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kyousayas's review against another edition
2.0
This book was won through a Goodreads Giveaway.
Rating: 2.5 stars
After reading the synopsis of this book, I was heavily intrigued and excited to read it, however, found myself to be quite disappointed.
Although the idea was extremely promising, I found things in this book to be inconsistent, repetitive, predictable and most of the time, boring. I’m usually able to finish a book in a couple days, a week or two at most, but this book took me 7 or 8 weeks to read because it just wasn’t gripping enough. Many of the incidents in the book seemed unnecessary , much to the point that it was tedious to read. The writing style also sounded childish at times several things, such as the crab dreams, were confusing.
This idea was great, and if it was executed in a better way I probably would have loved this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t. It wasn’t necessarily a bad book, and fans of this genre might enjoy it a bit more than I did, but it definitely wasn’t my cup of tea.
Rating: 2.5 stars
After reading the synopsis of this book, I was heavily intrigued and excited to read it, however, found myself to be quite disappointed.
Although the idea was extremely promising, I found things in this book to be inconsistent, repetitive, predictable and most of the time, boring. I’m usually able to finish a book in a couple days, a week or two at most, but this book took me 7 or 8 weeks to read because it just wasn’t gripping enough. Many of the incidents in the book seemed unnecessary , much to the point that it was tedious to read. The writing style also sounded childish at times several things, such as the crab dreams, were confusing.
This idea was great, and if it was executed in a better way I probably would have loved this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t. It wasn’t necessarily a bad book, and fans of this genre might enjoy it a bit more than I did, but it definitely wasn’t my cup of tea.
bookrantreviews's review
4.0
“When did you last google yourself, Mr Frost?”
I love a thriller that uses modern technology to creep the bejeezus out of you. "Scare me" by Richard Parker does just that. It's the gory, creepy type of thriller that you love. But unlike its peers in the book world, "Scare Me" doesn't sprint to a conclusion. It pulls you deep into its fictional world full of breath-stealing suspense and shocking irony. The result is a well told story that leaves you speechless because -- after all is said and done -- whew, it's just that good.
Will Frost is a successful businessman and a devoted family man. He and his wife Carla have worked hard to give their eighteen year old daughter the good childhood they never had. But all that changes in the wee hours of the morning following their nineteenth wedding anniversary when an unknown female caller asks him that question.
At first, Will thinks it's a twisted prank call and goes back to sleep. His pregnant daughter and her boyfriend are scheduled to arrive home from vacation later that day, and thoughts of her return dominate his mind. Curiosity wins out, however, and Will goes online to google himself. What he finds threatens his family and shatters the lies Will's been telling himself about his life.
His daughter Libby and her boyfriend Luke have been abducted.
A website has been set up under his name. There are seven homes, including his, pictured on the website. In order to save his daughter, he must visit each home and retrieve items that belong to his daughter. The last one he visits will be his own.
It's a demented scavenger hunt with a sick twist. The residents of the first six homes are mutilated and murdered. If he wants Libby to survive, he must stay one step behind the killer... and one step ahead of the police.
"Scare Me" by Richard Parker is gory and dripping with blood from the very first house Will visits until the last. The book is full of nail-biting, gasp-inducing suspense, to say the least. However, it's not as fast paced as books of its type usually are. Author Richard Parker strays from the cookie cutter type of thriller that floods the market today. He inserts characters that seemingly interrupt the pace of the novel and detract from the growing suspense.
Yet, every character is there for a reason. What Parker does with "Scare Me" is create much more than a typical propulsive thriller. He creates a story about lives, the lies we tell ourselves about our lives, and how easily innocence can be shattered. The book is as full of irony as it is suspense -- with some symbolism and foreshadowing thrown in. It's as good of a thriller as any, but it's also a fully baked, well written story too.
Warning. "Scare me" can seem too long and winding in places. However, you will never regret sticking with it. Every scene contributes to the end, as does every character. The pace quickens before you know it and takes you through to the final, jaw-dropping, WTF twists.
