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Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett — book cover

Mr. Shivers

by Robert Jackson Bennett
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Overview

It is the time of the Great Depression.

Thousands have left their homes looking for a better life, a new life. But Marcus Connelly is not one of them. He searches for one thing, and one thing only: Revenge.

Because out there, riding the rails, stalking the camps, is the scarred vagrant who murdered Connelly's daughter.

One man must face a dark truth and answer the question - how much is he willing to sacrifice for his satisfaction?

Synopsis

It is the time of the Great Depression.

Thousands have left their homes looking for a better life, a new life. But Marcus Connelly is not one of them. He searches for one thing, and one thing only: Revenge.

Because out there, riding the rails, stalking the camps, is the scarred vagrant who murdered Connelly's daughter.

One man must face a dark truth and answer the question - how much is he willing to sacrifice for his satisfaction?

The Washington Post - Michael Dirda

If you enjoy dark thrillers, and can stand several pages of sustained and anatomically graphic violence, Mr. Shivers will see you through a cold February evening…one must congratulate Robert James Bennett for his convincingly bleak setting and for the creation of Mr. Shivers, "the Harvester," "the Skullsie Man," "the Grinning Bone Dancer." You don't want to meet him—unless your name is Connelly.

About the Author, Robert Jackson Bennett

Robert Jackson Bennett was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but grew up in Katy, Texas. He later attended the University of Texas at Austin and, like a lot of its alumni, was unable to leave the charms of the city and resides there currently.

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Editorials

Michael Dirda

If you enjoy dark thrillers, and can stand several pages of sustained and anatomically graphic violence, Mr. Shivers will see you through a cold February evening…one must congratulate Robert James Bennett for his convincingly bleak setting and for the creation of Mr. Shivers, "the Harvester," "the Skullsie Man," "the Grinning Bone Dancer." You don't want to meet him—unless your name is Connelly.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

Set during the Great Depression and reading like a collaboration between Stephen King and John Steinbeck, this remarkably assured first novel relates a good man’s desperate travels through the ruins of the American heartland on the trail of his child’s murderer. As he tracks the eponymous fiend, Marcus Connelly discovers that he’s not the only person whose life the killer has ruined. The Dust Bowl refugees pursuing Mr. Shivers gradually realize that he embodies an elemental force of destruction, and they begin sacrificing their own humanity for the sake of vengeance. The everyday horrors of a deserted, drought-blighted countryside are interrupted by frightening dreams and fragments of disturbing superstitions as Bennett’s characters try to articulate what’s happening and imagine a way back home. Bennett makes dark fantasy feel like gritty realism, achieving a rare laconic eloquence that will captivate horror readers hungry for new voices. (Feb.)

Library Journal

It begins simply. A grieving father chases the killer of his daughter across the Dust Bowl, finding allies and enemies along the way. Soon, though, it seems that the killer is more than human, and as the story gains momentum, it passes through layers of supernatural and psychological horror and enters the realm of myth. The ending is predictable, but the protagonist has no idea, and there's a savage joy in watching him rush headlong to his fate. VERDICT Readers who liked Neil Gaiman's American Gods will find similar themes here, while the setting and bleak inevitability invoke a more readable Cormac McCarthy. Compelling and truly horrifying, this debut novel is highly recommended for all fiction and horror collections.—Karl G. Siewert, Tulsa City-Cty. Lib.

Book Details

Published
September 1, 2010
Publisher
Little, Brown & Company
Pages
352
Format
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN
9780316054690

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