Review of The Vivisectionist by Ike Hamill
5 stars
Oh boy, what a book. What a book! Not in almost any way what
I expected, but that was fine because the book was a knock-out (in the positive
sense). More a logic puzzle and maze than anything else, literally and
metaphorically, there was also suspense, worry, fear, danger, secondary plot
lines, empathetic characters, and a really powerfully impacting character
evolution sequence going, as two of the characters (in order not to spoil the
plot, I won’t give their identities) develop in very unexpected ways. I couldn’t
sleep last night for thinking through the novel, after I had stayed up late
(for me) to finish it.
Jack and Ben are best friends, on the verge of high school,
although Jack attends public schools at the directive of his parents, and Ben
goes to a private school. With the whole summer ahead of them exempt from
structured activities such as camp and enrichment programs, the boys decide to
camp out at the end of Jack’s yard. Soon they are joined by Ben’s Boston friend
Stephen, whom Jack considers a little too full of himself, and the boys go
exploring each day (and night). What they find only begins with two scraggly
dudes who target shoot animals for fun; soon their summer is filled with
obsession and danger. When they discover an incredibly bizarre situation
involving an isolated, abandoned hotel beyond the woods, Jack, Ben, and Stephen
become intricately intertwined with events contemporary to their community, and
also far in the past.
Hi Mallory,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading The Vivisectionist and reviewing it here. I'm glad you enjoyed it! If you (or any of your readers) would like to get a free copy of one of my other books, please shoot me an email ( ikehamill@gmail.com ) and I'll send one over.
Thanks again,
Ike