Even the "monster" was given a soul that pierced the horror. By the end of the book you knew that animals think and feel and that a dog is more than just cute. The movie "Watchers" offers no clue that anyone involved has even read this book. We need another teen slasher flick like we need another Linda Tripp. The dog could give acting lessons to the rest of the cast. Simply awful and I am embarrassed for Mr.
However, two years later, it seems as if someone else thought that this novel deserved better. Decidedly not Oscar material, "Watchers II" is, however, at least 47, times more watchable than it's predecessor. Final words - read the book and open your heart. Dean Koontz's book "Watchers" is one of the finest books I have read. Sadly, the movie is a sad caricature of the book.
The disillusioned middle-aged hero and the lonely spinster with whom he finds a meaning to his life are converted in the movie into a couple of silly teenagers, the stoic security agent and the conscientious sheriff are combined into a farcical villain - you get the picture?
The moviemakers have taken a moving tale of love, horror and adventure and converted it into a Z-Grade horror flick aimed - very poorly - at the teen market. Buy the book and enjoy many hours of reading - it will be far, far more rewarding than watching the movie. Coventry 3 October I'm often very glad that I'm not much of a reader. Quite often when I encounter a movie-adaptation of a famous novel, there are always hundreds of people complaining about how awful the movie version was in comparison to the book.
Well, I've never — and probably will never — read the book, so at least I don't have to feel ashamed about tremendously liking the film! It's like I don't know any better, you dig? This is also the case with "Watchers", for example. Allegedly, the Dean Koontz novel differs enormously from the 80's horror film version, with characters and story lines altered left and right in favor to appeal more to contemporary horror loving audiences. Travis, the lead character, is originally a year-old social outcast in the book, whereas he's a poignant year-old rebel kid in the film, portrayed by Corey Haim who was quite big at the time thanks to the success of "The Lost Boys", "Lucas" and "Silver Bullet".
That's the 80's horror film industry for you. Can you blame them? Either way, "Watchers" is a shamelessly entertaining and virulent late 80's creature-feature with a pleasingly high body count, gruesome special effects, an irresistible charming 80's setting and ambiance, cool acting performances and one of the best use of an intelligent dog in a film ever. Travis Cornell lives, with his yummy mother, nearby a research facility where the government — in all secrecy of course — works on the ultimate warfare weapon.
The weapon itself is a giant and nearly indestructible Bigfoot creature, but the breakthrough is that it is telepathically linked to a intelligent dog. The monster is programmed to track the animal down and kill everything on its path in between. The dog and the monster escape from the lab just before there's an explosion. The dog hitches a ride in Travis' truck and he decides to keep the animal when he notices its abnormally high intellect. The dog can type warnings on a computer and compose messages via a game of scrabble, for crying out loud! Meanwhile, the Oxcom monster leaves a trail of blood and mayhem throughout the area, and if that isn't worse enough yet, there's also the relentless government agent Michael Ironside.
He's after Travis and his dog to cover up the failures. The Oxcom monster has the nasty habit of removing people's eyeballs, which leads to a handful of grisly images and eerie make-up effects. The acting performances are great. Barbara Williams is excellent as Travis' caring mother and Michael Ironside behaves psychopathic and nightmarish as always.
Corey Haim uses his typical 'rebellious 80's teenager' charisma to maximum results and the dog — Fur Face — is genius. Oh, "Watchers" also provides the opportunity to admire hunky boy Jason Priestley and watch him get slaughtered by Bigfoot before he became world famous as Brandon Walsh in "Beverly Hills ". Bears about as much resemblance to Dean Koontz's novel as Jessica Simpson does to a rocket scientist. If you've read the book, I suggest you put it as far out of your mind as possible before watching the movie.
