I was contacted directly by the author for a fair and honest review of his novella The Pariahs. Having just completed one book and having yet to start a new one from my ever increasing TBR list, I took a chance.
Sometimes such risks pay off with the discovery of something special, this was not one of those times. Don't get me wrong, there were a number of positives here. A haunting cover, a quick read, and Erik Hofstatter certainly has a capable writing style. The problem for me was the story. It lacked background, there was little in the way of character development, and in the end, nearly everything was left unresolved, making for a somewhat unsatisfying reading experience.
Disappointing, all the more so, because it all started with a damn fine paragraph...
"I was asleep when they came. Two of them armed with Kalashnikovs, dressed in radiation suits. One grabbed my hair and dragged me out of the warm bed, the last time I would ever sleep on a soft mattress. The other man aimed a rifle at my face before turning it around and knocking me out with the butt."
What follows is a mishmash of imprisonment of, and experimentation on, a pair of siblings suffering from the after effects of radiation deformity, the result of some unexplained apocalyptic event.
The Pariahs is available now through Amazon.com. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge and if you have Amazon Prime you can read it FREE as your monthly selection through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
I can't recommend this one, but as usual in such situations, your mileage may vary and if you can take advantage of Kindle Unlimited or the Kindle Owners Lending Library, then there's certainly no harm in checking it out.
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