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Desolation Run
70-something Oreny "Big" Johnson has a problem. Actually, he has two. Or maybe three. The first is that he'll be dead from cancer, less than a year, which doesn't particularly concern him: "Things I've been through, dying is just one more page in a long bad book." But spending his last living days, taking his last living breath, behind steel bars does. That's the second problem: Inmate #78903 in the notorious level-four Washington State prison known as Horseneck Bay.
Then there's the money. Two million dollars of stolen military payroll, supposedly buried in some remote and mysterious south-Texas mountain range called Los Despoblados, or The Uninhabited, which sounds to Oreny like one of those places his Mama Maybell always told him to avoid. But he'll worry about that later. He has to get there first. Problem number three.
That's when he brings those two smoldering dynamite sticks he's attached himself to--his Luke-boy and Jaime--on board to help his tired old body break out of Horseneck and go dig up that money and then hightail it across the border into Mexico. And when they do break out, and Luke decides to bring his girlfriend Lauren along, and her enraged ex comes after them, and then the manhunt starts multiplying faster around them than those cancer cells inside him, Oreny still thinks he can control them. The problems, that is. At least, until Cade arrives.
Cade, the prison investigator Oreny knows is dangerous and unpredictable as a six-foot-two wolverine on eight gallons of adrenalin gone bad. And who won't stop until he catches them and does to them what Cade does best.
Cade, Oreny knows better than anything else, is their biggest problem of all.
"Simultaneously brutal, bloody and beatific, this is crime fiction done right. A relentlessly paced, unpredictable page-turner powered by well-developed characters." Kirkus Reviews
Then there's the money. Two million dollars of stolen military payroll, supposedly buried in some remote and mysterious south-Texas mountain range called Los Despoblados, or The Uninhabited, which sounds to Oreny like one of those places his Mama Maybell always told him to avoid. But he'll worry about that later. He has to get there first. Problem number three.
That's when he brings those two smoldering dynamite sticks he's attached himself to--his Luke-boy and Jaime--on board to help his tired old body break out of Horseneck and go dig up that money and then hightail it across the border into Mexico. And when they do break out, and Luke decides to bring his girlfriend Lauren along, and her enraged ex comes after them, and then the manhunt starts multiplying faster around them than those cancer cells inside him, Oreny still thinks he can control them. The problems, that is. At least, until Cade arrives.
Cade, the prison investigator Oreny knows is dangerous and unpredictable as a six-foot-two wolverine on eight gallons of adrenalin gone bad. And who won't stop until he catches them and does to them what Cade does best.
Cade, Oreny knows better than anything else, is their biggest problem of all.
"Simultaneously brutal, bloody and beatific, this is crime fiction done right. A relentlessly paced, unpredictable page-turner powered by well-developed characters." Kirkus Reviews
330 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2013
182 people are currently reading
1690 people want to read
About the author
James Snyder
9 books64 followersJames Snyder was born in Memphis, Tennessee and lived in many parts of the United States before settling with his family in Napa Valley. Among a variety of careers and occupations, he was a soldier with a tactical mobile operations unit in Germany, as well as an executive for a Fortune 500 company.
He has published short stories in the Houghton Mifflin Black Mask anthologies, the Ginosko Literary Journal, and was a finalist in the New Letters’ Alexander Patterson Cappon Prize for Fiction. He is the author of the military thriller AMERICAN WARRIOR, the suspense thriller DESOLATION RUN, the literary coming-of-age THE BEAUTIFUL-UGLY, and the short story collection TALES OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY
He occasionally blogs at jamessnyder.net and currently lives in Texas where he writes full time.
@jamessnyder22
www.JamesSnyder.net.
He has published short stories in the Houghton Mifflin Black Mask anthologies, the Ginosko Literary Journal, and was a finalist in the New Letters’ Alexander Patterson Cappon Prize for Fiction. He is the author of the military thriller AMERICAN WARRIOR, the suspense thriller DESOLATION RUN, the literary coming-of-age THE BEAUTIFUL-UGLY, and the short story collection TALES OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY
He occasionally blogs at jamessnyder.net and currently lives in Texas where he writes full time.
@jamessnyder22
www.JamesSnyder.net.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
June 15, 2014
'Nothing simplifies the grand prospectus like death coming toward you.' Wise words coming from 70-plus Oreny "Big" Johnson. Currently incarcerated in Oregon's Horseneck Bay prison, he has just learned that he has cancer and only a few months to live. He has some things he wants to accomplish before dying, and escaping prison is first on the agenda.
