Dead Souls
by Michael Laimo
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael LaimoEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-02
ISBN: 0843957603
Number of pages: 340
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Company
Book Reviews of Dead Souls
Book Review: Much better
Summary: 4 Stars
Dead Souls by Michael Laimo is an example of how someone can mistranslate sections of the bible and come up with disastrous results. The writing is much better and the prose is smoother that the previous novel that I read, "Deep in the Darkness". The main plot is Benjamin Conroy's obsession with resurrection and the possibilities. I could say more, but I prefer to avoid any possible spoilers. There are also a couple sub plots, one dealing with the main protagonist's life living with a very religious mother, the history of the house that he is the sole heir of, and another that may reveal too much.
In this book, Mr. Laimo switches back and forth every other chapter to tell his tale during two different time frames. To some, this may be a turn off as the book jumps back and forth every chapter, but for me it was not so. The chapters are really short and only deal with two different situations at a time and so this actually did not hurt the flow of the story and helped a lot to enhance the suspense and made me want to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. The character development was well placed and since the story in both time frames only spans a few days, so even though there was not a lot of development, what there was made sense and didn't miss out or put too much in. The characters themselves didn't seem one dimensional and so I was actually able to connect with a few of them and also feel some sympathy towards them.
Now, if you are a person who only likes a little bit of gore in your horror novels, then this one is not for you. This book, once the initial setting and story arc get moving, is full of gore and does not pull any punches. It is just one thing after another and the gore is so detailed that you could see it, smell it and feel it all around you.
Some criticisms:
1. I like to have quite a bit of gore in my horror novels, but in this case it actually seemed too much and took away from the story in the sense that it just never seemed to end and became a bit boring reading about it. The gore just went on and on because there was so much of it.
2. This has nothing to do with the author. Once again this book also comes with an order form smack dab in the middle of the book, but this time I made sure that I tore out only the order form and not one of the pages.
Some positives:
1. The suspense. The way that the story was separated into the small chapters and ending a chapter at a critical moment. There were times that I was only going to read a few chapters and then go to bed and I found myself still reading ten chapters later.
2. The flow was a lot better and I didn't find myself having to stop and reread anything. Mr. Laimo was able to continually choose the right words to keep everything alive.
3. Even with only a few days advancing in the storyline, Mr. Laimo was still able to add just the right amount of character development and also was able to create the feelings in the reader to be able to connect with
the characters I was reading about.
Overall, I was very satisfied that I purchased this novel and glad that I have read it. I will not say that I am a complete fan yet, but I am still curious to read his other novels and see how he may be able to entertain me more. If you love to read about blood and gore, then this is a novel for you. There is not a lot of sex and nudity in it but when he gets you to the sex part, it is no holds barred. As for being scary, well, it is hard to read anything that is actually scary to the point of nightmares or even looking over ones shoulder anymore, so for me, no, nothing really scary. I would have chosen 3 1/2 stars if it was offered so I had to choose 4 because it was definitely better than average.
If a movie version was to be made it would be rated R/NC-17 for Graphic Violence, Explicit Blood and Gore, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Nudity, and Strong Sexual Content, (there is a part with a sexual scene that is described in this book to the point of being X-rated or more)
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