DNF 26%

The writing is so detailed it's painful. Every single move is chronicled and I'm so bored I can't take it anymore.

I feel like I'm reading a script.

Here's a sample:

"She did a quick pass over her bottom teeth and spat a bubbly mixture of toothpaste and saliva into the sink. Cupping a hand under the faucet, she slurped cool water into her mouth. She spat the water out and rinsed the sink before turning the faucet off."

THE ENTIRE STORY IS LIKE THIS.

I mean, a simple "She brushed her teeth." would have sufficed. Amiright?

At 26%, one day has passed that consisted of cleaning house. Imagine the amount of detail involved in describing a house cleaning. Ugh.



I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Read only 100 or so pages of this book. Boring, characters were cardboard. Absolutely nothing happened in those 100 pages to hold my interest.

Let me say first that I have been looking forward to Scott Thomas's next book since the moment I finished reading his first book, Kill Creek. In the meantime, I began to worry if Violet would live up to what I wanted it to be? So while I was so excited when I was approved by NetGalley to read this, I was nervous. What if Scott Thomas had a sophomore slump? What if he's a one hit wonder? Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. Violet, and Scott Thomas, exceeded my huge expectations.

Violet is an achievement. The tension is set from the very first page. The first, probably, half of the book is ALL foreboding and anxiety inducing set up. After all, you know that there's this imaginary friend/ghost that's going to show up and you're just waiting for it to happen. Violet is like the shark from Jaws, you don't meet her until well into the story but you can FEEL her presence over the entire plot. She's there, in the darkness, watching, waiting, wanting to play. When she does show up, she SHOWS THE HELL UP. I could not put Violet down for the last half of the book. She sunk her hooks in and I needed to know all about her. I needed to hear her song until the end of the epilogue.

This book is better than Kill Creek and Kill Creek was my book of the year when it came out. You need to read this brilliant, scary, beautiful book. Get it in your brain.

“It was an abandoned place full of haunted people. She could not let herself become one of them.”

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Inkshares. Trigger warnings: death, death of a child/parent/spouse, suicide, animal death (graphic/on-page), car accident, drowning, severe illness, severe injury, cancer, gore, body horror, bug horror, trauma, guns, mental illness, depression, blood.

Shortly after Kris Barlow’s husband is killed in a gruesome car accident, she and her daughter, Sadie, flee to her childhood lake house in the small town of Pacington. She’s convinced the lake house will be a fresh start and a chance to escape the pitying looks of friends and family, but Kris’s own happy memories there are overshadowed by her mother’s traumatic death from cancer. Things are not as she remembers them in Pacington. The house has fallen into disrepair, and missing children and mysterious deaths haunt the town. When Sadie begins pulling away, talking to herself and disappearing for hours into the old storage room Kris used as a playroom, it stirs memories of an old childhood friend–one who may still be waiting for Kris to return.

There’s no reason in the world this book should be almost five hundred pages. There’s not a trace of the spooky or the supernatural for the entire first half and, instead, we’re treated to numerous scenes of Kris’s cleaning and pointless, over-indulgent descriptions and labored metaphors of the property and the lake house, down to the last blade of grass. If Thomas was trying to paint a picture, he needn’t have tried so hard, since there’s absolutely nothing extraordinary about the lake house, the town, or the people who live there. It’s clear the editor needed to take a firmer hand. If it’s not relevant to the character or plot development, we don’t need a description of it.

You would think a novel with so much imagery would be atmospheric, but instead it’s just dull. There’s no sense of menace from the house, except for the fact that it should probably be condemned, and the characters are equally flat. I’m tired of male authors who think they can write plausible mother/daughter relationships; Kris and Sadie’s constantly rang hollow for me, and they’re basically cardboard cutouts of every mother/daughter pair in any thriller ever. Kris is self-absorbed and abusing her medications while she slowly loses her grip on reality, and Sadie’s voice is gratingly simplistic. Per every other thriller, she doesn’t start fighting for her daughter until it’s almost too late, which is as baffling here as it is in every other novel. I’m pretty sure I have more protective instincts for a complete stranger than these fictional mothers have for their own children, no matter what crisis is happening (especially when a crisis is happening).

