Reek

by Bradley Freeman

No Cellphone Coverage. No Support Team. No Escape. A forgotten island awaits a Japanese documentary team; a place with a horrifying past. The team's mission is simple. A world catch a ghost on film. A fallen director, his troubled assistant, a psychic with a death wish, a policeman refusing to see the truth. All are about to discover the awful truth behind Pokere Island, for the ghosts of the past are real indeed. And very, very hungry. What began as a claim to fame will turn into a brutal fight for survival. Against the spirits, against the island...against themselves. REEK is Bradley Freeman writing at his most ruthless. Terrifying until the very last page, REEK is a novel that will visit you in your nightmares.

Genres: Horror

406 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 21, 2014

About the author

(written by his pug)
Bradley Freeman is a human who writes books. He is a Kiwi (not the fruit) who lived in Tokyo, Japan, until he didn't.
Bradley loves films and video games. Sometimes the noise is too loud and I bark, then he barks, then we both bark. Bradley also likes to eat lots of pizza. Pizza is the best, better than donuts!
He tells me he writes in different genres (I don't know that word. Is it food?), like horror and action, with a bunch more on the way.
I don't know if that's a promise... or a threat?

Woof.

Reviews

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

On an island abandoned so many years ago that hardly anyone remembers why, a film director and his hand-picked team set out to rejuvenate his poor reputation. Will they be successful? You'll have to read this to find out!

After seeing so many positive reviews from my friends I thought I'd give this book a shot. There was an interesting array of characters as well as some folk creatures that I'd never heard of before. Bradley Freeman takes all of this up, shakes it and then drops it all on an isolated island and let's everyone fend for themselves.

Bloody, gory, creative and fun, REEK was a blast to read! The only negatives I can come up with are the fact that I didn't care much for the main character and I thought it was a tad bit long. Still, there were so many twists and turns here, I never got bored. In fact, during the second half I had to hang on tight, because it was quite a ride!

I think Bradley Freeman is an author to watch and I would recommend this book to anyone looking for some good scares.

Highly recommended!

*You can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2zhpEeZ

*I bought this book with my hard earned cash.*

[Chris Berko · Rating 5 out of 5]

How in the F does this book not have more than ten ratings? Reek is a very effective horror novel that delivered some genuine scares and did not fizzle out at the end. The author does a good job with the introductions and set-up with a slowly building sense of tension until about the 40% mark when the shit starts hitting the fan. There are many influences on display in here but instead of being a disjointed mess it all sort of flows and comes together impressively in a mix of action, horror, unsolved mysteries, and human drama with just the right amount of gore. I think I paid $2.99 for this book but I would have paid $9.99 or higher no doubt, this is a mature, well-structured, scare-fest that is criminally underrated IMO.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read a horror novel that kept me on the edge of my seat, but Reek is one I couldn't put down. Suspenseful, gory, and with a twist that sent me down a rabbit hole of Google research, I highly recommend this one to horror fans.

[Nick Imrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains literally the worst pun in the entire world. You know how James Bond makes those ghastly puns whenever he murders someone? Some play on words related to the method of killing? Well, this book has one of those, and even worse, puts in the mouth of a character who has shown very little sense of humour up to this point, let alone a penchant for psychopathic chortling. It was so bad that I genuinely groaned out loud when reading.

However bad puns get, we cannot allow them to overshadow entire novels. And yet, I feel like this terrible pun was symptomatic of all my problems with what was otherwise a very solid horror story: that it was not always quite sure what mood it wanted to set, or who the characters wanted to be.

The haunted island is inhabited by creatures that (without spoiling too much) switch back and forth between gory, visceral, monstrous beasts and ethereal, spooky, tricky ghosts. I always prefer the spooky, creepy horror in a book, so every time the ghosts became solid and started knawing off extraneous body parts I lost all sense of creepiness, and gained nothing in revulsion. This is peculiar because in film I cannot bear torture porn or body horror. I can't even keep my eyes open in an episode of Casualty. But somehow, it didn't translate well into print - I don't know whether this fault lies in the descriptive prose or my imagination, but I feel like it may have been just the clunky way it flipped back and forth according to the needs of the plot. I can imagine that with a little more finesse the increasing strength and corporeality of the monsters could've added very much to the rising tension.

There were also some moments where the creepy horror tripped up. Most memorably, one moment where two characters are discussing something in the foreground, and a door swings open behind them and something with eyes peers out. The IT'S-BEHIND-YOU! trick is another that works very well in film, and not so well in print, because the written word cannot simultaneously show you both - it can only describe one after the other.

This is a negative and nitpicking criticism of the writing, and I think I'm only focusing on these failures so much because the rest of the book was so very good: an excellently paced, classic, trapped-in-a-haunting story. The minor faults stood out because they were so jarring against the rest. And, I think, because this is not the first horror novel I've read that felt like it would much rather have been a film.

