Review: Hellbender by Jason Jack Miller

Book info:

Form: pdf

Genre: supernatural fiction, suspence, 

Target audience: adults and older YA

A copy of this novel was sent to me free of charge by the author. That fact didn't influence my review in any way.

Synopsis:

Two Appalachian Mountains families, the Lewises and the Collinses, have been at war for something like a century. Each of those families have had witches among their folk so the fight has been bloody, dirty and mean. Janie Collins, 

Ancient sator square

a young college girl, is the next victim of the feud – officially the girl drowned but her family know better. It was a murder by a spell. Her brother, Henry, comes to the funeral and promises to avenge his sister. Still he must also protect lovely Alex, Janie ex roommate and a girl who is told by her mom to stick to Henry at all cost because those evil Lewises are planning to murder her next. You see, family honour is at stake. If you think protecting a girl against a clan including witches is easy think again. Henry will have to show his mettle many times and finally believe in magic, something he never wanted to include in his life.

What I liked:

I have never been to the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia but, after reading this book, I feel like I know the area and the people who call that land home, pretty well. That’s what a well-written fiction can do to you – allowing you to travel in time and space. I really enjoyed this gritty tale with all the scenic background, the sator squares, the snakes and the witches.

The whole story reminded me a bit about Romeo and Juliet, you know. Two quarreling clans, plenty of bad blood and killing, two star-crossed lovers coming from the opposite sides who want to make everything right but cannot overcome years of feud, prejudice and hurt. Still Alex is not a young, inexperienced girl and she will surprise you several times with her skills. Also Henry is not a real Romeo type –he won’t kill anybody in a duel and if he shoots somebody everyone will be cheering along, including Alex herself. Killing himself is also not even an option - when your family needs you alive, you keep fighting to the very end.

Also I enjoyed how much Henry and Alex had to change in order to stand a chance against their enemies. I like dynamic characters a lot. Finally I loved the fact that Preston Black and his girlfriend made a cameo appearance.

What I didn’t like:

I read The Devil and Preston Black first and I couldn’t help noticing the similarities of those two novels in terms of plot construction. In both books the protagonist has to sink to the bottom before vanquishing his enemies, in both we deal with some evil females who are almost she-devils. After a while the pattern became too repetitive for my liking but still I wanted to read to the very end.

My last carping: the baddies. I wish they were more three-dimensional. Few people are evil to the core and here it seemed all the ‘pure’ Lewises were just bad, bad, bad.

Final verdict:

Since this book is part of the Murder Ballads and Whiskey series the good news is that the Appalachian adventure doesn't have to end. I would like to revisit the Appalachians once more.

Hellbender salamander

Review: The Devil and Preston Black by Jason Jack Miller

Book info:

Form: e-book Kindle format

Target audience: adult

Genre: contemporary fiction

Synopsis:

Life of Preston Black has never been easy but when he reaches 27 everything seems to be going to the devil double fast. He is a musician and all of a sudden his beloved band is falling apart - the drummer, Stu, is being sent to Afganistan and Pauly, his foster brother, decides he’s had enough of drinking and playing covers. Then Preston falls in love with Dani, a mysterious woman from the Czech Republic who works as a translator and, like him, has no family of her own; although she readily offers him a warm bed and a meal when he needs it the most she also starts cheating on him from the very beginning. She turns his life upside down like a force of nature - does she do it because she is from Europe or maybe because she is the devil?

Then he finds in a record store a LP with a very strange and pessimistic song about the devil and Preston Black. He buys the record and keeps wondering – just a coincidence or a pointer leading to his unknown father? Is it the right time to start anew or maybe to cash in the chips like many other more famous and more successful musicians before? Who keeps sending him strange texts from an unknown number? Preston decides to try once again – he sells his old instruments, buys a new, acoustic guitar and heads south to find an old singer who knows the rest of that elusive song and maybe also his destiny. Will the Devil follow him? Who will control his life? Can things go even more wrong? Yes, of course they can. Always.

What I liked:

It was a good interesting story, smoothly told in limited first person. It was gritty, without any maudlin moments - maybe because of that I felt for Preston almost all the time. He seemed so lost and so twisted despite the fact that he just wanted to make a career as an independent musician.  Katy, his other romantic interest, was nice as well – she was such a sweet contrast to that absinthe- swilling, unstable smart-pants Dani.

I also liked the fact that there was no baddie here. The devil was in people, including the main character, bad and good people but mostly ordinary people who tried very hard to be good but still managed only average. Preston, deep in the doldrums  says:

“My life had become a Chinese take-out fortune,  a receipt for a guitar that cost way too much money, a thirty characters text, a name no a faded concert flier stuck to a light pole with rusty nails, footprints disappearing with the melting snow, a black and white picture in a high school year book.”

That’s the start of pure evil – feeling you are worth nothing at all.

I also learned a lot – those different types of guitars were a bit misleading at first (especially that the author uses abbreviations as the characters, mostly musicians, know everything about them) but I googled them and I was fine afterwards. I appreciated the bits about Appalachian folklore as well.

What I didn’t like:

I really resent the fact that there is no cd or at least a play list attached to this book. It is all about music after all,  and nobody is perfect – I knew some of these songs (Metallica, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and of course those ugly, stupid boys from Duran Duran ;p ) but some of them went right above my head and I wish they didn’t.

My last carping: the voice of Preston was good but I would love to hear some words from the mouth of the devil as well. I am strange like that. ;)

Final verdict:

A surprisingly good debut – I  would like to read more!