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| Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke http://horrorworld.org/msgboards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10922 |
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| Author: | TMLCrow [ Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Normally when I post thoughts on books or stories, I don't like telling too much of the plot, but I need to make an exception here. Kin is what the dust jacket says--a story that starts with an ending. Take any number of horror movies where someone gets away at the end, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Kealan's tale begins at the end of the movie. Claire is found on the side of the road, naked and bleeding, by Jack and Pete Lowell. She's escaped from the Merrill family, who are a backwoods clan of cannibals and sadists. Claire is taken to the local doctor, who helps stabilize her. The Merrills are after her, though, and Pete is tasked with getting her to a big city hospital, finalizing her escape. Once home, she learns of the plans of her dead boyfriend's brother to go back and kill the Merrills. I'll stop there so as to not give too much more away. First of all, the pacing on Kin is spot on. There's no dead space (no pun intended), everything that Kealan shows us is needed, either to set up something later in the book or as an explanation of someone's thought processes. There's some gore in the book, but a lot of it is after the fact. You see one of the heads of Claire's friends, but not the act itself. You hear and smell someone cooking, but it's not as far as Wrath goes in Succulent Prey or Ketchum in Off Season. What really makes the book stand out is the characters and how they deal with their grief. Claire has to deal with not only what was done to her, but to her friends. She sees them in her dreams. She doesn't want to be touched, but she really doesn't want to be alone, either. And when told by Finch, her boyfriend's brother, that he wants to kill the Merrills, something clicks in her and she wants to go with him. The nice thing about Claire as a character is that she's not the weepy woe-is-me victim, but she's also not the kick-ass superheroine. She's someone dealing with grief in her own way. Finch also is trying to deal with it in his own way. He wants to kill the Merrills and goes around talking to the other families to let them know what he's doing. Finch is a veteran of Iraq, and enlists the aid of a fellow vet in his quest. Finch also has PTSD and anger issues (some of which were present before his military service), which play into how he copes with what has happened. Before he entered the military, Finch had dated Claire's sister Kara, who ended their relationship over Finch's anger problems. In the scenes between Finch and Kara, you see that a lot of his anger seems to have bled into Kara, something she doesn't recognize but you and Finch do. Kara, with her own anger issues, has her way of dealing, and she comes close to being somewhat stereotypical in that regard and you kind of want to dislike her for what she does. What saves her from being that are two brilliant, simple lines when she looks at Claire. "She's broken, she thought. And I don't know how to fix her." The thing that struck me most in how all these characters coped with their losses was that they all did so differently, just like everyone in real life does. And that can create conflict because there's this notion that everyone should grieve the same way. Kealan uses that conflict to propel the story and characters forward, forcing them to deal with moral issues along the way. And, before I forget, don't think the Merrills are stereotypical characters. Kealan goes out of his way to give you a look into their lives without trying to make them sympathetic or too evil. And one of the most f'ed up scenes I've ever read, and I've read a lot, involves them. All I'll say is "rebirth." And, to go back to an earlier point about gore, even that scene stops short of showing you everything, making your imagining what happens past the end of it even more vivid. Kealan achieves a good balance between physical horror and its psychological effects. Kin is equally heart-wrenching and gut-wrenching. And it definitely deserves to be read by as many people as possible. |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
(Thad, I am not going to read your review until I finish with the book. You said you are going to talk about the plot in the beginning and since I'm reading it now I want to be surprised). I'm reading this now, and it is brutal. As I was reading it I was wondering if I should put it down it was effecting me so badly, but then something took me out of the story. It's on page 64 and I have to ask Kealan about it. But I have to say that this might be the most eloquently written gruesome story I think I have ever read. On page one alone there is one of the longest sentences I think I have ever read in a book (other than those in books where sentences are intentionally long as in train of thoughts) and it flowed so perfectly. Off to email Kealan... |
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| Author: | KealanPatrick [ Tue Nov 01, 2011 11:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Wow, Thad, thanks for the wonderful review. I'm delighted you dug the book, and appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts! Tony: I got back to you on that. Thanks! |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Wed Nov 02, 2011 7:17 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Thanks Kealan. Hope to finish this tonight or by tomorrow. Thad and I spoke last night, comparisons were made to Wrath, Ketchum, and Braunbeck's "Prodigal Blues". |
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| Author: | Jazminsdaddy [ Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
| Author: | TMLCrow [ Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
| Author: | ttzuma [ Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Well, I didn't read your review...yet  I hope to finish this tonight or tomorrow night. Got a little further with it today while waiting to visit a customer, and man, I didn't want to close the damn thing. Kealan's got me hooked big time on this one.
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| Author: | KealanPatrick [ Wed Nov 02, 2011 7:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
| Author: | ttzuma [ Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
OH...MY...GOD... |
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| Author: | KealanPatrick [ Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Why, Tony, whatever's the matter? 
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| Author: | TMLCrow [ Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
I messaged Tony last night and asked if he'd gotten to the rebirth scene and he said yes. Can't say I didn't warn him. |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Wow...what a book! |
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| Author: | KealanPatrick [ Fri Nov 04, 2011 4:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
Glad you liked it, Tony! |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
My review of Kin is done and submitted. Now I can read yours Thad...
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| Author: | TMLCrow [ Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
I'm looking forward to reading your review. I know mine isn't a Zuma review, but I think I did okay on it. |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
You did very well! I enjoyed it, and if I hadn't been reading Kin, your review would have kicked me to do so! |
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| Author: | TMLCrow [ Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
| Author: | ttzuma [ Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke |
The review is up in the Review section here in Horrorworld. I give Thad credit on this one, our conversations back and forth where in my mind when writing the review and it got me even more psyched as I was putting it together. I forgot how much fun it is when two (or more) of us used to read the same books at the same time and talk about them like we did at the old Dorchester board. When Thad mentioned Off Season and Succulent Prey it brought back memories of those books and how we talked them to death. And for those that remember her, I miss Laurel, she was a big part of our discussions. |
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