Cover Image: Bad Man

Bad Man

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Member Reviews

2.5 stars.
I was really intrigued by the blurb for this story however, the story itself was really underwhelming. Ben is living with the guilt of losing his little brother while at the grocery store. He can't help but feel like it's his fault. He is desperately searching for answers, so he gets job at the store where the abduction took place. This is where things should have picked up but it just dragged. There was no intense climax or hook. The rest of story just kinda took place in slow motion. Also the ending for me was very unsatisfying after reading such a sluggish story line.

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Bad Man is quite a page turner and introduced me to a new author I will keep an eye on for future books! The pace was fast and the story intricate, even if the ending wasn't totally satisfying. I am a character driven reader, and I felt this was the author's strongest point, creating fleshed out, 'real' characters. Recommended!

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5 Well-Earned Stars
Review by Angelique
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog

Nothing moved.
But nothing felt still.

Terrifying, dark and fearful things come in all shapes and sizes and bad things tend to happen when we least expect them to. You’ll find questions, answers and more questions in Dathan Auerbach’s latest novel, Bad Man.

Finding yourself in a small Floridian town where the setting is so distinctively well done that you can feel the heat and sweat on your arms as you walk through each scenario. Meeting first and foremost the two characters which make the story, Ben and Eric, Ben being the older brother and Eric being the very young brother. On a trip to the local supermarket, and in a split second of moving his eyes from his brother, Ben is left with more than just an empty bathroom, he is left with a hole in his heart and a piece of his life missing.

The characters from the balding, crude supermarket owner to Ben’s stepmother who still dreams of her missing baby boy makes you feel like you know these people. You feel what they feel and you wish to help make it better but as another twist or detail gets added you find yourself helpless but intrigued to continue even as the details gets more eerie.

That fire, Ben knew now, had been hope.

Following Ben through his struggle and pain and never ending hope, from the moment of Eric’s first appearance to the search and places where he could be, up to the end, is emotional. Not just for the loss of his little brother but maybe at times the loss of his sanity.

It isn’t always easy reading a book that identifies with so many things happening in real life, but it’s worth it.

Keep reading, it’s hard not to, until you find what you are looking for.

**ARC provided for honest review**

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I just couldn't find the rhythm with this one... I wasn't familiar with the author, like so many other reviewers apparently were - I requested this on the basis of the cover and description alone. I expected to fall right into the story - how could you now, with a premise and blurb like that?? - but somehow it never resonated with me and I just couldn't find myself all that concerned with what happened and why. The unreliable narrator here is unusually so - his voice faltered a lot for me, which I suppose was the point, but it meant that I just couldn't get into his shoes enough to get pulled into things as I wanted to. Disappointing, but perhaps Auerbach is just not the author for me... There's nothing overtly wrong here - and a lot that's right - I just didn't feel it.

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I'm giving this book four stars . I would have given it five, but I didn't like the ending it somehow felt incomplete. The characters were well written and I felt like I really knew them all. The authors description of everything made me feel like I was there. Very well written!

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Overall I’m a little let down. I absolutely loved Penpal and this feels like a very slow sort of copy. I wanted so bad to fall deeply into this story and yet found myself not caring what happened to the little brother and who actually took him.

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A very dark and weird story about a young boy who goes missing and for 5 years his older brother doesn’t stop looking for him only to go missing too.

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My video review will be live here: https://youtu.be/8UitNPVS3to on August 3, 2018 at 3pm eastern time.

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4.5 stars

This review is based on an ARC of Bad Man which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (Doubleday).

Bad Man was exhilarating! I finished this book in a little under two days--I just could not put it down! From the very first pages I was hooked, pulled in face-first into this swampy Floridian suburb setting. The familiarity of the scenery and the plot is half of what makes Bad Man so eerie.

Auerbach's writing is so fluent and gripping; there is voice so strong that you believe Ben is a real man. It feels like the author is pummeling you with staccato keystrokes of tension and intrigue: Bap bap bap! so many layers of mystery, drama, hints and clues, leaving you ravenous for that finale and the closure that you hope is coming. Auerbach's flawless use of an unreliable narrator adds tremendously to the tension of Bad Man.

Personally, I really loved the ending. Coming up on the last few chapters I was so riled up I was clutching at my kindle and literally biting my nails. I always hope for a story to conclude how it leads you to believe it will, but I am such a sucker for unhappy endings as well. Without spoiling anything, Bad Man gave me everything I desired in an absolutely perfect ending--it couldn't have been better!

