Greetings to all:

This month I would like to delve into an author I am sure most of you have at least heard of. I hope you enjoy reading this short review and perhaps will take a look at the book yourself to see what kind of details it provides for you!

Floating Dragon by Peter Straub. Berkley Books, New York. Mass market March 1984

Let me start by saying that you will definitely need to have your memory caps on to keep up with this book. It will jump from one month and year to the next and back again. In no particular mindful order, accept that of the storyline itself. It takes a few chapters to get used to. Take the time, as all in all, it was not a bad read at all.

We find ourselves in the little town of Hampstead, in Patchin County. A couple by the name of Les and Patsy Tayler, among the Williams and others have happened into what might seem like a Twilight time of life. It seems that something that has reared its ugly head in the past is about to do so once again. Not only will one terror, but another as well confront us. One is natural. The hideous side of man's ideas of creation gone wild: wildly mad. The other is one that has nothing to do with nature at all, but instead some evil force that seems to make the first one seem like a fairy tale. Like many stories, we must first gain some background as to what happened in the years past. What kind of patterns can we see? What do they remember as children? Is any of it relevant or merely stories they were told to be frightened with? It seems many of the stories actually have some truths behind them. Much of what is about to happen to them in this quiet little suburban town has quite a bit to do with the fates. Some of the deaths are very well deserved and will leave you cheering for the victor, no matter how evil, man-made or not. Others will find you wondering just why did it have to be them? I myself, cheered quite a bit for evil to win out as many of the deaths were well deserved long before now. You will find many details that will leave you, if reading alone in the quiet dim-lit room, looking about at the sound of something normally not listened to. There were even a couple details that I thought un-necessary; as they just weren't something I needed to have a visual for. Weird things happen, and sometimes they are just too weird to not have some real thought behind them. Once you get down to the reasons behind these unusual patterns of death, you will find out that it is from a source that you might have had an inkling about. Then of course you will find the other is one you just didn't imagine to be in existence. Whichever you find, keep in mind, thankfully it is all the imagination of the author at hand. All in all, I did not find this book one that I would re-read any time soon as it does go into many details that really are not necessary to the scope of the storyline itself and not until the last chapters do we really start to get the final pictures and reasons. I do not mind putting time into a book, however it needs to glean a better idea of what is happening in order to keep my interest. For those of you who enjoy a good mix of man-made chaos and a little bit of the un-natural kind, read on!!! For those that do not want to spend time on much background details, I would suggest this might not be the book for you. I am always glad to hear of others who may of read this particular book to see what kind of ideas and thoughts they have about it, so if you do, feel free to send them to me! Until next month, enjoy!!!

By Alisa Brooks





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