The Noise: A Thriller
In this cinematic thriller from the world's #1 bestselling author, two sisters must fight for their survival after a natural disaster in the Pacific Northwest. In the shadow of Mount Hood, sixteen-year-old Tennant is checking rabbit traps with her eight-year-old sister Sophie when the girls are suddenly overcome by a strange vibration rising out of the forest, building in intensity until it sounds like a deafening crescendo of screams. From out of nowhere, their father sweeps them up and drops them through a trapdoor into a storm cellar. But the sound only gets worse ...
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Community Reviews
Another creepy mystery/thriller by JD Barker. From pretty early in the story, I suspected it was going to be some kind of zombie story. For the record, I really dislike zombie stories.
By the 50% mark, it was confirmed, it’s a zombie story. It’s not the typical, run of the mill “Walking Dead” kind of zombie story but, a zombie story, nonetheless. At this point, I was seriously considering DNF’ing the book. However, there was that part of me that kept thinking, “but this is a JD Barker book, it has to get better” – right? It didn’t, at least not for me. I only recently discovered Barker’s work but the two previous books of his that I’ve read I liked – a lot (4 & 5star ratings)! This one? Not so much.
Barker writes some pretty wild, crazy, outrageous stuff, which has been the appeal for me to his work. This is definitely more of all that, but it generated a different reaction for me. The writing is the same action-packed, fast-paced style of Barkers so it was just the content and storyline that didn’t appeal to me.
Once again, it’s a bizarre and unusual zombie story mixed in with an “evil government agency” subplot. As if that wasn’t creepy enough, there were the requisite government lackeys and military personnel who operate from the whole “just following orders” mentality who captured two of the infected, two young girls 16 and 8, who were then tortured by a despicable government doctor for the purpose of “experimentation” in the name of science.
It was at about the 70% mark that I had to actually close the book for a day or two just to get away from the story for a while. I ended up starting another book before going back to finish this one later. As far as I’m concerned, the only redeeming characters were Tennant and her dog Zeke, who I am happy to report, survived the craziness. So, there’s that. I guess if I could give it a 1.5star star rating, I would but I’m just not feeling compelled to round up to a 2star rating.
While I have enjoyed the “creepiness” of Barker’s other work (like Coast to Coast – very creepy), this one just bothered me in a much creepier way. I guess I just can’t explain it very well and I’m just going to fall back on the easy excuse that I simply don’t like zombie stories. I was just disappointed that it turned out like it did – a government agency with a bunch of sinister scientists and an experiment gone horribly wrong and a boatload of other government agencies and military personnel trying to stop and cover up the whole thing. YUCK!!!!!
Throughout the story, I was reminded of another book I read recently, 2 Sisters Detective Agency, by Candice Fox, another author whose previous work I have also enjoyed: four books all with 4-5star ratings. It wasn’t that the stories were similar (they aren’t at all); it was just my overall dislike of both books. The 2 Sisters book was terrible to point where I couldn’t believe Fox wrote it because it was so different than anything else of hers that I had previously read. It just didn’t seem like something she would write. My dislike of that book was the content and storyline as well as there was not one redeeming character in the whole book.
I’ve been a lifelong reader and have discovered so many exceptional and wonderful writers. Despite my feelings for this book, I still like JD Barker’s work and will continue to read him; the same for Candice Fox. My feelings for this book are similar to my feelings for Candice Fox’s 2 Sisters Detective Agency book - every seasoned author has a turd (at least by my standards) festering amongst their widely acclaimed best sellers. That alone does not make them a bad writer. JMHO
By the 50% mark, it was confirmed, it’s a zombie story. It’s not the typical, run of the mill “Walking Dead” kind of zombie story but, a zombie story, nonetheless. At this point, I was seriously considering DNF’ing the book. However, there was that part of me that kept thinking, “but this is a JD Barker book, it has to get better” – right? It didn’t, at least not for me. I only recently discovered Barker’s work but the two previous books of his that I’ve read I liked – a lot (4 & 5star ratings)! This one? Not so much.
Barker writes some pretty wild, crazy, outrageous stuff, which has been the appeal for me to his work. This is definitely more of all that, but it generated a different reaction for me. The writing is the same action-packed, fast-paced style of Barkers so it was just the content and storyline that didn’t appeal to me.
Once again, it’s a bizarre and unusual zombie story mixed in with an “evil government agency” subplot. As if that wasn’t creepy enough, there were the requisite government lackeys and military personnel who operate from the whole “just following orders” mentality who captured two of the infected, two young girls 16 and 8, who were then tortured by a despicable government doctor for the purpose of “experimentation” in the name of science.
It was at about the 70% mark that I had to actually close the book for a day or two just to get away from the story for a while. I ended up starting another book before going back to finish this one later. As far as I’m concerned, the only redeeming characters were Tennant and her dog Zeke, who I am happy to report, survived the craziness. So, there’s that. I guess if I could give it a 1.5star star rating, I would but I’m just not feeling compelled to round up to a 2star rating.
While I have enjoyed the “creepiness” of Barker’s other work (like Coast to Coast – very creepy), this one just bothered me in a much creepier way. I guess I just can’t explain it very well and I’m just going to fall back on the easy excuse that I simply don’t like zombie stories. I was just disappointed that it turned out like it did – a government agency with a bunch of sinister scientists and an experiment gone horribly wrong and a boatload of other government agencies and military personnel trying to stop and cover up the whole thing. YUCK!!!!!
Throughout the story, I was reminded of another book I read recently, 2 Sisters Detective Agency, by Candice Fox, another author whose previous work I have also enjoyed: four books all with 4-5star ratings. It wasn’t that the stories were similar (they aren’t at all); it was just my overall dislike of both books. The 2 Sisters book was terrible to point where I couldn’t believe Fox wrote it because it was so different than anything else of hers that I had previously read. It just didn’t seem like something she would write. My dislike of that book was the content and storyline as well as there was not one redeeming character in the whole book.
I’ve been a lifelong reader and have discovered so many exceptional and wonderful writers. Despite my feelings for this book, I still like JD Barker’s work and will continue to read him; the same for Candice Fox. My feelings for this book are similar to my feelings for Candice Fox’s 2 Sisters Detective Agency book - every seasoned author has a turd (at least by my standards) festering amongst their widely acclaimed best sellers. That alone does not make them a bad writer. JMHO