This is a quick-moving thriller with stellar character development, just excellent. I actively cared about Oreny and his fellow escapees, as well as Doc, Veldy, and Magdalena. Cade was the devil incarnate, relentless in his quest to 'apprehend' the escaped prisoners. The only normal thing about him is his addiction to the Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's Restaurant.
There are some scenes of brutal savagery contained within the pages that will be upsetting to those of delicate sensibilities, so be warned. I admit to cringing a couple of times, and my skin is pretty darn thick at this late date.
This was a Goodreads first-reads giveaway, signed by the author. Thank you for a most engaging story!
This is a quick-moving thriller with stellar character development, just excellent. I actively cared about Oreny and his fellow escapees, as well as Doc, Veldy, and Magdalena. Cade was the devil incarnate, relentless in his quest to 'apprehend' the escaped prisoners. The only normal thing about him is his addiction to the Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's Restaurant.
There are some scenes of brutal savagery contained within the pages that will be upsetting to those of delicate sensibilities, so be warned. I admit to cringing a couple of times, and my skin is pretty darn thick at this late date.
This was a Goodreads first-reads giveaway, signed by the author. Thank you for a most engaging story!
January 19, 2020
Author James Snyder has earned two stars for at least proof-reading his work. There were relatively few typographical errors. But everything else about his book was wrong.
First, it was too long. He got bogged down in descriptions, mostly of landscapes, much of it unclear and confusing. For instance: "At first, isolated clusters of mesquite and cottonwood and red madrone; then turning to larger, tangled groves of oak and maple and hackberry; while beyond were deeper valleys of pinyon and yellow pine, juniper and cypress, fringed with lacings of quaking aspen."
Second, his sentence structure was stilted, making the reading slow and difficult. I highlighted dozens of examples, but here's one that's especially egregious: "Except for the vehicles milling and parking, she had a sense of curving, looping time, a warping of her empirical consciousness, as she observed the figures in the glowing light, moving toward the fort’s entrance, and felt carried, for an instant, to some remote place — the Mexican band in the distance; the mix of horsemen and flop-brimmed hats and stranded burros; of wild-eyed children that ran in whoops and hollers over the broad gravel entry; the honking geese that chased them, wings extended, necks flared, as if they would take vengeful flight after their tormentors; the odd panache of roaming dogs and wiry cats and stray, spotted goats that mingled with those, seemingly, bygone figures, moving slowly into the light."
Finally, his book featured characters and plot points which put new meaning in the definition of bad fiction. My "favorite" was the elderly black escaped convict, dying of cancer, the most kind-hearted, good-natured prisoner outside of Shawshank, a world-class renown jazz saxophonist no less, and just to keep him "credible," the author also has him conversant in Kant, Hegel and Wittgenstein. Then there was the climactic kidnapping to spark the final showdown, which through either sheer laziness or lack of creativity the author casually resolved in one sentence in the "epilogue" almost as an afterthought.
First, it was too long. He got bogged down in descriptions, mostly of landscapes, much of it unclear and confusing. For instance: "At first, isolated clusters of mesquite and cottonwood and red madrone; then turning to larger, tangled groves of oak and maple and hackberry; while beyond were deeper valleys of pinyon and yellow pine, juniper and cypress, fringed with lacings of quaking aspen."
Second, his sentence structure was stilted, making the reading slow and difficult. I highlighted dozens of examples, but here's one that's especially egregious: "Except for the vehicles milling and parking, she had a sense of curving, looping time, a warping of her empirical consciousness, as she observed the figures in the glowing light, moving toward the fort’s entrance, and felt carried, for an instant, to some remote place — the Mexican band in the distance; the mix of horsemen and flop-brimmed hats and stranded burros; of wild-eyed children that ran in whoops and hollers over the broad gravel entry; the honking geese that chased them, wings extended, necks flared, as if they would take vengeful flight after their tormentors; the odd panache of roaming dogs and wiry cats and stray, spotted goats that mingled with those, seemingly, bygone figures, moving slowly into the light."