I hope this doesn't become a trend. The techniques that work well in film don't all translate to the written word. Where the written word triumphs over film is in it's ability to share the inner landscape and psychology of the characters, and this book did not really take much advantage of the opportunity. The three main male characters: Kojima, Jin, and Sato are all given to wildly violent fantasies when annoyed, and I honestly can't tell if this is because the island draws in angry, damaged people or just limited characterisation. The two female characters, Mai and Yui, are respectively Madonna and whore. Yui is an especially lightly-drawn stereotype of a pretty girl, and when we finally get to see from her point of view, it's not to give us some insight into her character (of which there is none) but because we're running out of view-points. Mai is a sweet girl - and who can dislike a sweet girl? But I wish that her backstory had been more... meaningful? Her family problems are described in the early part of the book, and go some way to helping us sympathise with her personal failings, but they just aren't relevant to the rest of the story, and she doesn't have much character growth so it all gets quietly dropped by about midway.

Far and away the best character is police officer Henare, whose slovenly resignation to doing his duty is my favourite kind of heroism, and I wish he'd been the main character of the whole book rather than Jin, who I'm sure is very sexy and I've no doubt his Mysterious Tragic Past is intriguing - but give me real dirty moral struggles now, rather than heavy hints about sublime and melodramatic backstories to be revealed.

Again, I'm feeling bad that I've spent a couple of paragraphs criticising the characters, because it's not that they were bad. It's just that they had the potential to be so much better that I can't help but be a little disappointed. The book is, after all this carping, very good. And there was more than one occasion where I found myself fully immersed, holding my breath for those in peril on the page. If there are moments where it seems to be just one monster after another, these all too soon come together into a very satisfying denouement. One of the best stand-offs with the Big Bad that I've seen for a while.

All the pieces are there for a solid story - I just wanted them a little more polished at the joints.

[David Sodergren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine The Blair Witch Project crossed with the slow burn creeping unease of The Grudge crossed with the goopy splatter of From Beyond and The Thing. A love letter to all forms of horror, Reek puts a Japanese film crew looking for ghosts on a haunted island off the coast of New Zealand and then lets loose with all sorts of supernatural shenanigans.
The most fun I've had reading a horror novel this year, Reek harkens back to the anything-goes style of horror of the 1980s, and that is always a good thing.

[OutlawPoet · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I prefer books to movies and I always see these awesome movie trailers – esp. for Asian horror – and find myself disappointed that most aren’t books. Enter Reek – new J Horror in a book!

And it is awesome.

Gruesome, scary, and happily the author brings us a new monster from a culture little seen in horror. (No, I’m not talking Japan here – I’ll just let you read and see!)

This book is just so much fun!

The author brings us characters we love, some we hate, and some that will give us nightmares.

Eagerly looking forward to the author’s next book!

(Downloaded via KU)

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was on helluva ride to say the least.

Brad Freeman doesn't take long to chuck you in at the deep end here.

The beginning of the book sets up the story, a struggling director who gets the idea of a lifetime "I know, I'll set up a team and go to the most haunted fucking place imaginable and record a real life ghost" yeah cuz if it was that easy no one else would have thought of it.

It doesn't take long for the book to get into full flow and the scares come thick and fast, some of the ghosts/demons were brilliantly horrific, the blood and guts are flying from every direction and as you read it you can actually almost hear that squelching noise of blood pumping out of a wound that has just been ripped open, it really isn't one for the faint of heart.

If you are after a rip roaring blood soaked tale then this isn't a bad place to start at all,

I did at times wish that the book took a step back every now and again to just let the reader catch their breath and gather their thoughts because it was pretty much a constant onslaught and after a while as glorious as the bloody violence is it tends to lose its power as the book goes on, the finale was superb though and really pulled it back.

One other thing (and this is just a problem that I had and not a problem with the book at all) but it took me ages to adapt to the Japanese names, I'm just not used to seeing them in books so for quite a while I was getting the characters confused, again though this is just my own problem and a sign of my narrowed reading.

Also congratulations Brad, in the midst of all the chaos, blood, guts, murder and ghostly goings on, you still managed to squeeze a pug in there.

****small spoiler alert****
Plus I'd never heard of a Taniwha and after a quick search on Wikipedia I'm definitely going to have to look into them a bit more, especially The Taniwha of Kaipara, that story sounds pretty damn awesome.

[Gavin Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reek is a ghost story that, at first glance, may seem like the rest, but it's really not. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact feel of the story, because it's part Japanese thriller (think: a big splash of Paranormal, like Ringu, but with a hint of Kaiju), part Maori fable, part ethereal (think: Barker's Great and Secret Show), part Hollywood blockbuster (Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs)

It has the ingredients of a great horror: it's brutal and scary, but touching and sincere. It's dense with story, (the characters lives are well thought out, interesting, and lifelike), exciting, but it's sparse enough with descriptions that you're free to imagine and enjoy the prose.

This is my second foray into Bradley's work, and I've gotta say: I love what he's dishing up. His voice is clear, his stories are fresh, and his ideas are unique. Reek was a delight, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you're reading this review it's because you're interested in the book. If you're interested in the book, you should read it. It's as simple as that.

[Steve Stred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t believe I’m going to start a review by saying this (and I know he’ll print it and screenshot it blah blah blah!) but David Sodergren – YOU WERE RIGHT.

