Originally published in 2014, Think Yourself Lucky is not quite vintage Campbell but manages to be quietly unsettling in a way fans of his work will be familiar with, with a sense of weirdness that’s very much his.

Did not finish this book so I don't feel like I can leave a reliable review. Thank you for sending it, though. Rating it "three stars" because I had to rate it.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Flame Tree Press and the author, Ramsey Campbell for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Think Yourself Lucky in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I love reading horror novels, and I am a fan of Ramsey Campbell. Usually, these two go hand in hand.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this offering. I really struggled to read this book.

Ramsey Campbell is a legend. He has been writing horror novels for decades, and there are only a handful of horror writers with names more recognizable than his. I have read a few of his books as a teenager, so I was happy to get a chance to read "Think Yourself Lucky". The story revolves around David, a person working in a travel agency, whom everyone tries to convince is a writer. He has an idea for a project called, "Better Out Than In," but when David looks up this title on the internet, he finds a blog with the same name, a blog of stories involving the untimely "accidents" of people with whom he has had angry encounters or people he genuinely dislikes. Most of the novel is him trying to figure out what is going on, why this person is writing these posts with so much insight into his psyche, and trying to keep the subjects of the new posts safe. This is an interesting enough concept, but the novel actually is difficult and uninteresting.

Campbell has written a novel that is convoluted, with characters that seem to have more impact of David than is given, and a plot that moves wily nilly without much aim toward get to the end. It took me a long time to get through this novel, and for the first quarter, I did not understand what was even happening. The structure is off-putting as well. The chapters move between third and first person, which is fine once I got the hang of what was going on with them, but I found it odd that the first person chapters are blog posts, but these posts might run two or three chapters in a row, instead of just having solid marking between a blog post and the story. Maybe if instead of just giving chapter markers, he titled the blog posts with real titles to differentiate the difference, it would have been much easier for me to understand what is going on. As it is, the plot does not seem bad, but the execution is very poor. I would skip this one.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This paranoid techno thriller is an interesting reading experience that somewhat does not quite hold together for me. With characters that are hard to be invested in against a plot device that has interesting framework that doesn’t always pay off.

Ramsey Campbell is a writer that is highly praised and he has a substantial body of work that far passes a lot of author’s work. He is consistent and has an incredible talent of writing interesting characters with above average plotting to keep the reader highly involved. He is an extremely talented author and I have to say this is the first time that he has not hit it out of the park for me which it may have more to do with my level of interest.

The plot is very well thought out but the pacing and character interactions seems to be a little forced and not very natural. The main character was a bit difficult to be able to come to terms with. For me there seemed to be a lack of empathy.

Overall, this is not a horrible book but it failed to tick the boxes for me with an excellent plot and characters that are below average, it felt that maybe with more likable characters and realistic or naturalistic dialogue, this would be surefire winner for me. Interesting, thought provoking but needs better execution.

Protagonist is a nebbish who is constantly put-upon by most people he knows and/or interacts with. Fantastic accounts of the vicious deaths of people resembling his tormenters start showing up on a blog, and he starts to worry that he might be somehow responsible. Every person in the book communicated in the same passive-aggressive, “what did you think I meant, then?” repetitive style. Not for me.

It's great to have this tale of technology, paranoia and mental disintegration available digitally; I hope it gets the wide readership it deserves.

I have loved Ramsey Campbell's books for years. This book is no exception. The intensiveness in his books are always welcome when I want to stay awake all night.

I can't say that I enjoyed this book. I have read numerous Ramsey Campbell books in the past and enjoyed them. Unfortunately I can't say that about this one.

I am a quick reader—within the last two days I read a novel of 222 pages and a non-fiction book about copyediting (somewhere around 300 pages)—so, when I say that I only got to about the halfway point of this 236 page novel in five days, that is an indication of something unusual about this book.

As may be obvious from the above paragraph, I love to read; it is one of my favorite pastimes and I frequently spend at least an hour or so daily reading. I share this information because I found myself actively avoiding reading during the time I was trying to read this book. Not only is that why I spent so long on this book, but also why I didn’t finish it. It simply took the joy out of one of my favorite activities, and I wasn’t willing to let it impact my life for any longer.

This was a huge disappointment, as well-written horror books are one of my favorite things, and Ramsey Campbell has provided me with much reading pleasure in the past. But this book was incomprehensible to me. The POV switches between a man who works in a travel agency and an entity who seems to/may be Satan. It seems likely that the reader will discover that the two characters are connected at some point through the book (or maybe the connection is already clear by the halfway point), but as I said, I found the narrative flow of the novel baffling, found the experience and inner voice of the travel agent both boring and irritating somehow, and the sections with Satan were simply repugnant.

The only reason I gave this book a second star is because the writing was wel-done, and so it stood a little way above the books that I might give a single star rating. Needless to say, I don’t recommend this book at all.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher and NetGalley. Thanks.

Thank yourself lucky is a mean-spirited horror novel. The plot was interesting in the book was well written. This by far was not one of my favorite Ramsey Campbell book's.

Review of THINK YOURSELF LUCKY by Ramsey Campbell

I think Ramsey Campbell is a genius. Not only a Grand Master of Horror and awarded the World Fantasy Award, the August Derleth Award, and many others, he is the only author I've read who manages to personify the Inanimate and invest it with life, emotions, thoughts--and make the reader believe. With any of his works, there is no suspension of disbelief needed; the reader believes, and believes innately, and continues to believe even after the last page is turned.

