A bad relationship is like being on a train journey to hell, fortunately most of us get off well before the final destination. This is a story about wA bad relationship is like being on a train journey to hell, fortunately most of us get off well before the final destination. This is a story about what happens when a relationship that should have ended, doesn't.
Imagine being bound to a self destructive psychopath who'll do anything possible to put you down/get the last word/come out on top. No, i'm not talking about the normal ups and downs of a relationship. I mean serious head case stuff, where no slight can be left unpunished. That's pretty much what it's like for Nick being married to Amy. Of course, Nick's no saint either...
I don't want to give too much away, for me the twists and turns make Gone Girl un-put-downable. I bought this book thinking it was a good old fashioned whodoneit, but there's so much more at play here. It made me think about my own relationship, and how over time couples take each other more and more for granted. I never want to be like that.
Now I was all prepared to dole out another 5-star review, but the ending...ughhh! It's one of those you either love or hate, I found it quite depressing. I always hope for a happy ending where the characters develop, learn lessons and go on to be better people. I know, I know, how naive! Yep, that's not what happens in real life, but I still believe it's what *should* happen. So I was left quite disappointed by Nick with the eventual decision that he came to. I really enjoyed the book though, and if anything the ending vexed me enough to leave the story still in my mind 2 days later.
A frighteningly original thriller, there's a good reason this book is such a success! ...more
I picked this up for free on my kindle as the title interested me, and well, it was free. To be honest I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, I meanI picked this up for free on my kindle as the title interested me, and well, it was free. To be honest I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, I mean if the book is being given away for nothing its best not to have high expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Methos has a masterful way of building suspense and I found the themes explored in the book to be really interesting. I love a good disaster story, but only if its done right and constructed in a believable way. And this was. I found myself imagining what would happen if the same thing happened today, a seemingly unstoppable worldwide epidemic. That's the thing that gets me about Plague, it really could happen. As Methos points out 99.99% of all the species that have ever existed are extinct. What makes us think that we'd be any different?
My main criticism is the ending, it's like you're driving along and everything is going great, then BAM, the next thing you know you've hit a brick wall. And that's it. It's over before it should be, no finality, no goodbyes, no nice clean cut ending, just a rushed few pages...more
Well, lets just say you have to be a tad open minded if you want to enjoy this book, but suspend your disbelief for long enough and you might find youWell, lets just say you have to be a tad open minded if you want to enjoy this book, but suspend your disbelief for long enough and you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by 172 Hours On The Moon.
I didn't enjoy the first 50 pages or so that much, the whole idea just seemed so silly. I mean if I can see that sending three teenagers to an abandoned moon base is a bad idea, why can't the heads of NASA?
Even worse, the three chosen teens didn't seem fit for a job at McDonalds, let alone the rigours of a space mission. Harstad explains the names are picked out randomly by a lottery, but honestly, would NASA really let a rebellious punk, a lovesick stalker and a harajuku girl go to the moon? Of course not.
It's at about this point I decided that I wouldn't enjoy this book if I looked at it too critically. After all I'm a 27 year old space nut, this book isn't written for someone like me.
The turning point came about halfway, when the lunar module had landed and things start to take a turn for the worse. I realised I wasn't reading a sci-fi book anymore, the focus had shifted to that of a dark, unsettling horror.
Harstad ramps up the tension as the mood of mission quickly descends from hopeful scientific exploration to a fight for survival. I became enthralled in a race against time where deceit and conspiracy threaten the lives of not only the crew, but the whole of mankind.
Verdict: 172 Hours On The Moon flops as a sci-fi, but it's a pretty good horror. The plot is original, the main character develops with the story and most of all it does what a horror is supposed to do - freak me out! I could imagine this as a Micheal Bay movie, fast paced with lots of action, but a bit lacking on the intellectual side. It's still a lot of fun though.
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