With all the coolness of the Dude (Big Lebowski), the cynicism of film-noir and its characteristically witty one-liners , Jeff Strand’s Blister is a very enjoyable read. ( )

I am sort of at a loss for words on this book especially seeing the high ratings it has received, but alas I have to give it two stars as it was nothing of what I was expecting which I will explain more about that in a bit.

A small backstory:

Jason Tray along with his friends discuss a woman that lives outside of town that is named Blister and on a dare Jason's friends tell him to go peek through the window to look at her. Jason isn't too sure about it, but finally not to be ragged on by his friends he takes a peek and what he sees is upsetting to say the least as the woman's face is deformed and burnt. Jason feels bad about what he done the next day and decides to go back to the house to apologize.

Thoughts:

From that point on in the story things branch out way beyond from what I was thinking the book would become as it more or less turned out to be romance horror. For me if I am looking to read horror then I want horror, but this story had quite a bit of romance in it as the character Jason and Blister become romantically involved which took me completely down a different road than what I was thinking. There were some horror moments but it was more a love story than an actual horror story.

Compared to a couple of other Strand books I have read this one falls way below the mark for me. But that is just my opinion as other horror fans might like that kind of book and it does seem that way with the four and five star ratings it has received, but it just wasn't for me. Giving this book two "disappointing" stars! ( )

This is such a fun, quirky and easy to read book. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just say that I highly recommend this book. I really enjoyed the wit and humor infused with the creep factor. ( )

I wonder if I'm a rare one to consider this a rather sweet, if twisted, romance novel. I mean, sure, some elements are demented like a horror novel... but for the most part, it reads like any other boy meets girl story. :)

I mean, sure, the girl has a flaw or two, but being horribly disfigured shouldn't really count as a huge flaw. We all have our faults. :)

Here's the interesting part: I actually liked the whole vibe of practically every single character not being particularly good at their jobs or lives. It was charming and a bit funny. Old papa failed at being a complete redneck, the Sherrif absolutely failed at being good at upholding the law, the cartoonist never had a good hold on understanding people or himself, and don't even let me get started on the bad guys. Totally incompetent! It was fun as hell.

So, far from being scary, as you might expect from a cover like this, we've got a very dark romantic comedy from the start, when the cartoonist scares off a bunch of asshole kids with a fake chainsaw and the kid breaks his arm trying to get away, to the end where it feels like everyone is going to let everything slide no matter how horrific it gets.

And then the very end happens.

And I'm like... WTF?

Uncool, man. Uncool.

I mean, sure, the end message was kinda or very romance-y ... in a way ... but still!!! WTF! I totally expected the other trend to continue, not get blindsided like that.

For amusement, I was going to give this a full five stars, but for that end, I'm knocking off one and I'm frowning furiously. ; ; ( )

Blister was a crazy ride, but not in the usual Jeff Strand kind of way.

I'm not going to rehash the plot, because the basics are listed in the summary for you. I will say that I enjoyed the audio of this book quite a bit. It was funny, sad, and touching all at once. At first I didn't care much for the narrator, Daniel Dorse, but as the audio progressed he grew on me.

The premise of this novel is a bit out there, and there were portions of the plot, especially toward the end of the book, that went over the top. But as long as you don't expect everything to be completely believable, I think you'll have a good time listening to this audio.

If you do decide to check it out, tell Blister I said hello!

*Please note, if you purchase the Kindle version as I did, you can add the audio for a greatly reduced price!*

You can get your audio copy here: Blister ( )