StartseiteGruppenForumMehrZeitgeist
Web-Site durchsuchen
Diese Seite verwendet Cookies für unsere Dienste, zur Verbesserung unserer Leistungen, für Analytik und (falls Sie nicht eingeloggt sind) für Werbung. Indem Sie LibraryThing nutzen, erklären Sie dass Sie unsere Nutzungsbedingungen und Datenschutzrichtlinie gelesen und verstanden haben. Die Nutzung unserer Webseite und Dienste unterliegt diesen Richtlinien und Geschäftsbedingungen.

Ergebnisse von Google Books

Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.

Awakened: A Novel von James S Murray
Lädt ...

Awakened: A Novel (2018. Auflage)

von James S Murray (Autor)

Reihen: Awakened (1)

MitgliederRezensionenBeliebtheitDurchschnittliche BewertungDiskussionen
1597170,523 (3.23)Keine
Fiction. Horror. Thriller. HTML:

The star of truTV's hit show Impractical Jokers??alongside veteran sci-fi and horror writer Darren Wearmouth??delivers a chilling and wickedly fun supernatural novel in the vein of The Strain, in which a beautiful new subway line in New York City unearths an ancient dark horror that threatens the city's utter destruction and the balance of civilization itself.

After years of waiting, New York's newest subway line is finally ready, an express train that connects the city with the burgeoning communities across the Hudson River. The shining jewel of this state-of-the-art line is a breathtaking visitors' pavilion beneath the river. Major dignitaries, including New York City's Mayor and the President of the United States, are in attendance for the inaugural run, as the first train slowly pulls in.

Under the station's bright ceiling lights, the shiny silver cars gleam. But as the train comes closer into view, a far different scene becomes visible.

All the train's cars are empty.

All the cars' interiors are drenched in blood.

As chaos descends, all those in the pavilion scramble to get out. But the horror is only beginning. High levels of deadly methane fill the tunnels. The structure begins to flood. For those who don't drown, choke or spark an explosion, another terrifying danger awaits??the thing that killed all those people on the train. It's out there...and it's coming.

There's something living beneath New York City, and it's not happy we've woken it… (mehr)

Mitglied:TheSeriousGirl
Titel:Awakened: A Novel
Autoren:James S Murray (Autor)
Info:Harper Voyager (2018), 304 pages
Sammlungen:Deine Bibliothek
Bewertung:
Tags:Keine

Werk-Informationen

Awakened von James S. Murray

Lädt ...

Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest.

Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch.

I won’t call myself an Impractical Jokers superfan but I like the show well enough, have seen many episodes, and read this book because I was curious if Murr had actual writing chops or not.

Awakened showed early promise as a high-concept horror idea only to end up feeling every bit as rough as I expected from a debut novel that was likely published, at least in part, due to the author’s fan following.

Plagued with paper-thin character and an overuse of tropes (the female SWAT hero, the reformed Hispanic ex-gang member, the corrupt politician), I found Awakened to be somewhat poorly written and often telegraphing. If the author had let the action play itself out without warning what might happen (usually via unnecessary inner dialogue), the end result would have been a much more enjoyable, far less predictable read. This is a newbie error and I’m surprised developmental editing didn’t tip him off. Plot-wise, Awakened borders on scatter-shot. It’s a horror novel but it’s a political thriller that dips its toes into sci-fi waters. The lack of focus feels like a book trying to accomplish too much in too few pages. Some of what it does manage to pull together is either laughably bad, improbable, or cliché.

That said, the book is action-packed. The premise is great—subterranean creatures thwarting the building of a fast train connecting NYC to NJ by way of a tunnel under the Hudson—and the first few chapters grabbed me. When the train makes its tragic maiden run, arriving at the platform heavily damaged, empty of passengers, and dripping with blood and viscera, I had to know where everyone went.

I wouldn’t have figured Murr for a horror writer but some of the best moments in the book are the most graphic. That guy outside the IMAX? Brutal, in the most awesome way. What the author lacks in finesse (and the writing is, at times, painfully bad), he makes up for in imagination. I’d put Awakened in the beach read category. Entertaining, if you don’t want to think too much about what you’re reading and if you can curb literary snobbery. I’m not clamoring for the next installment, but Awakened was a fun read while it lasted. ( )
  bfrisch | Dec 9, 2022 |
The theme of the abominable, blood-thirsty creature hunting humans in dark, confined spaces is one that’s been used often to promote a claustrophobic feeling of horror in the readers or viewers, one of the best examples being that of the xenomorphs in the Alien franchise. Awakened multiplies this effect by creating a veritable horde of terrifying critters haunting the bowels of New York’s subway system.

