The Barrens: Amazon.co.uk: Rosamond Smith, Joyce Carol Oates: Books

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2.0 out of 5 stars Find your thrill somewhere else, 22 Feb 2009

By	Arcturus (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Barrens (Otto Penzler Books) (Paperback)

I was quite disappointed with this book, especially being an addict of thrillers, I found this book very easy to put down indeed! In fact, most times I had to tell myself that I should finish it and give it a chance. By three quarters of the way, I stopped giving it a chance. And rarely do I not finish a book.

Far from being suspenseful, I found it so repetitive it was verging on boring. Scene after scene of the same events are repeated, again and again, leaving you frustrated and mildly irritated. "Get on with it" were words that came to my mind after I'd read page after page of the same scenes being run through like a broken projector.

There is barely enough for the reader to build up any kind of sentiment for the protagonist before he finds himself in his strange predicament. Has he had an affair with the dead woman? How can he not know? Unless he's schizophrenic perhaps. But even this mystery wasn't enough to get me through the book as I found, after a while, that actually I didn't care enough for Matt McBride (the protagonist) to know. Nor did I care enough for the murdered woman, to whom Smith/Oates has bizarrely named Duana Zwolle. Most of the characters seemed to me to be remote and disparate from each other.

The creepy environment with which Smith/Oates tries to surround her characters is only superficially achieved.

For something truly dark and creepy that gets under your skin, try 'Every Dead Thing' or 'The Black Angel' by John Connolly. Here is a true master of thrillers.Every Dead Thing

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4.0 out of 5 stars A strong thriller from this great writer, 21 May 2004

By	c westwood (London) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Barrens (Paperback)

When writing as Rosamund Smith, Joyce Carol Oates' pulls in the focus on the plot and characterisation, where her more "literary" novels use characters and situations to explore grander themes about American life.

As The Barrens progresses your feeling of alienation from the lead character heightens, the plot gathers pace and rushes precipitously towards its conclusion. Thoroughly "un-put-down-able", this is a gripping read, and another success from 'Rosamund Smith'.

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The Barrens (Paperback)

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