Watchers is your typical "Boy meets dog, dog turns out to be super-intelligent government lab experiment, dog and boy are pursued by super-intelligent and emotionally disturbed monster created by same lab, and, oh yeah, did I mention the shady government agents pursuing the monster pursuing the dog? Corey Haim is the boy, Barbara Williams is his mother, Michael Ironside is one of the evil government guys, and Sandy the dog is, well, the dog named Furface here; Einstein in the book.
The monster effects are ridiculously cheesy, much of the dialogue is laughable, the script rarely makes sense or is believable - a good example is Haim's character's unquestioning acceptance of the dog's intelligence, as if every Fido off the street can type messages on a computer keyboard or bark once for yes and twice for no! Hmm, it's gotta be the puppy chow, right? Haim's performance is enthusiastic but shaky, as he carries off the stupid dialogue with the least amount of skill.
Ironside has been the highlight of many a bad movie, and this is no exception. He easily gives the best performance of the movie, although I'm compelled to add that the dog who's a pretty darn good actor himself! All in all, an atrociously dumb movie, and yet. And yet I watched it three times within a week. And yet I can't help liking it. Hey, what can I say, I have a taste for junk - and Michael Ironside not that I've ever actually tasted Michael Ironside- I'm sure there are laws against that.
But any movie that can make me laugh that hard yes, even unintentionally can't be all bad. Chalk it up to a guilty pleasure, a "yes I know it's insultingly stupid but I like it anyway" movie. It's tough for me to rate this. On a normal scale I'm forced to give it a D-, but on my own personal cheese scale, it gets bumped up to an A-. I'm weird like that.
Scary in places though the effects did leave something to be desired unless you have bad eyesight or are afraid of the dark. However most of the acting was convincing and most of the effects were well done. I thought the creature looked a bit too much like a man in a gorilla suit for my liking. It reminded me of the original pink panther film. As horror movies go, I've seen worst, but given the fact that this movie is based on Dean R. Koontz,s terrific novel, the film comes off as a very sad attempt.
If 'Watchers' was an original concept for a film, I might have enjoyed the movie a bit more. Unfortunately, it's hard to enjoy an average movie after reading a great book. Still in all, Watchers isn't so bad for a friday night thrill with some popcorn and friends! I remember watching this film as vividly as going to see Tommy Gunn in rocky Five. I remember the damn loud humming crickets, and the white dog I liked them both.
I don't think that i was like a lot older than when i saw the film to compare an obvious difference between these two films I forget about all that nonsense. When a research lab got destroyed mysterious, a very intelligent dog is running away from a strange genetic mutation creature that wants the dog dead. Because these are two creatures nearly shares the same mind and there's something telepathic between the two. But the creature is designed to be a predator. This stray dog find shelter from a teenager Travis Corey Haim , who's agrees to care of the dog after finding him in his truck.
Now an mysterious man Lem Johnson Michael Ironside from the American government wants to find this mutation monster before it's causes more trouble with the help of the local police. But Travis finds out that this dog is just as intelligent as a human person and he belongs to the government after finding a code on his ear.
But the Creature finds himself closer to the dog, while murdering people along the way to kill it. Now Travis, his mother Nora Barbara Williams and the dog are on the run from this monster. Travis has to find ways to prepare to kill this creature before it's too late. Directed by Jon Hess made an technically well made Horror movie that is completely forgettable, despite some interesting moments in this cheap "B" movie.
The golden retriever dog gives the best performance in the film, The dog scenes with Haim are the best moments in the picture. Ironside is always a joy seeing playing a bad guy with a hidden agenda. Surprisingly Two Time Oscar-Winner: But they had many changes to his script, which his original script was probably closer to the novel. Since American and Canadian producers made many displacement that didn't look like from the novel by Dean R. Koontz Hideaway, Phantoms anymore. The most unconvincingly thing of the picture is the creature, which you never get a good look of the monster.
Since most of the cinematography of the film is quite dark. Although it was probably wise since the director: Hess felt the monster looked like crap. Who else than King of the "B" Movies: Since he produced plenty of cheap films are actually better than this one, half of the time. Which it was followed by three direct to video sequels! Look for the familiar Canadian cast members in bit parts.