You see, ever since I became friends with Mr. Sodergren, author of such fantastic books ‘The Forgotten Island,’ ‘Night Shoot’ and ‘Dead Girl Blues,’ David has been telling me to read ‘REEK.’ At one point it was probably every other day, then weekly. But it would always be so casual. “Oh, hey, wow, I see you read another thirteen books last week, was one of them REEK?”

So, here we are. I finally got to it in my TBR. At the same time I started this, I saw the amazing Char was reading it and I was excited to see her thoughts. Spoiler alert – she had a blast.

I will admit, at one point late last year, I was a bit put off by reading so many ‘abandoned island’ books, but after taking a break from them, ‘REEK’ was the perfect re-introduction.

What I liked: ‘REEK’ has a very straight forward premise. Former famed director Kojima is trying to return to greatness. He has an idea, that will surely be a blockbuster. So, he gathers a group of unsuspecting people to come to an old abandoned island to film a documentary. You see, Pokere Island is said to be haunted and Kojima plans to film a ghost.

From that simple idea, Freeman delivers a gore-filled story. There are a number of characters in this, but instead of being overwhelmed by the volume, Freeman deftly introduces them, creates great interpersonal relationships and as the story unfolds, fills in their back story’s and why each person is experiencing what they are.

The island itself plays a smaller role than I expected, as it was more the haunted inhabitants that inflict damage, but the isolation and mythology that’s been built around it are fantastic and work well to create havoc when the chances of rescue occur.

Bradley really created some outstanding deaths in here. We’re talking top of the line video game carnage. For readers who love vivid descriptions going over all of the gruesome details, you won’t be disappointed.

What I didn’t like: Incredibly minor, but I found no reason for the police officers back story to come about. It felt forced a bit, as though he absolutely needed a reason for his actions, but I really didn’t see why we needed to have any of those details. It really doesn’t detract at all, but felt unnecessary.

Why you should buy it: Well, I mean, has Sodergren been messaging you all the time? If so – buy it. Shut him up! Ha! Otherwise, for the rest of you, Freeman has an incredibly easy writing voice to allow the reader to fall into the story. It flows and the book has short, snappy chapters. Freeman makes sure to give this book a ton of emotion, which in turns gives us some great moments and heartbreaking punch as things go from bad to worse.

If you like found footage movies and found footage books, the premise here should really appeal to you, as well, if you love the abandoned island plot, you can’t go wrong.

[Jon Von · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good creature feature, two parts Japanese horror, one part big budget monster movie. Reek has a lot of good qualities, a great premise, and a compelling first act but it’s too rough around the edges, goes from one sub genre to another without a sense of cohesion and occasionally suffers from awkward prose. It’s a fun read for fans of J Horror and monster movies but fails to meet the author’s apparent potential.

It starts as a sort of Japanese horror found footage movie where a crew go to an abandoned and supposedly haunted New Zealand island. The book makes a clear effort to establish the themes of film and create a movie-like atmosphere while going into character driven monologues that might seem fit to come out of a Koji Suzuki novel.

When the stuff hits the fan, it changes gears rather too abruptly, introducing some cool monsters, and some interesting fantasy world building but sacrifices what made the first act so compelling. It stumbles ahead with some nice action to a somewhat left-field but still entertaining set piece. If Reek didn’t feel like two books slapped together I’d give it a higher rating but it does have some good moments. There’s some engaging insight into the characters and pretty cool ghost attacks.

Finally, I had an issue with some of the prose. It just felt like paragraphs didn’t know when to end and I found myself re-reading parts far too much as it would mash together action and interior monologue in a way that just felt too messy. I appreciate the author’s creativity, and heck I even learned a bit about New Zealand folklore, but I just feel like he’s capable of something that can mix character and action without feeling his disjointed. Still, a spooky read with a nice twist.

[Matt (TeamRedmon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of filmmakers from Japan travel to a notorious abandoned island to film ghosts. None of the crew REALLY believe that they're going to find anything. But there's something on the island and it's been hungry for years. ⁣
⁣
Freeman takes one of my favorite tropes, the abandoned island, and puts a new spin on it. 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘬 shines in two specific ways. I loved the way Freeman wrote the attacks on the crew. The violence was cinematic and creative. Each ghost encounter felt fresh, original, and BRUTAL. I also loved the story of the island and it's history. I'll be thinking about this island for a long time to come. ⁣
⁣
I didn't love everything, I didn't actually like any of the characters and actively disliked the main character. When reading a book like this, I want to root for someone, but that was missing for me here. I also thought that some of the scenes between encounters became repetitive. Other than those issues, I thought 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘬 was a fun haunted island story and I recommend it ⁣

[Jacob Rolland]

Ghosts, Monsters and Gore

This was a fun read, like watching a scary movie but 3 different stories blended into one. Found footage\documentary, Asian horror and my favorite, big monster creature feature. I loved the wild and gory ride it took me on. Plus it was a nice blend of different cultures and characters who weren't perfect but relatable. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Personal note to the author, Bradley make this into a movie... Now!