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Bang
"...In a remote institute, high on a cliff by the side of the sea, three inmates wake to find their world destroyed. With no memory of what occurred in their recent past, the deranged survivors must find a way to understand their predicament, and survive their encounter with one another..."Bang takes the form of three acts, each linked to the last, and following the fractured history of a tainted line.From northern England, to the environs of Phoenix, and back to modern day Reading, Bang guides the reader on a journey, challenging the nature of reality and sanity.Will you figure out the mystery at the heart of each story? Or will you too be claimed by the inevitable?
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 27, 2012
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22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 29, 2012
Review by http://IndieBookClub.wordpress.com/
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Plot:
There are three plot-lines that run through Bang.
The first part is a horror/mystery set in an isolated Victorian Mental institution. It follows the plight of the inmates, as they struggle with fractured memories and being the only survivors of an ‘event’ that appears to have claimed the lives of everyone around them.
The second part is set fifty years after those events, in the environs of Phoenix, Arizona. It follows a detective, struggling after his failings during the war, to find his life again.
The final part is set in modern-day Reading. It again follows a detective, this time specialising in technology fraud, as his world descends to chaos.
Running through all of this is a single word – the title. Wrapped up as a hidden fourth storyline.
Bang has all the hallmarks of great storytelling. It’s short, tight and put together with real craft. It tells its story, enticing the reader to follow as it wanders from topic to topic and style to style.
The first part is unique, thrilling, and ultimately satisfying. A truly magnificent effort. The second part, although slower than the first, is still as clever (even though I saw the ending of that part coming – But I’m not sure everyone will), and pulls the reader through to the finale. Part three is gripping, and re-creates the ‘disjointed’ feel of the first, increasing in pace to an ending that no-one (and I stand to be corrected) could possibly see coming.
This is how to put together a story to engage the reader. It’s descriptive, intriguing, visual, pacey and intelligently crafted.
I would say but one thing. The first part is not a Mystery novel. In parts, it’s a horror. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but a warning should be given somewhere in the information presented to the potential reader. The disassociated descriptions are genuinely fabulous. They say everything they need to with few words, and are meant to unhinge the reader – I get it. But, I can see many people putting this down before they reach page thirty because of that style. And that would be a shame. Those people would miss something special.
Plot Rating: (4.5/5)
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Character:
The characters in part one are excellently drawn. All three protagonists are distinct and leave the reader in no doubt as to their states of disablement. The conversations are all well pitched, and some of the cutaway sequences are very cleverly situated. I would have preferred more power in the love interest sections, but that really is it.
Part two has a couple of strong characters and the interplay is excellent. I want more from the sidekick and the love interest, as I feel they are slightly missing from the story. A little fleshing-out would have been sufficient. I know the story was trying to be as taught as possible, but relaxing this rule for character would not have been a bad idea in this instance.
Part three has two excellent characters, with some bright and charming dialogue sequences between the pair. Some of the side characters are broadly drawn, again sacrificed to keep the story tight, and this is a shame in an otherwise well-rounded piece.
In all, a very accomplished array of characters who span a hundred years and never once give any credibility issues through language misuse.
Character Rating: (4/5)
- – -
Style:
The style of Bang switches from Horror/Mystery to Crime/Mystery Thriller to Sci-Fi/Thriller as each of the three parts develops; retaining an overall Mystery Thriller feel throughout.
As they are all clearly delineated in the story, thus are never intertwined, and cause no serious concern to the reader. It may be that certain readers (especially with part one) are not happy with the bluntness, but if you are one of those people, believe me when I tell you to swallow hard and get beyond the bits you do not like. They disappear quickly, and the story is worth the few moments there are.
Just because the style genre does not sit anywhere in particular and there was no warning to say how gruesome certain early moments are, I have to mark this down. It needs to be better pitched on Amazon to find the right market and needs to explain it crosses genre boundaries. Until it does, readers may not get what they stylistically expect from this book. And they should.