Aside from one chapter around 40% in I thoroughly relished in reading Bad Man. If thrillers were my favorite genre I would be crazy for this novel. I definitely recommend this one!

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After reading Auerbach's "Penpal," I knew I had to read this book. Auerbach manages to create such a creepy ambiance in his books that is unrivaled. This author is impressive and one to watch. I'm very surprised that he is not more popular. For me, he rivals many of the popular horror and thriller writers of now.

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"Somewhere in the distance, lightning lit the sky on fire, and it screamed in pain."

Bad Man will be published on August 7 and is available for pre-order now.
It is told from the point of view of Ben, a young man who lost his little brother 5 years ago and never forgave himself and never gave up searching. For some reason the police don't seem to care and his step mother is lost in her own world, still buying presents and holding birthday celebrations for her little boy who never came home. Ben's father doesn't want him working in the store where little Eric disappeared but he sure doesn't mind Ben bringing home a paycheck. His boss is a jerk and the other employees are a bit on the suspicious side.
This was an incredible read. Bad Man has more layers than an onion, each one deeper and darker than the one that came before. A heavy pervasive creeping dread settled in my stomach with the turn of each page.
5 stars

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Bad Man, the new novel by Dathan Auerbach, was one of my more anticipated reads of the year — despite my never having read this author’s previous work (though I will change that!). I was impressed by this taut, psychologically involving tale — one sure to please fans of dark and suspenseful fiction. While I felt the ending was maybe a little rushed, I dug the rest. Highly recommended!

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This one took me quite sometime to finish. I'd pick it up, put it down, pick it up, put it down. I kept coming back to it, because I wanted to know what happened, but I just couldn't stay interested in it enough to get through large chunks. The writing is solid, and the premise is great, I just wasn't feeling it.

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Ben lost his brother Eric many years ago and is still looking for him. As an adult, he takes a job at the same place he lost him. He begins to try to piece things together.
This was an interesting idea. People can spend years of their lives wondering what would have happened if they just didn't look away. An engrossing read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC which I received in exchange for an honest review.

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I was so stoked when I was approved to read an advanced copy of Dathan Auerbach's upcoming sophomore novel Bad Man. I devoured Penpal in a day, and it's stuck with me ever since. This one is in the same general neighborhood but doesn't leave as strong an impression. Don't get me wrong, I really dig this and I'll probably buy a copy. It had all the same creepy nuances that reminded me of Dathan's past with creepypasta. But there were some things that didn't flow well, like how often he used U.S. Southern dialect in dialogue. I see he's from the South (as am I), but it wasn't very consistent. Hopefully that gets fixed before official publication. Overall, the horror and suspense were great. I wish that there had been a little less mundane moments (and a few less references to the protagonist's obesity) and a little more explanation in the ending. It made sense well enough, but I wish that there had been a little more to the ending than was offered. I liked it, but it was almost lackluster.

To end on a good note, I think he crafted a very interesting portrayal of loss and grief from multiple perspectives. The protagonist's experience with these things and the way he processed it over time was astounding and nerve-wracking to the point where the reader will begin to question the reliability of him as a narrator. This is probably the shining glory of this novel, and it is inextricably linked to the suspense and inevitable horror of the novel.

Still obviously a huge fan of Dathan Auerbach and 1000Vultures. Can't wait to hear more about the Penpal movie and keep up with Auerbach's career as a horror author. I both wish he was more renowned because he deserves it but love that his work feels like a secret.

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Filled with a growing sense of paranoia and tension, Bad Man is a horror book worth reading. It shares a very similar tone to Gillian Flynn's novels. You follow the slow-paced discoveries leading the main characters towards a harrowing conclusion.

While the underlying story is that of a missing boy, the story really focuses on his older brother Ben. They were both just kids when on a trip to the grocery store, Ben turned away for just a second and his brother disappeared. Now, years later, Ben is dealing with his sense of guilt and shame for what happened while living in a fractured home. With few job opportunities, Ben is forced to go back to the scene of the crime and get a job as a stock boy at that very same store.

Missing person flyers start appearing and disappearing where they shouldn't. Ben finds remanents of his brother he thought were long gone. Someone at the store may be responsible for the disappearance of Eric, but who? And what exactly happened all those years ago?

Auerbach focuses much less on the immediate aftermath of the missing child but rather the emotional strain that it causes years later. He filled the world with a cast of characters that were well written and flushed out creating a place that felt timeless. Ben's struggle to deal with his parents and society leaves him an outcast and gives us an unreliable narrator that equally tugs at your heart and leaves you suspicious.

