What do you think?
Rate this book
The Affected
What's that sound?
What would you do if the neighbor you've known since childhood suddenly became a stranger to you?
What's that sound
An outsider has arrived, and those who hear the sound he emits begin to change. Suddenly, entire households have begun to disappear.
What's that sound?
Trevor Burnette has lived in the same small town all his life. When his wife asks for a divorce, he thinks it’s the worst thing that could ever happen to him. But he was wrong. Dead wrong.
What's that sound?
Because his son is deaf, and those who cannot hear the sound are being murdered. Now, Demy is in danger if he and his father cannot escape...
The Affected
What would you do if the neighbor you've known since childhood suddenly became a stranger to you?
What's that sound
An outsider has arrived, and those who hear the sound he emits begin to change. Suddenly, entire households have begun to disappear.
What's that sound?
Trevor Burnette has lived in the same small town all his life. When his wife asks for a divorce, he thinks it’s the worst thing that could ever happen to him. But he was wrong. Dead wrong.
What's that sound?
Because his son is deaf, and those who cannot hear the sound are being murdered. Now, Demy is in danger if he and his father cannot escape...
The Affected
- GenresHorror
331 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 23, 2018
8 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 12, 2018
I was offered a free copy of this story for an honest review by the author. So, thank you!
My husband got me hooked on audiobooks, so I feel like I haven’t actually read a story in a good while. Although I felt the beginning was somewhat slow-going, it eventually picked up, and I was hooked. This was an interesting story. The fact I was exactly sure what was happening in town or who the man in white was, was an added bonus. Who doesn’t love a good mystery? This could have easily turned into a series. When I got to the Epilogue, I had figured (hoped) that’s where the author was heading, but sadly that was not the case. Anyways, I love a story with multiple points-of-views, that’s a big plus in my book.
Questions/Comments:
I had taken some editing classes last year because I love looking for mistakes while I read. On that note, there were several errors throughout the story that I found, whether it was using the wrong word, a random comma, or not having either the beginning or ending quotation marks.
Considering Trevor and Krista always seemed to be home, I was curious as to what they did for a living. I could see Krista being a stay-at-home mom for Demy. When they decided to go to the lake house near the end of the story, Krista mentions Trevor’s job, but that was it. No details.
I like food. Who doesn’t? 😉 With that said, I couldn’t help but notice that Demy seemed to eat A LOT. For example, there was the morning he wakes up, has breakfast, and then goes over to Mrs. Kennedy’s and has cookies and milk, later following-up with a green smoothie. Then a few days later after Krista and Demy visit Wanda, declining to have dinner with them, they end up eating at Subway as a special treat for dinner. After deciding against getting ice cream, they head home, and Krista tells Demy to go play while she makes dinner. This was just something I noticed.
Ethan’s backstory seemed kind of strange in that after his dies, his mother randomly joins a cult who are preparing for the apocalypse. I didn’t understand or care for that part. Maybe it was rushed, or the author was uncertain as to what to say, either way, it left me with a similar feeling when I read the Epilogue.
When Ethan is telling Trevor about growing up, he mentions that he felt bad because he could hear, while his sister was unable to. The questionable part about that story is that Ethan somehow hid the fact he could hear from his parents. How would that have even been possible though? Imagine a little baby and the faces and noises they make when their parents do the cutesy faces to them. Or that stage when the baby starts talking. Was Ethan that aware of what was going on around him (such as his sister being deaf) that he was able to pretend to not hear his parents when they spoke to him? That just seemed highly unlikely.
The gun! Obviously, the gun ended up coming in handy. I don’t understand why Trevor had bought it, to begin with though, much less illegally.
If the demon that was trying to “break the door down” in Ethan’s mind was unable to do so and take over his body, how was he so much stronger (being able to carry Diane) and faster? Or was that just coincidence?
In the end, this was a good story, and I’d recommend it to others. I can only imagine if there would have been a book 2. How cool that would have been.
My husband got me hooked on audiobooks, so I feel like I haven’t actually read a story in a good while. Although I felt the beginning was somewhat slow-going, it eventually picked up, and I was hooked. This was an interesting story. The fact I was exactly sure what was happening in town or who the man in white was, was an added bonus. Who doesn’t love a good mystery? This could have easily turned into a series. When I got to the Epilogue, I had figured (hoped) that’s where the author was heading, but sadly that was not the case. Anyways, I love a story with multiple points-of-views, that’s a big plus in my book.
Questions/Comments:
I had taken some editing classes last year because I love looking for mistakes while I read. On that note, there were several errors throughout the story that I found, whether it was using the wrong word, a random comma, or not having either the beginning or ending quotation marks.
Considering Trevor and Krista always seemed to be home, I was curious as to what they did for a living. I could see Krista being a stay-at-home mom for Demy. When they decided to go to the lake house near the end of the story, Krista mentions Trevor’s job, but that was it. No details.