Finally, his book featured characters and plot points which put new meaning in the definition of bad fiction. My "favorite" was the elderly black escaped convict, dying of cancer, the most kind-hearted, good-natured prisoner outside of Shawshank, a world-class renown jazz saxophonist no less, and just to keep him "credible," the author also has him conversant in Kant, Hegel and Wittgenstein. Then there was the climactic kidnapping to spark the final showdown, which through either sheer laziness or lack of creativity the author casually resolved in one sentence in the "epilogue" almost as an afterthought.
August 7, 2025
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include DESOLATION RUN by JAMES SNYDER in the library of Awesome Indies'
Badge of Approval
recipients.
Original Awesome Indies' Assessment (5 stars):
From bloody brutality to pure, poetic scenery and unfettered love, Desolation Run defies genre and dashes straight through the common thriller to deliver an impacting, unorthodox story of freedom and redemption. It’s a very well-written novel beginning with a prison break, onto a chase, and the final culmination is so impossible to see coming I had to pick my jaw up off my iPad.
Oreny, Jaime and Luke bust out of a Washington state maximum security prison when it’s discovered that Oreny has inoperable cancer. They’re soon joined by Lauren, Luke’s former girlfriend, who has her own reasons for being on the run. Their goal is to reach buried treasure, two million dollars of government military payroll, before Oreny quits this mortal coil, and finally make their way to Mexico. On their trail is Cade, a war vet and supremely messed up corrections officer.
The author has a clear mastery of language here, mixing well-written dialogue with elegant descriptions. The plot itself ought to have been simple, but the author intersperses interludes from another character’s point of view. Doc is a Vietnam War vet who has bought up a little ranch off in the mountains near the Mexico-Texas border, where he’s then subject to the unwanted attention of a border drug lord, Zavala. When the two storylines finally connect, it’s fireworks and mayhem.
I wanted to write that the ending was unsatisfactory, and without giving it away, but I reflected back on how things turned out and I realized the power of what the author had done. He had made me care so much for the characters over their stint trying to outrun the law, find peace, find love, find freedom, that I’d become very, very attached. Kudos to the author here, at the end, where things get to sloppy and horrible on the outside, yet wrapped up and tied up in a beautifully-wrapped bundle on further consideration.
I had only one nit to pick with the book, and that was the first chapter from Maggie’s point of view. It was so full of pronouns that I had trouble following along. In other chapters the tone, or the voice of the book changes along with whoever the third person focus is, but in this case (one very tiny case) it wasn’t working as well as the remainder of the book.
Overall I’m proud to award Desolation Run an enthusiastic five stars for being conventional, unconventional, dramatic, heartbreaking, awesome, infuriating, bloody, mystical and full of some really great turns of phrase. My personal favorite was: tight as a Thanksgiving belly button.
Lastly, with respect to the mechanics, this book proved to be well-edited and formatted. I found only one or two tiny errors, be they punctuation, spelling, or text alignment.
Two big thumbs up. Buy this book and bring an umbrella. Things get pretty bloody.
Original Awesome Indies' Assessment (5 stars):
From bloody brutality to pure, poetic scenery and unfettered love, Desolation Run defies genre and dashes straight through the common thriller to deliver an impacting, unorthodox story of freedom and redemption. It’s a very well-written novel beginning with a prison break, onto a chase, and the final culmination is so impossible to see coming I had to pick my jaw up off my iPad.
Oreny, Jaime and Luke bust out of a Washington state maximum security prison when it’s discovered that Oreny has inoperable cancer. They’re soon joined by Lauren, Luke’s former girlfriend, who has her own reasons for being on the run. Their goal is to reach buried treasure, two million dollars of government military payroll, before Oreny quits this mortal coil, and finally make their way to Mexico. On their trail is Cade, a war vet and supremely messed up corrections officer.
The author has a clear mastery of language here, mixing well-written dialogue with elegant descriptions. The plot itself ought to have been simple, but the author intersperses interludes from another character’s point of view. Doc is a Vietnam War vet who has bought up a little ranch off in the mountains near the Mexico-Texas border, where he’s then subject to the unwanted attention of a border drug lord, Zavala. When the two storylines finally connect, it’s fireworks and mayhem.
I wanted to write that the ending was unsatisfactory, and without giving it away, but I reflected back on how things turned out and I realized the power of what the author had done. He had made me care so much for the characters over their stint trying to outrun the law, find peace, find love, find freedom, that I’d become very, very attached. Kudos to the author here, at the end, where things get to sloppy and horrible on the outside, yet wrapped up and tied up in a beautifully-wrapped bundle on further consideration.
