The Town

by Mobashar Qureshi

He had seven days to burn the town down.Seven days to kill every occupant in it.Seven days do it without getting himself in trouble.So begins the story of a stranger who shows up in town with a secret and a motive that could be deadly to the town's folks.approx. 33,000 words.

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 2011

About the author

MOBASHAR QURESHI was named one of the ten rising mystery writers to watch by Quill & Quire Magazine. He is the author of THE BLUE HORNET, THE OCTOBER FIVE, THE PAPERBOYS CLUB, along with several other novels. He is married and lives in Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

[Mike Davis]

I have a hard time rating the two books I've read by Quershi. He has some good ideas and unique scenarios but there are two things that keep this book from a higher rating. The protagonist, a semi-human, is well developed in terms of his growing empathy, but other characters lack a bit of development. The other factor that will come with time is a lack of total familiarity with English. Either the narrative is a translation, or the author needs to become more comfortable with idiomatic expressions and more complex sentence structure. Sentences are short and simple, and there is an occasional odd usage or misspelling. I don't like to dwell on the mechanics because the main idea of the short novel is quite interesting. I'd give it one star on writing and three stars on ideas. I hope Qureshi continues to develop as a writer.

This was received in exchange for an honest review.

[Amanda]

I won a copy of The Town from Library Thing.

The Town starts out with a man stumbling into a town, after fighting his way through a dust storm. His name is never given, nor is it known what exactly his reason for going from town to town is, until the end. He stays with Mindy and Darvey in exchange for helping them repair their barn, and all the while, he keeps remembering bits of his past. He has a dirty bandage on his hand, covering the green light, and it's not clear if he's some sort of alien or something else. I liked The Town ok, but I like to have my stories explained a little more. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy mystery, just not the complete unknown. I kept getting frustrated towards the end when he kept referring to his reason for destroying the town as THEM/HIM and it's still unclear to me exactly what THEY are. The writing was good, the story mediocre.

[Elizabeth]

Good story. I enjoy that this author does not give any unnecessary story. His writing is tight and always entertaining. The only fault I found with this book was not anough description on the attackers but it was not NECESSARY information, no detraction what-so-ever. Great way to spend a day in the sun.

[Krizia Anna]

It was okay. I liked how the author built up the story. There is a "series" vibe going on.