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Ravens
When grifters Shaw and Romeo pull up at a convenience store in Georgia, their only thought is to fix a faulty tyre and be on their way to Florida.
But this happens to be the store from which a $318 million Jackpot ticket has just been sold - and when the pretty clerk accidentally reveals to Shaw the identity of the winning family, he hatches a terrifyingly audacious plan.
That night, he visits the Boatwright family's home and takes them hostage, while the sinister Romeo patrols the streets nearby, prepared to murder the Boatwrights' loved ones at the first sign of resistance.
At first, the family offers none. But Shaw's plan depends on maintaining constant fear - merciless, unfaltering terror - and soon, under the pressure, everyone's sanity begins to unravel...
But this happens to be the store from which a $318 million Jackpot ticket has just been sold - and when the pretty clerk accidentally reveals to Shaw the identity of the winning family, he hatches a terrifyingly audacious plan.
That night, he visits the Boatwright family's home and takes them hostage, while the sinister Romeo patrols the streets nearby, prepared to murder the Boatwrights' loved ones at the first sign of resistance.
At first, the family offers none. But Shaw's plan depends on maintaining constant fear - merciless, unfaltering terror - and soon, under the pressure, everyone's sanity begins to unravel...
348 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 8, 2008
85 people are currently reading
1037 people want to read
About the author
George Dawes Green
7 books265 followersGeorge Dawes Green is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of the Moth. His first novel, The Caveman's Valentine, won an Edgar Award and became a motion picture starring Samuel L. Jackson. The Juror was a bestseller in more than 20 languages and the basis for the motion picture starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin. Ravens was chosen as one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other publications. Green grew up in Georgia and now lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 351 reviews
August 11, 2021
look, i can only suspend my disbelief so far, and for so long. i know someone who watches movies very vocally; giving suggestions to the actors, scoffing and second-guessing the screenwriters. and it always pisses me off. but i found myself doing that for this book like crazy. i was just stunned by the characters' short-sightedness:
so you win the lottery, big time, and this makes you a target for a couple of jokers who want half of your 318 million. so, they trick you into letting them in, and one of them stays and sort of guards your family, but you still have full access to your phones and computers etc, and he does go to sleep, leaving the four of you to your separate closed-door rooms... and you... well, you allow it. because the other guy is out there and if you call the cops, he will kill someone you love. eventually, security is tightened a little bit, and precautions are taken to limit outside communication, but seriously, people. how hard is it to escape that situation? do something. be resourceful. be more like the australian teenagers. i think i would be a good hostage - i think i could evade my kidnappers (and i apologize in advance to any of my loved ones whom i may have imaginarily just gotten killed) in this particular situation, i would be so gone, after putting my e-mail machine to good use.
and it goes on from there in different ways, all of which i frowned at. there was one beautifully written scene where a man confronts a woman he loves who wants nothing to do with him, and his raw naked need for her, as he pretty much begs her for attention and acceptance and she is distracted and unswayed by it all really twisted the knife beautifully.
i told myself that if this book redeemed itself with its ending, i would bend and give it three stars.
see above...
come to my blog!
so you win the lottery, big time, and this makes you a target for a couple of jokers who want half of your 318 million. so, they trick you into letting them in, and one of them stays and sort of guards your family, but you still have full access to your phones and computers etc, and he does go to sleep, leaving the four of you to your separate closed-door rooms... and you... well, you allow it. because the other guy is out there and if you call the cops, he will kill someone you love. eventually, security is tightened a little bit, and precautions are taken to limit outside communication, but seriously, people. how hard is it to escape that situation? do something. be resourceful. be more like the australian teenagers. i think i would be a good hostage - i think i could evade my kidnappers (and i apologize in advance to any of my loved ones whom i may have imaginarily just gotten killed) in this particular situation, i would be so gone, after putting my e-mail machine to good use.
and it goes on from there in different ways, all of which i frowned at. there was one beautifully written scene where a man confronts a woman he loves who wants nothing to do with him, and his raw naked need for her, as he pretty much begs her for attention and acceptance and she is distracted and unswayed by it all really twisted the knife beautifully.
i told myself that if this book redeemed itself with its ending, i would bend and give it three stars.
see above...
come to my blog!
June 11, 2018
2.5★s for me. This book perplexed me.
”This whole deal was just two smartass kids thinking they’d found themselves a pot of gold, except they weren’t professionals, and they didn’t know what they were in for.”
Boy oh boy, I didn’t know what I was in for either. You’d have to assume that when a book opens with roadkill, that this is an omen of how it will end.
The Boatwright family have won a mega-jackpot lottery. Millions beyond their wildest dreams. Unfortunately for them, young Jase (Jason), an overindulged spoilt brat, has blabbed to his friends that his family were now millionaires (many times over).
Of course, gossip spreads like wildfire, and it wasn’t long before the whole damn town found out the identity of the mystery winners.
Enter two drifters on vacation from Piqua, Ohio. Two best mates on a roadtrip, travelling through Georgia (or was it Carolina?) on their way to Florida, for a bit of fun’n’sun. While at a petrol station filling their tyres with air, grafter No.1 Shaw, overhears the petrol station attendant Cheryl, gossiping (cough cough), I mean sharing the news that their store had sold the “lucky” lottery ticket.
Clever Shaw hatches the ingenious plan to keep the Boatwright family hostage, with threats to their lives and also assorted cousins etc, unless they agree to divvy up the jackpot. Grifter No.2 Romeo, blindly follows along with Shaw’s grand plan. That’s what best buddies do, right?
This is where things get kinda weird. Shaw “introduces” himself to the family, and tells them what he wants. Half their jackpot winnings. Romeo is to act as his “Angel of Vengeance”, and will bump of various family members at Shaw’s say so, if they don’t go along with him.
What I didn’t understand at all were that there seemed to be many opportunities where the family could have at least tried to contact the police.
Early in the piece, Shaw takes Tara (the daughter) for an evening of poker and drinking with feisty granma Nell, who lives around the corner. A good night was had by all. Ok, so no Shaw and no Romeo. What does Patsy (the mother) do? Yes, the lush gets herself another g&t and surfs the net to dream about which Malibu mansion she’ll buy with her winnings. Helppppp meeeeeeee.
And let’s not even mention Mitch (the father) who is weaker than dishwater. My goodness, the family even went fishing with Shaw?!
Overall, I didn’t dislike the writing style. I disliked the odious characters and implausibility of the plot. Way over the top. The only character with any backbone is the much maligned town copper (kind of like the local joke for his slow ways), cruelly nicknamed and called to his face as “Deppity Dawg”. He’s the only one who had a clue and worked out what Shaw was up to. He’s the only one worth giving a fig about.
Recommended for airport journeys where you don’t want to flick through a magazine, but can’t be bothered to really focus on reading a book.