I had only one nit to pick with the book, and that was the first chapter from Maggie’s point of view. It was so full of pronouns that I had trouble following along. In other chapters the tone, or the voice of the book changes along with whoever the third person focus is, but in this case (one very tiny case) it wasn’t working as well as the remainder of the book.
Overall I’m proud to award Desolation Run an enthusiastic five stars for being conventional, unconventional, dramatic, heartbreaking, awesome, infuriating, bloody, mystical and full of some really great turns of phrase. My personal favorite was: tight as a Thanksgiving belly button.
Lastly, with respect to the mechanics, this book proved to be well-edited and formatted. I found only one or two tiny errors, be they punctuation, spelling, or text alignment.
Two big thumbs up. Buy this book and bring an umbrella. Things get pretty bloody.
March 17, 2014
Quite a start. I instantly had a sense of the character and what has availed him. Creative writing enables the reader to quickly be immersed into the story.
An interesting tale of Oreny’s bid for freedom in his last days from prison. How he went about planning it. It does take awhile to get into the story though from there. The characters are enjoyable, but I felt it could do with a bit of speeding up to get to more exciting bits away from the prison.
But be prepared because this story does start off in prison, so there are some scenes that are described that are unpleasant. Cade, the prison officer is not a character that is likeable at all, and I did wish I didn’t read some of the parts in the novel. I personally feel those scenes could have been left out, as I read the rest of the novel I was on edge in case more scenes appeared, which they did.
Unfortunately I had to skip through some scenes.
There is quite a lot of swearing as well; although it should be said that it is probably similar to what is actually said and done in prison.
The prisoners seem to almost be made out to be the good guys, while the prison guards are the bad guys. Although I guess in reality it is probably true. Which is what I’m guessing the author is conveying, the bad side of prison that people tend not to think about. And the need for revenge.
The story moves at a more interesting pace as different locations are revealed in the outside world. Historically significant locations, and a broad range of characters that eventually interconnect with one another. These characters were enjoyable to read about.
The variety of characters liven up the story, getting intimate details of their inner thoughts, their past and what exactly brings them all together. I did have some difficulty connecting with the characters, some are easily forgettable, and some you want to forget.
At times I felt it could speed up, the details about the three men’s trip to unknown land and the money they seek.
Mistakes are made which brings the authorities closer to them.
The ending was quite dramatic and unexpected.
3/5 stars
October 8, 2019
This book was recommended to me by Goodreads. I must say that this time they did me right. The characters are very well illustrated in the first 80 or 90 pages. Then the story just picks you up and doesn't let you take a breather. There are three protagonists, and one evil, powerful villain, and a whole 'nother plot down the road that just can't be ignored. The end is just wild and wooly and has a terrific twist in it. The adventure is so well described that you get to live the story with the characters. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a story that has unorthodox heroes, and villains coming from a place where they wouldn't normally, and the situations being out of control. There are many difficulties for the protagonists, built right into their characters, and some of them have their own evil too. Hang on to your seat.
May 14, 2016
It had promise
When I first started this book, I was excited about it. A tale of three men breaking out of prison and going to fetch some stolen government money. It sorta reminded me of Shawshank. But the further I got into this book, the more difficult it got trying to read it. The chapters did not transition smoothly which made me question who the author was talking about or what timeframe we were in. There were numerous points of view instead of just one, and sentence fragments that just left me scratching my head. I really wanted to give this 3 stars, but I can't after struggling to understand and get through this.
When I first started this book, I was excited about it. A tale of three men breaking out of prison and going to fetch some stolen government money. It sorta reminded me of Shawshank. But the further I got into this book, the more difficult it got trying to read it. The chapters did not transition smoothly which made me question who the author was talking about or what timeframe we were in. There were numerous points of view instead of just one, and sentence fragments that just left me scratching my head. I really wanted to give this 3 stars, but I can't after struggling to understand and get through this.
December 10, 2015
I want to use a LOT of exclamation points and HUGE letters to describe this book but I have recently read that is a give-away that the review is not a true review, so I reluctantly re-frame from doing so as I most assuredly read the book.
This book kept me thinking about it through-out by days and longing to hurry back to read more of it. Excellent craftsmanship.
This sums up the book, perfectly:
""Simultaneously brutal, bloody and beatific, this is crime fiction done right. A relentlessly paced, unpredictable page-turner powered by well-developed characters." Kirkus Reviews"
This book kept me thinking about it through-out by days and longing to hurry back to read more of it. Excellent craftsmanship.
