Need A Fix?

Six months ago, the world ended.

The Baugh Contagion swept across the planet. Its victims were left twitching, adrenalized cannibals that quickly became known as Junkies. Civilization crumbled as people created isolated safe havens to hide from the infected... and the possibly-infected.
Now, as society nears a tipping point, lives will intersect and intertwine across two days in a desolate city. THE JUNKIE QUATRAIN is four tales of survival, and four types of post-apocalypse story. Because the end of the world means different things for different people. Loss. Opportunity. Hope. Or maybe just another day on the job.

The Junkie Quatrain by Peter Clines proves the author is a master of post-apocalyptic fiction. Not only does he know how to create thrilling suspense situations, Clines also has an impressive talent for manipulating POVs, carefully crafting detailed pieces of a four-dimensional puzzle. Make sure you read the intro because it provides some fabulous insight into the stories.

One story features a woman who prefers to travel alone & yet she envies the pack mentality of the infected. Her description of the Junkies made me think of cannibals on crack, suffering from a disease like rabies. Another story follows a group of "outsiders," who leave their sanctuary on a supply run; they cross paths with something more deadly than the Junkies. (Clines had me guessing until the very end.) A third story centers on a doctor, revealing the source of the Junkie infection & a dark secret at the sanctuary that serves as a home base for the outsiders. The final story is a thought-narrative by a lone survivor who doesn't like to share...but I was surprised that he didn't recognize another survivor from a pre-apocalypse encounter...I think if he had, it would had added more depth to that particular moment in the story.

The Junkies Quatrain will leave readers begging for another fix. I will definitely "roll the dice" the next time I revisit this unique collection.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Throwback Thursday: Not Enough Action

14 by Peter Clines isn't anything like his Ex series or The Junkie Quatrain. Not only is this story zombie-free, but there isn't nearly as much action as Clines usually delivers - at least not in the first two thirds of the novel.

Don't get me wrong, this was a solid effort by the author, but I was so discouraged by the length of the setup, I would have been tempted to quit the book if it had been written by someone other than Peter Clines. I enjoyed his other novels so much that I was sure if I stuck it out, I could count on a fabulous ending, and I wasn't wrong...but I was literally 64% into the story before the story really grabbed me.

I can't even say that it was necessary for the story to develop at such a slow pace. The main character, Nate, moves into an apartment with rent that is too good to be true. Eventually, he notices some peculiar traits about the building. The problem is that many of the discoveries are made through interactions with his neighbors, which became tedious after the first few encounters, and the odd characteristics of the individual apartments were introduced too far apart to be considered an effective hook. Also, there are brief POVs from some of Nate's neighbors, and I felt the flickering perspectives weakened the storyline, rather than enhancing it.

On the other hand, once I was two-thirds through the book, I had that "Hell, YEAH!" moment, where I realized that 14 wasn't going to be like anything I've ever read before...and that is when Clines' creative flow once again takes his readers on a thrilling ride through bizarre sequence of events that made me think HP Lovecraft would have been right at home in that apartment building.

I think if readers approach this book as a horror-mystery, rather than an action-thriller, they will be find the effort of slogging through Nate's investigation of his apartment building worthwhile. Many of the unfolding details will seem surreal with disturbing moments that will put ice in your veins; in the end, everything you love about horror, mystery and cult fiction will be found in abundance.

As always,
AstraDaemon