*** Shout out to my reading buddy Jus (Super-Exclusive-Bookclub)***
”This whole deal was just two smartass kids thinking they’d found themselves a pot of gold, except they weren’t professionals, and they didn’t know what they were in for.”
Boy oh boy, I didn’t know what I was in for either. You’d have to assume that when a book opens with roadkill, that this is an omen of how it will end.
The Boatwright family have won a mega-jackpot lottery. Millions beyond their wildest dreams. Unfortunately for them, young Jase (Jason), an overindulged spoilt brat, has blabbed to his friends that his family were now millionaires (many times over).
Of course, gossip spreads like wildfire, and it wasn’t long before the whole damn town found out the identity of the mystery winners.
Enter two drifters on vacation from Piqua, Ohio. Two best mates on a roadtrip, travelling through Georgia (or was it Carolina?) on their way to Florida, for a bit of fun’n’sun. While at a petrol station filling their tyres with air, grafter No.1 Shaw, overhears the petrol station attendant Cheryl, gossiping (cough cough), I mean sharing the news that their store had sold the “lucky” lottery ticket.
Clever Shaw hatches the ingenious plan to keep the Boatwright family hostage, with threats to their lives and also assorted cousins etc, unless they agree to divvy up the jackpot. Grifter No.2 Romeo, blindly follows along with Shaw’s grand plan. That’s what best buddies do, right?
This is where things get kinda weird. Shaw “introduces” himself to the family, and tells them what he wants. Half their jackpot winnings. Romeo is to act as his “Angel of Vengeance”, and will bump of various family members at Shaw’s say so, if they don’t go along with him.
What I didn’t understand at all were that there seemed to be many opportunities where the family could have at least tried to contact the police.
Early in the piece, Shaw takes Tara (the daughter) for an evening of poker and drinking with feisty granma Nell, who lives around the corner. A good night was had by all. Ok, so no Shaw and no Romeo. What does Patsy (the mother) do? Yes, the lush gets herself another g&t and surfs the net to dream about which Malibu mansion she’ll buy with her winnings. Helppppp meeeeeeee.
And let’s not even mention Mitch (the father) who is weaker than dishwater. My goodness, the family even went fishing with Shaw?!
Overall, I didn’t dislike the writing style. I disliked the odious characters and implausibility of the plot. Way over the top. The only character with any backbone is the much maligned town copper (kind of like the local joke for his slow ways), cruelly nicknamed and called to his face as “Deppity Dawg”. He’s the only one who had a clue and worked out what Shaw was up to. He’s the only one worth giving a fig about.
Recommended for airport journeys where you don’t want to flick through a magazine, but can’t be bothered to really focus on reading a book.
*** Shout out to my reading buddy Jus (Super-Exclusive-Bookclub)***
September 17, 2013
This is one of those "I've read 290 pages of this 'thriller' and I genuinely do not care what happens to any of these dumb people [except maybe the Golden Girl grandma]" type of reads. I was originally going to give it two stars under the grounds that it's inoffensive, but that's not really true, because hey let's not contribute to the stereotype of the slow 'n' stupid religious, drunkard South, mmkay? No character in this book -- from the Boatwrights, who let themselves be extorted by a man who falls asleep on his kidnapper watch, to the extorter's "muscle" partner, whose sole motivation for theoretically killing a bunch of folks is wanting his selfish friend to have like 159 million dollars-- resembles a real, cognizant, aware human. They are just breathing plot points. No one cares what happens to fictional dummies, I'm sorry!
May 25, 2012
I think this may have been written by George Dawes offa Shooting Stars. A man in a babysuit having a go at fiction.
I admit, I was seduced by the cover of this book in the library. It was there on a shelf, complete with text from various newspaper reviews, "Loved by reading groups across the land" and a great big sticker that said "I could have my money back if I didn't love it..... terms and conditions apply".
Suspicioulsy, there was no detail on what the story was about or about the author.
So I plod on.... it opens in a bit of a cliched way - a hick family have their alcoholic mother spreading her lotttery tickets out in front of the tv..... the too cool for words daughter is keeping a low profile, expecting the usual commotion when they loose - only this time, they win.... $318 million dollars.
Hitting the town at the same time are a couple of IT consultants that are escaping the rat race - hoping to live off a fishing boat. There hear about the win in a garage and then, over the course of the book, turn into kidnappers, psychopaths and assasains.
Uhmmm.... not very likely.
Add to that a quasi religous feeling, a traffic cop who has a hunch that all is not right but his superiors won't believe him and the fact that the family seem to be completely compliant in the kidnapping and extortion - you have one very, very weak book.
Now I didnt love it and can't really ask for my money back from the library - but be very careful how you invest your time. You won't get that back.
I admit, I was seduced by the cover of this book in the library. It was there on a shelf, complete with text from various newspaper reviews, "Loved by reading groups across the land" and a great big sticker that said "I could have my money back if I didn't love it..... terms and conditions apply".
Suspicioulsy, there was no detail on what the story was about or about the author.
So I plod on.... it opens in a bit of a cliched way - a hick family have their alcoholic mother spreading her lotttery tickets out in front of the tv..... the too cool for words daughter is keeping a low profile, expecting the usual commotion when they loose - only this time, they win.... $318 million dollars.
Hitting the town at the same time are a couple of IT consultants that are escaping the rat race - hoping to live off a fishing boat. There hear about the win in a garage and then, over the course of the book, turn into kidnappers, psychopaths and assasains.
Uhmmm.... not very likely.
Add to that a quasi religous feeling, a traffic cop who has a hunch that all is not right but his superiors won't believe him and the fact that the family seem to be completely compliant in the kidnapping and extortion - you have one very, very weak book.
Now I didnt love it and can't really ask for my money back from the library - but be very careful how you invest your time. You won't get that back.
August 6, 2009
This one was a page turner. I was so hooked right from the word go with this one.
The story was narrated by a few different characters. It jumped back and forth, but it didn't seem choppy. The story just goes on, but from a different perspective. It wasn't like it would switch to a new character and rehash what the last character just told us.
The writing was good. There was only one thing that bothered me, when a character is talking the author would use Said Shaw instead of Shaw Said. But that was really the only thing I didn't like.
I liked the beginning, it gave us enough info about the characters to pull me into the story, without giving so much detail that it became mundane. It follows the Boatwright family and then friends Shaw and Romeo. The Boatwrights win the lottery and that's when Shaw and Romeo really enter the picture.
The suspense in this novel doesn't come from not knowing what's going on. Quite the opposite, we know what's going on right from the word go. The suspense comes from hoping that someone will slip and everyone else will know what is going on. I would say it's more psychological that physical suspense.
The ending threw me for a loop. And while the last passage confused me a little it still was a great ending.
