Horror Aficionados discussion

This is the thread for All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By - John Farris. We'll begin Thursday, March 15th. As always, please use spoiler tags and percentage/page markers.

So far, we have:

Ken
Latasha
Lena
Mehmet
Rachel

Anyone else interested in joining?

Hello!

Thursday!

I tried this one a while back and couldn’t get into it. Count me in on this buddy read, I would like to give it another shot.

when i receive book through post i let you all know

Just got another John Harris book in my nocturnal reader box, the rage!

I read 4%, I’ve not recovered from the time change & keep falling asleep :(

just received my book from the postman, can start reading book after work tonight. Going to count down the hours....

I read this around 1980! I feel old now.

Have fun. I only remember a few parts.

I'm at 13%. There sure are a lot of names to keep straight.

Just started!

wow the start is just wham bam, straight in !!! only 40 pages in

"Nhora swayed in the tree house of my manly trunk..."
The writing could be better.

when I get home tonight I'm gonna buy the kindle version. so i will start it this weekend. for some reason my reading has been so slow lately. im still on the ritual, but almost done.

There is a reference to She, someday I’m going to have to read that influential classic.

My favorite word appears at 16%

I dreamed phantasmagorically.

just read up till page 57

(view spoiler)[Why would they sleep together, Nhora and Champ ? Just does not seem right. Is it implying she seduced him ? (hide spoiler)]

Mehmet wrote: "just read up till page 57

[spoilers removed]"

That's a very good question.

I finished Part 1 (p. 64) -

Farris' writing style is very literate. I've heard him described as Southern Gothic and I'd agree with that. It has a southern Peter Straub-kind of feel to it, which I like. The content of Part 1, however, is a head scratcher, at best.

(view spoiler)[ Basically, Champ busts his ass to make the wedding of his brother. At the wedding, his brother goes bat-shit and kills his wife and father. Hours later, Champ and his stepmother get turned on by reading Champ's diary of sexual escapades and rapes and then they sleep together. (hide spoiler)]

Now, I get that there's more to it than that, but that's the essence of it once you boil it down. I can't wait to see what Farris has in store for us in Part 2!

I’m up to part 3.

Listening to this as I read. Lol!
https://youtu.be/-KzNeM2LkqM

reading part 2 at the moment, finding it very absorbing. So much so, that my wife made me jump, when she spoke to me while reading.

Finished Part 2 -

It's got me wondering how it all ties together with Part 1. (view spoiler)[ I take it the flashes and the dead vegetation along with the voodoo talisman will all be keys to solving this F'd up Scooby Doo mystery. (hide spoiler)]

How is everyone else liking it, so far?

It’s ok, very strange. I stopped at part 4 Sunday & didn’t read any last night.

not sure how i feel yet, need to read and reflect some more

Not read Southern gothic style before, this is my first. The book is very atmospheric, has a unsettling feeling through out. The story is a bit wavy, does not flow smoothly.

No it doesn’t. It’s scattered and has a sloppy dark sexuality.

The first two parts were choppy for me. The next two felt smoother, like he hit his groove. I'm invested in the story. I want to see where all this nuttiness is leading.

I just bought the book now - sorry about the delay. I had to finish up a book that was due today at the library lol. I'm going to start this tonight, will come back after I read a little more :)

I finished part 1.

So far I'm liking it. I keep noticing weird errors/typos? in the text so that's a little strange.

but i loved how the book opened - the chapel scene was crazy. can't wait to learn wtf happened.

(view spoiler)[uh that sex scene was weird. it was pretty obvious that they were gonna hook up at some point, though. but i'm curious now what role Nhora played in what happened in the chapel,
right now I don't trust her. (hide spoiler)]

Rachel wrote: "I finished part 1.

So far I'm liking it. I keep noticing weird errors/typos? in the text so that's a little strange.

but i loved how the book opened - the chapel scene was crazy. can't wait to le..."

