Mandiev

by M.T. Dismuke

"A page-turner of darkest depth. Betrayal, fear, and layers of hidden agendas all play parts in this intense, pulse-pounding thriller."

Mandiev at its core is a machine, control, and betrayal. The author M. T. Dismuke writes about technology and science all wrapped up inside a darker world where it then becomes malefic and deadly. He then creates plots filled with twists and hidden agendas which is exactly what Mandiev is from the very moment the novel is cracked open to the very end. The story itself is an intricate web of betrayal and secrets cast over an entire community in order to protect, maintain, and control the machine... Discover its purpose.




After an explosion kills the Mandiev brothers and hundreds of others, a dark legacy begins as a sentient machine is abused by its creator infecting the entire community. Decades later, Mary Hilt is lured into its world and begins to unlock the corruption. Riddled with hidden agendas and a never-ending cycle of death, she reveals the layers of madness that spawned from its awakening. Discover her fate and the secret behind the Mandiev's in this intense, pulse-pounding suspense thriller.

It all begins with a betrayal, a machine, and a darker intent... It has a purpose.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2011

Reviews

[Sara Meehan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have known from the grammatical error in the book's description on Amazon that this was not going to go well.

The premise of "The Necro Device" is intriguing. In the interest of giving it a fair shot, I stuck with the book through the first chapter, but even that much was flush with "tell" rather than "show" writing, sloppy punctuation, erratic changes of tenses and clunky dialogue. For example, this sentence taken verbatim from the book:

"Drunkenly, a man stood up from his seat. 'Me!' He slurs loudly. 'I'll Do, whatever! And show everyone that you're all nothing but a bunch of freaks!' He stumbled slightly."

There may be a good story lurking behind the dross — the few reviews it has on Amazon are good — but this reads like a rough draft. A good editor would do wonders to improve readability.

[Autumn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great original plot, great characters, good idea. The problem is that this book isn't very reader friendly. It needs a good edit, and for the author to use a thesaurus instead of repeating the same descriptive words & actions that a character does over and over. It also jumps around in tense & style alot. This book is a great example of a writer 'telling' emotion & not 'showing' any of it. I found myself not caring what happened to anyone, despite how hard I wanted to. I still finished it anyway because I did like the plot. This book felt like I was simply reading the author's lengthy description of what the book was going to be about. If it had a good edit & was cleaned up some it would easily get five stars from me.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel literally begins with a bang, a lead-up to a graphic tragedy which changes the destiny of a famed family and of a community. Then, leaping ahead thirty years, a new path ensues. John and Mary Hilt of Colorado have contracted to prepare a long-abandoned estate for charity auction. Isolated, rural, located in a locale of suspicion, grief, and resentment, the mansion is an oddly-shaped structure, willed in perpetuity with an accompanying trust of twelve million dollars. Accompanied by their flighty college student daughter, Felicia, the couple soon discovers that the local communities have always held the Mandiev brothers-owners of the estate-responsible for the fatal carnival fire which resulted in many fatalities, allegedly including the brothers.

The sins and tragedies of the past won’t fade away, and supposedly the former Mandiev mansion is not only haunted, but cursed and dangerous. Myths and urban legends abound about the property, and even in the small nearby community strange events begin to occur.

I thought the novel could have been slimmed down and made a little tauter (and a tad less wordy), but all in all it did maintain its grip on my attention, and was suffused with surprises, changes, and convolutions which kept me turning pages.

[Sandy]

NO stars !! Clearly the writer of the book does not have a grasp of the English language and all the added unnecessary drivvle made this book very hard to read, much less finish. I would never read anything written by this author, if that's what you could call him, again! Not only that, when I placed my review on The Amazon website, when I wasn't sure I wanted to finish this stupid book, the author harrassed and bullied me on the website, calling me a troll and saying I did not read his book. In my opinion , he knows nothing of what he is talking about and he should keep his trap shut because it just makes me think that he is an idiot and that's probably the only reason I wrote my review now here.

[Katy]

Tried reading it, couldn't finish. The writing was bad enough to be distracting. I did not write a full review as I figured this was the author's first book and that hopefully future books would be better. After I saw the author was wondering why no one has reviewed the book, I asked him if maybe he would have preferred me to write one of my rare one-star reviews for a book so bad I couldn't finish it, and rather than reply he just blocked me. So, I'm adding in this short explanation for anyone who is wondering how this ended up on my unfinished shelf and why there is no complete review.