Overall good writing and a great story.
The story was narrated by a few different characters. It jumped back and forth, but it didn't seem choppy. The story just goes on, but from a different perspective. It wasn't like it would switch to a new character and rehash what the last character just told us.
The writing was good. There was only one thing that bothered me, when a character is talking the author would use Said Shaw instead of Shaw Said. But that was really the only thing I didn't like.
I liked the beginning, it gave us enough info about the characters to pull me into the story, without giving so much detail that it became mundane. It follows the Boatwright family and then friends Shaw and Romeo. The Boatwrights win the lottery and that's when Shaw and Romeo really enter the picture.
The suspense in this novel doesn't come from not knowing what's going on. Quite the opposite, we know what's going on right from the word go. The suspense comes from hoping that someone will slip and everyone else will know what is going on. I would say it's more psychological that physical suspense.
The ending threw me for a loop. And while the last passage confused me a little it still was a great ending.
Overall good writing and a great story.
February 10, 2017
I greatly disliked this book. I simply couldn't figure out why the Boatwright family went along willingly with the bullshit from the two low lifes holding them hostage. There were many, many opportunities for them to get away yet they took none of them. UGH!!!
August 20, 2013
Halfway through reading this book, I put it down for 5 days to attend a music festival. As an illustration of just how much I wasn't enjoying it, I wasn't remotely bothered by having to stop halfway through, didn't think of it once while I was away, and was actually pretty disgruntled when I returned and remembered I hadn't finished it yet. The second half didn't change this in any way.
Tara's family, including younger non-entity brother Jase, alcoholic mum Patsy and god-bothering Dad Mitch, have just won the lottery. All $318 million of it. But it won't be theirs for long as Shaw and Romeo, two former IT techs trying to escape their dull lives, have heard about their win and Shaw hatches a plan. He'll take the family hostage, while Romeo roams the night intent on killing everyone they love if the family doesn't hand over half their winnings. Which Shaw wants to then give away.
The family happily complies without any fight while the female side sorta falls for Shaw, and the public start seeing him as some sort of Jesus figure when he announces his intentions to give his 'winnings' away. Until Shaw doesn't answer one of Romeo's calls due to an accident, which is the signal for him to start killing.
This book was all over the shop, seemingly unable to decide what kind of book it wanted to be, and settling for being uneven and completely implausible. Characters make strange decisions and behave in ways that no person would, and no real effort is put into making the reader feel that those thoughts and actions make sense. When Shaw first tells Romeo of his plan, he simply accepts it. I've been a bored IT person, and I love my friends, but I imagine that if one of them asked me to kill a stranger's entire family so they could give away some money I'd have a little more to say about it than "OK then."
As for the family, if someone had taken mine hostage and told me there was a crazed killer roaming around waiting to kill the rest of my family and friends, I wouldn't spend my time on the internet looking at mansions. As soon as the kidnapper fell asleep (which he does, a few times, without his plan falling apart), I'd be straight on the blower to my mates and the police, before making sure my kidnapper didn't wake up again. And if the crazed killer finally turned up, I wouldn't follow his instructions to shoot someone in the face.
But maybe that's just me...
Tara's family, including younger non-entity brother Jase, alcoholic mum Patsy and god-bothering Dad Mitch, have just won the lottery. All $318 million of it. But it won't be theirs for long as Shaw and Romeo, two former IT techs trying to escape their dull lives, have heard about their win and Shaw hatches a plan. He'll take the family hostage, while Romeo roams the night intent on killing everyone they love if the family doesn't hand over half their winnings. Which Shaw wants to then give away.
The family happily complies without any fight while the female side sorta falls for Shaw, and the public start seeing him as some sort of Jesus figure when he announces his intentions to give his 'winnings' away. Until Shaw doesn't answer one of Romeo's calls due to an accident, which is the signal for him to start killing.
This book was all over the shop, seemingly unable to decide what kind of book it wanted to be, and settling for being uneven and completely implausible. Characters make strange decisions and behave in ways that no person would, and no real effort is put into making the reader feel that those thoughts and actions make sense. When Shaw first tells Romeo of his plan, he simply accepts it. I've been a bored IT person, and I love my friends, but I imagine that if one of them asked me to kill a stranger's entire family so they could give away some money I'd have a little more to say about it than "OK then."
As for the family, if someone had taken mine hostage and told me there was a crazed killer roaming around waiting to kill the rest of my family and friends, I wouldn't spend my time on the internet looking at mansions. As soon as the kidnapper fell asleep (which he does, a few times, without his plan falling apart), I'd be straight on the blower to my mates and the police, before making sure my kidnapper didn't wake up again. And if the crazed killer finally turned up, I wouldn't follow his instructions to shoot someone in the face.
But maybe that's just me...
January 30, 2022
okay so a lot of people don't like this book but i genuinely did? i found it as a good read, not quite *thriller* though which i think it was sort of going for. nice aesthetics, good imagery, plot was definitely there although depth to the characters was not.
February 2, 2015
I wanted very much to like Ravens. The set-up was certainly solid enough; two aimless twenty-something losers terrorize a family who recently won a mega-million dollar jackpot in order to extort half the winnings. Great! Yes, let's do this! My expectations were for something akin to Funny Games, perhaps. The dust jacket promised that this was "frightening, comic, and suspenseful", so I cracked it open and waited for the thrills to start.
And I waited. And waited. And waited.
There were just too many major problems with this one for me to ever really get into it.
Let's start with the characters. The Boatwrights are such a cliché of the "Southern Hick" family. Alcoholic mother spending too much on gin and lottery tickets. Too cool daughter just struggling to keep her head down, avoid her family, and get out of dodge. Spoiled younger brother. Pious father who is too much of a pushover to stand up to anyone. We've seen this a million times. This is not an interesting or new. Tara is the only remotely likable member of the main cast, and even she is only really likable in contrast to the completely unpleasant ensemble. Nell, the grandmother, is okay, but, again, the wacky, outrageous grandmother trope isn't particularly new or interesting. I hesitate to even get started on Romeo and Shaw. The nature of the friendship is bizarre and unbelievable, and their "plan" is so patently absurd that I was expecting to unravel literally as soon as they put it into action.
Instead, I'm expected to believe that this farce could continue for over a week?
So, let's talk about the plot, then.
While there were some excellent individual moments and scenes, the whole thing fails to come together, and, instead, is just a big, stupid mess.
And I waited. And waited. And waited.
There were just too many major problems with this one for me to ever really get into it.