This sums up the book, perfectly:
""Simultaneously brutal, bloody and beatific, this is crime fiction done right. A relentlessly paced, unpredictable page-turner powered by well-developed characters." Kirkus Reviews"
June 11, 2014
(This was a goodreads giveaway book I won.) I had a little trouble getting into this book, but by the time I was halfway through it I didn't want it to end. There's a lot of action and plot resolution in the last 30 pages, which I appreciated because sometimes books will feel wrapped up with 100 pages to go. Intense violence, but also deep character development made this book very compelling. I will definitely be checking out some of his other writing.
May 26, 2014
This was one of those dark, gritty, bloody action suspense thrillers that also had hints of beauty in its vivid descriptions of people and places. There were riveting characters to love, hate and everything in between. The ending was swift, vicious and bloody with a twist that made it worth the wait!
July 15, 2015
A Review of Desolation Run
This was a well told and thought out plot. The characters are well defined. The author goes to some trouble to get the reader inside each of the character's head. But I only gave this read 3 stars as I just did not care for the tale. The story was too brutal for me to truly enjoy.
This was a well told and thought out plot. The characters are well defined. The author goes to some trouble to get the reader inside each of the character's head. But I only gave this read 3 stars as I just did not care for the tale. The story was too brutal for me to truly enjoy.
November 20, 2018
Oremy has been told by the prison docs that cancer has riddled his aged body, and he has less than a year to live. With some outside help, he and two of his fellow prisoners - Luke, a young man with a complicated past and Jaime, part Native American - plan their escape. Oremy knows where the $2 million in proceeds from an old US Mail robbery are hidden, and figures he and the young men can dig it up, split it, and enjoy the rest of their lives.
(SPOILER ALERT!) They didn't count on being relentlessly pursued by a sadistic prison guard, or on becoming involved in a border war between a ranching family and a Mexican drug cartel. You know from the start this isn't going to end well, but you're still cheering on the escapees!
The author's style is reminiscent of Bret HartE with some Larry McMurtry thrown in. Although set in the present day and not a Western, it still evokes that sense of time and place.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look for others by the author!
(SPOILER ALERT!) They didn't count on being relentlessly pursued by a sadistic prison guard, or on becoming involved in a border war between a ranching family and a Mexican drug cartel. You know from the start this isn't going to end well, but you're still cheering on the escapees!
The author's style is reminiscent of Bret HartE with some Larry McMurtry thrown in. Although set in the present day and not a Western, it still evokes that sense of time and place.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look for others by the author!
June 5, 2017
I didn't find this an easy book to read, partly due to word choice and partly due to the way the chapters flit from one perspective to another - from one timeframe to another. I found myself reading back over sections just to double-check I'd got the right context and that's always frustrating.
Having said that, I still give it 4 stars because the characters were awesomely believable and the plot was amazing. I had absolutely no idea how this was going to end, until it ended!
If not for the niggles mentioned, this would've been a 5* from me.
Having said that, I still give it 4 stars because the characters were awesomely believable and the plot was amazing. I had absolutely no idea how this was going to end, until it ended!
If not for the niggles mentioned, this would've been a 5* from me.
November 10, 2022
Final
The author put in a lot of work on this. Its obvious by the characters personalities and descriptions were excellent. Even though at times they seemed to be in the wrong book. The location descriptions made it easy to imagine how they would appear to the observer. Its a good story, the number of characters made it confusing at times and that added to it being slow. If you have the time to invest, its enjoyable..
The author put in a lot of work on this. Its obvious by the characters personalities and descriptions were excellent. Even though at times they seemed to be in the wrong book. The location descriptions made it easy to imagine how they would appear to the observer. Its a good story, the number of characters made it confusing at times and that added to it being slow. If you have the time to invest, its enjoyable..
October 11, 2017
Mostly great - just a bit overloaded with plots.
For the most part it was good build up and scenario interaction, but toward the end, it felt a bit unsatisfying with the abrupt ending of so many characters.
For the most part it was good build up and scenario interaction, but toward the end, it felt a bit unsatisfying with the abrupt ending of so many characters.
May 31, 2022
Mixed
This is a good story line, and has interesting characters and a compelling narrative. But there is brutality and gratuitous violence and rape of men that is shocking. Caution to the sensitive reader.