THINK YOURSELF LUCKY, his newest novel (November 2018 release), focuses on an unassuming young man in Liverpool, David Botham, the adult offspring of two very dedicated local social workers. David works in a travel agency, which really doesn't elicit either his passion nor his intellectual ability, and is in a relationship with a chef. His former girlfriend unfortunately is his usually critical work supervisor.

David, he will tell one and all, is NOT a writer. Not at all. But he is also unassuming and quite a bit a people-pleaser. Roped in unwillingly and unwittingly to a local writers' group, he firmly insists "I am not a writer." But when pressed by a published author, he tosses out a title ("Better Out Than In") and then rushes away. Later, the bookstore owner (odd man) who hosts the group tells David, "Someone's using your title." True enough, there's a new Blog with that title, and it's a scary one: all about how the narrator deals with people who annoy him (which are many in number). Soon the events (actual and in thought) reach closer and closer to David, until a watershed climax.

You won't be able to set this book down. It's a compelling, ultimately nightmarish, read about a man's control of his own mind and his own life.

Ramsey Campbell really seems to have gone off the boil in recent with some very mediocre novels and this will do his reputation no good at all. There just was not enough story or plot for a novel and overall I just found the voice of the travel agent to be annoying, frustrating and grating. Not enjoying his job, he feels someone is copying or stalking him online as stuff he is interested in appears on a blog. Sadly I failed to finish the book.

Think Yourself Lucky is not this famed author’s best work.

Co-workers, Emily, Helen, Bill, Andrea and David work in a travel agency. David is a grouch who complains about everything—his job, his girlfriend and his life. Meanwhile, an unnamed narrator is committing horrendous murders. When David discovers a blog using his fantasy blog name talking about the murders, he is concerned. The victims are people at which he was recently angry. Is someone stalking him or is he committing the murders in some sort of fugue state?

The plot of Think Yourself Lucky sounds great but the execution is flawed. I had to force myself to read it because it was so mean-spirited. I loved reading Ramsey Campbell in the 1980s. He was in a close race for perfect horror writer with Stephen King and Dean Koontz. However, please don’t judge his abilities by Think Yourself Lucky. This reads like one of the “drawer books”—books that didn’t quite make the cut for publication in the writer’s heyday but are worth a few bucks on the author’s name alone at the end of his career. Please read Cold Print or Dark Companions or any of the author’s 80s book rather than this one. 1 star.

Thanks to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Think Yourself Lucky by Ramsey Campbell is a horror novel.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Flame Tree Press, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My Synopsis:
David Botham is working for a travel agency run by his ex-girlfriend Andrea. The atmosphere there is poor, as Andrea keeps threatening people will be fired if things don’t improve, and the staff is overly involved in everyone’s business.   David’s new girlfriend Stephanie is a cook with a rather rough boss, and she is looking for a new job.

David is not a writer. Has no intention of being a writer. Insists he is not a writer – again and again. When a blog appears using a title that David had thought of, he doesn’t think much about it.  Until he reads the posts.  The rants that the author of that blog writes scare David.  He becomes a bit paranoid. The blogger is writing about events surrounding David. Events where people die - violently. David knows these people, and they are dying in a manner that the blogger knows, maybe first-hand.

The blog is written by somebody called Lucky Newless. David had an imaginary friend as a child called Lucky. David is beginning to wonder if the blogger is that friend. He is starting to feel responsible for these deaths, even though the papers call them all accidents.

My Opinions:
I didn’t like this book. I thought the supposed humor was in very poor taste, and the writing did not seem stream-lined. The dialog between the characters all seemed false and cutting, snide for no apparent reason, and there really wasn’t a character I liked. I did however, like the plot idea.

I stuck with it because it was given to me in exchange for an honest review, so I felt I had to keep reading it. I just hoped it would get better.

Overall, this book was just not for me. I struggled with it from beginning to end. I am, however, going to try something else by this rather prolific and well-respected author.

Think Yourself Lucky
By Ramsey Campbell
2014/2018
Flametree

David Botham is bored with his job at a travel agency, managed by his ex-girlfriend. He is tired of planning dream vacations and tired of his ho-hum life.
One day an online blog appears, its title one he made up but has never used. The posts describe a series of brutal slayings in Liverpool, that ominously implicate him. They are at locations he has been, at times he has been there. The blog uses language and slang he typically uses. He begins to wonder if he is somehow responsible.....or has lost his mind....he begins to question his own actions and his own reasons for being at those places at those times....

I did like the plot of this story. However, I thought the humor was not funny, just mean and insulting. It took away from the book, made it tedious and hard to finish, but i will admit I do not typically enjoy this type of humor. There were parts of the book that were really well written and engaging, and I wish it had more of that in the plot, rather than just drudgy humor.
I am still interested in reading more of his work, hopefully the meanness follows only this particular character.
Thanks for flametree, and netgalley for this ARC for review.
#ThinkYourselfLucky #netgalley

I struggled with this read. It’s hard going as it tells the tale of David, a non writer (this point is made many times) and his daily grind at his job in a travel agency until a blog pops up that seems to have been written by him and which causes him to become paranoid.

It’s a strange read and not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview this book.

2*