2015 Reading Challenge Book 023 Castaways by Brian Keene

BOOK TITLE-Castaways
AUTHOR-Brian Keene
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-75 cents

This was the third novel from Brian Keene I read. Having read Ghoul and Ghost Walk previously. Liked both of those but found that both had kind of crappy endings. So I was wondering if Keene suffered from the same affliction that Stephen King has since 1995ish. You know how the book will be good then in the last 10 pages either goes total shit or the ending is just BLAH.Thankfully this novel had a great ending.

What made me choose this out of the 10 or so Brian Keene novels I own is that he mentioned in an interview this was his tribute to Richard Laymon. Having already read and loved a stack of Laymon novels I was interested in seeing Keene's version of Laymon's sleazy 80s B Horror vibe.

We got a group of contestants on a Survivor like reality show. A nasty storm is headed for the island. There is no time to get the cast and crew out. They all bunker down in the crappy huts that the contestants built. But there is something deadlier than the storm. This island is home to a family of mutant genetic throwbacks. Supposedly the original draft of this story explained how these monsters are where the Beasts of Laymon's Beast series of novels come from.

Keene does a good job of capturing the feel of the Laymon novels I have read. Castaways is much sleazier than any other Keene novel. The gore factor is upped. And the novel has a much faster pace than most Keene novels.

If you enjoy either Keene or Laymon this is worth reading. Might just be my area but I see copies in used bookstores and Dollar Generals/Family Dollars all the time. I got the Leisure Fiction printing. Which like most other books from Leisure is out of print. Good thing Leisure overprinted most of their books.

Castaways gets a 3.95 outta 5.