Which is all really a shame because this might have been an interesting story without all the distractions. Thanks to the over-writing, every plot reveal is painfully obvious, but the horror is compelling when it finally kicks in. The bones of the story, which links the power of grief with imaginary friends, is a good one, and I wish we’d gotten more of it. Instead, it goes from zero to eighty as the moment Kris realizes what’s happening, she and Sadie are suddenly in mortal danger. The ending is entertaining enough, but there was probably a better way to tell this story.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

I wish I could say that I liked this book more than I did, but I have to be honest. I really enjoyed the writing style of the author. He can lyrically describe the view from a window, the grief of a parent, or the death of an animal in a way that is both beautiful and tragic and unsettling. The three stars that I gave the book are entirely based on how much I enjoyed the author's writing and my appreciation for what he attempted to do with this book. Unfortunately, no amount of appreciation can cover up the fact that this is essentially a 450 page story that feels bloated with unnecessary characters, unexplored plot points, and a story that doesn't come together until the last 50 pages.

There is a scene involving the death of a horse that really embodies what I felt was wrong with the book. It is a horrific scene that stands out as being unnecessarily grotesque for no other reason than the author felt the reader needed a jolt of gore to remind them that they were, in fact, reading a "horror novel." You could argue that the scene was necessary to remind the reader that the parents of the missing children of Pacington were shattered people sleepwalking through life with only the fading memories and dying pets to remind them of the happiness they had lost, but we already knew these were broken people. The only purpose the scene could serve was to show the malevolence of the supernatural force that haunts the town, but if there is a supernatural connection to the death of the horse, it is never explained and it makes no sense with what we learn about the supernatural entity later.

Thematically, I get what the author was doing - the slow death of small towns in rural America, the dangers of suppressing grief, how internalizing pain can destroy the people we love. Unfortunately, the story is bloated and meanders and takes way too long to get to the point. I was reminded of "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" while I was reading "Violet". Thematically the two books are similar, but Neil Gaiman's book is around half the length and never wastes the readers time.

Sometimes more is better, but sometimes it's just more.

Violet tells an amazing story of how grief can grow into a rot that can spread across your life and that of others. Kris Barlow first lost her mother to cancer at the tender age of ten and has now lost her husband at 41 years old. Calling to mind a romanticised, nostalgic summer lake house retreat her parents owned, Kris remembers how the house helped her overcome her former grief and therefore decides to return, taking her 8 year old daughter with her. But the lake house is neglected, the town isn't thriving any more, girls have gone missing and her daughter is suddenly laughing and enjoying life with not a care in the world. Thomas writes this horror story as a slow burner so much so, that I forgot it was a horror as I was so invested in Kris and her daughter's struggle to survive the recent death. When the horror did hit, it hit hard, because I was so distracted! This ability makes this novel a stand out horror novel for me. At the end of the book, in the acknowledgements, Thomas states that his father had cancer and you can feel the grief of this real life horror bleeding into the work, because of this, I hope that Thomas found writing this book as therapeutic, as I did reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Inkshares, for an advanced electronic readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Scott Thomas returns after his successful debut novel Kill Creek with his latest horror offering, Violet. While I enjoyed the nonstop, frenetic pace of Kill Creek, Violet is more of a slow burning novel driven by the central thoughts and actions of the protagonist, Kris Barlow. Recently widowed, she returns to the lake house of her youth (and scene of her mother's agonizing death from cancer) with her young daughter Sadie looking to spend a summer getting them both back to normal. Unknowingly, she stumbles back into her long forgotten past and an entity awaiting her return.

The first quarter/third of the book is fairly slow. Kris's character and motivations are unfurled leisurely, as are her relationships with her family, daughter, and deceased husband. Much time is spent establishing the lake house and townspeople of Pacington, with little in the way of conventional action taking place. However, as with any good horror novel, strange occurrences start to creep into the narrative, some overt and others incredibly subtle. Thomas saves the main horror for the final third of the book, where themes of memory, loss, and trauma come together in a surreal denouement that more than makes up for the slow start.

