Under by Bradd Quinn
14/08/09 19:22 Filed in: Independent | Self-Published
220 pages, Lulu. $15.40
Reviewed By Stephanie Attebery
(Note: This review refers to the first edition of Under. A revised edition has since been released.)
Jacob Drake is the kind of hero you can get behind. He's as typical a Joe Schmoe as you can get. He works as a plant manager, although we don’t get to see him in action because the book takes place during a mandatory leave from work following a moment of verbal indiscretion during a meeting. Jacob Drake it turns out has many such moments.
He also has an adorable wife and even more adorable daughter who are clearly the loves of his life. Oh, and a dog that he loves to pretend to hate. It may not be a surprise to many that the dog later becomes one of his most useful allies.
Maybe it's mid-week boredom during his suspension, but Jacob begins to feel that something is not right and that perhaps this something is lurking below his home. His dog agrees loudly and often, and as a series of domestic animal killings plague the neighborhood, it becomes increasingly urgent to Jacob to convince the rest of his family and community of the danger they all face.
Quinn does an interesting thing by weaving two stories together in opposing chronology. While our hero Jacob’s story moves forward, the unfortunate fate of a neighboring town is revealed in reverse, beginning with the ultimate outcome, and working back to the early signs and events before the town was overrun by creatures. Many of the events are similar to the ones that are occurring in Jacob’s community.
As for the creatures, described by Quinn in adequate detail, they have the right creepy mix of spider, human, and otherworldliness to give you goose bumps.
The high-action moments of the book are very good, such as the dum-dum moment when the town eccentric/cat-lady decides to turn her car around even though she is in imminent danger because she must go back for one of her precious kitties….with Jacob’s young daughter in the passenger seat.
Jacob talks rough and tough, but Quinn takes measures to show his vulnerabilities and this view into humanity lends the reader a reason to keep rooting for the characters. Jacob fears that he will not have what it takes to protect his family, and that he may be a big wimp when the “moment for action” inevitably arrives. Another moment in the book that manages to be both creepy and heart-wrenching involves a dying trooper reflecting on his fatherly failures as he slips into death alone and in the dark.
One of the final scenes, when some of the creatures’ more bizarre motivations are revealed, helps to answer some of the earlier questions, yet there is enough left untied to leave something to the imagination, if not room for a follow-up book.
One unfortunate note: As apparently mentioned by other reviewers, this edition of the book is legion with typos. And despite Mr Quinn’s humorous comment in the beginning about egg hunting for such mistakes, I suggest the more thoroughly edited follow-up edition! Buy your copy here.