though, "Give it another go".

15% in I was ready to drop it again for exactly the same reasons.

Mark Watney comes across as a know it all, condescending douchebag with terrible Dad humour.

I'm a Dad.. I know what bad Dad humour sounds like.

And I was forced to listen to him rabbit on for quarter of the book - which essentially amounted to a math's lesson. I swear there were more numbers in this book at this stage than words;

"I'm screwed. However, the body needs 2 litres of water every day to survive, which I can get if I split the atom of 376 oxygens and combine with 800 hydrogens, while parsing them over 65 potatoes under 200psi of pressure at a temperature of 100 kelvin. But I must do this over 56 hours under a strict light intensity of 100 lumens. The advantage of this is that it will also generate 25 pirate-ninjas of power".

ugh

UGH

UUUUGGGHHHHH!!

I feel like Mark Watney was just a vessel for Andy Weir to show the world how bloody smart he thinks he is.

But I'm a tougher reader now so I persevered.

And then something wonderful happened. Mission control. NASA. Other characters. People who were just people solving a problem and with a real personality and a PLOT.

I LOVED these parts of the book.

Unfortunately they kept being in interrupted by Mark F*cking Watney.

Seriously, just let the dude die on that cold red planet. It would have been more interesting just to follow NASA's attempt at retrieving his body for a memorial service.

5 stars for NASA. 1 for Watney.

It's rare for me to discover a new author that compels me to seek more and more of their work.
I first discovered Ross Jeffery a few months ago when “The Devils Pocketbook” was recommended to me.
I was immediately struck by the absolute clarity in his writing and story direction. It made every page seep into me almost effortlessly. Like I wasn't even reading.
I followed this up almost immediately with Juniper. Yet again the consistency and ease of which his words found their way into my mind struck me, so I immediately followed up with Tome.
Dare I say it, this one surpassed the others.

I don't really need to talk about the book. It's covered in every other review. But you will feel the darkness here because it's rooted in the people. People that we see every day on the news but try to pretend don't exist. The supernatural elements of this book simply use those people as a conduit, not really doing anything but removing the shackles that usually stop them from carrying out the depraved thoughts in their own mind.
The imagery that Jeffery builds through his words is palpable. I struggle to develop pictures of scenes in my mind when reading, but again, Jeffery made this effortless to me, and I can visualise Juniper Correctional with insane clarity..

In 3 books, Jeffery has raised himself into the list of my favourite authors, alongside King and Blake Crouch.

Please...don't stop writing.

Unique little story. Cute and terrifying all at the same time.