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A promising debut, with a style reminiscent of Stephen King, but I found the story very confusing. Might be better to read as a hard copy with chapter heads than an arc ebook.

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Thanks to NetGalley, Dathan Auerbach and Doubleday for providing me with an advanced ecopy of Bad Man in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about Ben, a teen whose three-year-old brother, Eric, goes missing from a grocery store while under Ben's care. Ben spends the next five years trying to find him and ends up working at the same store where his brother disappeared.

Bad Man is unique for its array or creepy, fascinating characters and atmosphere. While the novel is billed as a horror, I do think someone looking for a traditional horror novel might be disappointed. There is not a ton of gore or supernatural monsters. In Bad Man, most of the horror is based on unseen things and inferred terror. (If I were comparing this book to popular "horror" movies, I would say Bad Man is more like Alien than The Shining.)
Each character, no matter how much page time he/she got, made me want to know more about them. They were each so unique that despite the rather high volume of secondary characters, upon completing the novel, I can remember enough about each of them to tell you about them. Marty (of course), the coworker with a heart-of-gold (or is it?), Frank, the temperamental coworker you can't help but love (or is he hiding nefarious motives?), Beverley, the crotchety elderly coworker with the soft center (or is she faking it?), Clint, Ben and Eric's kind father who is doing his best to hold what is left of his family together (unless...?) and Diedre, the grieving mother of the missing boy whose desolation has overwrought her mind entirely (or is that regret over something else?), Dan, the obnoxious store manager who reigns over his employees with contempt (But is there more to him than that?), and Reggie, Frank's dad who seems to be hiding something about his past that may be relevant to Eric's disappearance. There are so many more, some who don't even have names. The point is, this book is FULL of characters who will propel the story forward.

I waffled a bit on how to rate Bad Man. On one hand, I am the kind of gal who demands my endings be MOSTLY unambiguous. The ending to Bad Man left too much unanswered for my usual taste. However, there was just enough information given that I feel as a reader I am able to fill in the blanks well enough without feeling like the author suckered me. Combine that with the wildly eclectic group of characters, and eerie ambiance, I was hooked and finished the book satisfied. I now plan to go pick up Pen Pal as I think Auerbach is a very fresh voice on the fictional scene!

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I think that in reading Penpal only recently and without reading the reviews first, I was armed to more thoroughly enjoy the writing style of Dathan Auerbach. To trust his style. To appreciate his presentation. And as much as I immersed myself in the first book, I found that Bad Man was even more engrossing. I really can't describe the style. It's not gruesome. It's not horrendous, but like Penpal, there is a momentary terror that creeps into the reading experience and combined with the enviable ability to create such a driven, innocent protagonist is beyond any fair description that I can offer. As an author, I'm jealous. As a reader, I am grateful.

Ben, the main character, is thrown into his circumstances and his personality drives the narrative. His short-comings are his strength. The first chapter is so craftily placed, that it drives the interpretation of all but the very end of the book. This is superb planning. Everything is obviously carefully crafted and made to almost feel free-form and flowing, like life often is, from the reader's perspective. It makes sense.

My only complaint is how in at least four places the story shifts from one location to an entirely different location without a break. You're finishing a sentence in a given place and the very next sentence, across town or in a completely different scene. No rest and no break. I was a little annoyed to have to reread and figure out if I'd missed something. But no, it's part of the presentation. Maybe there's a writing technique that I'm missing, but I found it disjointed. Just a few places. But enough to make me lose my rhythm. But that's it. That's all the negative that I have.

I would recommend this, of course, to fans of Penpal. But I would recommend this to all readers who enjoy a driven character, immersed in a world beyond his understanding, enmeshed in a mystery that is all to compelling. I enjoyed every minute.

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Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for an advance e-copy of this book. This is a book that I’ll be thinking about for days, if not weeks. Dathan Auerbach does a great job writing a story that is not only suspenseful and chilling, but also makes the reader feel empathy for the relatable characters. The very beginning of this novel grabbed my attention, and while there was a slight lull in the action after that, it really picked up once I was about 1/3 of the way through. From that point on, I couldn’t put it down. For me, the climax of the story, as well as the ending, were not what I expected; it was not a predictable conclusion. I thought the ending was fitting, and loved how it tied everything together. I enjoyed Penpal, but for me, Bad Man is even better. I’ll happily read anything else that Auerbach has to offer.

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