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Desolation
Cain is eager for a new beginning. After years of virtual imprisonment by his insane father, and intense therapy following his father's death, Cain is finally read to see the outside world. He rents an apartment and moves in with only a few meager belongings, including a very special trunk that contains his most guarded secret - something unimaginable. Something unnatural.
The outside world isn't what Cain expected. His landlord warned him before he moved in that the other tenants were a little strange, but he soon discovers that many of them are very strange and downright terrifying. His nightmare are becoming more hideous and more frequent. The pressure is building. If it continues to build, Cain might be forced to open his trunk.....
The outside world isn't what Cain expected. His landlord warned him before he moved in that the other tenants were a little strange, but he soon discovers that many of them are very strange and downright terrifying. His nightmare are becoming more hideous and more frequent. The pressure is building. If it continues to build, Cain might be forced to open his trunk.....
- GenresHorror
309 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
189 people want to read
About the author
Tim Lebbon
294 books1,537 followersI love writing, reading, triathlon, real ale, chocolate, good movies, occasional bad movies, and cake.
I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. And our dog, Blu, who is the size of a donkey.
I love the countryside ... I do a lot of running and cycling, and live in the best part of the world for that.
I've had loads of books published in the UK, USA, and around the world, including novels, novellas, and collections. I write horror, fantasy, and now thrillers, and I've been writing as a living for over 8 years. I've won quite a few awards for my original fiction, and I've also written tie-in projects for Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy, The Cabin in the Woods, and 30 Days of Night.
A movie's just been made of my short story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies. There are other projects in development, too.
I'd love to hear from you!
I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. And our dog, Blu, who is the size of a donkey.
I love the countryside ... I do a lot of running and cycling, and live in the best part of the world for that.
I've had loads of books published in the UK, USA, and around the world, including novels, novellas, and collections. I write horror, fantasy, and now thrillers, and I've been writing as a living for over 8 years. I've won quite a few awards for my original fiction, and I've also written tie-in projects for Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy, The Cabin in the Woods, and 30 Days of Night.
A movie's just been made of my short story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies. There are other projects in development, too.
I'd love to hear from you!
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 28, 2022
This novel by Lebbon had potential, but the surreal narrative and bizarre characters did not rock my boat. Our main protagonist, Cain, begins the novel by moving into something of a halfway house. For the last several years, Cain has been in a mental institution attempting to recover from his father's mental if not physical abuse. Cain's father was obsessed with something called 'Pure Sight', a supernatural state of consciousness that 'transcends' base humanity, and tried to mold little Cain to obtain it by all kinds of mental and physical depravations. When his father died, Cain was a teenager, but never interacted with other kids and had nothing like a normal life. The mental institution after several years got him a flat in some anonymous city in an old Victorian mansion cut into five flats.
The first part of the novel sees Cain raveling in his new found freedom, walking the city and interacting with people, although the people are strange; his neighbors and landlord, however are even stranger. I will not go into the plot (what there is) due to spoilers, but I am not sure what Lebbon was trying to do here. Descent into madness by Cain? A surreal, albeit misanthropic, tale of otherness? An implicit critique of morality? The story just got stranger and stranger and ended with a whimper. 1.5 stars, rounding up because I finished it.
The first part of the novel sees Cain raveling in his new found freedom, walking the city and interacting with people, although the people are strange; his neighbors and landlord, however are even stranger. I will not go into the plot (what there is) due to spoilers, but I am not sure what Lebbon was trying to do here. Descent into madness by Cain? A surreal, albeit misanthropic, tale of otherness? An implicit critique of morality? The story just got stranger and stranger and ended with a whimper. 1.5 stars, rounding up because I finished it.
July 21, 2018
I wanted to like this one more than I did. It's not exactly a horror novel in the traditional sense, though it may be... depending on your definition and interpretation. Some of the characters are fascinating and the events described are interesting. The narrator is in something of a halfway house after being released from a mental asylum so the reliability of the accuracy of the events being reported is in question from the start. The other characters all seem to be at least as unreliable and possibly delusional... it's like Tom Piccirilli went to Brian Lumley's pool party in disguise. What does that mean? Exactly.
January 27, 2016
A slow, gripping psychological mind bender that never gets go. Told in a way that ensues you get the heavy dose at horror; because of the very slow pace and dreamy writing style, it's like being hooked up to a slow drip IV - a steady, slow drip of horror into your blood stream almost non stop.
Don't go into this one without patience, however, for it is on the slower side. A reason Lebbon may have chosen this pace is because of the rich, bleak atmosphere he created. Note I said created, not tried to create. When I read this book I felt like I was falling down a spiral of darkness, zapped this way and that, my psyche being put on the hot plate and cooked on low heat.