I have the same typos in mine. Oddly enough, typos don't make or break a book for me like some people. I get what the author is trying to say and I don't lose my mind over it. To each their own, I guess.

The chapel scene was definitely crazy. This is definitely one family with some skeletons in their closets!

Yeah, I won't let it affect me too much, I remember a really good book I read called Sineater had some typo issues but I still loved the book.

They don’t bother me either. I mess up all the time.

Finished this last night and the story is really sticking with me. This is my first Farris read and his writing style is very vibrant and almost poetic in some places. The ending felt a little rushed, but still a very good story. I'm looking forward to what all of you think about and discussing more in detail.

Jackson's extreme and paralyzingly phobia of snakes is something I can't imagine. Does anyone else have a severe phobia that borderline incapacitates you?

I’m around 60%. I’ll read more soon but I’m getting sleepy and cNt right now. I’m afraid of spiders. I won’t get anywhere near them so maybe? I feel that if I was ever to bitten by one I’d go insane. I just cant imagine how I would deal with it. I think it would be very bad. No, I’m not joking.

I'm at 28%. Part 2 was very interesting. Can't wait to see how it all ties together. hmm, there is a 2 year gap in btwn parts 1-2 and 3. Part 1 and 2 take place in 1942, and part is in 1944. i like it when books (and movies too) jump around because for me it heightens the intrigue factor. it makes me excited for everything to fall into place.

Rachel wrote: "I'm at 28%. Part 2 was very interesting. Can't wait to see how it all ties together. hmm, there is a 2 year gap in btwn parts 1-2 and 3. Part 1 and 2 take place in 1942, and part is in 1944. i like..."

I also like my horror thats set in the past. Robert McCammon once said that it's getting harder as an author to scare anyone with a modern setting because with technology, no one is ever isolated. You can get ahold of anyone 3 different ways to Sunday in today's world, but in the 1940s, hell telephones were even sketchy.

Does fear of heights count. I freeze and get cold sweat when i go high. Being on air trolleys and rollar costers are so difficult for me.
I agree Ken horror set in the past can be very good. Some horror films try to deal with the issue of mobiles, like remake of Hills have eyes where they have no reception. But the fear of proper isolation in the original was more powerful.

Robert McCammon recently spoke about that very thing. He said that horror was much harder to make realistic with arrival of the cell phone. It's hard to isolate characters when everyone around you is connected to the world by six different devices and cell phone signals blanket the globe.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayida...

Turns out she’s a real loa.

I’m at 87% and ready for the book to end. It’s not as good as I hoped it would be. I should be loving it but it’s just not clicking with me.

Yeah, it’s been a reluctant read for me.

Cellphones huh....

"I keep hearing voices in my cell phone, and they're telling me to do terrible things ... just terrible things ... but they seem so right."

I don't know. Farris must've clicked all the right notes with me on this one. I really liked it and thought it had a similar feel to Straub's work. I liked all the layers in his writing and how, at times, it seemed almost poetic. I did think the ending felt rushed and would've preferred something not so fragmented.

I didn’t think it was rushed, I was just ready to get it over with. I don’t think I’ve read much of Straub’s work. Maybe 1 or 2.

I'm still here, still reading - at 78% mark now.

(view spoiler)[ugh, I really don't want him to go onto this boat. this scene is crazy suspenseful! (hide spoiler)]

FINISHED!

Wow @ that ending!!!

(view spoiler)[I definitely did not trust Nhora one bit throughout the story, so I'm feeling smug that I was right lol, but at the end I did feel a bit bad for her. Also, that last line was chilling. (hide spoiler)]

Rachel wrote: "FINISHED!

Wow @ that ending!!!

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I had a similar feeling about her. Stupid guys. Always falling for the wrong woman ;-) (hide spoiler)]

Rachel wrote: "I'm still here, still reading - at 78% mark now.

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I loved the image of that boat. I wish more of the story could've taken place on it. What a great setting (hide spoiler)]