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Fiction Review by The Gravedigger
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01.30.05
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HOUSE OF BLOOD (2004) Author: Bryan SmithThis book succeeded in reminding me that life is too short. No matter how many times I sat down and tried to read it I would stop after ten or so pages, read something else, then eventually come back to it in another attempt. I think I read five other novels by the time I was a third of the way through this novel. I just didn't like it. The scenario is that a group of college-aged students, travelling back in their van after a vacation, get off of the highway and find themselves on a secluded road that leads further and further away from civilization. One of them is killed by a werewolf like creature when he goes to urinate-and another has an emotional explosion on a girl he really likes. My biggest problem is when the author tries to write from the viewpoint of a woman-and it ends up seeming very much like what a guy would want a woman to do. It seems forced and unrealistic. The main character, Dream, is a beautiful young woman who is, of course, really insecure and suicidal. She also has a lot of friends who are also stereotypes, from the macho guy to the nerd to the slut. I've seen/read all this before. They're not interesting.As this storyline is happening, there is another about this labyrinth of tunnels that exist beneath a huge house, tunnels in which are captive dozens of humans-and inhumans as well. This is very much like Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES. The owner of the house is 'The Master', an old vampire who seems very much cast from the Bela Lugosi mode. He has a young woman he is converting into one of his own kind. There was too much going on here-and I stopped reading once one of the main characters from the van gets trapped inside this massive house-simply because I didn't care.
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - votes cast total
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