Let's start with the characters. The Boatwrights are such a cliché of the "Southern Hick" family. Alcoholic mother spending too much on gin and lottery tickets. Too cool daughter just struggling to keep her head down, avoid her family, and get out of dodge. Spoiled younger brother. Pious father who is too much of a pushover to stand up to anyone. We've seen this a million times. This is not an interesting or new. Tara is the only remotely likable member of the main cast, and even she is only really likable in contrast to the completely unpleasant ensemble. Nell, the grandmother, is okay, but, again, the wacky, outrageous grandmother trope isn't particularly new or interesting. I hesitate to even get started on Romeo and Shaw. The nature of the friendship is bizarre and unbelievable, and their "plan" is so patently absurd that I was expecting to unravel literally as soon as they put it into action.
Instead, I'm expected to believe that this farce could continue for over a week?
So, let's talk about the plot, then.
While there were some excellent individual moments and scenes, the whole thing fails to come together, and, instead, is just a big, stupid mess.
March 19, 2018
Picked this up at my child's world book day event, different but enjoyed☺
May 4, 2020
Generally, not overly impressive. There is a lot on cult mentality.
I rather enjoyed the bird references throughout RAVENS. Here are some examples:
It was the old school bus from his childhood, with its creaking seats and blown shock absorbers, with sunshine roaring out from it's Bluebird heart.
_______
They went down Robin Road and crossed Canary Drive and Fourth Street, and then there was a sign: Rotary Club fairgrounds.
_______
The Turkeys were a family of pilgrims from Delaware. The father had this jutting thing he'd do with his chin, and his wife and kids all had identical birdlike stares.
_______
. . . the game that he and Shaw had made up when they were kids: Hawks and Sparrows.
Shaw himself was 'base'. He called out, "Come out, little Sparrows!" and the kids came running toward him, except the ones with red bandanas - those were the Hawks. Their job was to catch the Sparrows. As Romeo remembered, if a Hawk caught you then you had to go to the Hawks Nest. But you were safe so long as you were touching Shaw, or touching someone else who was touching him.
More Favorite Passages:
Next to him, Patsy slept. Amazing to him that she could sleep. But she was pretty drunk. The fumes curled from her nostrils when she breathed out. While Mitch just kept rehearsing the rush, over and over, a thousand times: the stabbing, the blood, the making ribbons out of that son of a bitch. Killing him all night long.
_______
Wynetta led him through a neighborhood where everything was built out of cinder-block. All the houses looked like outbuildings at a sewage-treatment plant. The churches also.
_______
She gave him a Pabst Blue Ribbon; she turned on the TV and ate a can of Vienna sausages while htey watched one of those famous Christy Brinkley infomercials. Then she came on to him. It wasn't so bad. At least she was brisk and matter-of-fact about it, and although drunk, not sloppy. Once, with her weight splayed out over him and his face wedged between her great white breasts, he imagined himself stuck between the Titanic and the Iceberg, and this almost made him forget where he was.
_______
Tara scrambled eggs for the bastard, since that's what he said he wanted. She cracked the shells and whisked the yolks. In her slippers she shuffled to the fridge, and as she got out the bacon, and milk and butter, she wondered what she might poison him with. There was a can of Drano under the sink. But he'd smell that, wouldn't he? Also some kind of roach thing: Combat: wasn't that like a nerve poison? Wouldn't it be odorless and tasteless? She conjured an image of little scorched-earth glittering crystals. How much would it take? How much, you bastard, to tie your spine into knots? Maybe I could mask the taste with cayenne sauce? Or maybe not. She had no idea. And anyway, even if he did eat it, would it really kill him? Maybe it'd just make him sick and rabid and more dangerous than he already was.
_______
Shaw said the spillway was situated over a 'ley line of power' - whatever that was - and from that vantage point the meteor shower would spell out some essential truth about the universe.
_______
"Which of our friends live passionately? Not one. I mean there's a difference between existing and really living."
Then he told Romeo, "Now what you do, is you live. If it weren't for you, I believe I might fucking kill myself." He was serious. And drunk, and in a state of agitation.
He said, "I don't know if anything lasts or not. Give it a thousand years, does anything count for shit? I don't know. You look up at those fucking billion-year-old stars, could anything down here count for shit? Does anything last? But I bet one thing lasts. This thing we have, between the two of us. This friendship? This will last. In some form. Because this is the only worthwhile fucking thing in history."
Romeo was too moved to say anything.
Shaw went on, "No, I mean it, you and me, we're gonna keep reverberating through this universe. When all the dull assholes who didn't show up tonight have been reduced to their fucking muons and quarks, you'll still get an echo of us - this I guarantee."
_______
Joseph Smith had that great story about the Golden Tablets, but he also had to have the Danites, to skulk around and murder his enemies. That's how the good comes into the world - with a dark escort.
_______
They cruised aimlessly. They went down some street with a lot of real estate offices and brokerages and big touristy restaurants: Crabdaddies, the Crabshack, My Crabby Aunt Sally.
_______
"What about my dad?"
"He's dead."
"What?"
He wasn't going to say it twice. "I'll give you a ride home."
"I got my truck," she said. "Did you say my daddy's dead?"
"Better let me take you."
She shrugged. He escorted her to the Tercel and they drove back down Rt. 341.
She said, "How do you know my daddy's dead?"
"I went to see him."
"Oh," she said.
More dark road went by. She said, "You didn't drink all the PBRs, did you?"
What a piece of work, thought Romeo. "There are no PBRs. The PBRs are all gone."
"You drank them?"
"No, you drank them, Wynetta."
"I didn't drink 'em all"
"OK," he said "What's your point?"
"My point? My point is, you took something that wasn't yours."
_______
Wynetta was still whining: "Take me to Lonnie's? Lonnie'll loan me a sixpack."
"It's pretty late."
"I'll wake him up. When I tell him my daddy's dead, I bet he'll let me have one beer from his precious stash."
Romeo said, "No, I'm taking you to your father's."
"Why? To see him dead? I don't want to see him dead."
They turned onto Balm-of-Gilead Road.
She said, "It's not something I care to enjoy."
_______
She was a planet in a perfectly elliptical orbit, with the cameras gliding like moons behind her.
_______
Something was about to play out here. He was about to make some kind of journey, and take leave of these troubles. The wind that was kicking up was going to rip him out by the roots from the world he'd been living in, and carry him to some new world, and so be it.
_______
"Officer, do you sometimes get the feeling we're on the same ride? You and me? The way we both keep driving around and around this city like we're on some carousel together? Me on this ugly old shit-colored pony, you on your porkmobile pony? Jesus. Like we're waving at each other as we go around. You know?"
"Sir, I'm not sure what you're saying."
"I'm not either. It just feels like everything's spinning faster and faster, and we know this ride is gonna crash but we gotta keep pretending it's not."
________
"Why do you call them missionaries?"
"That's what they was. From Missouri."
"Where'd they go?"
"Dunno. They still around though. I heard they ain't missionaries no more. I heard one of 'em's stripping."