Thomas, as a veteran of TV movies and teleplays, writes in a manner that can be described as incredibly cinematic. Many of his passages can be clearly seen as set-pieces easily converted into a live action setting, with fantastic use of timely dialogue, blocking, and even music (his soundtrack in this one of the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Cure, and Joy Division was particularly well chosen).

It's an interesting stylistic choice for Thomas to focus more on character in this novel than in his debut. There's a maturity in writing here: while Kill Creek was a fantastic book, the characters and dialogue tended at times to seem a bit unreal and beyond what people may do and say. Thomas has improved that here by focusing more on very real grief and allowing his characters space to react and adapt to the oftentimes senseless things that happen in an indifferent world.

I look forward to hearing "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" in the film adaptation.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Inkshares.**

Violet is a story about loss and how we all deal with it differently. Kris Barlow was 10 years old when she lost her mother. As an adult, she and her 8 year old daughter, Sadie, are facing the loss of another family member. She decides to return to her family vacation home for the summer, hoping it will help them both heal.

Loss is a reoccurring theme throughout the novel. The author was able to express the pain one feels with loss so well that I found myself in tears throughout the book. On the other hand, there were some losses that were described in such away that made my skin crawl and I found myself sleeping with a night light for a couple of nights.

I connected with the lead character of this novel, Kris Barlow. The author was able to express her pain, confusion, and terror as she felt herself slipping away into a Xanax and alcoholic haze as she realized she was losing her daughter. I found myself rooting for her to get it together and fight for her daughter and their lives.

I enjoyed reading this book. The author wrote in a very descriptive way that made it feel almost like you were watching a movie instead of reading a book. My only complaint about this novel is that it was slow to take off. It caught my attention, but it wasn’t until about half way through the book that I started having a hard time putting it down. This was the first novel I’ve read by Scott Thomas and I plan on reading his other novel now that I have finished this one. I’m always excited when I find an author who can write a good horror novel.

My favorite quote from Kris Barlow; “This was not the perfect haven that her mind had trapped in time. It was an abandoned place full of haunted people. She could not let herself become one of them.” It sums this story up perfectly.

Thank you NetGalley and Inkshares for giving me the opportunity to read and review this story.

I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The cover of this book by itself is a bit creepy. When I saw it, I instantly knew I had to read it. I was not disappointed.

Violet is more than a horror story. It is a story of grief and finding yourself when your mourning period is over. It tells the story of a woman, Kris, and her daughter, Sadie, getting over a horrible loss. Kris’s husband and Sadie’s father, Jonah died in a horrible car accident and Sadie is not handling it well. This is not the first time Kris has had to deal with losing someone who she loved. Her mother died from cancer when she was a child. Kris is trying to get Sadie back to where she used to be. She decides to take her to the lake house she and her parents used to spend their summers at when her mother had cancer. She does not realize, however, that there is a malevolent presence who has been waiting for her to come back ever since the day she and her father left after the death of her mother.

To sum it up, this book was scary. For a parent, one of the scariest things is for your child to be in danger. Scott Thomas used that fear to his advantage. Another fear parents have is that of not being a good enough parent and again he masterfully wove that fear into his story.

Imaginary friends have always been a creepy thing to me. I have never had an imaginary friend. I have never known anyone who grew up with one. I have heard about children who think this is normal. They talk to empty spaces and insist their parents feed their ‘friend’. Honestly, I have never been able to understand that phenomenon. This book made me even more scared of them now.

The character development was astounding. The author built the suspense about certain characters, letting little pieces of information drop every once in a while until you finally knew their whole backstory. He kept you waiting with bated breath eager to find out which part each character had to play in the story’s unfolding. His descriptions were so vivid that in my mind’s eye I could see Dorothy’s bright red lipstick or feel the grief emanating from Sadie when she hugs her favorite stuffed toy.

The only problem I had was that the story took quite some time to build. It dragged a bit in the beginning. But do not let that dissuade you from finishing this book because when the action started, I could not put it down.

Mr Thomas is an excellent writer and it shows plainly in this book. I would definitely recommend this book to any horror aficionado.