If u enjoy "B" movies, u might like it. Best Watchted, When you are in a silly mood. As both he and the dog spend time together, he realizes that the dog is a real genius and begs his mother to keep him. As a series of strange accidents in town plague the community, the two discover that the project that also got loose with the dog was a vicious creature trained for military purposes, and has been trailing the dog for it's own reasons.
Desperate to save them both, they team up to take down the creature before it attacks more residents. This wasn't all that bad of a film. One thing that really works is that this is actually a well-explained film for it's type. There's a really great reason given for the creature and the dog, which is quite different than most other films.
This one's reasoning is a really unique and novel one that is pretty clever. There's some really new ideas in the theory presented with it taking on a really new ideas. There's a really big body count in here that makes it pretty good. There's some throat rips, a whole slew of eyeball-removals, being thrown onto an electrical panel, having their face scratched up and a decapitation included, as well as others in here. The decapitation is the single most brutal one, being shown in after-affect and having just a mangled stump left. The large amount of deaths gives it a pretty fast-paced feel to it, as a body is dropped in what feels like every other few minutes.
That extends from the opening minutes, with a fantastic set-piece that really works and carries throughout the entire course. The action is pretty non-stop, from a great confrontation in the woods where three get it at the same time to a fantastic quest to escape inside an under-siege house and the final blow-out at the cabin, this one manages to contain a lot of action inside it. This is what makes it more watchable, since they can overcome a lot of negativity when there's some big series of action scenes along the way.
Another big plus is that the creature is basically kept off-screen for the majority of the film. This is one of the smartest moves possible. It's seen in quick, fleeting moments here and there but never really anything that could give a good, definitive viewing of it and it's not revealed until a couple of second-long scenes at the very end surrounded by shadows. It keeps it away from the trap of constantly showing a cheesy, non-frightening creature for the during of the film and taking the fear of it away.
Since it's unknown what it looks like, the reveal of it at the end despite seeing glances along the way gives way to fear when it's on-screen. A great move, and one in a series of good moves that make this one a good film. There's only a few areas in here that don't really work. The biggest one that doesn't is the fact that there's a really cheesy stench that carries this flick over. It's not a necessarily bad thing, but to have the story lines about a mutant creature chasing after a genius dog being trailed by the government agents responsible for both is just a tad too much to take seriously.
The high amount of action in here also plays into it a bit. The biggest problem is that most of the attacks are shown off-screen. There's a blurry flash and a lot of screaming during most of the attacks in here, and from there it's just impossible to tell what happened until it flashes back to the after-affects. Most of the attacks happen in that fashion, and it does get a little annoying when they're all in that manner.
This is the biggest flaw, as it really devalues the ferocity of the creature, but these are the main flaws. This was a very entertaining film in a surprising way, and it overcomes the few negatives it has. It's a great pick for those looking for a decent, under-the-radar creature feature or those looking for a night of cheesy entertainment.
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Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity. Elswet 28 November As adaptations go, this movie is standard bastardized adaptation fare. Having been adapted from one of the very best novels Dean Koontz has ever written, this movie is the epitome of putrid sludge. I found the movie to be enjoyable. It isn't a bad movie really. I just can't figure out where, in this screen play, is Koontz's original literary work. Now, forgetting the teen-ager-oriented movies like Licensed to Drive, I typically like Corey Haim's movies.
It wasn't his fault that the director, screen writer, and original author did not see eye to eye, and his performance in this movie was just as good as it was in the aforementioned movies I did like. However, the story told in this movie is so far from Koontz's original work that I am amazed he let it ride with his name still attached. The book is a masterpiece, and while I did enjoy this movie immensely, it was nothing like the book. The dog was genetically engineered to be the intelligence, and the monster was the genetic equivalent engineered to be the brawn.