This is a good story line, and has interesting characters and a compelling narrative. But there is brutality and gratuitous violence and rape of men that is shocking. Caution to the sensitive reader.
September 27, 2017
Very good writing, good characters, plot and plot twists. I'm glad the author didn't try to make it a trilogy like so many do these days. Just a good book with plenty of action and a good story.
August 29, 2018
Interesting story line
Kept me interested all the way through, some graphic violence, so if you are squeamish this is not for you. Some great twists that you do not see coming
Kept me interested all the way through, some graphic violence, so if you are squeamish this is not for you. Some great twists that you do not see coming
November 1, 2018
Wow!
Excellent story! I read it straight through, it was that good. I definitely recommend Desolation Run. You won’t be sorry!
Excellent story! I read it straight through, it was that good. I definitely recommend Desolation Run. You won’t be sorry!
April 2, 2019
Good book
You people should just read this novel yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourselves and I really enjoyed reading this novel very much so. Shelley Ma
You people should just read this novel yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourselves and I really enjoyed reading this novel very much so. Shelley Ma
May 1, 2019
Not a great read to be honest
It was a book that promises a good read but was difficult to read due to the disjointed narrative and character portrayal
It was a book that promises a good read but was difficult to read due to the disjointed narrative and character portrayal
June 23, 2019
I enjoyed the story, but the LONG, run-on sentences with multiple commas -- some misplaced, some missing -- took away some of the enjoyment.
June 14, 2020
Really liked this a lot. One scene unnecessarily too gory. Good characters, story, and setting.
February 15, 2021
This book about 3 convicts escaping and their plan was difficult for me to finish but I did wade through it. Kind of depressing. I rate this a 3.4
May 28, 2022
Desolation Run
Good story with several layers. I didnt understand whaT happened to the drug cartel or if Alexis was rescued unharmed. Nice tidy ending but not fantastic.
Good story with several layers. I didnt understand whaT happened to the drug cartel or if Alexis was rescued unharmed. Nice tidy ending but not fantastic.
January 2, 2024
Gritty, well thought out tale with one of the most soul less characters I have read in a long while. Desolation Run is not for the squeamish, but it is a real page turner.
March 6, 2017
Consuming Read
A story of desperation, craziness and obsession. The convicts escape and hideout, the girl that joins them, the fleeing are well told and absorbing. The sickening guard that pursues them ramps up the suspense. The plot is never predictable, but always changing.
A story of desperation, craziness and obsession. The convicts escape and hideout, the girl that joins them, the fleeing are well told and absorbing. The sickening guard that pursues them ramps up the suspense. The plot is never predictable, but always changing.
September 10, 2016
From bloody brutality to pure, poetic scenery and unfettered love, Desolation Run defies genre and dashes straight through the common thriller to deliver an impacting, unorthodox story of freedom and redemption. It's a very well-written novel beginning with a prison break, onto a chase, and the final culmination is so impossible to see coming I had to pick my jaw up off my iPad.
Oreny, Jaime and Luke bust out of a Washington state maximum security prison when it's discovered that Oreny has inoperable cancer. They're soon joined by Lauren, Luke's former girlfriend, who has her own reasons for being on the run. Their goal is to reach buried treasure, two million dollars of government military payroll, before Oreny quits this mortal coil, and finally make their way to Mexico. On their trail is Cade, a war vet and supremely messed up corrections officer.
The author has a clear mastery of language here, mixing well-written dialogue with elegant descriptions. The plot itself ought to have been simple, but the author intersperses interludes from another character's point of view. Doc is a Vietnam War vet who has bought up a little ranch off in the mountains near the Mexico-Texas border, where he's then subject to the unwanted attention of a border drug lord, Zavala. When the two storylines finally connect, it's fireworks and mayhem.
I wanted to write that the ending was unsatisfactory, and without giving it away, but I reflected back on how things turned out and I realized the power of what the author had done. He had made me care so much for the characters over their stint trying to outrun the law, find peace, find love, find freedom, that I'd become very, very attached. Kudos to the author here, at the end, where things get to sloppy and horrible on the outside, yet wrapped up and tied up in a beautifully-wrapped bundle on further consideration.
I had only one nit to pick with the book, and that was the first chapter from Maggie's point of view. It was so full of pronouns that I had trouble following along. In other chapters the tone, or the voice of the book changes along with whoever the third person focus is, but in this case (one very tiny case) it wasn't working as well as the remainder of the book.