Mayor Tom Cafferty’s crowning achievement is the implementation of the Z Train track connecting the city of New York with neighboring New Jersey by digging under the Hudson River. Despite a major incident during the construction - an incident that opens the book with an adrenaline-infused, and quite ominous, prologue - the ambitious project is finally ready for inauguration, and the state of the art terminal station is packed with guests and media people, and even graced by the arrival of the President.

The expectant crowd waiting for the first train is however first mystified by its delayed arrival after loss of communication, and then shocked by the appearance of the wrecked, empty cars, gruesomely drenched in blood. The first hypothesis of a terrorist attack is strengthened by rising levels of methane gas that could kill the attending crowds in a short time, and the situation is made worse by the total lockdown imposed by Secret Service agents bent on protecting the President’s life. It soon becomes evident, however, that the attack on the train was no terrorist strike and that the so-far untapped depths under the city are home to an ages-old menace that’s been disturbed by recent human activities and is now out for blood…

Awakened is the kind of “popcorn thriller/horror” that relies heavily on plot and does not care much about characterization, and as such it could have worked very well for a total immersion in a scary, monsters-of-the-week story asking only for a modicum of suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately the authors choose to reach beyond the parameters of this kind of narrative and added further elements, like a decade-old secret organization born out of a former Nazi’s plans, or a conspiracy theory linked to this organization and involving various world governments.

On the positive side, I enjoyed the mounting terror experienced by the people trapped in the subway station, and the escalation of the stakes building against their survival, and even though the characterization was somewhat stereotyped, it was of the kind one can expect in this kind of narrative environment: from the quiet guy turning hero to the unexpected double player who betrays the others, to the estranged wife seeking solace elsewhere - the downside is, unfortunately, that the reader is unable to bond with any of them and rarely cares about their survival or early demise. The environment of the oppressive subway tunnels is made even more disturbing by the awareness of the tons of water under which the galleries run, and together with the other elements - the monsters, the methane levels, the impossibility of using conventional weapons because of the explosive danger - makes for a compelling story that simply begs to be consumed quickly.

The negatives, however, gather more and more weight as the novel progresses: the harvesting of pregnant women by the creatures is never explained, and the scene of one of them slowly opening a victim’s shirt with a talon feels more ludicrous than scary; the monsters themselves generate a lot of unexplained questions: we are told that they are intelligent and quick learners, for example, and yet they seem little more than pack animals grunting their way toward the intended victims, while in other instances they exhibit the ability to perfectly mimic human voices to lure people toward their demise. These are minor annoyances, still, in the face of bigger ones like the representation of the shady Foundation for Human Advancement, which for decades has been keeping the creatures at bay while blackmailing governments for funds: this truly baffled me, because no one seems to be aware of those demons’ existence, and yet politicians have been funding the organization for decades on the basis of pure… faith, for want of a better word. And let’s not go into the Nazi origins of the group, because it feels like such an overused trope, the kind that worked well in the early Bond movies and here is resurrected, complete with the required scene in which the evil guy details his dastardly plans to the heroes while gleefully twirling his mustache.

It was disappointing to see how a novel with the potential to be a good - if somewhat predictable - science fiction/horror story slowly downgraded into a clutter of ideas haphazardly thrown together with little rhyme or reason, which in the end defied its initial purpose. As Coco Chanel was fond of saying about her dressing philosophy, less is more, and it’s a pity that the writers decided to ignore this little piece of wisdom, burdening their story with so much unnecessary baggage. ( )
  SpaceandSorcery | Dec 18, 2020 |
Let's face it. I was drawn to this book because it was written by Murr from Impractical Jokers. I love that show. I went to see their tour last year. I am a big fan. I don't know how much was written by Murr and how much by his co-author. I like to think Murr contributed an equal amount to this.

The story reminded me of two of my favorite horror books, The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone and The Descent by Jeff Long. In all of these books, humanity is threatened by a heretofore unknown species living underground. I like this idea. To me, under the earth is a scary place. I can't imagine why people enjoy exploring underground caverns. It is just too much.

In Awakened, we get into trouble by digging an underground subway tunnel connecting New York to New Jersey. Not only is the tunnel underground, it is also under the Hudson River. So not only do our heroes have to deal with the killer inhabitants, but also the methane rich atmosphere in the tunnels, and the threat of tunnel collapse bringing in the water and drowning them all.

The story contains some likable heroes, some terrible villains, double crosses and some mild political intrigue. (I generally don't like political thrillers, but this was mainly a horror book so it was ok) The ending is a definite set up to the next book in the series. I had a lot of fun reading this book and I am glad I did. The story was interesting, I was rooting for the people to make it to safety. ( )
  readingover50 | Jun 11, 2019 |
I could not finish this book. I love the story line but just can't read the vivid descriptions and graphic content.
I gave it stars because I really wanted to read it, I was very interested in finding out what was going on, but, honestly, it creeped me out.
So, if you are not bothered by graphic content and love science fiction, this would be a great book for you to read! ( )
  vintage-series-Lisa | Apr 25, 2019 |
A review of Awakened is essentially redundant, for its main selling point is already known: it is written by Murr from the comedy show Impractical Jokers. As a big fan of the show, I was curious about this book, even though thrillers are not really my thing. I find them rather workmanlike and clumsy, even some of the more accomplished ones, and Awakened is certainly in this vein. It is tidy enough – and producing a coherent book with plot and characterization and pace is certainly no easy feat – but unoriginal. It would be indistinguishable from any other thriller on the shelf at Waterstones or Tesco or on Amazon, were it not for that author's name on the cover, able to draw on a pre-existing fanbase even if the genre is completely different.

