2.5 stars

This one just didn't capture me the way I thought it would. The concepts had a lot of potential, but the author just kept adding more and more, and it simply got bogged down, collapsing under its own weight. One thing that really got on my nerves was the constant switching of points of view. I couldn't keep track of who was who, and there wasn't enough difference between the stereotypical characters to help.

I listened to the Audible version, and the narrator didn't help matters either. His monotone voice did not inject any sort of tension or excitement at all. I think I might have enjoyed this one better if I simply read it on my own instead of listening. ( )

Definitely a 3 1/2 star book. Great sense of place, not only the oh-so-creepy tunnels, but also the above the ground town and surrounding country side. The plot is dense and twisted, maybe a little too much in the first third of the book, but when Krisch starts to bring everything together, he does so with just the right blend of exposition and action. So why not 4 stars? I think there are just too many characters in the book. There's George and Ellie's mom who makes a great monster, but only in what she does to the pregnant girlfriend of Jesse, who also doesn't add anything but shock and horror to the story. We're supposed to feel some empathy for Jesse discovering what happens to her, but given so little back story, the girl is a device, not a person. The same with the local "witch" and her son - they're side stories and devices and everything they do could have been done by one of the more developed and integral characters. These unnecessary characters got in the way of identifying with the central characters, and made the story just a little less scary when it could have been horrifying. ( )

Definitely a 3 1/2 star book. Great sense of place, not only the oh-so-creepy tunnels, but also the above the ground town and surrounding country side. The plot is dense and twisted, maybe a little too much in the first third of the book, but when Krisch starts to bring everything together, he does so with just the right blend of exposition and action. So why not 4 stars? I think there are just too many characters in the book. There's George and Ellie's mom who makes a great monster, but only in what she does to the pregnant girlfriend of Jesse, who also doesn't add anything but shock and horror to the story. We're supposed to feel some empathy for Jesse discovering what happens to her, but given so little back story, the girl is a device, not a person. The same with the local "witch" and her son - they're side stories and devices and everything they do could have been done by one of the more developed and integral characters. These unnecessary characters got in the way of identifying with the central characters, and made the story just a little less scary when it could have been horrifying. ( )

Definitely a 3 1/2 star book. Great sense of place, not only the oh-so-creepy tunnels, but also the above the ground town and surrounding country side. The plot is dense and twisted, maybe a little too much in the first third of the book, but when Krisch starts to bring everything together, he does so with just the right blend of exposition and action. So why not 4 stars? I think there are just too many characters in the book. There's George and Ellie's mom who makes a great monster, but only in what she does to the pregnant girlfriend of Jesse, who also doesn't add anything but shock and horror to the story. We're supposed to feel some empathy for Jesse discovering what happens to her, but given so little back story, the girl is a device, not a person. The same with the local "witch" and her son - they're side stories and devices and everything they do could have been done by one of the more developed and integral characters. These unnecessary characters got in the way of identifying with the central characters, and made the story just a little less scary when it could have been horrifying. ( )

Definitely a 3 1/2 star book. Great sense of place, not only the oh-so-creepy tunnels, but also the above the ground town and surrounding country side. The plot is dense and twisted, maybe a little too much in the first third of the book, but when Krisch starts to bring everything together, he does so with just the right blend of exposition and action. So why not 4 stars? I think there are just too many characters in the book. There's George and Ellie's mom who makes a great monster, but only in what she does to the pregnant girlfriend of Jesse, who also doesn't add anything but shock and horror to the story. We're supposed to feel some empathy for Jesse discovering what happens to her, but given so little back story, the girl is a device, not a person. The same with the local "witch" and her son - they're side stories and devices and everything they do could have been done by one of the more developed and integral characters. These unnecessary characters got in the way of identifying with the central characters, and made the story just a little less scary when it could have been horrifying. ( )