Disappearance at Devil's Rock: A Novel Paperback – Illustrated, March 14, 2017

Paul Tremblay is hands down my new favorite writer. I won't get into whether his books are horror novels or suspense thrillers, but I will say that I distinguish between the two as follows: a horror story is a suspense thriller that involves the supernatural or some element of fantasy beyond what is within the realm of possibility, or at least probability. The books I've read by him seem to fall into that gray area in which there may or may not be something supernatural or otherwise fantasy-like going on. Maybe there is and maybe there ain't. It's often open to interpretation.Tremblay's ability to develop his characters is superb. Many horror and suspense writers present stereotypical or simplistic characters, and the reader often has trouble relating to any of them or even believing in them. Tremblay does a particularly remarkable job of developing his child and adolescent characters, especially in A Head Full of Ghosts (my personal favorite) and even more so in this book. It's not just that he has an apparent excellent memory of what his own childhood and adolescence were like, but he seems to have done his homework on today's state of the art kids who know more about smartphones, the internet, video games and even security cameras than their technology impaired parents. The dialog between the boys in this story and their newfound young adult friend, as well as the rather complex character of the 11 year old girl and the way she responds to the terror of what has happened to her older brother, as well as how she views his friends as the story unfolds, and the relationship between the girl and her mother, shows an incredible depth of knowledge that apparently is enhanced not just by the fact that he has children, but because he's obviously done a lot of research into the contemporary slang and vernacular of adolescents and pre-adolescents. The kids sometimes appear more believable and realistic than the adults, as he focuses even more sharply on them and their reactions to what's going on than he does on the adult characters. Overall, he does an excellent job of character development with all the main players and even some of the minor ones. Stephen King's characters, both adults and often especially the kids, are often more like cardboard caricatures, and therefore pale in comparison to the people in Tremblay's stories. King often tells a good, scary tale, but you seldom feel as though you're in the heads of the people in the story (except when he presents an inferior, belabored stream of consciousness technique, which King just doesn't have the talent to pull off). Tremblay could give lessons to King and most other writers of the genre.If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I'd say you don't just read a Paul Tremblay story, you experience it. You feel you're in the heads of all, or at least most of the main characters, and even many of the minor ones. He knows how people respond to tragedy, as evidenced by his portrayal of the well-meaning neighbors who pay their respects to the family by dropping by and staying until Nana has to politely but firmly ask them to leave. There is also a brilliantly written scene in which the mother advises her daughter not to read the horrible comments on a Facebook page, knowing she will now make a beeline for it. Same thing happens when the mom's mom tells her not to watch the story on Fox about her son's disappearance, and the mother realizes she's just done the same thing to her daughter that her mom is doing to her, so that she can later say, "I TOLD you not to watch it."The vicious comments and judgments of the internet trolls and the obnoxious panels that appear on so-called news channels who use tragedies of which they know little or nothing to justify their political and puritanical agendas make Tremblay one of the few writers in the genre who has his finger on the pulse of 21st century America. He holds a mirror up to the ignorant, and often hateful reality TV nation that we have become without going so far as to sound pompous or preachy.Overall, I prefer A Head Full of Ghosts, as he does much the same thing in that book but with more wit and dark humor. However, the subject matter of this book is darker, and injecting more of those elements into this story would have seemed less appropriate and even mean spirited.If you want a quick read that becomes forgettable soon after you read it, stick with Stephen King, Dean Koontz and any number of other writers. However, if you want a book that delves deeper into the lives and thoughts of its characters, and tells us a little something horrific about the current society in which we live, give this book and Tremblay's other books a try. Besides A Head Full of Ghosts, I would also recommend The Cabin at the End of the World.

Masterful writer! Keeps you guessing till the end & then You aren't sure what's what? I couldn't laly it down.BUT!! Darn You need a magnifying glass to read most of it. It's like reading fine print if not smaller at timesYOU NEED TO Read It. It tells you more than the larger print.He has a lot of description & it makes You Shiver. And twists & turns all over the place. Just wish I didn't need a magnifying glass. One reader said it leaves more questions than answers most of the time & She is right. But it is so worth reading it. She didn't like it at all. But I just about the time I'd get bored then WOW it scared the daylights out of Me. What a writer.

Disappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul Tremblay:I'm almost glad the book is just OK. Otherwise the story would have devastated me.A family is in crisis when 13-year Tommy goes missing. Hisyounger sister and his mom are trying to live with their grief and to find answers.Good luck with that because very few answers are provided.An ambiguous ending is not the problem for me. It's more a matter of being able to suspend belief while I'm reading. Some books capture me no matter how implausible the storyline. That didn't happen with this book.The kids in this affluent area doing what they did is a big stretch for me because of how they are otherwise portrayed. Perhaps if their supposed misfit status at school were described a bit, or something...anything... to explain the violent event that sets everything in motion.Or I could be out of touch with the times (if so I'm thankful).In his author notes, Tremblay states that middle-school boys in the area really say things like "chirps" and "hardo" but regardless, would they say them that often? Ditto for the characters of all ages beginning or ending statements with "yeah" as in "you saw that, yeah?"Works a few times, but not with overuse.Based on A Head Full of Ghosts,I'd say Paul Tremblay can write. Unfortunately Disappearance is not as good as A Head Full of Ghosts.Disappearance is more like a crime novel. I like good crime novels when they work but something's missing in this book.Definitely a disturbing and very sad story. Much like some of Megan Abbott's books make me feel for parents of teenage girls, I wouldn't want to read Disappearance at Devil's Rock if I were a parent of 13-year-old boys.

Heartbreaking, haunting, and terrifying in the tradition of great New England horror fiction. This book will definitely stick with me for a good long while. Stylistically and thematically, Tremblay is the heir to Joyce Carol Oates at her gothic best. Great novel and highly recommended.