Synopsis:

“He understood why she did it. She had lost her own baby – one conceived by the unwanted advances of a sexual predator – and hated thinking of them out there in the cemetery, alone and cold. She had to bring them into the warm. She had to give them the life they’d otherwise never live. It was her mission. But with each new doll brought home, her yearning for a living child of her own continued to grow. Yes, he knew why she did it but – even so – he wasn’t able to stand by her and he knew she was going to get a lot worse before she got better. But how do you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped? And how do you turn your back on your own sister?”

 

IDK what stopped me from reading this title earlier, (published 02.02.16), but I’m happy that I finally did! DOLLS feels like one of Matt Shaw‘s older titles – it’s not a black cover, not an extreme extreme horror, and the core story totally sucked me in. I was 100% invested right from Jump Street. Now, as embarrassing as this might be, I gotta tell ya… I didn’t see the ‘oh holy shit’ moment until about 5 words before it was revealed to us! I love that Matt can still do that after all these years, and all these books.

☆☆☆☆☆ /☆☆☆☆☆
Another 5 Stars For THE Matt Shaw

Stop by BBB to see the full review, join the DOLLS book discussion, AND take the Polldaddy Poll re: your favorite Matt Shaw sub-genre at the end of the review!

 

 

 

DOLLS on Amazon
Matt Shaw‘s Amazon Author Page
DOLLS on Goodreads
Matt Shaw on Goodreads
The Sick B*stards Society
Matt Shaw‘s Official Webpage
Matt Shaw on Facebook
@The_Matt_Shaw on Twitter

DOLLS Review/Discussion on BBB

Synopsis:

“He understood why she did it. She had lost her own baby – one conceived by the unwanted advances of a sexual predator – and hated thinking of them out there in the cemetery, alone and cold. She had to bring them into the warm. She had to give them the life they’d otherwise never live. It was her mission. But with each new doll brought home, her yearning for a living child of her own continued to grow. Yes, he knew why she did it but – even so – he wasn’t able to stand by her and he knew she was going to get a lot worse before she got better. But how do you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped? And how do you turn your back on your own sister?”

 

IDK what stopped me from reading this title earlier, (published 02.02.16), but I’m happy that I finally did! DOLLS feels like one of Matt Shaw‘s older titles – it’s not a black cover, not an extreme extreme horror, and the core story totally sucked me in. I was 100% invested right from Jump Street. Now, as embarrassing as this might be, I gotta tell ya… I didn’t see the ‘oh holy shit’ moment until about 5 words before it was revealed to us! I love that Matt can still do that after all these years, and all these books.

☆☆☆☆☆ /☆☆☆☆☆
Another 5 Stars For THE Matt Shaw

Stop by BBB to see the full review, join the DOLLS book discussion, AND take the Polldaddy Poll re: your favorite Matt Shaw sub-genre at the end of the review!

 

 

 

DOLLS on Amazon
Matt Shaw‘s Amazon Author Page
DOLLS on Goodreads
Matt Shaw on Goodreads
The Sick B*stards Society
Matt Shaw‘s Official Webpage
Matt Shaw on Facebook
@The_Matt_Shaw on Twitter

DOLLS Review/Discussion on BBB

I love a good nonfiction book. And having grown up in a household that only bought organic foods, recycled everything, refused to have a lawn, and had one parent deep in the trenches at EPA, I was excited to read Kenneth Eade’s timely book about the impending disaster regarding the massive decline in bee population during recent years. Unfortunately, the book fell a little flat, alternating between droning out long passages of facts in the style of my 6th grade social studies textbook, and spending huge portions (Chapters 5-8) on tangents about GMOs.

The information is well researched; over twenty pages of references are included at the end, but at least for me, I learned nothing new. In fact, I found the ‘what you can do’ section rather weak- there was no mention of community endeavors (instead of just individual), or the extremely important act of not disturbing a hive. At times, the text felt like a speech off a soapbox. ‘Dirty business as usual’ in Washington, ‘too big to fail’ companies buying out conservation efforts, and the need for GMO labeling (which I agree with, but it felt heavy-handed and off topic).

Now, I’m not defending EPA practices, before anyone jumps there–there are a great deal of things that have made me (and the parent that works there) heartily disillusioned, but I mentioned it so readers can know I am informed. I think the text could have used with citing their sources more directly, either through footnotes, or saying, instead of ‘a study found’, saying ‘A United Nations study found…’ (which is something I researched when I wanted to fact-check the document). Those small things would have lent a lot more credibility to the arguments as I was reading them. I’m not sure about the intended audience; the grossly uninformed will probably find this very enlightening, but as I’ve been following this debate for several years, it felt very one-sided, and it seemed to only scratch the tip of the iceberg for what it could have been. This is a nonfiction book. Where are your interviews? Where are your credentials? When I read nonfiction of this nature, I expect new things to be said, new theories to be expounded, or critical analysis of the debate to be in the forefront. In this regard, the book didn’t deliver. Adding in the long ramble in the middle section, and a few formatting aesthetic concerns, I can only give this one a three.