Reviews

• Mr. Shivers is a novel that starts out as one thing and slowly develops into another. Connelly, a man broken with rage and depression over the murder of his young daughter goes on the road as a vagrant in order to find, and kill, her murderer. A man he saw, with a scarred face that goes by Mr. Shivers. Along his path he encounters many fantastic myths about the man, none of which he believes- at first. The story begins as a run of the mill revenge story, one based in reality and set during the Great Depression, but as Connelly gets closer and closer to Mr. Shivers, the story falls deeper into myth, moving away from reality and becoming more magical. Bennett draws a pretty basic depression setting. He includes a dust storm, many poor families heading west, and some other generally known details. Overall, the setting is threadbare at best. Bennett's setting could be during almost any era, except he chose to call it the Great Depression. This was disappointing, as the novel could have felt richer and more realistic with more detailed descriptions. It ended up feeling poorly researched, if at all researched. Bennet also uses some Greek symbology and themes throughout the novel. Connelly is going on a strange odyssey, he meets three old wise women who tell him the future, and a white bull (symbolic of life and resurrection but also of death) plays a part towards the end. This is neither here nor there. The symbology he uses is common enough to be immediately recognizable and overused, and bores the accomplished reader. The end was also predictable, though I am not certain if everyone would find it predictable, I certainly did. A predictable ending is always disappointing, but this story really couldn't have any other ending. In order not to spoil the ending, I will not elaborate. With all of that said, it was still an enjoyable read. It's a qucik and easy read, I would suggest it for high school level reading or for someone who just wants an easy, entertaing story to enjoy. It's unfortunate, however, that Bennett didn't take the extra time to make it richer. It had everything it needed, it just required some extra work. It could have been a work of art instead of the thing you read on an airplane, but then it probably would lose popularity in an age where reality t.v. and children's books captivate the nation.

• Bought this for my daughter who is big fan of Stephen King. She kindly let me read it after her. An author to keep an eye out for.

• Started reading Mr Shivers after the exceptionally well written City of Stairs. RJB does a good job of building a world and introducing characters with promise but does'nt develop them enough. In summary, its a quest for mysterious serial killer in the great depression. Amongst the characters, Connelly is a reluctant protagonist with a weak supporting cast who are all part of the group chasing Mr Shivers. The premise is promising with an insight into the great depression but the narrative quickly becomes weak and the plot gets progressively weaker and eventually just ends up muddled and confused. Connelly's desperation is never fully explored neither are Pike's motivations and the relationship between the characters is somewhat stilted, marred with awkward conversations. Despite the shortcomings, its still a captivating read. RJB has improved immensely over the years and it is always fascinating to trace the journey of authors from their first books on. The influence of Stephen King's works is evident in the writing style as well as the grand revelation. Readers will definitely draw parallels to the antagonist in Dark Tower and The Stand and RJB's writing also reflect Stephen King's weakness of not being able to deliver on a great start. Having said that, will continue to read RJB, a very promising author and definitely one to watch.

• Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett has the post-apocalyptic feel of The Stand by Stephen King, the pseudo-episodic, journey through hidden worlds aspect of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and the epic scope of both, but Mr. Shivers has a feel all its own. In fact, if I were to compare it to any other creative work, it would be to the dead and lamented HBO series Carnivale, one of the most unique shows I have ever seen. Like Carnivale, Mr. Shivers is set during the Great Depression and has the same bleak tone, the same sense of magic and mystery hidden just beneath the dusty, windswept surface, and the same sense of otherworldliness in which the government, society and even civilization are recent but irrelevant memories. As one of the characters in Mr. Shivers says, "Show me America . . . if it's going to tell me what to do and what not to do, it better be on hand." Marcus Connely hunts the man responsible for his daughter's death. Over the course of his travels, he comes across more men and women who seek the same man, a man who has taken someone from each of them. They come to think of this man as the Shiver-Man or Mr. Shivers, a sort of hobo boogey man, the personification of every fear that might beset the itinerant traveller. Connely's quest takes him across the dead-zone of Depression-Era America, from shanty towns to ghost towns and straight into the mouth of a dust storm, but the roughest road he'll travel is, as is usually the case, an internal one. Mr. Shivers is Bennett's first novel and was published in 2010, for these reasons I was especially anxious to read it. It's always fun to read works by proven authors, but discovering a new author, someone who's just getting started, is a special pleasure. It also gives me a glimpse of what is being accepted and published today in horror, not by the old guard but by the up-and-comers, and if Bennett's work here is any indication, the horror genre is in fine, fresh, talented hands.

• Everything that I expected 👍

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