This book…I should have researched it more. Specifically, I should have double checked the page count. Because in paperback form it’s erroneously listed as 300 on GR. In Kindle form it is correctly listed at 446. And I only really had 300 pages worth of interest in it. Which, frankly, should be more than enough to tell a story. Especially a story that isn’t all that elaborate or original. A story about a 41 year old newly widowed woman who takes her 8 year old daughter back to her childhood’s vacation cabin only to discover that something evil lurks around and it’s been hungrily awaiting her return. Creepy dying small towns, disappearing kids, evil presences, hunky sheriff, weird locals…all been done. And the author doesn’t really improve on it so much as he overwrites it. Which it to say, boy, does this book need slimming down. It’s dangerously fat. American fat. It can barely move. It barely does. It’s so slow, it might be standing still or even sliding backwards. Yes, I understand that this isn’t meant to be a whambam thank you m’am guts and gore driven sort of thing, the frights here are literary and I very much appreciate the fact, but the stylistically languid pacing almost never lets the action to elevate itself above general tepidness. The thing that stood out at first was author’s overfondness for metaphors and later, and possibly just because I became accustomed to that quirk, the narrative dragged at every given moment. Every single action no matter how irrelevant was described in the tediously minute detail. It really did read like the man was getting paid by the word. So many unnecessary words. Sure, one needs to take the time to create an appropriately dark and eerie atmosphere for the characters to get mired in and one needs to take the time to develop the characters for the reader to care about, but it shouldn’t be done quite this leisurely. This took forever. To be fair I am generally against overly long books and I value succinctness of storytelling greatly, but some stories deserve and merit extra pages and that’s ok, because usually they make up for it with world building, originality, spectacular writing…something. But this wasn’t the case here, this book just dragged because it was bloated. And as such it made for a tediously slow, laborious read and the general impression was that of being underwhelmed. Mind you, it isn’t by any means a terrible book, it’s competently plotted, decently written, literary….but it is a heavy slog and personally I didn’t find it to be worth the time it took to wade through. Thanks Netgalley.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book immensely. Scott knows how to tell a story. Very creepy vibes. Amazing!

How many times have parents heard their children insist that their imaginary friend is real? How many times have we seen the extra place setting at the tea party for the invisible friend? Is that imaginary friend a benevolent playmate, a creation of your own mind....or did you create something all too real?
Newly widowed Kris and her young daughter Sadie revisit the lake house from Kris' childhood for a summer of healing. Kris has high hopes for the summer, but finds that the house is rotting from lack of care, the town seems to be dying and the people are just rather odd. When Sadie seems to be healing from the loss of her father Kris is at first relieved, but later worries as Sadie seems preoccupied with playing alone in a secret room. Slowly, Sadie tries to intice Kris into joining her, and her "friend" in their games and that's when things get creepy!

I found Violet to be a slow starter, but about halfway into the book things began to get creepier and creepier. The backstory of missing children and the mystery of how they fit into the story with Kris and Sadie today was interesting and tied up very nicely (and I won't tell you how) in the end.
#netgalley #violet

Intense read, creepy enough to scare you, but you have to keep going! Good to the end...you never knew who "did it". Will definitely look for more by Scott Thomas.

Something about the story and the way he writes just leaves me with a deep, down disquieting feeling.
I will say that 2 books into this author, and I feel he knows what's up.
His first book was messed up from the start. This? Honestly, if it were almost, any other author, I'd have quit. That would have been real stupid on my end. I did have the beebie, jeebies! Not too big a deal! But, dude..when my short hairs stand straight up, that does it! Now y'all don't know me, but I have hair on my head That's it! .When I say my short hairs have stood up, that means that I'm so scarified, that I've found an unknown region of hairs!!! LOL! O.K.,.that's a lie, but just barely! Maybe! Also, my thanks to the author, Inkshares Press, "whom I'm keeping my beast eye on," and also Netgalley! Still, Inkshares have been coming on strong lately. We'll see how that goes.