The commendable thing about the book is that it does emerge out of the shadow of Impractical Jokers, though it did threaten to take me out of the story from time to time. Right from the off, where the introductory map shows the proposal for where the subway train will be extended, I was thinking: is it down by the beef-gristle mill? And a French journalist? Well, I've gotta tell ya, I bleepin' hate the French. Add in characters called Dalton, Sal and Paul DeLuca (is he related to the DeLuca boy who got eaten by an alligator?) and I thought that I would be entertaining myself with Impractical Jokers references more than with the actual plot of the book.

However, this did not prove to be the case. The book is entertaining on its own merits, even though it probably would not have risen out of the pack of samey thrillers had its author been an unknown. A fair bit of it is workmanlike, and I still don't have a handle on what the creatures really looked like (my mind went to the Demogorgon and Demodogs from Stranger Things), but it is rather accomplished. It has pace and intensity. How much of this is down to Murr (he mentions writing the book thirteen years ago, and I think it might be the one the other Jokers teased him about during a challenge a few seasons ago) and how much of it is because of his more experienced co-writer Darren Wearmouth, I do not know, but I also realize I don't care. It's entertaining always, thrilling sometimes, and I think that even if I had read this as a Murr-less book, I would still be looking forward to the next one. ( )
  MikeFutcher | Dec 9, 2018 |
keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen

Gehört zur Reihe

Du musst dich einloggen, um "Wissenswertes" zu bearbeiten.
Weitere Hilfe gibt es auf der "Wissenswertes"-Hilfe-Seite.
Gebräuchlichster Titel
Die Informationen stammen von der englischen "Wissenswertes"-Seite. Ändern, um den Eintrag der eigenen Sprache anzupassen.
Originaltitel
Alternative Titel
Ursprüngliches Erscheinungsdatum
Figuren/Charaktere
Wichtige Schauplätze
Wichtige Ereignisse
Zugehörige Filme
Epigraph (Motto/Zitat)
Widmung
Erste Worte
Zitate
Letzte Worte
Hinweis zur Identitätsklärung
Verlagslektoren
Werbezitate von
Originalsprache
Anerkannter DDC/MDS
Anerkannter LCC

Literaturhinweise zu diesem Werk aus externen Quellen.

Wikipedia auf Englisch

Keine

Fiction. Horror. Thriller. HTML:

The star of truTV's hit show Impractical Jokers??alongside veteran sci-fi and horror writer Darren Wearmouth??delivers a chilling and wickedly fun supernatural novel in the vein of The Strain, in which a beautiful new subway line in New York City unearths an ancient dark horror that threatens the city's utter destruction and the balance of civilization itself.

After years of waiting, New York's newest subway line is finally ready, an express train that connects the city with the burgeoning communities across the Hudson River. The shining jewel of this state-of-the-art line is a breathtaking visitors' pavilion beneath the river. Major dignitaries, including New York City's Mayor and the President of the United States, are in attendance for the inaugural run, as the first train slowly pulls in.

Under the station's bright ceiling lights, the shiny silver cars gleam. But as the train comes closer into view, a far different scene becomes visible.

All the train's cars are empty.

All the cars' interiors are drenched in blood.

As chaos descends, all those in the pavilion scramble to get out. But the horror is only beginning. High levels of deadly methane fill the tunnels. The structure begins to flood. For those who don't drown, choke or spark an explosion, another terrifying danger awaits??the thing that killed all those people on the train. It's out there...and it's coming.

There's something living beneath New York City, and it's not happy we've woken it

Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden.

Buchbeschreibung
Zusammenfassung in Haiku-Form

Aktuelle Diskussionen

Keine

Beliebte Umschlagbilder

Gespeicherte Links

Bewertung

Durchschnitt: (3.23)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2 5
2.5
3 7
3.5 2
4 10
4.5
5 1

Bist das du?

Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor.

 

Über uns | Kontakt/Impressum | LibraryThing.com | Datenschutz/Nutzungsbedingungen | Hilfe/FAQs | Blog | LT-Shop | APIs | TinyCat | Nachlassbibliotheken | Vorab-Rezensenten | Wissenswertes | 203,233,871 Bücher! | Menüleiste: Immer sichtbar