I read this book as part of our horror reading group.
This was our second group read of a book by Michaelbrent Collings.
The prologue of this story just sucks the reader right in and set the tone right from the start. This was an extremely fast paced story-the chapters at some points are only a page or a paragraph long.
The protagonist is the head psychiatrist for the Crane Institute which is a hospital/prison for the criminally insane. This Institute houses killers that are known world wide as psychos and as such, is a dangerous place to work.
The Institute is privately owned by Dr. Crane, otherwise known (in his own mind and in those of his employees ) as God. He pays well but rules with an iron fist.
And so the stage is set, it's nighttime and a dangerous storm is set to hit the grounds of the Institution. Will the guards, prisoners, and doctors survive the night? Read it and see.
It's hard to go into very much detail on this without spoilers, but I felt that a lot of the characters were not developed enough to form a clear picture of them in my mind. A few of the guards I just had pictured as Big and Bigger. There wasn't a lot of other information about them. Perhaps this was on purpose considering the course of the story-but I can't pursue that thought without spoiling anything.
There were a couple of characters that I could identify with and care about, which is why I continued reading. I had to see what would happen to them!
All in all, I think it was a good read if you're in the mood for something rather quick, imaginative and fun, without any deep meaning or morals to be learned. ( )

The Loon is the nickname for the Crane Institute, a (fictional) private prison for the criminally insane, located in Nebraska. Housing over 100 of the most violent criminals in the country, the Loon is run by Dr. Crane, a specialist in bioengineering who uses the facility as a cover for his real hobby.

The book adds a psychiatrist (who lost his son to an accident), a woman and her daughter (who are escaping from an abusive home), a skeleton security team and a major snowstorm to Dr. Crane & the Crazies, one of whom is apparently unaffected by the drugs used to keep the prisoners in check

The story is effective, there are some tense moments in the book, and author Collings proves himself to be on a par with Dean Koontz. There are some loose ends that one might find annoying, but what sci-fi horror story doesn't suffer from the same problem?

On the whole, an entertaining - if a bit long - read. ( )

My full The Loon review can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

The Loon was an exciting psychological horror with everything that you could ask for. The setting of prison for the criminally insane, aptly nicknamed "The Loon", that's far off in the country, away from anyone that will come poking around, or come to save you from a ridiculous blizzard. Characters that are extravagantly diverse, you have a normal guy showing up for his first day of work as a prison guard that is struggling with actions that killed his own son while trying to save him, a mother and daughter that have escaped and dispatched a horrible and monstrous husband and father, a guard that the narrator insists on making sound like Fat Albert, a crazy and mad scientist that just happens to be the owner and proprietor of the prison, one really scary and brutally insane prisoner, and oh yes the, for lack of a better word, creature, that happened to be the "pet" of our lovely mad scientist. Michaelbrent Collings is quite a story teller, almost too much so, I felt that there was too many descriptions of people and things, I noticed that there were a few descriptive words that he would favor over others, such as "the horror" and others. Many storylines and characters to explore and develop that I think took time away from what could have been spent generating more suspense and gut wrenching horrors. But once everything came together and the climax was reached it was like hell was let loose upon prison where only lucky and likeable characters survived.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at audiobookreviewer dot com ( )

Looking for a tense, exciting horror/thriller novel? Like elements of mad science mixed in with your thrillers? If so, Michaelbrent Collings’ THE LOON is probably exactly what you’re looking for.

Some mild plot spoilers follow.

The Crane Institute is a kind of super-max prison for the criminally insane. It’s also located in rural Montana and gets cut off from the outside world for several days by a massive blizzard. If that weren’t bad enough, the head (mad) scientist is also conducting unauthorized medical experiments that are spiraling out of control. Things, as you can imagine, rapidly go downhill from there for those unlucky enough to be trapped inside the Institute with no hope of escape until the weather clears. Paul Wiseman is chief of staff at the Crane Institute, and while he undoubtedly has a tough job, his personal life is in even worse shape as he grieves over his dead son and the dissolution of his marriage in the wake of the tragedy. Wiseman is joined by the rest of the Institute’s staff and a young mother and child in a fight for survival against a host of threats, some merely run-of-the-mill homicidal maniacs, and some much, much worse.

The pace is rapid and doesn’t let up. Chapters tend to be fairly short, with mini-cliffhangers and scene cuts commonplace as the action (and danger) shifts from one character to another. The cast of protagonists, each flawed in their own way, is relatively large, but despite this, even minor characters are well-characterized and far more than the mere caricatures one sometimes finds in horror thrillers with high death tolls. The tension builds from the start, with an especially good opening section that details Wiseman’s background and sets the stage. I absolutely won’t spoil you on who lives and who dies – I found myself surprised on this account several times – but I will say that it’s a wild rollercoaster ride that will keep you guessing until the end. There’s plenty of blood and gore for those who like that sort of thing in their horror, but I didn’t find it to be gratuitous or exploitative as those violent elements sometimes can be. You have to be willing to suspend your disbelief just a bit in terms of some of the mad science elements of the book, though that’s little different from most thrillers with a medical component.

If I have any complaints about THE LOON – and I certainly don’t have any major ones – it’s that we didn’t actually get to see much interaction between the staff and the patients (with one exception). The story could only have been stronger if, say, more of the lunatics had gotten loose and started wreaking havoc, or we had gotten to see some questionable “treatments” or therapy sessions with them before the Institute descends into total chaos, but that’s a fairly minor complaint. There are already plenty of antagonists, and the plot flows nicely as is.

Highly recommended for horror and thriller lovers. It’s fast-moving, as it has to be, and bloody and violent, but not disgustingly gory. THE LOON also includes a fun element of mad science to make this a well-developed “mad science and medical experimentation gone wrong” story. Collings knows how to write thrillers, and I’m looking forward to reading more from him.

Review copyright 2012 J. Andrew Byers ( )

A doctor who has lost his child. A woman in an abusive relationship. A man who thinks he is god. A madman who lives only to kill. These are the people who will come together and find that they are not alone. Cut off by a freak storm, they will discover the meaning of terror...in The Loon.
This is a really fast moving, action packed horror story that reads like a movie. In fact it would make a HELL of a film.
This author is now High on my list of "Must Read" author's.
Recommended to all Horror, suspense fans. ( )