I just finished this book and I absolutely loved it. I will be coming back near pub date to give a proper review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This is an absolutely fantastic novel by Scott Thomas. I have read his previous novel, Kill Creek, so I was very excited to read this book. It surpassed my expectations and it is a fantastic exploration of grief. The characters were well written and they felt real to me by the end of the book. I will highly recommend this novel to my friends and family.

When Kris Barlow's husband is killed in a car accident, an image of the summer cottage where she spent her childhood emerges in her mind...a place that suddenly feels like home...a place to heal. The summer cottage on lost lake was a place where 10-year-old Krissy was able to say goodbye to her dying mother. Now, almost three decades later, Kris returns with her daughter Sadie to the remote town of Pacington, Kansas...where an old friend has been waiting for her return.

Thank you Inkshares! Violet, is a fantastic new novel by the author of Kill Creek (which I LOVED). The author takes a slightly different approach with this novel, delivering a mystery/psychological thriller based horror. The town itself has a rather dark history with both its creation and the tragic events that occur afterwards. This historical backstory immediately adds both a sinister and magical element to the novel's setting. Kris has experienced several traumas throughout her life, which combined with her coping mechanisms, play a major role in the psychological suspense felt throughout the book. Sadie, Kris's daughter, also increases the "creepy factor" as the plot progresses...because let’s face it kids say and do creepy stuff even without an evil presence. There are some disturbing, eerie, and even goose bump (for me) elements throughout but the novel itself isn't overly horrific. This is a more character driven story as Kris continually grapples with her past memories which cross over into present events and kind of unhinge her mental stability even further. This was another fantastic read by this emerging horror novelist who will definitely be going on my watch list for future reads.

I also want to add that I really enjoyed reading the introduction, "A Whisper", by the publisher of Inkshares. As a lover of the horror genre, I found it to be both an informative and interesting look at the genre's history and future. I hope that they will consider including it in the published novel as well.

I cannot stress how much I loved this book, I am going to go straight out to buy his previous book. It was so beautifully written, I felt as though I was there with Krissy and Sadie every step of the way. The story unfolded slowly but there was an undercurrent of unease and creepiness throughout, alongside grief and sadness which was so well conveyed it almost felt your own. Just brilliant.

I have been fortunate enough to receive a advance reader copy of this book Violet and I would just like to say to all authors and publishers that as a reader first and foremost aswell as a book blogger these arc copies are an honour and a privilege to receive and I truly appreciate each and every book and I hope my merge efforts to review and promote goes someway to helping get these books the exposure they deserve, so, Thank You 🙏🏼

As I said, I have been luck to receive an early copy of Violet and it opens up with a foreword from the CEO and publisher Adam Gomolin in which he summaries the plot a hell of a lot better and quicker than what I could so I hope he doesn’t mind but I am going to use his words to open up my review with!

A woman returns to the lake house where she watched her mother die of cancer as a child – but an evil has been growing beneath the surface of the town, one emanating from her own loss thirty years before. Its a terrifying exploration of grief, denial, and betrayal. Where Kill Creek was driven by plot, Violet is a character focused exploration of life in the aftermath of loss.

Thats much better than me rambling on trying to lay the bare bones of it down for you😂

As with Kill Creek which I loved, and I will now shamelessly plug my review for that book here! Kill Creek by Scott Thomas Violet is also a bit of a slow burner to begin with but my god does it work! The pace allows for the in depth character development as well as all the fine tuning of the atmosphere which creeps and keeps on ratcheting up page by page and for me it was the atmosphere that was the key to this books success and it has it by the bucket load! The characters, the locations, to the creepy neighbours you can feel watching all adds up to an atmosphere you could cut with a knife!

The house and its setting is a complete character in its self, a living breathing entity that is always there, watching you even though its not the house that you should be scared of. It’s what lives in that house that will put you off reading at bedtime!

She was a walking dream, a thought made flesh, an inhuman spirit caught between two realms.

I may have overused the word atmosphere in that paragraph but please forgive me, I have not slept yet as I was up all night reading and yes I kept the light burning bright all night reading this one!

Just when I thought things couldn’t get more taught with tension I was proved so so wrong! I thought I had worked out the solution to Kris’s Violet problem just mere moments before she had and as I was busy congratulating myself literally seconds later my heart ended up in my mouth when both the character and I realised at the same time that we were both may have got it totally and utterly wrong! 😱

Horror fans world wide will devour this in one sitting, claustrophobic and atmospheric this book will give you chills.

Violet will be published on 4 Sep 2019 and can be pre ordered now

A massive thank you to the author Scott Thomas, publishers Inkshares and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and independent review.

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/violet-by-scott-thomas/

Scott Thomas, author of Kill Creek, delivers a most masterful read. Horror pertaining to childhood has always freaked me out. Violet freaked me out on another level. I can hang with evil toys, urban legends, and the paranormal. What I can’t hang with is imaginary friends. Violet plays on that creepy aspect from our childhoods. Imaginary friends have always scared me. Kids seeing an invisible person or thing and spending time with them. Kids converse, confide in, and get into mischief with them.

To me, it’s spine-chilling because you really don’t know who or what is talking to you, your friends, or your children. Bystanders can’t see them or communicate with them. When a kid mentions their imaginary friends by name, I freeze up and chills run down my spine. You don’t really know if the imaginary friend is benevolent or malevolent until it’s more than likely too late. What happens when the kid grows up? Does the imaginary friend go away? How can you be sure? Violet explores all of these questions and more.

I was truly blown away with Scott Thomas’s prose. He has become a stronger writer since his debut. The sentences flow better and the dialogue is smoother, making for a smooth reading experience. The pacing is nice and taut. The story never bogs down or gets sluggish. The two main characters are everything. The mother-daughter duo, Kris and Sadie, have tons of depth. And something or someone has been waiting for their return. Violet is filled with tragedy and great sadness. You can immediately sense the dread with the gut-wrenching opening scene. It’s the foreboding that propels the story forward at a breakneck speed. Scott Thomas sucks you headlong into the story with his complex characters and rich narrative. You want what’s best for Kris and Sadie. I was on the edge of my seat during all of the arduous situations and scenarios.

Scott Thomas uses vignettes to expand on the characters backstory. Thomas reveals a little bit at a time, peeling back layers of the characters and their history. He gives you just enough information to keep you turning the page. The scenes in Violet are vivid. Thomas doesn’t just tell you about the people and places, he shows you. It’s one helluva reading experience. Like I said before, there’s so much tragedy and it’s heart-wrenching just thinking about what horrible things Scott Thomas puts his characters through. He literally throws the whole kitchen sink at his characters to see if they can survive.

I would like to say that before I started this book I read the synopsis. I normally don’t, but I just felt compelled to with this one. At first, I thought it revealed a lot about the plot, but upon finishing the story I realized that it barely scratches the surface. You couldn’t guess the plot, climax, or ending if you tried. I have never cried with a character more than I did with Kris. It has a lot to do with the way Scott Thomas wrote her scenes, and how much emotional trauma she has endured over her lifetime. After all, Violet is set in the aftermath of tragedy and loss. Mental health also plays a key role in this story. It certainly adds an extra layer of intrigue to an already outstanding tale.

Violet is eerie in the best ways. This book has all the ingredients you need for a great horror story. Scott Thomas fills your horror heart with coming-of-age, psychological, emotional trauma, tragedy, and dynamic characters. There’s a plethora of twists and turns along the way. When you think you know what is really going on, Thomas pulls the rug out from under your feet. The reveals are the fun part because you get to experience them with Kris. And that ending will send you reeling. You won’t see it coming. None of you will.

The cover is splendid. I don’t know who the creator is, but I do know it catches the eye. It sets the tone for the reading experience. You’ll want to notch out a nice chunk of time to read this one. You don’t just read Violet, you experience it. Violet is simply one of the best books of the 2010s. Violet is definitely my favorite book of 2019, so far. It’s in my top ten for sure. If you haven’t put this one on your TBR piles, then remedy that immediately. You’re going to want to read this one. If you have this one on your TBR piles, I suggest you move it to the top. Overall, you can’t ask for a better book or a better reading experience. I can’t wait until his next release. I may have to re-read Kill Creek now that I think about it. Violet gets all the stars! Helluva book!

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!