Overall I'm proud to award Desolation Run an enthusiastic five stars for being conventional, unconventional, dramatic, heartbreaking, awesome, infuriating, bloody, mystical and full of some really great turns of phrase. My personal favorite was: tight as a Thanksgiving belly button.
Lastly, with respect to the mechanics, this book proved to be well-edited and formatted. I found only one or two tiny errors, be they punctuation, spelling, or text alignment.
Two big thumbs up. Buy this book and bring an umbrella. Things get pretty bloody.
Oreny, Jaime and Luke bust out of a Washington state maximum security prison when it's discovered that Oreny has inoperable cancer. They're soon joined by Lauren, Luke's former girlfriend, who has her own reasons for being on the run. Their goal is to reach buried treasure, two million dollars of government military payroll, before Oreny quits this mortal coil, and finally make their way to Mexico. On their trail is Cade, a war vet and supremely messed up corrections officer.
The author has a clear mastery of language here, mixing well-written dialogue with elegant descriptions. The plot itself ought to have been simple, but the author intersperses interludes from another character's point of view. Doc is a Vietnam War vet who has bought up a little ranch off in the mountains near the Mexico-Texas border, where he's then subject to the unwanted attention of a border drug lord, Zavala. When the two storylines finally connect, it's fireworks and mayhem.
I wanted to write that the ending was unsatisfactory, and without giving it away, but I reflected back on how things turned out and I realized the power of what the author had done. He had made me care so much for the characters over their stint trying to outrun the law, find peace, find love, find freedom, that I'd become very, very attached. Kudos to the author here, at the end, where things get to sloppy and horrible on the outside, yet wrapped up and tied up in a beautifully-wrapped bundle on further consideration.
I had only one nit to pick with the book, and that was the first chapter from Maggie's point of view. It was so full of pronouns that I had trouble following along. In other chapters the tone, or the voice of the book changes along with whoever the third person focus is, but in this case (one very tiny case) it wasn't working as well as the remainder of the book.
Overall I'm proud to award Desolation Run an enthusiastic five stars for being conventional, unconventional, dramatic, heartbreaking, awesome, infuriating, bloody, mystical and full of some really great turns of phrase. My personal favorite was: tight as a Thanksgiving belly button.
Lastly, with respect to the mechanics, this book proved to be well-edited and formatted. I found only one or two tiny errors, be they punctuation, spelling, or text alignment.
Two big thumbs up. Buy this book and bring an umbrella. Things get pretty bloody.
May 29, 2016
Started off as a promising story of a prison break and the life of three fugitives on the run. Unlike the stories of great manhunts, where the main character happens to be the cop or the detective leading the manhunt. The side of the the story of the former inmates, de-constructing their lives before prison, was a refreshing take. The three central characters have been fleshed out really well. In fact, the cop on the hunt is shown to be pure evil for a change. No shades of grey, pure black.
The level of gore and brutality is medieval. That is a point I want to make. The setting of the story could just as easily have been in the medieval times. It is hard to imagine a person like Cade existing inside the modern day police establishment. There would have been no difference if the story would have been set in say, medieval Europe. It would have given a new angle, even. Something like Ken Follet's Kingsbridge stories. The author would not have the chance to drop recognisable names like 7Eleven or Motel6, but they do little to take the story forward, anyway. A wayside inn could easily replace a Motel6.
The climax left a lot to be desired. But that could also be me just looking for a happy ending. I felt Doc and the ranch's story was left as somewhat of a loose thread. The build-up was good and the sudden twist with the daughter getting kidnapped and what transpired thereafter left me with goose pimples, such was the impact, the shock effect. In fact, the image of the riverside is painted in my mind with such vivid detail, that I get that image floating in my head whenever I think about the book. At the same time, I felt Doc was too strong a character to be removed so easily. And that shock took the spotlight away from the main storyline, no matter how many innocent whores Cade murders, no matter how graphic the murders are.
Everything said, a good story, but left me a bit underwhelmed with the ending.
I must mention here that I got the got the e-book for free from an Amazon offer. So, I figured the least I could do was leave my remarks on the adventure with Oreny, Lucas and Doc.
