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briandice's review
4.0
Fast moving, vivid and chilling scenes - and yes - a horrific dream sequence I really wish I hadn't read before bed, this first novel by Xane is a great addition to the genre. There's plenty here for horror veterans and initiates alike (and an ending that will have you re-reading the last few pages again and again).
aaronlindsey's review against another edition
4.0
A fun but disturbing novella. The first half was laugh-out-loud hilarious. Seriously, my wife was trying to watch a video while I read and had to ask me to either put the book down or leave the room. But right at the half-way point, things get serious as we watch our hero, Frank, sink into madness.
charshorrorcorner's review
4.0
I'm not sure WTF was going on here, but I am sure that I liked it.
This was a dark novella served up with a dark sense of humor. At times I wasn't sure if the protagonist, Frank, was dreaming or awake. With sometimes surreal, sometimes a bit too real,and always disturbing imagery this story sucked me right in. It was as if I could not tear my eyes away. I guess I should be happy that my face even has eyes?
If you want to know what I mean by that, I guess you'll have to read this story. Recommended for fans of surreal,and at times, comedic dark fiction!
*Read 4.24.14.
This was a dark novella served up with a dark sense of humor. At times I wasn't sure if the protagonist, Frank, was dreaming or awake. With sometimes surreal, sometimes a bit too real,and always disturbing imagery this story sucked me right in. It was as if I could not tear my eyes away. I guess I should be happy that my face even has eyes?
If you want to know what I mean by that, I guess you'll have to read this story. Recommended for fans of surreal,and at times, comedic dark fiction!
*Read 4.24.14.
ctgt's review against another edition
4.0
A bit of a disclaimer here. Gregor and I are friends here on GR, not like we're bffs or anything but we do have similar tastes. Ok, enough of that.
What a strange, cool, disturbing and entertaining book. The story switches, primarily, between the POV of two brothers. Kinda like Wally and the Beav on acid. Frank wakes up one day to discover five (he figures out later it is six) numb circular spots on his torso, three in front, two on the back. While Frank tries to figure out just what the hell is going on, we meet a physican who seems to take particular glee in collecting tissue samples and taking hundreds of pictures with his new imaging machine. Only to find....nothing. We then move on to the psychiatrist who takes him under to discover a suppressed dream. Here's where things really get crackin'.
Frank goes to a party at his brothers house, I'm thinking Eyes Wide Open meets Alien only instead of a creature popping out of someones chest, a crack forms in the wall of the house to reveal...... Ha! You're gonna have to read it!
Are these a series of dreams? Some alternate evil dimension? Or just one mans descent into madness?
It was one wild ride I won't soon forget.
What a strange, cool, disturbing and entertaining book. The story switches, primarily, between the POV of two brothers. Kinda like Wally and the Beav on acid. Frank wakes up one day to discover five (he figures out later it is six) numb circular spots on his torso, three in front, two on the back. While Frank tries to figure out just what the hell is going on, we meet a physican who seems to take particular glee in collecting tissue samples and taking hundreds of pictures with his new imaging machine. Only to find....nothing. We then move on to the psychiatrist who takes him under to discover a suppressed dream. Here's where things really get crackin'.
Frank goes to a party at his brothers house, I'm thinking Eyes Wide Open meets Alien only instead of a creature popping out of someones chest, a crack forms in the wall of the house to reveal...... Ha! You're gonna have to read it!
Are these a series of dreams? Some alternate evil dimension? Or just one mans descent into madness?
It was one wild ride I won't soon forget.
creepysnowman's review
4.0
We meet Frank in the first sentence of the book, and establish right away that he has numb, “dead” spots of no feeling at five different places on his body. With this fact established, it becomes difficult to trust anything that happens after, as Frank seems to drift from event to event. His doctor and psychotherapist act in ways that are almost completely unbelievable, but still stays just within the bounds of reality, which is really the first hint that something is not right.
As the story continues, things get weirder and weirder, and when Frank becomes obsessed with a recurring, disturbing, Eyes Wide Shut type dream, things really get crazy.
At first, I was a little put off by the detachment and unrealistic portrayals of some of the characters. Frank himself is defined by his increasingly erratic behaviour, but we really never get a lot of insight into his thoughts, and he doesn’t change much through the course of the story. However, once it becomes clear that the ENTIRE story is not to be fully trusted - rather treated as a shifting, changing dream in itself, it becomes a twisted, unsettling ride.
There is a POV shift at just the time that Frank has become obsessed to the point that he is no longer a relatable character - losing himself in disturbing (but still strangely amusing) lucid dreams fuelled by drugs and pornography. Steve, the brother-in-law, never really becomes a real character, but serves his purpose as an outside view of Frank’s growing eccentricity.
The ending was a little jarring, and perhaps a little too quick for what it was, but then, what nightmare ever let a person down easily?
Read this one quickly - as it’s more powerful when you can get pulled along from scene to scene, and experience the nightmare for yourself.
(Slightly extended review here: http://chrisallinotte.tumblr.com/post/77415399154/six-dead-spots-gregor-xane)
As the story continues, things get weirder and weirder, and when Frank becomes obsessed with a recurring, disturbing, Eyes Wide Shut type dream, things really get crazy.
At first, I was a little put off by the detachment and unrealistic portrayals of some of the characters. Frank himself is defined by his increasingly erratic behaviour, but we really never get a lot of insight into his thoughts, and he doesn’t change much through the course of the story. However, once it becomes clear that the ENTIRE story is not to be fully trusted - rather treated as a shifting, changing dream in itself, it becomes a twisted, unsettling ride.
There is a POV shift at just the time that Frank has become obsessed to the point that he is no longer a relatable character - losing himself in disturbing (but still strangely amusing) lucid dreams fuelled by drugs and pornography. Steve, the brother-in-law, never really becomes a real character, but serves his purpose as an outside view of Frank’s growing eccentricity.
The ending was a little jarring, and perhaps a little too quick for what it was, but then, what nightmare ever let a person down easily?
Read this one quickly - as it’s more powerful when you can get pulled along from scene to scene, and experience the nightmare for yourself.
(Slightly extended review here: http://chrisallinotte.tumblr.com/post/77415399154/six-dead-spots-gregor-xane)
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