Review: Creepy Story but a Little Short - 3.5 Stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 11, 2013
I'm always up for a horror story, so I thought I'd give Shattered by Patrick Royal a try.  While it wasn't a great read, it was still a decent read.The synopsis is pretty much spot on, so I won't reiterate what has already been said.I'm not a big fan of the cover.  It makes it look more like it's a murder mystery instead of a horror book.  Saying that, it is a scene from the book so there is that.I thought the world building was alright.  However, I think if the story was a little bit longer, the world building could've been a bit better, but the world building certainly isn't bad.  There was one major mistake I did notice though.  For the character of Susan, at one opint, she is referred to by another last name even though her name has always been Susan Duvall.The pacing is a bit hit and miss.  At the beginning, the pacing is incredibly slow.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to give up on it.  Luckily, the pacing did pick up, but after that, it was a roller coaster.  Some of the time, the pacing was really slow and some times it was good.  There were even times the pacing was too fast, and I was let wondering what had happened.The plot was interesting.  I loved the idea of book characters coming to life.  It was interesting to see how Tom dealt with the fact his characters were coming alive.  I know the plot has been done before, but I enjoyed reading about it in Shattered.  Oh, and there's not any plot twists, at least not any that jumped out at me while I was reading.  However, it was still an alright read.I found that I didn't really connect with Tom.  I don't know why exactly because I felt that Tom was written well enough.  I found myself eventually connecting more with Tom's best friend, Michael.  I liked "Mikey" as Tom affectionately referred to him as.  Michael  comes across as very caring and an all around good guy.At first, the dialogue of Shattered seemed to be a bit forced, but after awhile, it started flowing smoothly.  There were times I felt there was too much info dumping and not enough relevant information.  I felt that if this book were a bit longer, it could've made it a better story because towards the end, there's a lot of time jumping instead of an easy transition.  There is quite a bit of violence and some swearing.Overall, Shattered is a decent read and had a very creepy feeling about it.  I just felt that is needed to be a bit longer to really make the book work.I'd recommend this book to those 17+ who are fans of Stephen King and creepy stories.I'd give Shattered (Mind Shadows 1) by Patrick Royal a 3.5 out of 5.(I received a free ecopy of this title from the tour host in exchange for a fair and honest review.  This review can also be found on my blog).