What do you think?
Rate this book
The Kinosoo
218 pages, Paperback
Published May 25, 2024
1 person want to read
About the author
David C. Cassidy
40 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
http://www.aps.org/units/fhp/newslett...
http://www.aps.org/units/fhp/newslett...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 6, 2024
Something’s down there. It’s watching you.
2 1/2 stars. David C. Cassidy "The Kinosoo: Dark Shapes, Dark Shadows Book 2" - which I'll just be calling "The Kinosoo" from here on - was not exactly what I expected and not in a good way. This came in large part from the cover - which is really well-rendered, don't get me wrong - it's just that I don't see what it has to do with the story. I get that the decision on how to depict a horrorific being that is never truly revealed definitely presents a creative challenge but still, this one wins my "Most Misleading Cover Design" of the year! But no, I wouldn't necessarily illustrate the fact that the family dog dies pretty much at the beginning, so yeah, a real conundrum that. Or the dead bunnies either. Not a great image at all.
It hungered. It thirsted. And it knew he was coming.
What I was expecting then was a kind of creature-feature featuring some sort of cryptid-like being; instead, we're treated to what could be argued to be somewhat of a folklore-based horror tale, which for a Canadian setting like this wouldn't be either surprising nor unwelcomed. The problem then is that there's never really a set description for what "the pond monster" truly is - particularly as the stinky, oily pond itself keeps disappearing - although I did like the "hypotheses" that Joel, our "protagonist" (wow, that's a wonky description) considers at one point, with a big assist from Old Willy. Are we up against a ravenous, mind-controlling beast that we could conceivably touch, even harm? Or is the pond only a small part of the beast that appears when it needs to feed? Or is the entire area - formed from a meteorite impact millions of years ago - a gigantic entity that can control minds via magic or alien capabilities? That does kind of explain the gnarly, diseased trees, the total lack of wildlife and more. Oh well, I guess we'll never know…
That area’s haunted. Inhabited. It’s all wicked.
"The Kinosoo" (ah, much better) is not a bad story conceptually, however, the writing comes across as very choppy and redundant. I did genuinely feel empathy with Joel as his hunger became an increasingly controlling and deadly factor, particularly when it led him to do horrible things - and consider even worse ones - but the rushed presentation left me wanting. The book in fact winds up reading much faster than the expected content should have, in large part to an exceedingly frustrating number of chapterlets which lazily wound up cutting off the flow and leaving gaps of blank paper from one page to the next. I mean, 205 pages divided by 83 chapters works out to not even 2.5 pages per chapter on average. So for me, those weren't chapters, they were notecards flung about for no satisfactory rhyme or reason.
Maybe it infects the mind and it’s able to appear when it wants. Just to feed.
I also never understood why this seemingly intelligent man never once truly considered going to a doctor despite his growing physical issues, including insects crawling out of a wound on his head! I mean, even the suspected concussion should have set off some alarms, particularly after his wife has just died of what I assume was cancer. So really, the bottom-line for me is that either this story either needed to be much longer - where again I thought that there was significant exposition just waiting to be provided on Joel and his family, the surrounding community including its history, or, as said, the mystery of the creature - or much shorter, cutting out all the built in blank skippy bits or even a few of the more redundant violent parts. As it was, this barely one sitting read just didn't hit the mark for me at all.
2 1/2 stars. David C. Cassidy "The Kinosoo: Dark Shapes, Dark Shadows Book 2" - which I'll just be calling "The Kinosoo" from here on - was not exactly what I expected and not in a good way. This came in large part from the cover - which is really well-rendered, don't get me wrong - it's just that I don't see what it has to do with the story. I get that the decision on how to depict a horrorific being that is never truly revealed definitely presents a creative challenge but still, this one wins my "Most Misleading Cover Design" of the year! But no, I wouldn't necessarily illustrate the fact that the family dog dies pretty much at the beginning, so yeah, a real conundrum that. Or the dead bunnies either. Not a great image at all.
It hungered. It thirsted. And it knew he was coming.
What I was expecting then was a kind of creature-feature featuring some sort of cryptid-like being; instead, we're treated to what could be argued to be somewhat of a folklore-based horror tale, which for a Canadian setting like this wouldn't be either surprising nor unwelcomed. The problem then is that there's never really a set description for what "the pond monster" truly is - particularly as the stinky, oily pond itself keeps disappearing - although I did like the "hypotheses" that Joel, our "protagonist" (wow, that's a wonky description) considers at one point, with a big assist from Old Willy. Are we up against a ravenous, mind-controlling beast that we could conceivably touch, even harm? Or is the pond only a small part of the beast that appears when it needs to feed? Or is the entire area - formed from a meteorite impact millions of years ago - a gigantic entity that can control minds via magic or alien capabilities? That does kind of explain the gnarly, diseased trees, the total lack of wildlife and more. Oh well, I guess we'll never know…
That area’s haunted. Inhabited. It’s all wicked.
"The Kinosoo" (ah, much better) is not a bad story conceptually, however, the writing comes across as very choppy and redundant. I did genuinely feel empathy with Joel as his hunger became an increasingly controlling and deadly factor, particularly when it led him to do horrible things - and consider even worse ones - but the rushed presentation left me wanting. The book in fact winds up reading much faster than the expected content should have, in large part to an exceedingly frustrating number of chapterlets which lazily wound up cutting off the flow and leaving gaps of blank paper from one page to the next. I mean, 205 pages divided by 83 chapters works out to not even 2.5 pages per chapter on average. So for me, those weren't chapters, they were notecards flung about for no satisfactory rhyme or reason.
Maybe it infects the mind and it’s able to appear when it wants. Just to feed.
I also never understood why this seemingly intelligent man never once truly considered going to a doctor despite his growing physical issues, including insects crawling out of a wound on his head! I mean, even the suspected concussion should have set off some alarms, particularly after his wife has just died of what I assume was cancer. So really, the bottom-line for me is that either this story either needed to be much longer - where again I thought that there was significant exposition just waiting to be provided on Joel and his family, the surrounding community including its history, or, as said, the mystery of the creature - or much shorter, cutting out all the built in blank skippy bits or even a few of the more redundant violent parts. As it was, this barely one sitting read just didn't hit the mark for me at all.
June 8, 2024
David Cassidy has done it again with a novel that starts off with a bang and keeps going. He explores the legend of the Kinosoo while highly entertaining the reader with a hard to put down tale (wished life didn't get in the way to just keep on reading). Cassidy knows how to spin a great story.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews