Final Scream

by David Brookover

Television’s number one frightfest . . . On a hostile South Pacific island. Generates a deadly combination. Final Scream is about to kick off its fourth hit season live from its new location, Terror Island, when suddenly all contact with the island is lost. Two rescue teams are sent. None return. Supernatural investigator Nick Bellamy’s cousin is a Final Scream contestant, so Nick, Gabriella, Neo, and Crow delve into the network’s ulterior motive for selecting such a dangerous island and jeopardizing the cast and crew’s lives. During their probe, they encounter spine-chilling witches, otherworldly beasts, and ruthless government traitors who collaborate to pull off the most extraordinary heist in history. One that will alter the world’s balance of power. As Nick hunts for his missing cousin, Noah Wright, he unravels a mind-blowing the reality show was never meant to air at all—the people were bait! When Nick and his team trace the treacherous plot to its source, can his supernatural powers prevail against such sinister forces to save Noah and ruin their plans? The fuse is burning . . .

Genres: Horror

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 30, 2015

Reviews

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so. Great characters but the story jumped around to much and magic always saved the day.

[Dixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this one was not as good as Burial Grounds, however, it was still good. redundant at times and long other times. but as I said, still a good book

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a lot that didn’t wow me about this book. If I explained it all I’d be here for a long time. So instead, I’m going to concentrate on the one thing that annoyed me the most: the gaping plot hole created by the magic system. Nick and Gabriella can do virtually anything with magic. Nick conjures a speedboat out of thin air. Nick and Gabriella seem to teleport upon a whim. A brief mention at one point said that their conjuration ability’s only limit is that it can’t be used to create money or jewels. Anyone should be able to find at least a hundred ways to make plenty of money off of it. Also, since there are so few limitations on their ability to conjure, they should be able to fix most of the book’s problems with the wave of a hand. It doesn’t help that Nick and Gabriella also have a cat and a terrier that are familiars with a whole lot of power–and Nick and Gabriella pretty much just leave them at home. Huh?!

I would love it if the author would hunt down a self-proclaimed ‘rules lawyer’ from a tabletop roleplaying game such as Dungeons and Dragons. Write up the rules for your magic (only as it is described and used in this book). Then give it to that person and see how many of your plot points go up in smoke when you let someone creative and clever figure out how to use your system to best effect.

Because it was obvious that many of the problems in this book that weren’t solved through magic ought to have been solvable through magic, this book is fairly dead in the water and should have ended much earlier.

While there are some halfway-decent characters and the pacing is sometimes good, it’s the fact that the magic system is a gaping plot hole that makes me want to not read any more of this series. (Okay, there’s also a bunch of stilted dialogue.)


Original review on my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2016/08/r...