This is a book I bought in 2011, during the Borders Bookstore Liquidation Sale. The story sounded interesting, but I use audiobooks to help me get through most of my books and the local libraries did not carry an audiobook of RAVENS in their catalog. After Borders, I began using the library more extensively, typically visiting once a week. In 2020, the library closed in response to COVID-19, my first concern was having enough reading material. I made some select purchases online. I was able to find a used audiobook of this and other titles bought in print from Borders back in 2011, so I'm going through those now.
I rather enjoyed the bird references throughout RAVENS. Here are some examples:
It was the old school bus from his childhood, with its creaking seats and blown shock absorbers, with sunshine roaring out from it's Bluebird heart.
_______
They went down Robin Road and crossed Canary Drive and Fourth Street, and then there was a sign: Rotary Club fairgrounds.
_______
The Turkeys were a family of pilgrims from Delaware. The father had this jutting thing he'd do with his chin, and his wife and kids all had identical birdlike stares.
_______
. . . the game that he and Shaw had made up when they were kids: Hawks and Sparrows.
Shaw himself was 'base'. He called out, "Come out, little Sparrows!" and the kids came running toward him, except the ones with red bandanas - those were the Hawks. Their job was to catch the Sparrows. As Romeo remembered, if a Hawk caught you then you had to go to the Hawks Nest. But you were safe so long as you were touching Shaw, or touching someone else who was touching him.
More Favorite Passages:
Next to him, Patsy slept. Amazing to him that she could sleep. But she was pretty drunk. The fumes curled from her nostrils when she breathed out. While Mitch just kept rehearsing the rush, over and over, a thousand times: the stabbing, the blood, the making ribbons out of that son of a bitch. Killing him all night long.
_______
Wynetta led him through a neighborhood where everything was built out of cinder-block. All the houses looked like outbuildings at a sewage-treatment plant. The churches also.
_______
She gave him a Pabst Blue Ribbon; she turned on the TV and ate a can of Vienna sausages while htey watched one of those famous Christy Brinkley infomercials. Then she came on to him. It wasn't so bad. At least she was brisk and matter-of-fact about it, and although drunk, not sloppy. Once, with her weight splayed out over him and his face wedged between her great white breasts, he imagined himself stuck between the Titanic and the Iceberg, and this almost made him forget where he was.
_______
Tara scrambled eggs for the bastard, since that's what he said he wanted. She cracked the shells and whisked the yolks. In her slippers she shuffled to the fridge, and as she got out the bacon, and milk and butter, she wondered what she might poison him with. There was a can of Drano under the sink. But he'd smell that, wouldn't he? Also some kind of roach thing: Combat: wasn't that like a nerve poison? Wouldn't it be odorless and tasteless? She conjured an image of little scorched-earth glittering crystals. How much would it take? How much, you bastard, to tie your spine into knots? Maybe I could mask the taste with cayenne sauce? Or maybe not. She had no idea. And anyway, even if he did eat it, would it really kill him? Maybe it'd just make him sick and rabid and more dangerous than he already was.
_______
Shaw said the spillway was situated over a 'ley line of power' - whatever that was - and from that vantage point the meteor shower would spell out some essential truth about the universe.
_______
"Which of our friends live passionately? Not one. I mean there's a difference between existing and really living."
Then he told Romeo, "Now what you do, is you live. If it weren't for you, I believe I might fucking kill myself." He was serious. And drunk, and in a state of agitation.
He said, "I don't know if anything lasts or not. Give it a thousand years, does anything count for shit? I don't know. You look up at those fucking billion-year-old stars, could anything down here count for shit? Does anything last? But I bet one thing lasts. This thing we have, between the two of us. This friendship? This will last. In some form. Because this is the only worthwhile fucking thing in history."
Romeo was too moved to say anything.
Shaw went on, "No, I mean it, you and me, we're gonna keep reverberating through this universe. When all the dull assholes who didn't show up tonight have been reduced to their fucking muons and quarks, you'll still get an echo of us - this I guarantee."
_______
Joseph Smith had that great story about the Golden Tablets, but he also had to have the Danites, to skulk around and murder his enemies. That's how the good comes into the world - with a dark escort.
_______
They cruised aimlessly. They went down some street with a lot of real estate offices and brokerages and big touristy restaurants: Crabdaddies, the Crabshack, My Crabby Aunt Sally.
_______
"What about my dad?"
"He's dead."
"What?"
He wasn't going to say it twice. "I'll give you a ride home."
"I got my truck," she said. "Did you say my daddy's dead?"
"Better let me take you."
She shrugged. He escorted her to the Tercel and they drove back down Rt. 341.
She said, "How do you know my daddy's dead?"
"I went to see him."
"Oh," she said.
More dark road went by. She said, "You didn't drink all the PBRs, did you?"
What a piece of work, thought Romeo. "There are no PBRs. The PBRs are all gone."
"You drank them?"
"No, you drank them, Wynetta."
"I didn't drink 'em all"
"OK," he said "What's your point?"
"My point? My point is, you took something that wasn't yours."
_______
Wynetta was still whining: "Take me to Lonnie's? Lonnie'll loan me a sixpack."
"It's pretty late."
"I'll wake him up. When I tell him my daddy's dead, I bet he'll let me have one beer from his precious stash."
Romeo said, "No, I'm taking you to your father's."
"Why? To see him dead? I don't want to see him dead."
They turned onto Balm-of-Gilead Road.
She said, "It's not something I care to enjoy."
_______
She was a planet in a perfectly elliptical orbit, with the cameras gliding like moons behind her.
_______
Something was about to play out here. He was about to make some kind of journey, and take leave of these troubles. The wind that was kicking up was going to rip him out by the roots from the world he'd been living in, and carry him to some new world, and so be it.
_______
"Officer, do you sometimes get the feeling we're on the same ride? You and me? The way we both keep driving around and around this city like we're on some carousel together? Me on this ugly old shit-colored pony, you on your porkmobile pony? Jesus. Like we're waving at each other as we go around. You know?"
"Sir, I'm not sure what you're saying."
"I'm not either. It just feels like everything's spinning faster and faster, and we know this ride is gonna crash but we gotta keep pretending it's not."
________
"Why do you call them missionaries?"
"That's what they was. From Missouri."
"Where'd they go?"
"Dunno. They still around though. I heard they ain't missionaries no more. I heard one of 'em's stripping."
This is a book I bought in 2011, during the Borders Bookstore Liquidation Sale. The story sounded interesting, but I use audiobooks to help me get through most of my books and the local libraries did not carry an audiobook of RAVENS in their catalog. After Borders, I began using the library more extensively, typically visiting once a week. In 2020, the library closed in response to COVID-19, my first concern was having enough reading material. I made some select purchases online. I was able to find a used audiobook of this and other titles bought in print from Borders back in 2011, so I'm going through those now.