Excellent!
Lebbon's style was so amazing it's more than good writing, it's a talent that deserves to be slapped on the wall and put on display. There were numerous occasions where I just sat back for a minute, stunned into reader silence, marveling at his way of writing. It came across as an artful type of prose, working
well for me.
This ride was worth the longer-than-normal wait - ignore the heat shining on your back, the annoying flies attracted to the crowds sweaty skin, the woman with the weird hat in front of you, the hour long wait flashing on the sign - once you get on this ride and reach your destination, you'll know it's worth it. I promise. If you turn out traumatized, I'm sure Cain can recommend some good therapists...
Don't go into this one without patience, however, for it is on the slower side. A reason Lebbon may have chosen this pace is because of the rich, bleak atmosphere he created. Note I said created, not tried to create. When I read this book I felt like I was falling down a spiral of darkness, zapped this way and that, my psyche being put on the hot plate and cooked on low heat.
Excellent!
Lebbon's style was so amazing it's more than good writing, it's a talent that deserves to be slapped on the wall and put on display. There were numerous occasions where I just sat back for a minute, stunned into reader silence, marveling at his way of writing. It came across as an artful type of prose, working
well for me.
This ride was worth the longer-than-normal wait - ignore the heat shining on your back, the annoying flies attracted to the crowds sweaty skin, the woman with the weird hat in front of you, the hour long wait flashing on the sign - once you get on this ride and reach your destination, you'll know it's worth it. I promise. If you turn out traumatized, I'm sure Cain can recommend some good therapists...
June 28, 2011
It seems people either loved this book or not. I fall into the later category. The premise is fantastic, but the execution is weak. Lebbon's new style of writing tries to mimic Tom Piccirilli and T. M. Wright, but doesn't come anywhere close. What took Lebbon over 300 pages to write should have been a 100 page novella. Yes, there are a few great and original moments, but I think this book should have been in the fantasy section, not horror. It was as scary as an episode of Seinfeld.
May 17, 2019
My favorite Tim Lebbon book so far, and I have read quite a few. I remember being profoundly touched with all kinds of conflicting and turbulent feelings while reading this story. It's certainly not the most gory of his horror stories, but the terror is subtle and the pain is profound on every page. You might find yourself having to take a break now and then, get a cold drink, calm down a bit before you try another chapter. It's the kind of book I want to reread again because I want to study how he created such an endearing main character, but it's one of those stories that is so seamlessly beautiful you can't pick it apart. It will only disappear in your hands.
April 7, 2008
In psychology classes, one would learn about baby Albert and the experiments done on him. The baby is presented with a stimulus and is either rewarded or punished with a very loud disturbing noise. After I read Tim Lebbon's Desolation, I found myself wondering What happened when Baby Albert grew up?
May 31, 2021
This was my very first Lebbon book. I loved it! I wouldn't call it a horror book more of a suspense/thriller novel. It has a lot of twists; some of them I was expecting, some caught me completely off guard.
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October 20, 2019I couldn’t get into it.
December 1, 2019
Interesting book. Very weird.
May 7, 2025
2.5 stars
February 14, 2017
Cain left everything he knew behind after his tortuous father, the man who enacted horrible experiments upon young Cain to try and give him the Pure Sight, finally passed away after Cain turned 17. For six years following he found himself at AFresh, a mental hospital where the Voice and the Face worked tirelessly to try and fix him damaged mind. The mind where the Siren sounds and the Shadow followed, is where he finally discovers just how troubled he was. After waiting all those years, AFresh deemed him free, allowing him to move into a small apartment, one where the landlord Peter warned him to not dig into the other tenants personal lives, because everyone of them had a secret to hide.
From Magenta, a woman who shape shifts into another person everyday, who turns out to be the Mother who has been absent for all of Cain's life, not even a trace of her to be found in the broken house he shared with his father. Leading into George, a troubled man who turns into a dog to hunt and kill people to feed an insatiable hunger. To Sister Josephine, a woman who possessed the ability to fly, and used her shocking good looks to lure men in to literally fuck to death through rape. This leaves Cain to witness the Whistler, an older man who played him pipes, leaving a room full of followers, animals permanently with their head cocked listening to something, even a woman left frozen, looking stuffed and stages on a rocking chair for years. After witnessing death since his arrival, Peter comes to him with information on his Father and the other Tenants, which enraged George, causing him to viciously murder Peter after shifting. As everything falls apart, Cain uses the powers of the Shadow to help murder George after he murdered a little girl and her family in a bid of power to Cain. All of those tenants, cursed with the evil of Pure Sight.
