Book Review: Echo

 

Howdy Readers!

Hope you’re having a good week so far. I’m doing my juggling act as usual, so let’s get right into things, the book review!

This time I read Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.

I know I recently said that I was focusing on catching up to my TBR of things I already own, but I was really excited about this new release from an author I’ve never read before, so I decided to interrupt that to give it a shot.

Keep on reading for the review!

 

Blurb

NATURE IS CALLING—but they shouldn’t have answered.

Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. His face wrapped in bandages and unable to speak, Nick claims amnesia—but he remembers everything.

He remembers how he and Augustin were mysteriously drawn to the Maudit, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps.

He remembers how the slopes of Maudit were eerily quiet, and how, when they entered its valley, they got the ominous sense that they were not alone.

He remembers: something was waiting for them…

But it isn’t just the memory of the accident that haunts Nick. Something has awakened inside of him, something that endangers the lives of everyone around him…

It’s one thing to lose your life. It’s another to lose your soul.

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING SENSATION THOMAS OLDE HEUVELT comes a thrilling descent into madness and obsession as one man confronts nature—and something even more ancient and evil answers back.

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The Review

DNF @ 13%

I really tried to like this book and gave it two tries, but ultimately just couldn’t get through it.

From what I read, this book is about a small group of friends that are being haunted by a strange force after one of them is injured in a climbing accident up in the mountains.

Overall, I think I just had a disconnect on the writing style and how things were portrayed.

The prologue was entertaining and centered on a woman terrified for her life inside a remote house in the middle of nowhere. That was creepy, but even at that point I felt that the writing didn’t flow well enough for me.

From there we are thrust into Sam and Nick’s POV’s, which I’m assuming is the core of the book. I just have to say, I intensely disliked how Sam was portrayed. Sam is a gay male in his early twenties, and while I understand how vapid and self-centered twenty-somethings can be, he just had no redeeming qualities. Also, the slang words used to portray him as American didn’t really connect. I’m not sure where the author got their intel from, but it didn’t work at all for me.

The plot was relatively straight forward at the point where I stopped, but again, the writing style just killed it for me. It could be that there’s just too much detail embedded within each page, but I started to get tired of how long it took me to get through a single page. The detail was dense, and in some cases that can be good, but you have to balance it out. I just couldn’t form any kind of flow with this story and get fed up with it, so I stopped.

Ultimately, this one was a flop for me. I just couldn’t vibe with the story or the characters enough to continue on. But who knows, maybe you’ll love it!

 

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this book review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this book? Are there other similar books you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

 

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8 Comments »

  1. I recently tried to read his book Hex. It was a good premise, but just started getting insanely repetitive after about 15-20% . I almost feel like his stuff would work better as novellas or short stories, but as for long form….meh.

    • I was curious about Hex. Thanks for bringing it up! Okay, it sounds like this work would read like Hex does, so maybe I won’t try that one out for now.

      He does have talent, but I think he just needs to maybe cut things down a bit so it’s more digestable for the everyday reader.

      • Yeah, I think his ideas sound good, but his punchiness and pacing just seem off for the horror genre. Is there literary horror? Maybe that’s what he’s aiming for.

      • I agree with that. I mean, some of the terminology he was using to describe mountains was probably well studied, but to me it was confusing and didn’t mean anything. I do think he leans more towards literary horror, which isn’t always my cup of tea.

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