September 20, 2009
This is the second book I have read by George Dawes Green and boy, am I glad I was introduced to his works. In Ravens two grifters on their way to Florida, when stopping at a convince store, find out that a local family has just won 380 million dollars in the state Jackpot. Shaw, one of the grifters, decides that he and his friend are going to get in on the money. They find the family and place pressures on them to obtain 1/2 of their winnings. The way they maintain their hold upon the family is through constant terror.
I loved this book. Green did a wonderful job with describing the setting of Brunswick, NC making it seem down home, yet dirty and oppressive at the same time. He used many different techniques to relate the character's emotions and inner demons with the things around them. And all the while, he built the tension of the novel so high and tight I thought I would burst! Once the climax was at its max I found my heart racing and my mind reeling. Green is a master at building suspense and terror.
I listened to the audio version of this book and I am sure I don't have to tell you how much I love Hachette's Audio books. This one did have a flaw in my eyes. The female voice, I found to be harsh and raspy. I am not sure if they had her speak that way for effect or not but I found it really off putting. The male voice on the other hand way GREAT, so many different characters to portray and yet each one had their own voice.
I loved this book. Green did a wonderful job with describing the setting of Brunswick, NC making it seem down home, yet dirty and oppressive at the same time. He used many different techniques to relate the character's emotions and inner demons with the things around them. And all the while, he built the tension of the novel so high and tight I thought I would burst! Once the climax was at its max I found my heart racing and my mind reeling. Green is a master at building suspense and terror.
I listened to the audio version of this book and I am sure I don't have to tell you how much I love Hachette's Audio books. This one did have a flaw in my eyes. The female voice, I found to be harsh and raspy. I am not sure if they had her speak that way for effect or not but I found it really off putting. The male voice on the other hand way GREAT, so many different characters to portray and yet each one had their own voice.
July 6, 2012
This is the third novel I've read by George Dawes Green, and all three have rated five stars. That says something about this author. In Ravens, a southern family wins $318 million in the lottery, but before they can even come forward to claim their prize, a con man named Shaw McBride worms his way into their lives, claiming half the prize, and threatening to have their relatives and friends killed if they don't go along with him. It's a fascinating look at the psychology of these folks, as they succumb to something akin to the Stockholm Syndrome, and Shaw, as he starts to believe (or so it seems) his own lies, and Romeo, his accomplice, who starts to devolve and develop trust issues of his own. Pretty cool. Like Green's earlier novel (The Juror), the book shifts points of view quickly and often, while staying in the third person. Each section begins with the name of a character, and we see the events through that character's p-o-v. Well done. I looked forward to the ending, 'cause the book jacket promised me a heart-pounding ending, and with only 2 or 3 pages left to go, I still wondered where Green was going and how he was going to end the novel. Great read.
May 2, 2013
Ravens is like no other book that I've read before. Rather than being story driven, Ravens is what I would consider an intriguing psychological study of its characters. Not what I was expecting. The novel focuses on exploring the psychological impact that Shaw's scheme has particularly on him, Romeo and the Boatwrights. Green executes this commendably. As a result, I became quite invested in some of the characters. I can see why people have divided opinions on the book. I admit at some point it got really strange, almost verging on too strange, but at the same time as a psych major, I could see it as plausible. And there are some really odd psychological phenomenon that occur amongst normal people all the time! As a matter of fact, I like that Green isn't afraid of exploring unexpected ways of thinking and perceiving by the human mind. Told through multiple perspectives, I would have liked, however, to have explored the minds of particular characters more, especially as the novel progresses. Nonetheless, Ravens is an exceptional, funny and at times frightening read!
June 7, 2018
The Boatwrights just won 318 million dollars in the Georgia State lottery. I's going to be the worst day of their lives.
This was recommended to me by my fellow Bookclub For Two member, Nat. I was immediately interested as I had just heard a story about American lottery winners being robbed. It was fate! Meant to be!
The basic idea is that a family wins the lottery, these 2 young blokes hear about it and decide to blackmail/rob them. Sounded like a doozy of a story to me. But instead of them just taking the money when they get it, one of the guys installs himself in the family home, with the family, until they get the money. And they just accept this! They put up with this idiot and never do a thing to stop him. I don't know if it's because I'm a bit feral (deep down) but I would have smacked the shit out of him. There is NO WAY I would put up with that! So yeah, little bit unrealistic, little bit silly and there isn't much more to say.
This is another book that I'll have forgotten about this time next year. Ravens? Who???
This was recommended to me by my fellow Bookclub For Two member, Nat. I was immediately interested as I had just heard a story about American lottery winners being robbed. It was fate! Meant to be!
The basic idea is that a family wins the lottery, these 2 young blokes hear about it and decide to blackmail/rob them. Sounded like a doozy of a story to me. But instead of them just taking the money when they get it, one of the guys installs himself in the family home, with the family, until they get the money. And they just accept this! They put up with this idiot and never do a thing to stop him. I don't know if it's because I'm a bit feral (deep down) but I would have smacked the shit out of him. There is NO WAY I would put up with that! So yeah, little bit unrealistic, little bit silly and there isn't much more to say.
This is another book that I'll have forgotten about this time next year. Ravens? Who???
November 6, 2009
Wow! I've never heard of this author before, but I picked this up from the library off the new book shelf, just sort of randomly. It hits the ground running and never really slows down.
A family in a nowhere town wins a 300+million dollar lottery. Some drifters just happen to be passing through, find out about it, and launch this plan to con them out of half of their winnings. Wackiness ensues. I loved it. Quick read, and very entertaining.
A family in a nowhere town wins a 300+million dollar lottery. Some drifters just happen to be passing through, find out about it, and launch this plan to con them out of half of their winnings. Wackiness ensues. I loved it. Quick read, and very entertaining.
August 4, 2009
Every single character in this book annoyed me.
March 31, 2020
This book is entirely forgettable.
August 6, 2017
The characters were engaging, and the writer successfully managed to take in ever possible thought they may have had. However,I thought the storyline was starting to go off-track (but maybe that was the point, since all the characters were becoming more and more delusional). The ending was abrupt and left many questions unanswered. If there was a epilogue, it would have tied things off more neatly.
August 24, 2018
This was just okay!
June 15, 2024
DNF
I liked the first few chapters, but around 30 pages in, I became bored
I liked the first few chapters, but around 30 pages in, I became bored
July 4, 2025
I wanted more out of this but it was still okay
October 19, 2020
OK. My feelings toward this book is just all over the place. A whooping 438 pages and I devoured for 2 days! An achievement really because I don't read that fast. But I can't say I loved this book. While it is a page-turner and easily accessible, there is always that hindsight that everything is far-fetched, implausible. Two drifters who chance upon a million dollar jackpot opportunity and they went to bribe the family who won the lottery. Good premise, promising in fact, but maybe I have read some really good thrillers before that anything less is just daunting. But read this for yourself!