A lot of people did like this story, so decide for yourself, of course.

[Lee-Ann Graff-Vinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when you try to restore a mansion which has brought nothing but heartache to the people who live in torment of its past? What happens when rumours of evil beings haunting the manor begin to come true? What happens when the evil takes over your very soul?
The Mandiev brothers performed death defying feats under the circus top. One fateful night, during their final performance of the night, something went deadly wrong. Hundreds were massacred, including the Mandiev brothers. The town blamed the circus freak family and the Mandiev name became synonymous with death as the town of Ithlaton mourn their dead some thirty years later.
Mary and John Hilt happily acquired the contract to repair the old, run down Mandiev mansion. In great need of the money, the Hilt’s were hired by the mansions primary beneficiary and appointed trustee, Dick Stevens who has more than just a monetary cause for bringing back what was once lost. A large and difficult job, the restoration comes head to head with City Council Member, Rose Mauder, a citizen who wants the job stopped and the mansion, with all its evil memories, destroyed before it takes another life. Already of a fragile mind, Mary finds herself at the mercy of the Mandievs, as she becomes trapped in the realm of the demonic presence still held within the house.
Author, M.T. Dismuke writes a horrifying tale of the unknown. Chills run down your spine as you read of the fear engulfing this morbid thriller. The characters are larger than life and pray upon your inner demons. Your gut will tighten and the hair on the back of your neck will prickle. This book will make you question every noise you hear as you read. Those of you looking for a fright in the night will not be disappointed.
Lee-Ann Graff-Vinson is the author of ‘Georgia’s Smile’, ‘Love’s Trust’, ‘Callie’s Fate’, ‘Love And Liberty’ (now also available in print), and her most recent release ‘Queen Emily’s Enchanted Kingdom – Sugarland’, a children’s picture book series available in kindle and print versions.

[Bumbershootbears · Rating 1 out of 5]

awful. painful dialogue.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the most suspenseful book that I have ever read. It keep me wanting more I couldn't put it down I read it three times. You meet Mary and John Hilt and they have been hired to restore a mansion of the famous Mandiev brothers,They were circus performers that died in a freak accident, or was it?
This book puts you in Mary's shoes and you go through all this crazy delusional episodes with her. But when you find out close to the end the secret that you start trying to figure out in the beginning you are floored. I know I was I couldn't not believe it. This book kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to find out the truth. If you love a good mystery thriller novel this is for you it was the most incredible book I've read in a long time. M.T. Dismuke's writing style is like no other author I've read before. He goes completely in detail with you so you can experience his book as if you were there when it was happening. I give this book five stars it was a awesome read and I recommend it to everyone.

[Recommend Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opening: This was one of my favorite parts of the book. The author puts the reader under a big top where the Mandiev brothers are preforming outrageous stunts one after another.

Plot: Mary, John, and Felicia for a little bit, try to fix up the Mandiev mansion for an auction, and Mary's mind is slowly changed by the house's dark secret. The book takes around a hundred pages to setup the mood of the town towards the mansion and to introduce the characters. It felt a little too long.

Spoiler-free ending: I don't want to give anything away, but the book did get better towards the end as Mary tries to stop the house from reaching its hidden powers. That being said, the very end was disappointing for me. The part with the sword felt unrealistic.

Characters: The main characters are by far my least favorite part of the book. They all hate each other. I'm fine with that, but the execution bothers me a bit. Small annoyances make characters go at each others' throats. Mary seems better at the beginning, but a history marriage problems pops up. She also cries a lot. The author overuses the 'a single tear drips from her eye' line and variants of it.

Other thoughts: There are a few grammatical errors that are overlooked. The formatting is troubling at times. Paragraphs aren't indented and scene changes aren't separated or indicated well.

Recommend? I'm going to have to say no. I have only read a few horror stories, so I can't think of a close alternative to this necro-mansion story to recommend instead.

