Friday, September 4, 2015

Book Review: Abandon by Blake Crouch

Abandon
By Blake Crouch
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: Sept. 1, 2015
ASIN: B00UCLPC6E

Amazon Synopsis:

On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman, and child in a remote gold-mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins—and not a single bone was ever found.

One hundred sixteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them to the abandoned mining town so they can learn what happened. Recently, a similar party had also attempted to explore the town and was never heard from again. Now the area is believed to be haunted. This crew is about to discover, twenty miles from civilization with a blizzard bearing down, that they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

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My Thoughts:

Blake Crouch’s books are known for suspense and Abandon is definitely no let-down in this area. Moving back and forth between one town separated by 116 years he tells the horrific tale of what happened on Christmas Day in 1893.

The twists and turns in the tale are surprisingly similar between the two centuries as though history is repeating itself. Even Mother Nature played its own role in trying to keep the secrets of the town of Abandon from being fully discovered in both time periods.

Betrayals, murder and even a long overdue reconciliation are part of Abandon’s story. What could the secret be though? What could cause an entire population of a town to leave their Christmas dinners on the table partially eaten and simply vanish without a trace?

This fast-paced novel will have you reading until well into the wee hours of the night just to get to the end of the book. Then you might think twice about heading into a cave on your holidays. The ending in both centuries was a surprise.

The characters in the novel really surprised me because they totally did not turn out to be who they seemed to be. It’s not that they weren’t realistic; they were. They simply had other agendas.

As a suspense novel with horror elements, I found Abandon to be top-notch. It grabbed my attention and held on to it all the way through. The only negative thing I would have to say about it in that regard is that I found the swearing rather off-putting.

I could imagine seeing Abandon as a movie. If you enjoy suspense novels, you are very much likely to enjoy Abandon. I would recommend it to you. I rated it 4 stars out of 5.


Thank you to the publishers for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

Blake Crouch was born near the piedmont town of Statesville, North Carolina in 1978. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2000 with degrees in English and Creative Writing.

He is the author of over a dozen bestselling suspense novels. His short fiction has appeared in numerous short-story anthologies—including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Cemetery Dance—as well as many other publications. He has written for the television show Wayward Pines, which was adapted from his book series.

Blake lives with his family in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book.

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