August 14, 2022
fucking amazing the best book I’ve ever read literally couldn’t put it down omg everyone stfu wtf saying its bad wtf shut up? shut up though bc wtf drugs are u on x
December 19, 2022
Saying this book made my heart race would diminish the whole experience. This is my second book by Green and, just like The Kingdoms of Savannah, it was an easy five stars.
While KoS is polished and beautifully written with stunning and witty prose that, at parts, feels like the author is sitting down to tell you a story, Ravens is a swirl of raw emotions. It’s pure, dark, intense, and unhinged.
I don’t know the author’s writing process, but it feels like this book poured out of him like a storm.
There are two scenes, in particular, I found stunning and grabbed my heart and squeezed it:
🪶Claude asking Romeo to “practice” on him to get him out of his misery.
🪶When one of the characters finally confesses the depth of his love for another, she gets first annoyed and then distracted.
Both scenes are so powerful and left an impression on me.
Long chapters usually are a turn-off for me (I can’t say “one more chapter if the chapters are 60 pages long), but I barely noticed, and it didn't stop me from devouring this book. The constant povs shifting and 3rd person narration allow the story to move fast and make it a great thriller.
A deep need for escape and to be seen drives all the characters. It is not just a thriller that focuses on the plot, but it goes deep into the psyches of its characters, keeping the reader constantly engaged.
While KoS is polished and beautifully written with stunning and witty prose that, at parts, feels like the author is sitting down to tell you a story, Ravens is a swirl of raw emotions. It’s pure, dark, intense, and unhinged.
I don’t know the author’s writing process, but it feels like this book poured out of him like a storm.
There are two scenes, in particular, I found stunning and grabbed my heart and squeezed it:
🪶Claude asking Romeo to “practice” on him to get him out of his misery.
🪶When one of the characters finally confesses the depth of his love for another, she gets first annoyed and then distracted.
Both scenes are so powerful and left an impression on me.
Long chapters usually are a turn-off for me (I can’t say “one more chapter if the chapters are 60 pages long), but I barely noticed, and it didn't stop me from devouring this book. The constant povs shifting and 3rd person narration allow the story to move fast and make it a great thriller.
A deep need for escape and to be seen drives all the characters. It is not just a thriller that focuses on the plot, but it goes deep into the psyches of its characters, keeping the reader constantly engaged.
June 4, 2010
RAVENS has a great idea for a plot - two drifters, on the way to somewhere else, overhear a story about a local lottery win and they quickly hatch a plan to take advantage. Take the household captive and threaten everybody they hold dear until the money is handed over.
There is a blurring of norms in RAVENS - on the one hand you have the two drifters - Shaw and Romeo - one clever / one a bit thick - there's a power relationship between these two that feels the stresses and strains as the novel progresses. The hostage family - the Boatwrights aren't a tight unit in their own right with a lot of tension between teenage daughter Tara and her mother - who is frankly a bit odd. Part of the complication between mother and daughter plays out in their reactions to Shaw in particular - Tara flirting, clearly not sure if she is acting or not, and the rest of the family slipping quickly into a form of Stockholm Syndrome - so quickly it was surprising.
The entire scenario needs a couple of important elements to work. A real and present danger, a threat, the constant maintenance of that threat and something to make the reader believe that the family believes the reality of that threat. But RAVENS doesn't go there. At all. In fact, the central plotline seemed to emerge occasionally from a mismash of subplots that got so confusing and distracting that any sense of overlying threat to the Boatwrights just disappeared in a cloud of fluff. Granted Shaw seems to be making up most of the plot as the book goes along, but at no stage did I really feel like they were actually going to do anything - I just didn't believe the menace. Perhaps it was that some of these subplots, the religious overtones, the families dysfunction, the drifters joint and individual dysfunction, the lack of conviction for the part they are playing from just about everybody in the plot (probably part of the design - less than convinced criminals / less than convinced victims), and it just seemed like there was too little happening in a scenario that attempted too much.
I really wanted to like this book. An opportunistic, fraught pairing of no-hopers who have a go, granted not the go you'd be proud to tell you grandmother about, but a go nonetheless. Despite there being a few places within the book where I distinctly remember thinking this is it, we're off, it never quite launched and I came away from the book with a feeling that I had obviously missed something.
There is a blurring of norms in RAVENS - on the one hand you have the two drifters - Shaw and Romeo - one clever / one a bit thick - there's a power relationship between these two that feels the stresses and strains as the novel progresses. The hostage family - the Boatwrights aren't a tight unit in their own right with a lot of tension between teenage daughter Tara and her mother - who is frankly a bit odd. Part of the complication between mother and daughter plays out in their reactions to Shaw in particular - Tara flirting, clearly not sure if she is acting or not, and the rest of the family slipping quickly into a form of Stockholm Syndrome - so quickly it was surprising.
The entire scenario needs a couple of important elements to work. A real and present danger, a threat, the constant maintenance of that threat and something to make the reader believe that the family believes the reality of that threat. But RAVENS doesn't go there. At all. In fact, the central plotline seemed to emerge occasionally from a mismash of subplots that got so confusing and distracting that any sense of overlying threat to the Boatwrights just disappeared in a cloud of fluff. Granted Shaw seems to be making up most of the plot as the book goes along, but at no stage did I really feel like they were actually going to do anything - I just didn't believe the menace. Perhaps it was that some of these subplots, the religious overtones, the families dysfunction, the drifters joint and individual dysfunction, the lack of conviction for the part they are playing from just about everybody in the plot (probably part of the design - less than convinced criminals / less than convinced victims), and it just seemed like there was too little happening in a scenario that attempted too much.
I really wanted to like this book. An opportunistic, fraught pairing of no-hopers who have a go, granted not the go you'd be proud to tell you grandmother about, but a go nonetheless. Despite there being a few places within the book where I distinctly remember thinking this is it, we're off, it never quite launched and I came away from the book with a feeling that I had obviously missed something.
September 23, 2015
Ravens was interesting enough to keep me hooked until the end, but it was harsh edged and implausible, and left me with a very bitter aftertaste, and regret.
I regret reading it. I regret picking it off the shelf at British Heart Foundation. The only good thing to come out of that was £2 towards the Heart Foundation, and perhaps another book to add to my meagre 2015 reading challenge. Except am I really proud to have this book listed as an "accomplishment"?
If you are looking for a book to better your soul, increase your intellect, add to your knowledge and make you happy this is not it. This book is grim and depicts a sordid reality which is unbelievable.