Style Rating: (4/5)
- – -
Impact:
Some of the scenes in Bang have a great deal of impact. As already discussed, some of the more horrific sequences are expertly written, making skin crawl with the visualisations that are planted in the reader’s eye. Other moments, have enough emotional impact to pull the heart-strings and allow the reader to fall into the characters (even the psychotic ones, which is a very good sign).
Unfortunately, because the book has strived to be as minimalistic as possible in its wording and storyline, it fails to deliver as many impact moments as it should, instead imparting impact through its plot-twists and revelations (some of them wonderfully done, it must be said).
But it’s not enough. Stories this good do not come along often, and this one deserves five stars across the board. It needs a little more character depth so that events can impart impact without the need for distinct tragedy. This story has enough of that already.
A crying shame. Parts two and three of this novel need only another five or ten pages each to put some emotional context into them. Without them, it feels a little lightweight (but maybe that’s just the deflation the first part – in all its beauty – could not have been longer). Whatever the reason, the impact is missing and thus the score is much lower than it should be.
Impact Rating: (3.5/5)
- – -
Readability:
Bang is so tight, I thought diamonds would squeeze out of part one. Other than the usual scene-setting simile, it is a class in maximum impact of story in the shortest amount of words.
There is a possibility readers may be lost by events in part three, but that is true of all mysteries. If you are not paying attention at the pivotal moment, you miss the information needed to give the ending revelation.
If there was a critique, it would be an all too familiar issue with new authors, and that’s an overuse of ‘had’ and ‘that’ and even ‘that had’. I want Mr. Allinson to take a look at the amount of times those words are used in Bang. They are not needed in the majority of cases. If you really want unbeatable story tightness, and your writing makes it very clear you do, work hard, revisit your manuscript, and take them out.
Readability Rating: (4.5/5)
- – -
Overall Rating
(4.1/5)
A great mystery thriller, drawn with flair and considered tempo. It does commit one of the big sins of sales, and refuses to sit in any particular pigeon-hole of genre, and this could hold it back if not corrected in its accompanying bumf. But if you can look beyond that small point, you will find a book unlike anything on the market. And you should enjoy it for what it is - a unique gem.
- - -
Plot:
There are three plot-lines that run through Bang.
The first part is a horror/mystery set in an isolated Victorian Mental institution. It follows the plight of the inmates, as they struggle with fractured memories and being the only survivors of an ‘event’ that appears to have claimed the lives of everyone around them.
The second part is set fifty years after those events, in the environs of Phoenix, Arizona. It follows a detective, struggling after his failings during the war, to find his life again.
The final part is set in modern-day Reading. It again follows a detective, this time specialising in technology fraud, as his world descends to chaos.
Running through all of this is a single word – the title. Wrapped up as a hidden fourth storyline.
Bang has all the hallmarks of great storytelling. It’s short, tight and put together with real craft. It tells its story, enticing the reader to follow as it wanders from topic to topic and style to style.
The first part is unique, thrilling, and ultimately satisfying. A truly magnificent effort. The second part, although slower than the first, is still as clever (even though I saw the ending of that part coming – But I’m not sure everyone will), and pulls the reader through to the finale. Part three is gripping, and re-creates the ‘disjointed’ feel of the first, increasing in pace to an ending that no-one (and I stand to be corrected) could possibly see coming.
This is how to put together a story to engage the reader. It’s descriptive, intriguing, visual, pacey and intelligently crafted.
I would say but one thing. The first part is not a Mystery novel. In parts, it’s a horror. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but a warning should be given somewhere in the information presented to the potential reader. The disassociated descriptions are genuinely fabulous. They say everything they need to with few words, and are meant to unhinge the reader – I get it. But, I can see many people putting this down before they reach page thirty because of that style. And that would be a shame. Those people would miss something special.
Plot Rating: (4.5/5)
- – -
Character:
The characters in part one are excellently drawn. All three protagonists are distinct and leave the reader in no doubt as to their states of disablement. The conversations are all well pitched, and some of the cutaway sequences are very cleverly situated. I would have preferred more power in the love interest sections, but that really is it.
Part two has a couple of strong characters and the interplay is excellent. I want more from the sidekick and the love interest, as I feel they are slightly missing from the story. A little fleshing-out would have been sufficient. I know the story was trying to be as taught as possible, but relaxing this rule for character would not have been a bad idea in this instance.
Part three has two excellent characters, with some bright and charming dialogue sequences between the pair. Some of the side characters are broadly drawn, again sacrificed to keep the story tight, and this is a shame in an otherwise well-rounded piece.
In all, a very accomplished array of characters who span a hundred years and never once give any credibility issues through language misuse.
Character Rating: (4/5)
- – -
Style:
The style of Bang switches from Horror/Mystery to Crime/Mystery Thriller to Sci-Fi/Thriller as each of the three parts develops; retaining an overall Mystery Thriller feel throughout.
As they are all clearly delineated in the story, thus are never intertwined, and cause no serious concern to the reader. It may be that certain readers (especially with part one) are not happy with the bluntness, but if you are one of those people, believe me when I tell you to swallow hard and get beyond the bits you do not like. They disappear quickly, and the story is worth the few moments there are.
Just because the style genre does not sit anywhere in particular and there was no warning to say how gruesome certain early moments are, I have to mark this down. It needs to be better pitched on Amazon to find the right market and needs to explain it crosses genre boundaries. Until it does, readers may not get what they stylistically expect from this book. And they should.
Style Rating: (4/5)
- – -
Impact:
Some of the scenes in Bang have a great deal of impact. As already discussed, some of the more horrific sequences are expertly written, making skin crawl with the visualisations that are planted in the reader’s eye. Other moments, have enough emotional impact to pull the heart-strings and allow the reader to fall into the characters (even the psychotic ones, which is a very good sign).
Unfortunately, because the book has strived to be as minimalistic as possible in its wording and storyline, it fails to deliver as many impact moments as it should, instead imparting impact through its plot-twists and revelations (some of them wonderfully done, it must be said).
But it’s not enough. Stories this good do not come along often, and this one deserves five stars across the board. It needs a little more character depth so that events can impart impact without the need for distinct tragedy. This story has enough of that already.
A crying shame. Parts two and three of this novel need only another five or ten pages each to put some emotional context into them. Without them, it feels a little lightweight (but maybe that’s just the deflation the first part – in all its beauty – could not have been longer). Whatever the reason, the impact is missing and thus the score is much lower than it should be.
Impact Rating: (3.5/5)
- – -
Readability:
Bang is so tight, I thought diamonds would squeeze out of part one. Other than the usual scene-setting simile, it is a class in maximum impact of story in the shortest amount of words.
There is a possibility readers may be lost by events in part three, but that is true of all mysteries. If you are not paying attention at the pivotal moment, you miss the information needed to give the ending revelation.
If there was a critique, it would be an all too familiar issue with new authors, and that’s an overuse of ‘had’ and ‘that’ and even ‘that had’. I want Mr. Allinson to take a look at the amount of times those words are used in Bang. They are not needed in the majority of cases. If you really want unbeatable story tightness, and your writing makes it very clear you do, work hard, revisit your manuscript, and take them out.
Readability Rating: (4.5/5)
- – -
Overall Rating
(4.1/5)
A great mystery thriller, drawn with flair and considered tempo. It does commit one of the big sins of sales, and refuses to sit in any particular pigeon-hole of genre, and this could hold it back if not corrected in its accompanying bumf. But if you can look beyond that small point, you will find a book unlike anything on the market. And you should enjoy it for what it is - a unique gem.
August 21, 2012
Have to give this 5 stars, don't I?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews