Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Book Review - Red Rain - R L Stine


Red Rain: A Novel
Title:   Red Rain        

Author:   R.L. Stine

Review:  First of all, I want to say how excited I was to receive this book in the mail from the publisher. I nearly jumped up and down when I got it. I absolutely adored R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series and Fear Street as a kid. I read all of his books I could get my hands on. When I heard that he had an adult horror book I was ecstatic!

It is about a blog travel writer named Leah who goes to an island and ends up being there during a hurricane that devastates the island. She meets these two sickeningly creepy twin boys who supposedly lost their parents in the storm. She adopts them and brings them home to her family. The boys are up to no good and Leah is completely blind to it. Meanwhile, her husband is struggling with this decision. The boys try to get rid of Mark, the dad, by saddling him with two murders to “keep him occupied.” They also wreak havoc trying to “rule the school” in their new home.

I liked the characters, I liked the premise. But I did not finish the book.  I adore horror books and movies, but due to the F-word, I couldn't in clear conscience finish this one! I got about half way through the book before I had to call it quits. Needless to say I was outright frustrated.

I started reading the book and thought, “Wow, I like this story!” Then the profanities came out. I tried to ignore it, but couldn't  Once again, I found myself shutting the book before I had finished. Ugh, I hate it when I have to do that ESPECIALLY when the book is sent to me for review. I tried to make it work, I really did. I broke my self-set F-word limit rule multiple times. I even shut the book only to sneak it open it later in the day because I wanted to discover what happens next. I would unfortunately find myself disappointed all over again finding the F-word spattered like vomit all over the pages. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how a writer can use that word so arbitrarily. I want to scream “you’re a writer! Come up with different words to describe what is going on!!” Why does every character have to react with that same word? It is so frustrating to me. Just because I’m an adult, reading an “adult novel” doesn't mean I want or need to see these words. Didn't anyone who edited/proofread the book think that it was a little over the top?  Sheesh!
If someone would like to re-edit the book, I would absolutely love to finish reading it.

Sorry for the curt review. It is probably a great book if you don’t mind the f-bomb and sex scenes. But, unfortunately I do mind. It just wasn't a good fit for me this time.

Thanks Heather for this review.

Publisher: Published October 9th 2012 by Touchstone
ISBN: 9781451636123
Copyright: 2012
Pages:  384
Quick Review:  story 4 stars Language 1 star
Why I Read It:   Sent for review.
Where I Obtained the Book:  from the publisher.

Synopsis: Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers orphaned twin boys and impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island—husband Mark and their two children, Ira and Elena—aren’t quite so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the twins’ true nature—or predict that, within a few weeks’ time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in.
R.L. Stine 
Author Biography: Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

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