The monster will follow the dog relentlessly, wherever the dog goes, as it is not only trained to do so, but engineered to this task in order to allow the dog to lead it to its prey. The dog is the hunter, and the monster is the killer. They are a genetic assassination team, complete with an engineered psychic link, created by covert American underground government; one of those three-letter associations which "officially" do not exist. The dog is freed and befriends Corey Haim's character.
But since the government can't have the intelligence half of their prized assassination team loose like that, they loose the monster to find him, thereby endangering the boy, as well. But the dog, by this time, has developed a kinship with the boy, and must keep him safe, which means running from the monster each time he draws near. This, of course, is the "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" of the movie, and just a drop in the sea to the deep richness and quality of the original literary novel by Koontz.
It rates an 8. That's about a 6. Rautus 4 March Watchers is a fun movie if it's not taken too seriously, the novel written by Dean R. Koontz is obviously a lot better but the movie itself is entertaining in it's own way. The film has a lot of changes for the novel Watchers, the one difference is the main character Travis.
- See a Problem?.
- Obsession.
- Kalix. Werwölfin von London (German Edition).
- Reasons Not to Get a Small Dog.
In the book he was an adult and an retired Delta Force soldier while in the film he's a teenager. Watchers has it's good points, the film does have some gory scenes in parts. I'm a fan of Micheal Ironside and it was cool to see him in this film, he always does a great performance in all his films. The OXCOM costume looks kind of cheesy but the camera never really shows the creature fully until near the end of the film.
The dog Einstien was impressive since it was well trained. The film sees two genetic experiments escaping from a lab, a dog and a monster. Both experiments are linked telepathically since the two animals are part of a military project were the dog would infiltrate an enemy base then the Creature would attack and eliminate them. The Dog finds a teenager named Travis who takes him home and discovers that he's intelligent and so he names the dog Einstein, meanwhile the OXCOM is roaming around killing people and gouging out their eyes, two Government agents are sent to find the two experiments before this incident gets out of hand.
Soon Travis learns that his not safe as the OXCOM is drawn to the dog and will stop at nothing to kill him and anyone in it's way, so Travis and his mom go to rescue his girlfriend who's being held at the hospital by the two agents. Watchers is not a great adaptation of Dean R. Koontz novel but it is a entraining 80's horror flick, some fans of the book may not want to watch this since it's not faithful to the book but fans of cheesy 80's horror movies may want to check this out.
I still find it hard to believe that a fine - if overlong - novel by Dean Koontz was transformed into this utter excrement. This movie is so bad it's disgusting. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — The Watchers by Neil Spring. Since childhood I have been running from my parents' deaths. From my grandfather Randall Llewellyn Pritchard - his fanatical omens about fires in the sky.
From what happened at Broad Haven. But now my memories have returned to haunt me. In the ministry of Defence Room I met the man who keeps the nation's secrets - who wants me to investigate the sightings at Broad Haven: In know its is my duty to expose the truth behind 'the happenings', even if it will be dangerous. Even though I may not live to tell the tale.
I know it is my duty, but still I am afraid. I know the Watchers will be waiting for me there. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Watchers , please sign up. Lists with This Book. The main character in this novel is Robert Wilding, who works in , when we first meet him, for the MP, Paul Bestford. He is due to attend a Defence Select Committee meeting, where he hopes to get answers about what happened to his mother some years ago, after she protested at American bases in the UK.
However, what begins as a normal day, if personally important to Robert, ends in violence and upheaval. Before Robert is really aware of what is happening, he finds himself back in the place he The main character in this novel is Robert Wilding, who works in , when we first meet him, for the MP, Paul Bestford. Before Robert is really aware of what is happening, he finds himself back in the place he has spent his life trying to escape - the Havens in St Brides Bay, West Wales.