The level of gore and brutality is medieval. That is a point I want to make. The setting of the story could just as easily have been in the medieval times. It is hard to imagine a person like Cade existing inside the modern day police establishment. There would have been no difference if the story would have been set in say, medieval Europe. It would have given a new angle, even. Something like Ken Follet's Kingsbridge stories. The author would not have the chance to drop recognisable names like 7Eleven or Motel6, but they do little to take the story forward, anyway. A wayside inn could easily replace a Motel6.
The climax left a lot to be desired. But that could also be me just looking for a happy ending. I felt Doc and the ranch's story was left as somewhat of a loose thread. The build-up was good and the sudden twist with the daughter getting kidnapped and what transpired thereafter left me with goose pimples, such was the impact, the shock effect. In fact, the image of the riverside is painted in my mind with such vivid detail, that I get that image floating in my head whenever I think about the book. At the same time, I felt Doc was too strong a character to be removed so easily. And that shock took the spotlight away from the main storyline, no matter how many innocent whores Cade murders, no matter how graphic the murders are.
Everything said, a good story, but left me a bit underwhelmed with the ending.
I must mention here that I got the got the e-book for free from an Amazon offer. So, I figured the least I could do was leave my remarks on the adventure with Oreny, Lucas and Doc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2017
I was captured by the first page, enthralled in the pretense of what's to come before the first chapter was finished. All the characters were bound by fate, and in the end destroyed or redeemed by it. I'd never thought Luke Halprin and Maggie would have come to the conclusion they did. That scenario came out of left field. I thought Jaime would be the biggest problem within the group because of his naive ways and dispassionate disposition towards everything. Now Lauren's character is one I knew would bring alot of trouble, because she was running from herself and didn't use realistic conscious judgment in any of her decisions. Now let's talk about Big Ornery Johnson, the matriarch of wit and death; he's the only character I related to not because he was the only black person, because of his cancer and the pain. I was so happy Doc helped him transition peacefully and on his own terms. Everybody didn't get what they went into their individuals journey's for,even Doc and the Ranch reached their limits, but they all knew the expectations were limited and peace of mind was coming sooner than later. I enjoyed every word of this book,although at tines some of the racial slurs,and nasty bigotted content deterred my thought process at tines, I powered through till the end and was pleased with the content in its entirety. Fiction is not an easy genre at tines to navigate. A writer can be so to the point in your face, it feels close to your psyche in their words. I'm glad I got a chance to read this authors work!
January 23, 2015
More like 1.5/5 stars
First, I want to thank the author for being kind enough to send this book to me for first-reads.
Storyline/Plot: 1/5
Concept/Ideas: 2.5/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing style: 1/5
Desolation Run is the first book that I couldn't finish. I had high hopes for this book as the concept in the description sounded interesting. However, I was met with a very difficult read.
There are three main issues I had with this book.
1. It seemed to jump from different scenes in different time periods without any warning or transitions.
2. These jumps were totally separate stories in themselves. You never knew when you were going to return to the main story.
3. The language in this book can be unsettling. Some of it is very graphic and some of the word choices leave an aftertaste of things like sexism and homophobia. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue. In this book, however, the language leaked away from the characters and into the narration (it is written in third-person narration). That was bothersome because I couldn't keep those behaviors linked with the characters. Rather, I found myself using that language as a reflection of the author himself and I did not like that at all.
Overall, this book gave me the feeling of reader's whiplash and a bitter taste in my mouth. I might try another one of Snyder's book in the future but I don't see myself picking this one up again.
First, I want to thank the author for being kind enough to send this book to me for first-reads.
Storyline/Plot: 1/5
Concept/Ideas: 2.5/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing style: 1/5
Desolation Run is the first book that I couldn't finish. I had high hopes for this book as the concept in the description sounded interesting. However, I was met with a very difficult read.
There are three main issues I had with this book.
1. It seemed to jump from different scenes in different time periods without any warning or transitions.
2. These jumps were totally separate stories in themselves. You never knew when you were going to return to the main story.
3. The language in this book can be unsettling. Some of it is very graphic and some of the word choices leave an aftertaste of things like sexism and homophobia. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue. In this book, however, the language leaked away from the characters and into the narration (it is written in third-person narration). That was bothersome because I couldn't keep those behaviors linked with the characters. Rather, I found myself using that language as a reflection of the author himself and I did not like that at all.
Overall, this book gave me the feeling of reader's whiplash and a bitter taste in my mouth. I might try another one of Snyder's book in the future but I don't see myself picking this one up again.
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