I like food. Who doesn’t? 😉 With that said, I couldn’t help but notice that Demy seemed to eat A LOT. For example, there was the morning he wakes up, has breakfast, and then goes over to Mrs. Kennedy’s and has cookies and milk, later following-up with a green smoothie. Then a few days later after Krista and Demy visit Wanda, declining to have dinner with them, they end up eating at Subway as a special treat for dinner. After deciding against getting ice cream, they head home, and Krista tells Demy to go play while she makes dinner. This was just something I noticed.
Ethan’s backstory seemed kind of strange in that after his dies, his mother randomly joins a cult who are preparing for the apocalypse. I didn’t understand or care for that part. Maybe it was rushed, or the author was uncertain as to what to say, either way, it left me with a similar feeling when I read the Epilogue.
When Ethan is telling Trevor about growing up, he mentions that he felt bad because he could hear, while his sister was unable to. The questionable part about that story is that Ethan somehow hid the fact he could hear from his parents. How would that have even been possible though? Imagine a little baby and the faces and noises they make when their parents do the cutesy faces to them. Or that stage when the baby starts talking. Was Ethan that aware of what was going on around him (such as his sister being deaf) that he was able to pretend to not hear his parents when they spoke to him? That just seemed highly unlikely.
The gun! Obviously, the gun ended up coming in handy. I don’t understand why Trevor had bought it, to begin with though, much less illegally.
If the demon that was trying to “break the door down” in Ethan’s mind was unable to do so and take over his body, how was he so much stronger (being able to carry Diane) and faster? Or was that just coincidence?
In the end, this was a good story, and I’d recommend it to others. I can only imagine if there would have been a book 2. How cool that would have been.
May 11, 2018
In The Affected author James McNally ushers us into an ordinary world suddenly ravaged by an unspeakable evil. It is a slow creep upon a small town that reminded me of films such as The Mist and The Happening where things are going on in the backdrop that are sinister but you have no idea the gravity of it until it is happening to you instead of around you. It is not necessarily fast-paced but once things begin rolling you can’t put this book down because you have to stay plugged in and find out just what this really is.
Check it my full review **spoilers** on RaeOvSun.com
Check it my full review **spoilers** on RaeOvSun.com
May 11, 2018
McNally adds nuances of character and world to the classic tale of a mysterious force slowly turning neighbours into potential enemies. Containing both brutal violence and subtle dread it offers something for fans of both visceral and cerebral horror.
With all the witnesses to what really happened dead or missing, no one knows about the man in white and the mind-altering music he used to empty a farm of people. Worried about the collapse of his marriage and the impact on his deaf son, Trevor Burnette doesn’t even feel more than passing curiosity over the unexplained disappearances. However, as disappearances and odd behaviour spread through the town, he comes face to face with an evil that bears mayhem for all but a special hatred for the deaf.
Set in an ordinary part of rural America and featuring a growing number of townsfolk converted to a mysterious agenda, this novel displays similarities to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. However, with those subverted still being the same person rather than an engineered copy, this sense of paranoia is combined with a pleasing difference in what the goal of the conversion is and how matters will play out.
In addition to providing an intriguing vessel for mind-control, having transmission occur through hearing a tune rather than some more physical method adds greatly to the paranoia: if there isn’t a special toxin or device, there is no way to detect the subverted save through behaviour and no immediately obvious path toward either antidote or defence.
That the only defence that does seem to exist is being deaf builds this sense of vulnerability still further: being protected from conversion comes at the cost of severely reducing one’s ability to detect threats.
Skilfully balancing paranoia against accessibility, McNally introduces more noticeable effects of subversion as the story progresses, providing readers with more clues about what might be going on but also increasing the sense of threat.
The use of secondary point-of-view characters adds to this ongoing mix of new information and new threats, providing the reader with perspectives that Trevor lacks such that the reader knows he is unwittingly placing himself in greater danger but also providing clear evidence of bias such that the new information cannot be relied on as accurate.
While McNally’s concept is engaging and his plot filled with plenty of twists and uncertainties, his style tends toward declarative statements. As such, readers who enjoy inferring emotional states from character’s actions rather than being told what someone is feeling might find some scenes less powerful.
Also, while a possible explanation is offered toward the end of the book, some readers might find the presence of a character who has an ear condition that should make them deaf but for medically inexplicable reasons doesn’t to be convenient enough to weaken plausibility.
As befits a tale based around an insidious horror, the ending marks a significant victory for the protagonists but neither a return to utter safety nor a discovery of all. Therefore, readers seeking the triumph of good might be disappointed.
Trevor is a solid protagonist. Lacking any exceptional skills but with a strong desire to protect his son, he provides a plausible hero for the reader to empathise with. His logical acceptance that he is responsible for his marital problems is countered by a lack of experience in inspecting his emotions, both increasing his desire to keep his family safe and adding the challenge of driving them away by overreacting or misinterpreting.
The supporting cast display the same complexity of motivation and reaction. People want to do the right thing and end the threat, yet still maintain their dislikes of others over things that are petty in the face of conversion or death.