As a young boy, his parents dead, he was taken to live with his grandfather at Ravenstone Farm. He recalls his father as an obsessive, religious man, who taught Robert to fear and has left him with compulsive, obsessive disorders. Robert was always told to stay away from Stack Rocks Island in the bay; a place he was drawn to. With bars on the windows, visitors were unwelcome and his grandfather told him giants lived near the cliffs. Robert has been sent, by his mentor, Admiral Hill Bartlett, to investigate the plague of strange phenomena that has broken out in the small community of the Havens.
Those who have witnessed these events are becoming ill and it is obvious that something is very wrong. This is a creepy and atmospheric read, with a fast moving storyline and a good plot. It was original to have a main, male character, who was not the super action hero of so many books. Robert Wilding is a damaged, unsure, unwilling, paranoid man — who is often afraid and yet all the more brave for that. I applaud the author for giving us realistic characters, who are not black and white, but many shades of grey.
I look forward to reading more by him in the future. Jan 12, Gram rated it did not like it. This story has everything - UFO's, giant aliens, mass hypnosis of schoolchildren and an entire village community, mass hysteria, nuclear weapons, government and military conspiracies, strange "futuristic" silver cars, experimental aircraft, ancient legends, druids, vicious mutilations and murders, torture and slaughter of animals, a haunted hotel, secret tunnels, men in black!
AND a top secret military intelligence base located hundreds of feet below the streets of Central London. There's als This story has everything - UFO's, giant aliens, mass hypnosis of schoolchildren and an entire village community, mass hysteria, nuclear weapons, government and military conspiracies, strange "futuristic" silver cars, experimental aircraft, ancient legends, druids, vicious mutilations and murders, torture and slaughter of animals, a haunted hotel, secret tunnels, men in black!
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There's also lots and lots of screaming and shouting, satanic rituals involving members of the local Rotary Club and much, much more! By the end, I loathed the main character Robert Wilding and his weird and wacky grandfather, Randall Llewellyn Pritchard, religious freak and keeper of secrets, including the facts about the death of Wilding's parents's during The Great Flood in the Welsh coastal village of Broad Haven.
The story is set in the 's and is partly based on fact. At that time, local schoolkids made alleged UFO sightings and the area was nicknamed "the Broad Haven Triangle" by a British tabloid newspaper. Almost a fortnight later, the same craft was claimed to have been seen by some teachers at the school and by domestic staff school dinner ladies , one of whom saw a creature make its way onto the craft.
In April of that year, the owner of the Haven Fort Hotel in Little Haven claimed to have seen an 'upside-down saucer' on 19 April in a neighbouring field along with two humanoid creatures. Neil Spring uses this and various other "facts" to conjure up a stew containing all the ingredients I mentioned in the 1st paragraph of this review.
Reading this book was exhausting. All the character kept secrets from one another at various times in the story and scores of pages involve the half dozen or so main characters arguing and shouting with each other. One of them is a priest, who may or may not be a Soviet spy, or a satanist - or both! By the final chapter, I really didn't care what happened; I just wanted my ordeal to be over.
At times, I lost the will to live but battled on to the bitter end. Wilding says it was his duty to expose the truth behind "The Happenings". I wish he hadn't bothered! As a result, I've given this book one of the few 1 star reviews I've ever given on goodreads. Sep 26, Liz Barnsley rated it it was amazing Shelves: The Watchers is an utterly gripping, brilliantly imaginative and often rock on scary tale of weird and wonderful? Very clever, very readable and very intense. Superbly atmospheric, The Watchers had me sleeping with the lights on. A really really great book with hints of horror, mystery and a definitive sprinkling of suspense, the author having a real eye for his subject matter in an authentic case that obviously captured his imagination.
It certainly captured mine and with the absolute genius storytelling on display here, this is a novel that will stay with me and certainly encourages speculation and more than a few shivers in the soul. Aug 21, Kimberly rated it it was ok Shelves: This wouldn't have necessarily have been a bad thing, but it seemed overly repetitious, and yet I NEVER got a real feel for Robert Wilding the main character , as a person including his physical looks. The parts that were mentioned, were done so nearly every other page: After that, I felt it was "starting" to get a little better.
At around pages, the action shifted to Robert's childhood town of Broad Haven. Sent to unearth how it is that his Grandfather knows in advance about the "happenings" there, he reluctantly goes, his mental conversations with himself complaining about the same things all the while. For a while, the events do seem to have more "focus" and cohesion to them, but then or so pages later, everything starts getting thrown in together into one big mix-up as though the author wasn't sure which direction he wanted the novel to take. The ending, was disappointing, especially in consideration that it "could" have ended on a better note.
Overall, this book was just not f0r me, but as I've seen many positive reviews for it as well, your mileage may vary. Sep 24, Ginger Nuts rated it it was amazing. One of the great things about the horror genre is its blatant refusal to be pigeonholed by the restraints of genre categorisation. From the quiet horror of MR James, via the supernatural crime of John Connolly all the way up to the extreme horror of the bizzarro crowd, it is a genre that welcomes all and has something for everyone. In the Welsh costal village was the epicentre of a series of unexplained event One of the great things about the horror genre is its blatant refusal to be pigeonholed by the restraints of genre categorisation.
In the Welsh costal village was the epicentre of a series of unexplained events involving close encounters and mysterious lights in the sky. While it never reached the same heights of public interest as its more exotic cousin, the events of that year was enough to capture the imagination of Neil Spring, who is quickly becoming a major force in neo-British Gothic horror. Following on from his debut novel The Ghost Hunters, The Watchers cements his place in the ranks of writers you should be paying attention to. The Watchers is one of those books where the more you talk about the plot the more you lessen the effect of the book, which is a shame as the plot reads like the ultimate Pertwee era Dr Who, with a unique spin on the origins of UFO's.
You have a nervous civil servants desperately trying to find out if the Truth is Out There, a tiny local village for local people, full of dark cults, dark secrets and dark times ahead. Children in peril, mutilations, Vicars with secrets, people disfigured from encounters with the UFO's and more secret background politics and double dealing from mysterious military and Governmental organisations than you can shake a stick at.
And when you throw into the mix a hero who has been emotionally and spiritually scarred from events in his childhood, and whose accounts may not be completely reliable thanks to his severe mental instabilities, you have the makings of a brilliant neo-gothic thriller. Where this book excels is in its storytelling. This may sound like an obvious point, but where some books have great characters, or a great sense of style they sometimes just lack that basic thing of telling a good story.
That's not to say that The Watchers doesn't have great characters or style, it does. It just succeeds in telling a thrilling, imaginative story that manages to cover so many bases in terms of genre, in such a way that the book never falls from being a highly enjoyable read. Despite it's somewhat large length pages , there is no sense of the author filling the narrative with padding.
He has allowed the story to unfold in such a way that the narrative is allowed to breath, and build into a believable setting, while allowing the characters to develop and grow as their story matches the narrative's flow. While the story is told from a first person perspective, and as such means that our opinions of the other characters are all subject to our narrator's version of events. It also means that we are kept in the dark as to the true nature of certain individuals.
Some you will figure out for yourselves, and some will leave you reeling in shock. Certain characters are painted early on as being villainous but will redeem themselves when their true nature is revealed in the book's captivating finale. And others who you thought were on the side of good will reveal their true nature when the overlords make their move. Spring has constructed the story in such a away that it keeps the reader's interest by the clever way in which he reveals information key to the story's development.
There are no huge info dumps that can sometimes plague books such as these.
Spring utilises a "trail of crumbs" approach, that drives the reader into reading the "just one more chapter". There are chapter cliffhangers, and chapter revelations, scattered throughout the book, but they are limited enough in their use that the book doesn't read like one of those Saturday TV serials.
The dialogue in the book is both natural and fitting for the time period, there is nothing worse when reading an historical book where the dialogue and terms used, are just not correct for the period. Spring has taken great care in ensuring that this book is authentic in its execution and sense of time and place.
The Watchers by Neil Spring
The Watchers is an enthralling book that succeeds in bringing a new twist to the UFO thriller, by combining a standard UFO thriller with a rural folk horror gothic twist Spring has created the ultimate cross over book that will appeal to fans of UFO stories, ghost stories and small town horror. The Watchers is a confident, bold and engrossing read,one that shows that Neil Spring is an author that we should all be looking out for.
Apr 02, Triduana rated it it was ok Shelves: I really enjoyed the start of this book. I don't very often read stories based on UFOs and conspiracies and the like, which is what drew me to this book. The story built up nicely, with just about the right amount of intrigue and suspense. I really liked the setting and it was described well, and the characters were interesting. However, at the point where it became less about UFOs and more about the occult and the supernatural, it began to lose its credibility.
The change seemed very sudden, an I really enjoyed the start of this book. The change seemed very sudden, and with it the story became incredibly convoluted, and I almost didn't get through the last hundred pages. One theme after another was thrown at the story, and sadly this spoilt it for me. Sep 27, Mary rated it it was amazing.
Enjoyed this book even more than his first book, The Ghost Hunters. The tale is based around events that happened in Wales during the 70's. If you're interested in the Paranormal this is a definite. It's also a spooky tale that unsettled me when I read it before bed. You know you're enjoying a book when you're exhausted but set your alarm early to finish it. Feb 21, Becky rated it it was amazing. Feb 17, Thebooktrail rated it it was amazing Shelves: Visit the real life locations featured in link: What a fascinating story and I can only hope this becomes a Visit the real life locations featured in link: I shiver as I remember my time there and also when I read this book as ….
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Or at least some of it? Are we really alone? What did those children see? A fascinating book and a really good way of visiting a remote part of Wales — I was there with the wind hitting my face as opposed to something else which drops from the sky! Neil Spring is an excellent guide to both the area and the subject which still haunts in every sense of the word.
Oct 11, Alisha Tarran rated it really liked it Shelves: This book is suitable Halloween reading what with the creepiness and everything! I read this in one go, I couldn't tear myself away, I kept reading wanting to know what would happen next, what was really going on and so on. The book is even more fascinating when it's revealed that the book is based on real events that happened in that exact area at the exact time the book is set.
Creepy to the max. The book really builds up to the finale and the big reveal. The introduction is creepy Well then.
The introduction is creepy with young Robert and his Grandfather and then before that the meeting with the Prime Minister. From there it's a gripping read, with the tension being ramped up, not to mention the feeling of unease. The writing is compelling and atmospheric.
Giving you not only a feel for the place, but the general vibe as all of the events where taking place. It's got a very heavy atmosphere that sucks you in. It's all very intense, and in between Robert doing his investigating you have the little sections that really hit you with the creepiness and wrongness of events.
You can tell something's going to happen, and these add to that feeling, giving you a sense of foreboding as you're reading. At points I was hearing Twilight Zone music!
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These little bits are extracts from a book by another character, written after everything went down. Then there's extracts from interviews with witnesses closer to the time, letters and so on. Each adding pieces of information and ramping up the tension and unease as the book speeds towards the climax and epic finale. There are many layers to the book, and it's fun trying to untangle everything. Robert clearly has some suppressed memories and he keeps getting flashes of his younger self and events that he was involved in, so you're trying to work out what happened to him and his parents.
Then you have all the UFO's and other strange sightings that he's trying to rationalise until he just can't anymore. There's plenty of conspiracy stuff going on along with general government fuss. The ending of the book I wouldn't put it past that particular prime minister either, if I'm honest. There's plenty of seemingly suspicious characters for you to scrutinise and decide whether or not they're involved in something. I will admit I was completely blind sided by the big reveal, the person behind it all and everything.