[Teawench · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a lot of yelling in this book. John yelled at Felicia and Mary. Felicia yelled at everyone. So did Mary. Even some of the secondary characters got in on the yelling action. It made all of them seem pretty flat and one dimensional. Felicia was probably the most annoying. She was in college but acted like a spoiled five year old. She was in one quite long scene at the beginning that didn't serve any purpose. Other than maybe filler. And in the end, though I'm not sure how, it all boiled down to Felicia and her greed.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading Mandiev last night and I really enjoyed it. It was suspenseful, the characters were well developed and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good read with a lot of action and twists. This is M. T. Dismuke's first book and well worth reading.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome!!

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The POV threw me off from the beginning and the story just dragged. It read very much like a screenplay (but not of a movie I'd want to see).

[A.B. Shepherd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this one 3 1/2 stars. I kind of have mixed feelings about it and I've been trying to sort them out before I wrote this review. Overall a book I am glad I read. Definitely worthwhile.

First I'll list my pet peeves with this. Mr. Dismuke either had no editor or had a bad one. There were far too many "motionless waves" and the typo "shinning" when the intention was "shining" was repeated many times. "Click" and "Ding" are not dialogue and I didn't like them written as such. It's like the author was trying to put in sound effects. But none of this impacted the storyline. They just bugged me.

The storyline was quite inventive.

First the good stuff:

Truly an original story. I had initially thought maybe it was to be in the vein of Stephen King's The Shining, but was glad it was not in the end. So many twists and turns. So many people you weren't sure if they were bad guys or good guys until the end. Lots of suspense. Lots of intrigue. Lots of "paranormal". A satisfying conclusion.

Now the bad stuff:

*****SPOILER ALERT******

I didn't really find any of the characters sympathetic and felt that attempting to make Mary a heroine of sorts at the end was difficult for the reader to accept considering she'd been a bit of a bitch throughout. I guess we were supposed to let that pass because she had been drugged for so much of the book.

It was good to see John and Felicia get their comeuppance, but at the same time how do you deal with the fact that your daughter and husband tried to kill you? It doesn't appear that Mary dealt with that at all. She just moved on to a relationship with the doctor that I guess we are to assume was meant to be because he had saved her life when she was a child.

I had trouble understanding all of the mechanics of the machine, but that is really neither here nor there.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, not sure where to start here. Overall, I enjoyed the book but found my "need to want to read it" waning. It started out super strong and about half way through it started to become slightly scattered and redundant in its narrative flow. I am not sure if the middle chapters were purposely done that way to create "fluff" to stretch the book out. But whether intentional or not, it kinda brought the book to a snore for a while. The ending was better but you could kind of predict the ending.

Overall, it was a good in between read and I will probably get the next book to see where the story goes.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. I loved the dialogue. Great 'show' story with very little 'tell'. Great plot, great story line, great twists all the way through the novel.

[Mario · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book definitely needs an editor, but the bulk of it is really pretty good, at least until you get to the eponymous "Necro Device." It doesn't show up until chapter 21, and it really throws the whole book out of alignment. What had been a quiet, psychological horror story (albeit one with no likeable characters) turns into an crazy, excessive supernatural horror story, and it's really a shame.

[Evi Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark yet intriguing

It took me awhile to get into it in the beginning, but that could be because I was hospitalized when I started it. The nurses, Dr’s and needles were constant interruptions. Good job my friend. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a very interesting premise but I felt the implementation was lacking. I was never able to empathize with any of the characters in the story. I just didn't find any of them likeable and their motivations were not very convincing. The book really needs a good editor. The authors confuse "to" and "too" in a couple of places. There are a couple of instances of just using the wrong word, e.g. "retched" instead of "wretched". The formatting is poor, the paragraphs have no indentation nor any white space with the preceding paragraph so the reader is left to notice that a line didn't go all the way to the end so the next line must be a new paragraph.

[Nora aka Diva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aside from some clunky dialogue and some rather bizarre conveniences that pop up throughout, this was a fun and intriguing read. The ending was a bit of a pleasant surprise. All in all I did enjoy reading this novel.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got a a little over half the book done and could not take anymore. Things are repeated and the timeline is jumpy. After the one scene I just could not do it anymore. To me it seems more like notes placed together to try and form a story. The concept was interesting.

[Simon Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some gripping and emotive stuff but I'm afraid to say I kept putting it down as the pace didn't seem to keep up

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great premise, but not well written. Reads like it was badly translated, which distracts from a very interesting story. Too bad, as I know I missed details and nuances due to the confusing wording.