As Magenta shows him what was hidden behind Peter's house marked Heaven, the skulls of deceased Pure Sight individuals, many skulls deformed by their abnormalities and powers. As Magenta turns to leave, Cain discovers no one can see him anymore, because he is now one with the shadow. Returning back to Apartment 13, he sees those left, the tenants who all say one fleeting word without realizing Cain was listening in. "I hope I see him again." Now understanding finally dawned on Cain, leaving his with the knowledge fo so many deaths, including the man who possessed him apartment he holds now, a Man named Vlad, crippled in the circus years ago and left wheel chair bound.
From Magenta, a woman who shape shifts into another person everyday, who turns out to be the Mother who has been absent for all of Cain's life, not even a trace of her to be found in the broken house he shared with his father. Leading into George, a troubled man who turns into a dog to hunt and kill people to feed an insatiable hunger. To Sister Josephine, a woman who possessed the ability to fly, and used her shocking good looks to lure men in to literally fuck to death through rape. This leaves Cain to witness the Whistler, an older man who played him pipes, leaving a room full of followers, animals permanently with their head cocked listening to something, even a woman left frozen, looking stuffed and stages on a rocking chair for years. After witnessing death since his arrival, Peter comes to him with information on his Father and the other Tenants, which enraged George, causing him to viciously murder Peter after shifting. As everything falls apart, Cain uses the powers of the Shadow to help murder George after he murdered a little girl and her family in a bid of power to Cain. All of those tenants, cursed with the evil of Pure Sight.
As Magenta shows him what was hidden behind Peter's house marked Heaven, the skulls of deceased Pure Sight individuals, many skulls deformed by their abnormalities and powers. As Magenta turns to leave, Cain discovers no one can see him anymore, because he is now one with the shadow. Returning back to Apartment 13, he sees those left, the tenants who all say one fleeting word without realizing Cain was listening in. "I hope I see him again." Now understanding finally dawned on Cain, leaving his with the knowledge fo so many deaths, including the man who possessed him apartment he holds now, a Man named Vlad, crippled in the circus years ago and left wheel chair bound.
August 31, 2013
My second horror novel by Lebbon, this one was...odd. I really enjoyed it, but it was one of those books where I never really knew what was going on. The idea is that a guy named Cain moves into this apartment building and finds all the neighbors to be kinda freaky. He makes lots of discoveries about his neighbors, about what happened to the previous tenant of his apartment, and about himself. But what sets this apart from a normal Single White Female tale is that I had the distinct impression that Cain wasn't quite getting the whole story, but why not? Was he crazy? Was it some sort of mind control? Is he just freaking himself out about nothing?
Well, the only spoiler I'll give is that it's not that last one. As usual, Lebbon does a great job with the atmosphere of the tale, and this time he had a whole group of possibly-supernatural characters. Kind of like Night Breed, only a lot more dark and creepy. But it took a little too long for me to have a grasp on what was going on. I enjoy being lost with the character for a while, but this was too much. I disagree with some reviews that said it was super slow, not all authors need gore to create a horrific mood, but...it took me until about halfway through the book to have a grasp on what was happening, which means I was lost for a little too long. Still, once it picked up, it was really good, lots of action (of various kinds) without sacrificing that Lebbon talent for atmosphere.
Well, the only spoiler I'll give is that it's not that last one. As usual, Lebbon does a great job with the atmosphere of the tale, and this time he had a whole group of possibly-supernatural characters. Kind of like Night Breed, only a lot more dark and creepy. But it took a little too long for me to have a grasp on what was going on. I enjoy being lost with the character for a while, but this was too much. I disagree with some reviews that said it was super slow, not all authors need gore to create a horrific mood, but...it took me until about halfway through the book to have a grasp on what was happening, which means I was lost for a little too long. Still, once it picked up, it was really good, lots of action (of various kinds) without sacrificing that Lebbon talent for atmosphere.
March 22, 2015
This is apparently one of those books by Tim Lebbon that people seem to either love or hate. After finishing, I can sort of see why. Desolation tells the story of Cain, a man abused by his father in order to help his son find something called Pure Sight. After the man's death, Cain ends up in a hospital/halfway house called Afresh where they try and help him get ready to move on and go back into the world as an independent adult. Where he ends up is a house full of strange and near mystical people with more secrets than Cain has himself. Peter, the landlord is the most normal of the group, but doesn't live in the building. Instead, Cain's neighbors are Sister Josephine, Magenta, Whistler and George. And like the novel, there is nothing normal or straightforward about any of them.
I think what I liked about it is what some might complain about. Instead of non-stop action scenes or over the top gore, this book excels in atmosphere and keeping you guessing. If you can figure out the end after the first chapter I'd be surprised as this one has so many unique twists and turns. It's a strange story with odd characters and a decent ending that makes me recommend it.
I think what I liked about it is what some might complain about. Instead of non-stop action scenes or over the top gore, this book excels in atmosphere and keeping you guessing. If you can figure out the end after the first chapter I'd be surprised as this one has so many unique twists and turns. It's a strange story with odd characters and a decent ending that makes me recommend it.
November 3, 2016
I wanted to like Desolation a lot more than I did, but the first 200 pages dragged, and while I'm all for a good, slow build, at 309 pages, this is a relatively short novel, meaning that the aforementioned build ought to pick up the pace and get to the heart of things well before page 200 and the conclusion needs to wow the reader: While decent, it didn't. With that, I struggled at times to stay focused and found myself going back multiple times to reread passages, and, frankly, I kept wondering when it would get better. Things did improve over the last 100 pages and, as I mentioned, it finished fairly strongly, but even then, there were moments where I felt like I was reading a thinner version of someone else's style (Clive Barker came to mind) and the conclusion wasn't strong enough to carry the rest of the novel. Overall, while I can understand where some readers will like Lebbon's book (the premise and the morals/lack thereof of the characters were interesting) and give it higher ratings than I have here, but it just didn't work so well for me.
May 20, 2015
I like Lebbon's work, but this one didn't connect with me as well as the other stories of his I've read. I don't want to go to much into it, because I believe this is the kind of book that serves you best the less you know going into it. I will say that it's wonderfully written. Beautifully, in fact. The characters are great. I like the odd situation that they're in. But . . . I just couldn't connect with the protagonist. Cain is so incredibly passive that I almost don't like him. Things happen to him. He never actually does things. Even when it seems like he might do something, he gets scared and watches instead. Or he gets confused and runs away. I like how things turn out for him in the end, though. But that's a spoiler. I don't know if I can recommend this book. The passive thing is probably just my own pet peeve getting in the way of my enjoyment of the book. Cain's roommates are infinitely more interesting than he is, though. Read it for them.
October 22, 2016
I loved this book. It's right up my alley.
The psychological approach and releasing of a person from isolation and abuse, and then therapy, takes this story to the "after" that I've always wondered about...and then delivers something more than I expected.
I really enjoyed how each character was a new mystery that slowly opened throughout the novel. Cain was a character so trapped in his own head, and we get to watch the intensity and worrying about whether or not things were real. Tim Lebbon played with those boundaries very nicely.
I won't give it away, but when I saw the direction at the end, I wondered if I would like how it played out. I have to say that I was satisfied with the ending as well.
If you like psychological suspense-style stories, I would recommend this book!
The psychological approach and releasing of a person from isolation and abuse, and then therapy, takes this story to the "after" that I've always wondered about...and then delivers something more than I expected.
I really enjoyed how each character was a new mystery that slowly opened throughout the novel. Cain was a character so trapped in his own head, and we get to watch the intensity and worrying about whether or not things were real. Tim Lebbon played with those boundaries very nicely.
I won't give it away, but when I saw the direction at the end, I wondered if I would like how it played out. I have to say that I was satisfied with the ending as well.
If you like psychological suspense-style stories, I would recommend this book!
December 31, 2010
This book did not end up going the direction I anticipated it was heading but I enjoyed it. The main characters a likeable guy. There is plenty of back story to explain how he becomes who he is. Its probalby not a book I'd read again but it is worth a try.
November 18, 2011
This was my second Lebbon novel and it had the BEST beginning! Lebbon set up an amazing story.
I can't really recall much of it now but I remember being severely disappointed in the ending of this book. Boo.
I can't really recall much of it now but I remember being severely disappointed in the ending of this book. Boo.
July 5, 2013
This one took soooooo long to get through. Nothing really good happened until you were halfway through the book. Once you hit the end and realize the whole point of the story, then it's decent... it just didn't grab my attention, at any point.
February 18, 2015
No just no. This book was not my thing. I really struggled to get through it and was sooo confused the whole time. I had never read a book by this author and it sounding like something right up my reading alley. But...sigh.
August 1, 2015
A very long drawn out boring read. I gave it 1 star because the last 19 pages FINALLY pulled it all together with a bit of entertainment. If ya'all ever come across this book, my advice to you is keep on looking for something else to read.
April 6, 2016
An odd book that had a good idea but just never seemed to take it anywhere or explain anything much. Worth a read if you are looking for an interesting filler book but otherwise Lebbon has written much better.
November 12, 2010
Very good book.
January 26, 2013
it was kinda weird but in a way that I had to finish it.
January 20, 2015
every author has that one book that I just did not like. This must be it from Mr. Lebbon.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews