While some sharks do sometimes eat seaweed, they also eat meat, so the fact that story features a shark that eats seaweed and not meat is a bit strange. The artwork was nice

THE HUNGRY ONES picks up soon after the events that tortured the little family in THE NIGHTMARE ROOM and adds a new setting and several new characters. I read the Nightmare Room in July 2018 so it’s been awhile and my memories are a tad bit fuzzy. I was able to follow along but wish I had read them back to back so things would’ve been fresh in my head.

Jessie, recovering from a breakup with her fiancé – he with the roving penis, as well as a traumatic injury, decides to start anew and purchases Motel Hell! I’m only sort of kidding. There aren’t any people being turned into sausages here (damn because that fiance might've deserved it) but she has purchased a rundown motel where a crazed man shot down several people two years prior. Now I want to be the next Norma Bates as much as the next slightly unhinged person, but I think even I might think twice about this decision!

The motel is not quite open yet but Jessie has a few guests needing a place to rest their weary heads including the Larson family from the previous book who are on the run after their last ordeal. But fleeing the things that haunt them isn’t as simple as hopping in a car and driving away. The arrival of people seems to awaken something within the walls of the motel and the Larson boy, who has already endured so much, now has to battle supernatural forces. Poor kiddo. I really felt for him and his parents. I also enjoyed meeting Jessie who is a resilient, strong and decent person. I know she’s not real but if she were she would be someone I’d like on my side.

Though this is a different book than The Nightmare Room, which was a slow build of creeping dread, it had enough chills to keep me happy and I enjoyed revisiting the characters and meeting the new ones. If you’re an action fan and love a story that moves, you’re going to find a lot to like here. There’s also some “eww” inducing body horror that involves a sliver that just won’t leave and that kind of stuff always makes me cringe also makes me very happy.

The Hungry Ones is a strong entry in The Messy Man series that builds up its world and keeps things fresh. Go grab yourself a large mug of whatever, a comfy blanket and settle in with both books. I’m sure you deserve it!

Source: Received for review consideration

I'm going to set this aside for now. 

I'm just not feeling the book right now and don't want to do DuMaurier a disservice by forcing myself to read on. If anything, the book - at the moment - reminds me of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, and that is never a good thing for this reader.

One of the most colorful baby book. Highly recommended for very young children or anyone like me who is scare of bugs and has to read book to fulfill this square. 

I have selected another book for this square but has no time to read it yet. 

So... read this for Creepy Crawlies square. Look at the book list and found this one.  

Lucky me. 

So this to me is not a typical Daphne du Maurier novel. There are hints of some Gothic elements here and there with a curse being flung about. But other than that, du Maurier just follows along following five generations of the Brodrick family from 1820 to 1920 following five of the male characters from the Brodrick family. I have to say that from beginning to end the tale of "Hungry Hill" is going to grab you. And you start to wonder if a curse is really what is affecting certain members of the family or is it simply fate? I loved the writing, the character development, the setting, and ultimately the ending. It seems that in the end, the last male surviving member of that family has changed his family's fate.

"Hungry Hill" starts off following a man that is named Cooper John (due to the cooper mine he opens up on Hungry Hill). Cooper John is a widower with two sons (Henry and John) and three daughters. Cooper John is focused on enlarging his family's castle called Clonmere and having enough money left to take care of his children's children. I don't think that Cooper John was a bad man, but he is very black and white on things and he loves his children though he is often left confused and frustrated with his second eldest son, also named John. From there, du Maurier follows the rest of the family line and the book is broken up into parts. From Cooper John we follow Greyhound John, Wild Johnnie, Henry, Hal, and finally we go into the last book called The Inheritance.

I have to say that all of the sections were fascinating. I don't think you will come away liking most of the people in this book, but you will love reading about them. I think my favorite book though had to be the one with Henry. My least favorite (as much as one was my least favorite) was the one with Hal. I don't want to get into talking too much and spoiling things, but you have to wonder at times if only so and so happened this may have meant a different fate for the characters that follow. Except for the character of Greyhound John, I don't think that any in the Brodrick family loved the land truly. And even then with him, he lost interest in it as soon as he finally gets the woman he has desired. 

The Donovan family is another big piece of this book and we find out at the beginning of the book, Cooper John's grandfather was shot in the back by a Donovan. And the Donovan's of the present seem focused on ruining Cooper John and his family's fortune. There seems to be parts superstition and just plain rage towards the Brodrick's and I wonder if du Maurier contemplated showing their side of the story at all. 

The writing was so good. I honestly felt sad when I got to the end. I would have loved to read on about this family past the 1920s. The flow was great too. From book to book it makes sense who we follow and why and I always loved books where I can follow characters through decades.

The setting of this book is Ireland in the late 1800s and the first World War. I have to say that it read as different to me than what I expected. I don't know what I thought about Ireland back then, but I honestly didn't know anything about cooper mines existing there. 

The ending of the book though gives a glimmer that a new change is finally coming to the Brodrick clan and with that the end of the supposed curse.