What do you think?
Rate this book
Abomination
1st Leisure edition paperback vg++
- GenresHorror
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1987
2 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 27, 2020
Abomination
By Michael C. Norton
Leisure.
1987.
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
I've been buying and reading horror fiction since I was practically a toddler, but actively collecting these books for about the past ten years.
I have quite a few reasons as to why, but the biggest is easily that I am searching for that unsung classic, that book with not nearly enough attention, that really deserves it.
Every once in a while, I'll get my head turned something that people rave about and I just become obsessed with getting my hands on. Abomination was one of those. I ended up finding it used about two years ago, and just finally got around to reading it.
Along the way, I realized that this title's reception was vastly split: some readers swear it as one of the best the genre can offer, others feel it's an over-hyped bore.
I stand in fanboy territory, but totally understand why someone wouldn't. Where you'll stand is greatly contingent on two factors: your patience and understanding. Patience in that it takes about 350 pages to be come a true horror novel. Understanding in that you should recognize it's far more a coming-of-age drama riddled with history, romance and socio-politics, with a sort of uneven, tacked on gorefest finale.
I acknowledge that if you go into this with the expectations that this is a Horror novel, you'll be disappointed. But if you're just looking for an excellent book, with a sprawling world of elements, including a bit horrific finale, and you're feeling particularly patient, this is a great choice. Sure, it's uneven, but it's always interesting. I blazed through this much faster than the standard 400 page doorstopper as a result.
Abomination is the debut of Michael C. Norton, who only wrote this and one other equally rare novel, Blizzard, for Leisure Books, in the late 80s. It follows the life and times of Steven Dalton, from whose perspective the entire book is told from. It spans the life of this small town dude, starting post WWII-late 40s through the progressive 60s, up to the mid 80s. The running theme is an unrequited love with a local girl, Cat. What remains to be discovered is that their love is forbidden by a shape-shifting murderous creature, the titular Abomination, and how this will impact the rest of his life.
I loved Abomination wholeheartedly and recommend it for those seeking a largely more sophisticated read than the standard #paperbacksfromhell offering. It offers more dimension, character development and depth than most of its brethren. It plays far more like a biographical recount of someone's life, culminating in a gorefest finale that comes practically from nowhere. You will literally laugh, cry, and get your arms and legs ripped off and "waist length hair stuffed down your gaping throat".
Think Stand By Me for 85 percent of the novel, with an Edward Lee final 15 percent. That's not for everyone, but it's certainly for me. I loved this very much and look forward to reading its sole follow-up, Blizzard. I have not read anything quite like Abomination and I'm not sure that there's anything else like it.
#horrorreads #horrornovels #horrorbooks #horror #horrorreading #horrorpaperbacks #horrorfiction #80shorror #80shorrorpaperbacks #paperbacksfromhell #bookstagram #horrorbookstagram #abomination #michaelcnorton
#leisurehorror #leisure #leisurebooks #leisurehorrorbooks #leisurehorrorbookclub
#undivineinterventions
Abomination
By Michael C. Norton
Leisure.
1987.
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
I've been buying and reading horror fiction since I was practically a toddler, but actively collecting these books for about the past ten years.
I have quite a few reasons as to why, but the biggest is easily that I am searching for that unsung classic, that book with not nearly enough attention, that really deserves it.
Every once in a while, I'll get my head turned something that people rave about and I just become obsessed with getting my hands on. Abomination was one of those. I ended up finding it used about two years ago, and just finally got around to reading it.
Along the way, I realized that this title's reception was vastly split: some readers swear it as one of the best the genre can offer, others feel it's an over-hyped bore.
I stand in fanboy territory, but totally understand why someone wouldn't. Where you'll stand is greatly contingent on two factors: your patience and understanding. Patience in that it takes about 350 pages to be come a true horror novel. Understanding in that you should recognize it's far more a coming-of-age drama riddled with history, romance and socio-politics, with a sort of uneven, tacked on gorefest finale.
I acknowledge that if you go into this with the expectations that this is a Horror novel, you'll be disappointed. But if you're just looking for an excellent book, with a sprawling world of elements, including a bit horrific finale, and you're feeling particularly patient, this is a great choice. Sure, it's uneven, but it's always interesting. I blazed through this much faster than the standard 400 page doorstopper as a result.
Abomination is the debut of Michael C. Norton, who only wrote this and one other equally rare novel, Blizzard, for Leisure Books, in the late 80s. It follows the life and times of Steven Dalton, from whose perspective the entire book is told from. It spans the life of this small town dude, starting post WWII-late 40s through the progressive 60s, up to the mid 80s. The running theme is an unrequited love with a local girl, Cat. What remains to be discovered is that their love is forbidden by a shape-shifting murderous creature, the titular Abomination, and how this will impact the rest of his life.
I loved Abomination wholeheartedly and recommend it for those seeking a largely more sophisticated read than the standard #paperbacksfromhell offering. It offers more dimension, character development and depth than most of its brethren. It plays far more like a biographical recount of someone's life, culminating in a gorefest finale that comes practically from nowhere. You will literally laugh, cry, and get your arms and legs ripped off and "waist length hair stuffed down your gaping throat".
Think Stand By Me for 85 percent of the novel, with an Edward Lee final 15 percent. That's not for everyone, but it's certainly for me. I loved this very much and look forward to reading its sole follow-up, Blizzard. I have not read anything quite like Abomination and I'm not sure that there's anything else like it.
#horrorreads #horrornovels #horrorbooks #horror #horrorreading #horrorpaperbacks #horrorfiction #80shorror #80shorrorpaperbacks #paperbacksfromhell #bookstagram #horrorbookstagram #abomination #michaelcnorton
#leisurehorror #leisure #leisurebooks #leisurehorrorbooks #leisurehorrorbookclub
#undivineinterventions
August 6, 2008
I simply adored this book! It's such a coincidence that they don't have a cover for it, because I read mine so much that my cover fell off! That's just how good it is.
January 11, 2009
Fantastic storytelling and a captivating plot. A must-read for all fans of horror!
March 9, 2014
I purchased this book after running across a few copies of it in a used bookstore and seeing five-star reviews across the board on Amazon, multiple reviews stating this is the best book the reviewer has ever read.
Wow, is almost all I can say after reading Abomination for myself. I will not say this is the worst book I've ever read but it was more than a bit of a chore to get through it. My guess is that the reviewers on Amazon who state this is the best book they've ever read are 15-year-old girls, or, I should clarify, were such at the time they read it. The other possibility is that the author himself or a friend/supporter went there to write multiple reviews raving about this book and how great it is. A lot of the reviews on there are more than a little similar and while I usually don't think authors do that type of thing in this case I do feel it's a possibility. Of course every one of the five-star reviews could be legitimate, I just find it unlikely. And it does appear that the author is an Amazon member.
As I read this supposed horror book all I could think was: why wasn't this in the 'young adult' section of the bookstore? "Young Adult" would certainly be a more accurate description than "horror." Abomination is not scary, not realistic, not suspenseful, not funny, not even sexy, which is odd since this book amounts to little more than 400 pages of sporadic sexcapades of a very shallow character beginning with sexual intercourse between a 10-year-old and 11-year-old. I am all for sexy books but sex occurring between children doesn't do much for me.
When the main character isn't plowing someone he cares nothing about there's a whole lot of nothing going on except every day life, the occasional reference to the "Abomination" of the title and a comment here and there about the supposed "soul mate" the main character is obsessed with yet barely knows when it comes down to it. The bottom line was that despite 400 pages of nothing but the main character's every day thoughts and activities I could not identify with him at all, nor did I care even a little about what happened to him.
I certainly don't expect a book to have all of the qualities I have listed and to have great character development and a gripping story, especially since it is listed as "horror" but I would at least expect one of those elements to be present.
This is really just a bunch of silliness. I should have gone with my first instinct when I found this book which was uttering a little "tee hee" and placing it back on the shelf from whence it came.
I thought the author was padding the reviews for this awful book on Amazon but based on the insanely high ratings on Goodreads I guess people truly do think this book is good. I am amazed.
Wow, is almost all I can say after reading Abomination for myself. I will not say this is the worst book I've ever read but it was more than a bit of a chore to get through it. My guess is that the reviewers on Amazon who state this is the best book they've ever read are 15-year-old girls, or, I should clarify, were such at the time they read it. The other possibility is that the author himself or a friend/supporter went there to write multiple reviews raving about this book and how great it is. A lot of the reviews on there are more than a little similar and while I usually don't think authors do that type of thing in this case I do feel it's a possibility. Of course every one of the five-star reviews could be legitimate, I just find it unlikely. And it does appear that the author is an Amazon member.
As I read this supposed horror book all I could think was: why wasn't this in the 'young adult' section of the bookstore? "Young Adult" would certainly be a more accurate description than "horror." Abomination is not scary, not realistic, not suspenseful, not funny, not even sexy, which is odd since this book amounts to little more than 400 pages of sporadic sexcapades of a very shallow character beginning with sexual intercourse between a 10-year-old and 11-year-old. I am all for sexy books but sex occurring between children doesn't do much for me.
When the main character isn't plowing someone he cares nothing about there's a whole lot of nothing going on except every day life, the occasional reference to the "Abomination" of the title and a comment here and there about the supposed "soul mate" the main character is obsessed with yet barely knows when it comes down to it. The bottom line was that despite 400 pages of nothing but the main character's every day thoughts and activities I could not identify with him at all, nor did I care even a little about what happened to him.
I certainly don't expect a book to have all of the qualities I have listed and to have great character development and a gripping story, especially since it is listed as "horror" but I would at least expect one of those elements to be present.
This is really just a bunch of silliness. I should have gone with my first instinct when I found this book which was uttering a little "tee hee" and placing it back on the shelf from whence it came.
I thought the author was padding the reviews for this awful book on Amazon but based on the insanely high ratings on Goodreads I guess people truly do think this book is good. I am amazed.
March 3, 2020
I’m sort of sad this book ended. I loved Steve dalton as a narrator and really connected with him. The beginning and ending to this book is absolute bliss in terms of story telling and the middle half is where you really build bonds on the characters and personalities. I couldn’t stand, I think his name was mr parkhurst, the teacher with his JFK obsession. The character himself was just obnoxious. If you can’t connect with the protagonist in any meaningful way this book will be hard to swallow. I recommend it to male readers mainly as it’s almost like a coming of age novel.
November 20, 2017
I enjoyed it. a page Turner, but I don't think the back cover matched at all what the book was about. they didnt really "release" anything, it just didn't match with what the book was about. I was wondering how he was going to end the book with 30 pages to go because it seemed so much was still unresolved, but everything got answered and revealed within the last 30 pages surprisingly and it didn't feel rushed or anything. I was wondering about cats other brother because he isn't mentioned except in the beginning. and it never says what he did with his whole life, but he was there in the end! It was good, it was intriguing, it was bloody! lol
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews