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Alex Chance

Autor von Die letzten Tage

3 Werke 70 Mitglieder 2 Rezensionen

Werke von Alex Chance

Die letzten Tage (2008) 62 Exemplare
Savage Blood (2010) 5 Exemplare
Dag van de wraak (2009) 3 Exemplare

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I took a punt on this book after spotting it in my local library sale for 25p. I was pleasantly suprised, lots of actions, thrills and gory details. As others have commented the scene with Zhena is a beautifully written scene, haunting and full of suspense. The novel keeps you interested until the end. However, there are two reasons I cannot give the book 5 stars, firstly the British author lapses too frequently into 'americanisms', i appreciate the novel is set in Utah but it is sometimes too much. The second reason is that the denounement of the novel was too brief after waiting 500 pages for it. having said that a thoroughly enjoyable read and I will be reading more by this author.… (mehr)
 
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mick745 | Apr 8, 2020 |
I like being pleasantly surprised by books! I'm not sure where it comes from. I've learned my eyes are a bad judge of books, reading blurbs and gazing at titles often results in a lacklustre book that I am loathed to have on my bookshelf (I'm looking at you, any book by James Patterson). But every now and again, despite my untrustworthy perception, I stumble upon a good book. And that's what this is, a good book.

It is by no means excellent, the book has flaws and quite blatant grammatical errors("Of this were are certain"), but it succeeds in the main purpose of a narrative - it made me care about the lead character. I wanted to know what happened to our main protagonist, Charlie. And what is the point of a story if I couldn't care less about what happens to my supposed "hero"?

The basic idea is there is an island, disappointingly named Savage Island, where there are a remote tribe who practice cannibalism. Various people are drawn to the island for various reasons, upsetting the natives.

The back of the book sets up three main characters, but there are quite a lot more stories and perspectives going on. This would be one of my critiques, we're just flittering between far too many POV's, and people who I would consider important characters (Leona) are not given POV status. We're given illuminating pages from her diary, but that's it. And she's is a catalyst of the story. She is the hooker Charlie, a married man, sleeps with and "infects" at the start of the novel. She falls ill and Charlie, a doctor, sets out to cure her because whatever she has, he is now suffering from. The search leads him to Savage Island, where Leona and her boyfriend Todd shipwrecked years ago and assimilated into the tribe; partaking in cannibalism and conceiving a child whilst there. Todd and Leona escape the island when their lives are threatened and must leave their daughter behind. Leona eventually dies, but Charlie continues to investigate her as he is still suffering the disease with no cure.

Having read the whole novel, I would have preferred the whole novel be from Charlie's POV. His story is the most entertaining, has the most traction and makes the most sense, in that of course he is going to track this thing down as he's dying from it. It is not a love story, and I was thankful it didn't turn into that. I feared I would be reading a modernized Pretty Woman scenario, but that doesn't happen. The story does end with Charlie's hope that he will be able to take care of Apis, Leona's child, but that's not confirmed.

Other than this storyline, we have quite a few others. There is the Australian zoologist, Kelly Maelzel, who had the chance to be my favourite character until the author fell into the trap most authors do when they write Australians and made her say "bloody", "mate" and swear like a sailor every five seconds. As an Australian, perhaps I am too sensitive when it comes to this type of thing! But I find it happen too often. Thankfully, I don't think Kelly every says "G-day". Anyway, Kelly is a zoologist but she seems to be some sort of business woman as well, she's hired to maintain safari parks, or safari hotels as it would be, and is hired to maintain Savage Island. A John Hammond-esq investor wants to turn Savage Island into some sort of resort that tourists can visit.

Our final advertised protagonist is Reeta Kapoor, who is an anthropologist who is drawn to the island after her steadfast brother goes there to make sure the safety of the tribe is kept in tact. Followed by her brother's girlfriend, Isabel, Reeta heads to the island.

Now it doesn't end there. We also go into the head of Otto Licks, our resident bad guy who we're told repeatedly is the ugliest person our characters have every come into contact with, which did make me feel bad for the guy at first until he's revealed to be a rapist, tosses Kelly off a cliff and just all around is a gross guy. We also go into the head of an apparent tennis star who gets mauled by a tiger, its the prelude story into meeting Kelly, as she is blamed for the tigers escape. But we're given quite a lot of internal dialogue of this tennis star who we never see again. I see the merits of it, instead of just telling us Kelly was in trouble because of an accident at her old job and thus she has no choice but to take the job at Savage Island, the author has chosen to show us what happened. I respect that, and had it been told in backstory I would probably be complaining about that.

Maybe it's because we've already got three heads to contend with, I have three stories that I'm involved in I don't wish to go into the head of a person who doesn't give much to the overall storyline. But another positive, I could easily identify between the characters by more than just their names. They are pretty well developed and layered. They struggle, which is much more interesting than reading someone who excels all the time.

Anyway, we also go into the head of some guy, Quinn, sometimes, who I really didn't pay much attention to. As well as Charlie's wife and son's, each given one random perspective section. The POV's change mid-chapter signified by only a page break. The chapters are long, and you can easily be in five different perspectives per chapter. I think it asks to much of the reader to keep track of it all.

The description can be quite graphic at times, but that's right up my alley. Well, to an extent (this time, I look at you The Road), but it's there in the title of the book and the island. Savage. That's what you get. Plus, if it makes me feel all gross then it does it's job. Description of a notable event is meant to inspire a reaction in the reader. So, though I don't like feeling grossed out, I like that I was able to have this reaction.

Likewise, I enjoyed the ending where it is shown that modern civilization has moved in on the natives. Normally always naked, they are now wearing hand me down clothes and are mostly drunk because now all they do is collect money and sit on their land since they are not permitted to do anything else.

It's not perfect, as I've said, but it's worth a read. I enjoyed it more than quite a few others I've read lately, and I will look into this author again.
… (mehr)
½
 
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littleton_pace | Feb 14, 2014 |

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