I love a thriller that uses modern technology to creep the bejeezus out of you. "Scare me" by Richard Parker does just that. It's the gory, creepy type of thriller that you love. But unlike its peers in the book world, "Scare Me" doesn't sprint to a conclusion. It pulls you deep into its fictional world full of breath-stealing suspense and shocking irony. The result is a well told story that leaves you speechless because -- after all is said and done -- whew, it's just that good.
Will Frost is a successful businessman and a devoted family man. He and his wife Carla have worked hard to give their eighteen year old daughter the good childhood they never had. But all that changes in the wee hours of the morning following their nineteenth wedding anniversary when an unknown female caller asks him that question.
At first, Will thinks it's a twisted prank call and goes back to sleep. His pregnant daughter and her boyfriend are scheduled to arrive home from vacation later that day, and thoughts of her return dominate his mind. Curiosity wins out, however, and Will goes online to google himself. What he finds threatens his family and shatters the lies Will's been telling himself about his life.
His daughter Libby and her boyfriend Luke have been abducted.
A website has been set up under his name. There are seven homes, including his, pictured on the website. In order to save his daughter, he must visit each home and retrieve items that belong to his daughter. The last one he visits will be his own.
It's a demented scavenger hunt with a sick twist. The residents of the first six homes are mutilated and murdered. If he wants Libby to survive, he must stay one step behind the killer... and one step ahead of the police.
"Scare Me" by Richard Parker is gory and dripping with blood from the very first house Will visits until the last. The book is full of nail-biting, gasp-inducing suspense, to say the least. However, it's not as fast paced as books of its type usually are. Author Richard Parker strays from the cookie cutter type of thriller that floods the market today. He inserts characters that seemingly interrupt the pace of the novel and detract from the growing suspense.
Yet, every character is there for a reason. What Parker does with "Scare Me" is create much more than a typical propulsive thriller. He creates a story about lives, the lies we tell ourselves about our lives, and how easily innocence can be shattered. The book is as full of irony as it is suspense -- with some symbolism and foreshadowing thrown in. It's as good of a thriller as any, but it's also a fully baked, well written story too.
Warning. "Scare me" can seem too long and winding in places. However, you will never regret sticking with it. Every scene contributes to the end, as does every character. The pace quickens before you know it and takes you through to the final, jaw-dropping, WTF twists.
jodicleghorn's review against another edition
4.0
Opens with a bang and continues at a break neck macabre speed to an unexpected explosive conclusion.
My only criticism was Penang, the location of Libby's kidnap and imprisonment, is actually in Malaysia, not Thailand.
My only criticism was Penang, the location of Libby's kidnap and imprisonment, is actually in Malaysia, not Thailand.
narniaru's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book! It had everything I wanted, from Se7en like gore to interesting characters and an engrossing plot. I did work out the twists and was a little disappointed that the author decided to go that way but still good nonetheless
snoakes7001's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 19%
I just couldn't get past the ridiculous set up and ludicrously perfect family. I persevered for a bit because I thought the tech angle might be interesting, but when I picked it up tonight I realised I'd rather be reading something (anything!) else.
I just couldn't get past the ridiculous set up and ludicrously perfect family. I persevered for a bit because I thought the tech angle might be interesting, but when I picked it up tonight I realised I'd rather be reading something (anything!) else.
sarahrita's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this book free from the publisher via netgalley.com in exchange for honest review.
DNF. Great concept, just not for me. A bit too slowly paced. I skimmed the majority through to the end.
DNF. Great concept, just not for me. A bit too slowly paced. I skimmed the majority through to the end.
petra_reads's review
3.0
[b:Scare Me|15799248|Scare Me|Richard Jay Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360646305s/15799248.jpg|21522214] is a standalone thriller that had quite an intriguing premise. Will, a successful businessman, has to go on a scavenger-type hunt across several countries in order to save his pregnant daughter, Libby, who is being held hostage. He's having to visit seven different houses, all of them horrific crime scenes. Poppy, the person behind it all, is known to the reader from the beginning. But who exactly is she, why did she target Will and his family, and what is her ultimate goal?
