eduardo: I read suicide forest and catacombs prior to reading Helltown. Both of those first books focused on a short character list and singular location. Helltown makes a poor attempt at juggling more of everything. I see similarities in this book to Stephen King's work in the way Jeremy tries to juggle multiple: characters, backstories, locations, and apply the use famous quotes to introduce chapters. King uses Rock n Roll quotes in chapter introductions (e.g. Christine) while Jeremy uses movie quotes. King provides large novels to allow for character development (sometimes too many). In comparison, Helltown's compact size forces characters to become under developed and in some cases irrelevant. Minor spoilers ahead....The army character is built up as a major character but ends up doing equal or less to the others. The uninspired group demise of some of the villains towards the end, is evidence that this story could have still kept all the horror scenes in place with 3 less villains. The backstories where sometimes presented in the middle of intense scenes, which interrupted the flow of horror, IMO. The book is entertaining enough to keep in my collection. I just hope the downward trend...
United States on Jul 19, 2023
Amazon Customer: This book was really good, I am from Ohio and know of the cry baby bridge. I couldn’t even think of what was going to happen next in this book. This is the second book I have read of his and i have liked them both very much..on to the next… I would recommend this book if you like twists and turns.
United States on Jun 16, 2023
frederick paramore: This book was wild from start to finish and I loved it. It is definitely not for everyone, but it is a great, fast paced, easy read with lots of suspense.
United States on Feb 27, 2023
Jon Peake: Best one yet! Wonderfully horrifying and don't get me started on those snakes! An excellent addition to the collection. Fantastic
United Kingdom on Jun 08, 2022
Melanie Patrick: You can tell this is one of his earlier works but overall entertaining story.
Canada on May 06, 2022
Terminaltraveler: I first became a fan of Jeremy Bates after reading Black Canyon. I think this is the 4th book by him that I have read. In a horror book I prefer less of the supernatural influences and more earthy plausibility. I guess that is one reason I liked this book so much. Once I started, I had to keep reading this fast moving plot. The characters seem real enough even as they continue to reveal themselves (usually for the worst) and kept me wondering when they would reach their limit. You might not want to find out. Definitely dark and chilling in the true tradition of horror stories with several side plots that unfold to complete the whole picture. Not for the squeamish but then neither are roller coasters. Or horror movies.
Well done Jeremy Bates! Again.
United States on Sep 16, 2020
Ms. A. Traczykowski: A group of students go away on a weekend trip looking for adventure. It is Halloween and they are going to place called "Helltown" It has a long history of hauntings, murder, devil worship and much more. They get more than they bargained for and encounter devil worshipers, giant killer snakes, backwoods morons in a weekend that will see only
two of them survive!
This story has you on the edge of your seat, and wanting more. Brilliant.
United Kingdom on Jun 18, 2017
Holly: I read the first 2 after visiting the Catacombs in France and wanting to read more on it and they were great.
This book is different to his others, there are so many characters and so much action and 'kill offs' early on.
I still enjoy the characters and the story but wish the book had tried to build up the environment a bit more like in his old books.
United Kingdom on May 05, 2017
Caroline Broderick: I'm a very very big fan of Jeremy Bates, particularly the previous two "World's Scariest Places" novels he has written so this book was a bit of a disappointment to me. I think this differs from his usual writing style - a big build up of the characters, spooky descriptions of real life places that make you feel like you're there with the characters, etc. - in that it just starts off all guns blazing allowing no time to get to know the characters and really care about what they were going through. I honestly felt like I knew the 'baddies' more than the 'goodies' and were more interested in them than the poor innocent bland characters that were being killed in various barbaric ways.
The writing is still good, the description (when there) does paint a vivid picture but as a World's Scariest Place book, I just think it really lacks the build up and suspense I have come to expect to make it a really great, creepy, factual, page turning horror. If you're a fan of gore this is definitely a good read and overall I wish I could give it a few more stars as I have done for the others.
United Kingdom on Feb 12, 2016
| Explore the Haunted History of Helltown: One of the World's Most Terrifying Locations | Dean R. Koontz's Thrilling Novel, "Watchers" | Intercepts: T.J. Payne's Chilling Horror Novel | |
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| B2B Rating |
80
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98
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96
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| Sale off | $7 OFF | $12 OFF | |
| Total Reviews | 54 reviews | 488 reviews | 338 reviews |
| American Horror | American Horror | American Horror | |
| Mystery Anthologies (Books) | Mystery Anthologies | ||
| Item Weight | 14.3 ounces | 1.05 pounds | 13.1 ounces |
| Language | English | English | English |
| Paperback | 273 pages | 325 pages | |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0994096067 | 978-0399132636 | 978-1098943851 |
| Publisher | Ghillinnein Books | Putnam Adult; First Edition | Independently published |
| ISBN-10 | 0994096062 | 0399132635 | 1098943856 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #16 in American Horror#72 in Mystery Anthologies #120 in Ghost Fiction | #31,581 in Suspense Thrillers#324,814 in Literature & Fiction | #7 in American Horror#40 in Ghost Thrillers#269 in Occult Fiction |
| Ghost Fiction | Ghost Fiction | ||
| Customer Reviews | 4.2/5 stars of 2,212 ratings | 4.7/5 stars of 20,147 ratings | 4.3/5 stars of 6,531 ratings |
| Reading age | 13 - 18 years | 18 years and up | |
| Dimensions | 6 x 0.69 x 9 inches | 9.62 x 1.35 x 6.52 inches | 5.25 x 0.82 x 8 inches |
United States on Aug 09, 2023