Creepy Old House + New Pregnancy = Disaster

TITLE: The Chrysalis
AUTHOR: Brendan Deneen
PUBLISHER: Tor Books
PUBLISHING DATE: September 4, 2018

FROM GOODREADS: Welcome to the dark side of suburbia. 

Barely employed millennials Tom and Jenny Decker have to grow up fast when they lose their cheap Manhattan apartment. Leaving "the city" is hard, but the blow is softened when they stumble upon a surprisingly affordable house in the suburbs. 

For Tom, the bills, the mortgage, and Jenny's unexpected pregnancy add up to terror. He's not ready for this kind of responsibility. 

Then he finds the thing in the basement. It makes him feel like a winner even as it scrambles his senses. A new job soon has him raking in the big bucks--enough that Jenny can start making her entrepreneurial dreams come true. 

The Deckers' dream home conceals more than one deadly secret. As Tom's obsession with the basement grows, Jenny realizes that to save her family, she must expose everything. Before it destroys them all. 

No one ever really wants to grow up...but sometimes behaving like an adult is the only way to survive. 

MY THOUGHTS: I've basically wanted to read this book since it first came out so I finally cracked down and decided to make time for it.  Boy am I glad that I did. So Tom and Jenny are your basic millenials.  Tom is a bartender and Jenny basically hangs out with him at the bar when not working her job as a personal trainer.  One day they receive a notice that their rent is increasing and they will no longer be able to afford it.  They start house hunting and are shocked when they score a huge old house outside city limits.  Soon after moving in, Jenny learns she is pregnant and both of them are forced to grow up.  However, the glowing blob in the basement has other ideas.

I really enjoyed "The Chrysalis" and pretty much read it in a day.  Every time I put it down, I would quickly pick it back up and convince myself I'd read just one more chapter.  I don't know that I ever fell in love with either Jenny or Tom as characters, but they were likable and I wanted to find out what was happening to them.  As the story unfolds, Tom's obsession with the chrysalis he discovers in the basement takes over and boy does it take a toll on the relationship.  Add that to the red stain on the kitchen floor which never quite disappears and you just know the book is headed down a road toward disaster.

"The Chrysalis" isn't what I expected.  Initially I thought it was a haunted house tale but instead I ended up with more of a haunted individuals tale.  And it worked.  I was even pleased with the ending and was glad that the author wasn't afraid to take some chances.  I will warn people who have little tolerance for whiny character that they might find Tom annoying.  When he basically had what equates to a mid-life crisis because he had to get a full-time job and cut his hair, I felt no sympathy.  However, on the whole, I think any horror lover might want to give this book a try.  In addition, I think someone new to horror might even like this because I kind of consider it "horror-lite." 

MY RATING:  4 Paws

That Was One Long Trip - The Passage Review

TITLE: The Passage (The Passage #1)
AUTHOR: Justin Cronin
PUBLISHER: Ballantine Books
PUBLISHING DATE: June 8, 2010

FROM GOODREADS: A IT HAPPENED FAST. THIRTY-TWO MINUTES FOR ONE WORLD TO DIE, ANOTHER TO BE BORN.                                                                                                            First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear--of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he's done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. Wolgast is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors, but for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey--spanning miles and decades--toward the time an place where she must finish what should never have begun.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterly prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

MY THOUGHTS: So anyone who has been visiting my blog knows that this review has been a long time coming.  I started reading this book January 1st and honestly wondered if I would ever finish it.  I need to add that I am not afraid of huge books. In fact, some of my all-time faves have been super long (aka - The King).  But this book wasn't only long, it was dense, and it spanned over 100 years in time.  And at times, I felt like it was taking me that long to read it.

"The Passage" is basically a futuristic post-apocalyptic tale - with vampires.  Except they are now fondly referred to as smokes.  These entities were created by the government in order to battle disease and find a cure for everything.  However, this book clearly teaches you not to mess with Mother Nature too much.

So the military took the worst of mankind, horrible criminals on death row, and in trying to do good, unleashed a madness on the world.  It didn't take long for the population to dwindle.  Yet the military did try to remedy their mistake and in doing so took Amy NLN (no last name) and created a possible cure for their madness.  But can she find the people she needs to help her, and will they realize what needs to be done?

"The Passage" really is a great tale.  I never considered DNF'ing it, even though it did fall behind the couch, where it sat for two days, because it was a wonderful reason not to pick it up.  And had I focused solely on this book, and not had other reading obligations and let's say, work and family, it would have easily been finished in less than two weeks.  I loved Amy and will forever envision her as the adorable little girl playing her on the Fox TV series (and if you are watching that, you know that they were way off on their casting - also if you are watching it, know that it and the book should probably be treated as two different tales because they are that different).  I think the beginning of the book, where the author is setting the stage and where Amy is on the run with Agent Wolgast, is my favorite part of the book.  And honestly, the middle, where we go pages and pages without Amy, focusing on a community trying to survive in the New World, dragged a bit.  However, even that section offered characters I grew to love - Theo, Maus, Circuit, Lish and Peter to name a few.  There are tons of people in this book to love...and to hate.

So overall I am pleased with "The Passage."  I am glad I finally picked this book up and since it was a present from Mr. Barb for Christmas, I can say he definitely got his money's worth.  And will I be continuing?  Yes, in fact, I already own the big fat floppy book #2.  If you like survival tales and more importantly, if you like character-driven books (I do), then I do think you will enjoy "The Passage."  Just be prepared to make a commitment because I would never categorize this as a quick read.

RATING: 4 PAWS

AND A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL MY PALS WHO CHEERED ME ON!!!!