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A review by heathbc
Afraid by Jack Kilborn
1.0
Oh look, it's my second one star rating.
Horror is my favorite genre so I think I'm especially hard on horror novels that miss the point in meaningfully discussing what humans fear. In Afraid , the author Jack Kilborn seems to be responding to fear of terrorism post 9/11 with some commentary on the Vietnam War. There were likely people who enjoyed the fast paced plot and felt entertained by this novel. I mean no disrespect to the author nor to people who enjoyed the novel. Nonetheless, I'll be honest and say I didn't like the book.
I'll state one positive thing before going into my rant. I liked the moments between the grandson and grandfather. In fact, I think the young boy was a captivating character, living with past trauma but also trying to find a sense of independence while growing out of adolescence.
I didn't feel particularly drawn to any of the other townspeople and I found the 'villains' to be portrayed problematically. Kilborn played into the outdated trope of giving one of the antagonists a lisp and an accent. Another antagonist was given characteristics of being minimally verbal and a giant. We've got to stop mixing speech-language disorders with psychopathy as if those are two things that go hand-in-hand together. As a speech language pathologist, I couldn't overlook these characterizations. Relatedly, in one scene where a townsperson had their vocal cords snipped without ANY anesthesia and then proceeded to whisper right after, I rolled my eyes at how unrealistic the description was. I did quite a lot of eye rolling throughout this novel. How did the old sheriff run and fight with his ruptured appendix/fall from a roof/etc? Why is a face being melted and then written off with pain medication? Why is a plot from my elementary school slumber party scary stories book rehashed basically word for word in this novel for adults? Why are the townspeople so gullible and able to wake up at 2:00 am for an unlikely lottery win? Why is there a LOVE story...didn't this woman just lose her toe to a man that bit it off and isn't she busy trying to save her son?? What is this found footage scenario going on in a bunker when they need to be preparing for an attack? Why is everything wrapping up so cleanly in this ending? In other words, it was too hard to immerse myself in the plot and suspend my disbelief.
P.S. I read this book right after reading Stephen King's The Stand. Was Kilborn making shout-outs to that novel by naming his female protagonist Franny and having an unlikeable character be eaten alive by wolves?
Horror is my favorite genre so I think I'm especially hard on horror novels that miss the point in meaningfully discussing what humans fear. In Afraid , the author Jack Kilborn seems to be responding to fear of terrorism post 9/11 with some commentary on the Vietnam War. There were likely people who enjoyed the fast paced plot and felt entertained by this novel. I mean no disrespect to the author nor to people who enjoyed the novel. Nonetheless, I'll be honest and say I didn't like the book.
I'll state one positive thing before going into my rant. I liked the moments between the grandson and grandfather. In fact, I think the young boy was a captivating character, living with past trauma but also trying to find a sense of independence while growing out of adolescence.
I didn't feel particularly drawn to any of the other townspeople and I found the 'villains' to be portrayed problematically. Kilborn played into the outdated trope of giving one of the antagonists a lisp and an accent. Another antagonist was given characteristics of being minimally verbal and a giant. We've got to stop mixing speech-language disorders with psychopathy as if those are two things that go hand-in-hand together. As a speech language pathologist, I couldn't overlook these characterizations. Relatedly, in one scene where a townsperson had their vocal cords snipped without ANY anesthesia and then proceeded to whisper right after, I rolled my eyes at how unrealistic the description was. I did quite a lot of eye rolling throughout this novel. How did the old sheriff run and fight with his ruptured appendix/fall from a roof/etc? Why is a face being melted and then written off with pain medication? Why is a plot from my elementary school slumber party scary stories book rehashed basically word for word in this novel for adults? Why are the townspeople so gullible and able to wake up at 2:00 am for an unlikely lottery win? Why is there a LOVE story...didn't this woman just lose her toe to a man that bit it off and isn't she busy trying to save her son?? What is this found footage scenario going on in a bunker when they need to be preparing for an attack? Why is everything wrapping up so cleanly in this ending? In other words, it was too hard to immerse myself in the plot and suspend my disbelief.
P.S. I read this book right after reading Stephen King's The Stand. Was Kilborn making shout-outs to that novel by naming his female protagonist Franny and having an unlikeable character be eaten alive by wolves?