I didn't buy it. I didn't buy it when Shaw fell asleep and the Boatwrights didn't try to save themselves? That every single soul in the town is dimwitted enough to fall for Shaw's 'charm'? That Patsy is dull enough to surf for mansions when her children and loved relatives are at a risk of dying? That Mitch gives up his fight over a meagre chew of 'holy' bread? Sure. There must be crazy people like that in the South of North America but this was unreal.
I give the book 1 star because stars signify good things and the only good thing about this book was the writing. Green managed to keep me interested, if not invested. I was genuinely interested to know what would happen, who would pull the trigger, who would make off with a Malibu mansion or a jet ski or a never ending vacation with their lunatic, batty, smitten friend and partner in crime. But was I invested in these characters? No I was not. They were empty and hollow, except perhaps old Burris. Now he struck a chord within me, the sad old jowly fellow. Will I remember this book with sunshine and joy, as the peaceful sunset of its cover suggests? Certainly not.
But I will say that George Dawes Green writes impeccably, and if there is another book by him I might be willing to try it, because surely such brilliant writing cannot be wasted on trashy people and their unrealistic issues?
I regret reading it. I regret picking it off the shelf at British Heart Foundation. The only good thing to come out of that was £2 towards the Heart Foundation, and perhaps another book to add to my meagre 2015 reading challenge. Except am I really proud to have this book listed as an "accomplishment"?
If you are looking for a book to better your soul, increase your intellect, add to your knowledge and make you happy this is not it. This book is grim and depicts a sordid reality which is unbelievable.
I didn't buy it. I didn't buy it when Shaw fell asleep and the Boatwrights didn't try to save themselves? That every single soul in the town is dimwitted enough to fall for Shaw's 'charm'? That Patsy is dull enough to surf for mansions when her children and loved relatives are at a risk of dying? That Mitch gives up his fight over a meagre chew of 'holy' bread? Sure. There must be crazy people like that in the South of North America but this was unreal.
I give the book 1 star because stars signify good things and the only good thing about this book was the writing. Green managed to keep me interested, if not invested. I was genuinely interested to know what would happen, who would pull the trigger, who would make off with a Malibu mansion or a jet ski or a never ending vacation with their lunatic, batty, smitten friend and partner in crime. But was I invested in these characters? No I was not. They were empty and hollow, except perhaps old Burris. Now he struck a chord within me, the sad old jowly fellow. Will I remember this book with sunshine and joy, as the peaceful sunset of its cover suggests? Certainly not.
But I will say that George Dawes Green writes impeccably, and if there is another book by him I might be willing to try it, because surely such brilliant writing cannot be wasted on trashy people and their unrealistic issues?
May 23, 2009
While on their way from Ohio to Florida, Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko stop at a gas station in Brunswick, Georgia. Shaw overhears a clerk telling someone that a local family has purchased the winning lottery ticket for the $318 million dollar jackpot at that store. Shaw cooks up a scheme to extort half of the money from the Boatwright family. He holds the family hostage while Romeo prowls around ready to murder their family and friends at a moment’s notice.
The Boatwrights resist at first, but eventually go along with Shaw’s plan out of fear for their loved ones. At the press conference, Shaw announces that he will be giving all of his half of the money away to charity. All of a sudden, he has a huge legion of followers who think he can perform miracles. It seems like Shaw and the Boatwrights are getting along well but there are things brewing under the surface.
George Dawes Green does a masterful job of building and maintaining suspense in Ravens. This is a fast-paced page turner, that I couldn’t put down. The character development is good, even though this is a plot driven book. I had an intense dislike for Shaw and sympathy for Romeo. There are lots of twists and turns, so the ending was totally unexpected for me, but I think it worked very well. There’s even a little dark humor in this one. The setting – a small, dead-end town in the deep South – almost became another character for me because I know exactly what those kinds of towns are like.
The Boatwrights resist at first, but eventually go along with Shaw’s plan out of fear for their loved ones. At the press conference, Shaw announces that he will be giving all of his half of the money away to charity. All of a sudden, he has a huge legion of followers who think he can perform miracles. It seems like Shaw and the Boatwrights are getting along well but there are things brewing under the surface.
George Dawes Green does a masterful job of building and maintaining suspense in Ravens. This is a fast-paced page turner, that I couldn’t put down. The character development is good, even though this is a plot driven book. I had an intense dislike for Shaw and sympathy for Romeo. There are lots of twists and turns, so the ending was totally unexpected for me, but I think it worked very well. There’s even a little dark humor in this one. The setting – a small, dead-end town in the deep South – almost became another character for me because I know exactly what those kinds of towns are like.
January 19, 2015
Godawful. More so bc it looks like a book. I mean the characters have thoughts and they display a certain perspective on the world, and sure they're a lot of contradictory emotions at play...but then there's the story's premise.
Family wins lottery only to have two young hoodlums show up and threaten to kill their loved ones around the town if the perpetrators don't give them half the lottery.
One bad guy will stay with the family and the other will drive about, orbiting the town waiting for a call that will send him in like the Grim Reaper to kill an innocent.
Then the grifter goes to sleep in the family's house and..no one simply hits him over the head with a bat at 3 am, rounds up the family, calls the cops, who would roll out cruisers to the endangered family members.
Instead, the family goes along and after 48 hours starts to really like their hostage taker; the main perp starts a Christian revival that makes him out to be the 2nd coming of Billy Graham...and I can't go on its ludicrous.
Family wins lottery only to have two young hoodlums show up and threaten to kill their loved ones around the town if the perpetrators don't give them half the lottery.
One bad guy will stay with the family and the other will drive about, orbiting the town waiting for a call that will send him in like the Grim Reaper to kill an innocent.
Then the grifter goes to sleep in the family's house and..no one simply hits him over the head with a bat at 3 am, rounds up the family, calls the cops, who would roll out cruisers to the endangered family members.
Instead, the family goes along and after 48 hours starts to really like their hostage taker; the main perp starts a Christian revival that makes him out to be the 2nd coming of Billy Graham...and I can't go on its ludicrous.
October 23, 2009
Unbelievable. Literally. Nearly nobody's actions were plausible, and most of the main characters seemed to be walking contradictions, where they were sketched in enough detail that I was able to reason about them. The writing style left me flat, and the plot was laughably thin and bizarre.
There are enough glowing reviews here to make me wonder if I'm missing something, but for the life of me I just can't see it. Or even guess what it's supposed to be.
I couldn't even take my copy to the used book store, instead opting to give it to my local library so nobody would add insult to injury by paying to read it...
There are enough glowing reviews here to make me wonder if I'm missing something, but for the life of me I just can't see it. Or even guess what it's supposed to be.
I couldn't even take my copy to the used book store, instead opting to give it to my local library so nobody would add insult to injury by paying to read it...
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