[b:Scare Me|15799248|Scare Me|Richard Jay Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360646305s/15799248.jpg|21522214] has been optioned for a movie and I can see why. To be honest, I think it might work better on screen than it did reading/listening to this. It's fast-paced and quite entertaining; that is provided you don't start to pick it apart for its plausibility.
I enjoyed it in the way you can enjoy an action-packed movie that doesn't require any thinking or emotional involvement, but I didn't love it. The main shortcoming for me was the characters, who remained rather one-dimensional, which stopped me from really connecting with any of them. The story is told from several perspectives including Will's, his wife's, Libby's and Poppy's as well as a seven-year-old boy's and a reporter's. I felt the inclusion of the latter two didn't really serve any purpose as regards the storyline.
The audiobook narration by Rupert Holliday-Evans was pretty decent. He had a very pleasant voice.
Overall, this was pretty much average, 3 stars.
[b:Scare Me|15799248|Scare Me|Richard Jay Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360646305s/15799248.jpg|21522214] has been optioned for a movie and I can see why. To be honest, I think it might work better on screen than it did reading/listening to this. It's fast-paced and quite entertaining; that is provided you don't start to pick it apart for its plausibility.
I enjoyed it in the way you can enjoy an action-packed movie that doesn't require any thinking or emotional involvement, but I didn't love it. The main shortcoming for me was the characters, who remained rather one-dimensional, which stopped me from really connecting with any of them. The story is told from several perspectives including Will's, his wife's, Libby's and Poppy's as well as a seven-year-old boy's and a reporter's. I felt the inclusion of the latter two didn't really serve any purpose as regards the storyline.
The audiobook narration by Rupert Holliday-Evans was pretty decent. He had a very pleasant voice.
Overall, this was pretty much average, 3 stars.
knowledgelost's review
1.0
“When did you last Google yourself?” That was what wealthy businessman, Will Frost was asked by an anonymous late night caller. When Will got online, he found a website with photographs of his home along with six other houses he’s never seen before. Within the first house a gruesome murder has already taken place. His family is in danger and the only way to save them is to visit all seven houses, discover their connection before the police discovers him.
First of all, I decided to google Richard Parker just to get an idea of who he was. If you were wondering, Richard Parker is not the sailor and president of the Floating Republic, Peter Parker’s (Spiderman) dad, a Bengal tiger or from Weekend at Bernie’s. Richard Parker is in fact an English writer who spent over twenty years writing for TV (nothing I’ve heard of). He was nominated for the Crime Writers Associations John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award in 2010 for is dark thriller Stop Me.
Scare Me is his second book (and if you were wondering they are both standalone novels) and Will Frost’s struggle to save his daughter’s life from a twisted and sadistic psychopath. This novel has all the typical thriller tropes and you can pretty much match this against your expectations and come up with the exact plot in your head. This is something I found rather frustrating; I was never surprised, everything seemed obvious and expected.
This wasn’t the major problem I had with this novel; my issue was with the characters. Will Frost is so two dimensional and inherently good there was nothing interesting or complex about him, I found this boring. I like characters that are complex and flawed; I didn’t even find this in the killer either. Their motivation came a little too late into the novel, there was no hints (although you can guess easily) and when you find out, it was too late to save the novel.
You also have major plot problems, which is a shame since the idea of scavenger hunt of dead bodies is a great one. An example, all phones work in every country, no need for international roaming (this isn’t a big problem but when you make a deal of buying a new phone you could mention something). Also there is the fact Will’s old phone was amazing; He hides it on the killer to track it and the phone never goes flat. I struggle to last a day with my phone, so I’m keen to get my hands on a phone that lasts so long.
You add all these up, with the basic writing style and you have a novel that didn’t work for me. I liked the premise and had high hopes but I was let down. I wish I abandoned this novel and moved on to something different but unfortunately I pushed myself. I know of a few people that have read and enjoyed this novel, I’m happy for them, I wish I was one of them but there was too much I couldn’t let go.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/12/26/book-review-scare-me/
First of all, I decided to google Richard Parker just to get an idea of who he was. If you were wondering, Richard Parker is not the sailor and president of the Floating Republic, Peter Parker’s (Spiderman) dad, a Bengal tiger or from Weekend at Bernie’s. Richard Parker is in fact an English writer who spent over twenty years writing for TV (nothing I’ve heard of). He was nominated for the Crime Writers Associations John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award in 2010 for is dark thriller Stop Me.
Scare Me is his second book (and if you were wondering they are both standalone novels) and Will Frost’s struggle to save his daughter’s life from a twisted and sadistic psychopath. This novel has all the typical thriller tropes and you can pretty much match this against your expectations and come up with the exact plot in your head. This is something I found rather frustrating; I was never surprised, everything seemed obvious and expected.
This wasn’t the major problem I had with this novel; my issue was with the characters. Will Frost is so two dimensional and inherently good there was nothing interesting or complex about him, I found this boring. I like characters that are complex and flawed; I didn’t even find this in the killer either. Their motivation came a little too late into the novel, there was no hints (although you can guess easily) and when you find out, it was too late to save the novel.
You also have major plot problems, which is a shame since the idea of scavenger hunt of dead bodies is a great one. An example, all phones work in every country, no need for international roaming (this isn’t a big problem but when you make a deal of buying a new phone you could mention something). Also there is the fact Will’s old phone was amazing; He hides it on the killer to track it and the phone never goes flat. I struggle to last a day with my phone, so I’m keen to get my hands on a phone that lasts so long.
You add all these up, with the basic writing style and you have a novel that didn’t work for me. I liked the premise and had high hopes but I was let down. I wish I abandoned this novel and moved on to something different but unfortunately I pushed myself. I know of a few people that have read and enjoyed this novel, I’m happy for them, I wish I was one of them but there was too much I couldn’t let go.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/12/26/book-review-scare-me/
veronikahvee's review
4.0
The beach is the best place to make sure you pick up the reading pace in a book you've been eager to finish. Careful beach reading, of course.
I got this book in a goodreads giveaway. (Yay!)
Anyway! On to the actual review!
Scare Me is the kind of book that has no slow moments. Maybe a couple of slower moments, but no moment is ever really slow.
William Frost is a wealthy business man happily married to his wife Carla and with a daughter, Libby, that is spending some time in Thailand with her boyfriend, Luke.
On the last night before Libby's return, Will is woken up by a mysterious anonymous call asking him if he had ever Googled himself. After this call, he does Google himself, and finds out the call is a lot more than a simple prank. He finds a website with his name and with many disturbing photos. Including of his daughter.
Libby and Luke have been kidnapped and Will has to visit seven houses in the website's fictional neighborhood and retrieve certain items in order to save his daughter.
In all the houses Will has to face in first hand gory and nightmarish murders, not call the police, not leave any marks of his presence there and retrieve the item he needs.
He doesn't recognize any of the victims and wonders who is doing this and why. All along, Carla is staying in England following his steps via GPS and digging any information she can on the victims.
But by the end things become more clearer, and more, much more dangerous.
Written with a terrific fast pace, Scare Me lives up to its genre fame.
With multiple POVs, you'd think that could confuse the reader, but no, it actually helps one follow the story and understand it (or get even more curious about what will happen next) better.
Richard Parker even manages to make us think "Is a psychopath worth any sympathy at all?"
So... "When did you last Google yourself?"
I got this book in a goodreads giveaway. (Yay!)
Anyway! On to the actual review!
Scare Me is the kind of book that has no slow moments. Maybe a couple of slower moments, but no moment is ever really slow.
William Frost is a wealthy business man happily married to his wife Carla and with a daughter, Libby, that is spending some time in Thailand with her boyfriend, Luke.
On the last night before Libby's return, Will is woken up by a mysterious anonymous call asking him if he had ever Googled himself. After this call, he does Google himself, and finds out the call is a lot more than a simple prank. He finds a website with his name and with many disturbing photos. Including of his daughter.
Libby and Luke have been kidnapped and Will has to visit seven houses in the website's fictional neighborhood and retrieve certain items in order to save his daughter.
In all the houses Will has to face in first hand gory and nightmarish murders, not call the police, not leave any marks of his presence there and retrieve the item he needs.
He doesn't recognize any of the victims and wonders who is doing this and why. All along, Carla is staying in England following his steps via GPS and digging any information she can on the victims.
But by the end things become more clearer, and more, much more dangerous.
Written with a terrific fast pace, Scare Me lives up to its genre fame.
With multiple POVs, you'd think that could confuse the reader, but no, it actually helps one follow the story and understand it (or get even more curious about what will happen next) better.
Richard Parker even manages to make us think "Is a psychopath worth any sympathy at all?"
So... "When did you last Google yourself?"
itsallaboutthebooksuk's review
5.0
I have to start off by saying I absolutely love the cover of this book. It jumped out at me as soon as I saw it and then I read the synopsis and I knew I had to read this book.
The book got off to a great start and by the end of chapter one I was left sitting wide-mouthed and wondering what the heck was going to happen next. Unlike a lot of books where we have to read through to the end, Scare Me tells us who the antagonist is at the beginning, a girl called Poppy. What we don't know is, who Poppy is and why is she doing what she's doing?
Poppy seriously gave me the heebie jeebies, a character to fear and totally ruthless in her mission to destroy Will Frost. I often found myself holding my breath at some of her antics and still can't get the pictures this book conjured up out of my mind. This book has a few characters in it and we get to hear the point of view from each one as the story goes along which I really enjoyed. I felt it gave a little extra to the story and made it a bit more intense.
Richard Parker has cleverly written an edge of you seat psychological thriller. It's gruesome, heart stopping and with quite a few red herrings you wont want to put this book down. As I was reading I was thinking to myself what a great film this would make so was totally delighted to find this out on Goodreads SCARE ME has been snapped up by major Hollywood studio, Relativity Media. Wentworth (Prison Break/Stoker) Miller has just completed the screenplay.
So if you like a good thriller then I definitely recommend Scare Me, but just make sure you have an empty diary and some peace and quiet as you really wont want to put this book down.
The book got off to a great start and by the end of chapter one I was left sitting wide-mouthed and wondering what the heck was going to happen next. Unlike a lot of books where we have to read through to the end, Scare Me tells us who the antagonist is at the beginning, a girl called Poppy. What we don't know is, who Poppy is and why is she doing what she's doing?
Poppy seriously gave me the heebie jeebies, a character to fear and totally ruthless in her mission to destroy Will Frost. I often found myself holding my breath at some of her antics and still can't get the pictures this book conjured up out of my mind. This book has a few characters in it and we get to hear the point of view from each one as the story goes along which I really enjoyed. I felt it gave a little extra to the story and made it a bit more intense.
Richard Parker has cleverly written an edge of you seat psychological thriller. It's gruesome, heart stopping and with quite a few red herrings you wont want to put this book down. As I was reading I was thinking to myself what a great film this would make so was totally delighted to find this out on Goodreads SCARE ME has been snapped up by major Hollywood studio, Relativity Media. Wentworth (Prison Break/Stoker) Miller has just completed the screenplay.
So if you like a good thriller then I definitely recommend Scare Me, but just make sure you have an empty diary and some peace and quiet as you really wont want to put this book down.