YVO’S SHORTIES #212 – The Tent & No Second Chance

Time for another round of Yvo’s Shorties! This time around a horror novella I picked up on a whim for a challenge and a thriller that had been waiting on my shelves for way too long… And both turned out to be great reads.

Title: The Tent
Author: Kealan Patrick Burke
Genre: Novella, Horror, Supernatural
First published: April 20th 2013
Publisher: SmashWords
Finished reading: January 25th 2021
Pages: 134

“And how he wishes he could mute all of this now, just shut out the world and wait for the broadcast to end and his life to go off the air.”

I needed a novella for the BTB 2021 Bingo challenge and decided to pick up The Tent on a whim as it has been on my TBR for years. It’s been a while since I read a proper horror read, but I’m definitely craving for more now! Kealan Patrick Burke does an excellent job setting that creepy atmosphere, switching between different characters as things turn darker and darker and you slowly start to understand the full scope of this story… The supernatural is mixed with terror, the novella escalating towards the ending. There is no closed ending; it is more of of a warning of what is to come… I’m not sure what to feel about that, but I guess it does make you think about what could happen next. As for the characters: I can’t say I actually liked them (except for the old man and his dog), but as a whole they fitted the story and their squabbles made for a nice contrast with the creepy things happening in the novella. I definitely need to pick up more horror reads soon! Recommendations are welcome. 😉

Title: No Second Chance
Author: Harlan Coben
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
First published: March 31st 2003
Publisher: Orion
Finished reading: January 28th 2021
Pages: 391

“Like grief, hope hides and pounces and taunts and never leaves. I am not sure which of the two is the crueler mistress.”

I’ve been meaning to tackle Harlan Coben‘s backlist titles for a long time now, and somehow even getting a couple of shiny paperbacks copies (those with the colorful spines) back in 2019 didn’t help speeding up the process… But I hope to do better in 2021, and read at least all four paperback copies before the year is out. No Second Chance was up first, and I have to say that this book was exactly what I hoped it would be. Harlan Coben has a way of writing that makes his stories fast, action-packed and with a never ending tension… Sure, I do have to say that the story was a bit slow especially in the beginning, and you can certainly doubt the credibility of it all, but does it make for a highly entertaining thriller? You bet! I can’t say that I actually liked the characters themselves all that much, but the plot itself was interesting enough and they all played their role very well. There are many secrets, twists and turns involved, and I most definitely didn’t see those final reveals coming… I’m having a feeling this story would probably have worked even better as a movie though; the action and suspense is definitely there! All in all it wasn’t a perfect read for me, but that doesn’t take away the fact that I still very much enjoyed my time with No Second Chance.