Unfortunately, this portrayal of a consistent balance between conscience and pettiness is not always perfect. In one instance, a character takes action that seems actively immoral then carries on with neither turmoil nor evidence of a change in outlook.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking supernatural horror with lots of paranoia and few happy endings.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
With all the witnesses to what really happened dead or missing, no one knows about the man in white and the mind-altering music he used to empty a farm of people. Worried about the collapse of his marriage and the impact on his deaf son, Trevor Burnette doesn’t even feel more than passing curiosity over the unexplained disappearances. However, as disappearances and odd behaviour spread through the town, he comes face to face with an evil that bears mayhem for all but a special hatred for the deaf.
Set in an ordinary part of rural America and featuring a growing number of townsfolk converted to a mysterious agenda, this novel displays similarities to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. However, with those subverted still being the same person rather than an engineered copy, this sense of paranoia is combined with a pleasing difference in what the goal of the conversion is and how matters will play out.
In addition to providing an intriguing vessel for mind-control, having transmission occur through hearing a tune rather than some more physical method adds greatly to the paranoia: if there isn’t a special toxin or device, there is no way to detect the subverted save through behaviour and no immediately obvious path toward either antidote or defence.
That the only defence that does seem to exist is being deaf builds this sense of vulnerability still further: being protected from conversion comes at the cost of severely reducing one’s ability to detect threats.
Skilfully balancing paranoia against accessibility, McNally introduces more noticeable effects of subversion as the story progresses, providing readers with more clues about what might be going on but also increasing the sense of threat.
The use of secondary point-of-view characters adds to this ongoing mix of new information and new threats, providing the reader with perspectives that Trevor lacks such that the reader knows he is unwittingly placing himself in greater danger but also providing clear evidence of bias such that the new information cannot be relied on as accurate.
While McNally’s concept is engaging and his plot filled with plenty of twists and uncertainties, his style tends toward declarative statements. As such, readers who enjoy inferring emotional states from character’s actions rather than being told what someone is feeling might find some scenes less powerful.
Also, while a possible explanation is offered toward the end of the book, some readers might find the presence of a character who has an ear condition that should make them deaf but for medically inexplicable reasons doesn’t to be convenient enough to weaken plausibility.
As befits a tale based around an insidious horror, the ending marks a significant victory for the protagonists but neither a return to utter safety nor a discovery of all. Therefore, readers seeking the triumph of good might be disappointed.
Trevor is a solid protagonist. Lacking any exceptional skills but with a strong desire to protect his son, he provides a plausible hero for the reader to empathise with. His logical acceptance that he is responsible for his marital problems is countered by a lack of experience in inspecting his emotions, both increasing his desire to keep his family safe and adding the challenge of driving them away by overreacting or misinterpreting.
The supporting cast display the same complexity of motivation and reaction. People want to do the right thing and end the threat, yet still maintain their dislikes of others over things that are petty in the face of conversion or death.
Unfortunately, this portrayal of a consistent balance between conscience and pettiness is not always perfect. In one instance, a character takes action that seems actively immoral then carries on with neither turmoil nor evidence of a change in outlook.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking supernatural horror with lots of paranoia and few happy endings.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
May 31, 2018
I really liked this book. I am curious to see if it relates to the Keepers of the Forest book. I look forward to the sequel. One question I have is why did Tessa not like Ethan so very much? Because he was gay? There ending proved quite interesting and I look forward to hearing how Demy and Ethan can thwart the goat demon! Let me know when #2 is coming Mr. McNally!
July 29, 2022
I felt there wasn’t enough time to sum up the end of the story but there was and it didn’t feel rushed either.
I do think there could be a sequel to this story but it ends well either way.
Interesting characters and a pretty good story.
While I didn’t really care for the narrators voice she still did a good job changing voices.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I do think there could be a sequel to this story but it ends well either way.
Interesting characters and a pretty good story.
While I didn’t really care for the narrators voice she still did a good job changing voices.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
July 21, 2018
I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
The concept of this book is really good. Some of the time it was edge of the seat but there were a number of places where the flow was interrupted by descriptions of unimportant things, e.g. all the steps for making a sandwhich. Regardless of this I found the story to be enjoyable.
The concept of this book is really good. Some of the time it was edge of the seat but there were a number of places where the flow was interrupted by descriptions of unimportant things, e.g. all the steps for making a sandwhich. Regardless of this I found the story to be enjoyable.
April 6, 2022
audible:I had hoped I would love this book.I liked it.The story was good,for the most part. It had more gore in it than it needed.It needed more in depth storyline and explaination of the man in white.The narration by Anna Marie Peloso was fair. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
September 30, 2018
Although I found a few logic flaws throughout, the story is so well plotted, overlooking them came easy. A plot worthy of the classic horror tales. I give "The Affected" four stars.
Read my full review here: https://kayelynnebooth.wordpress.com/...
Read my full review here: https://kayelynnebooth.wordpress.com/...
February 28, 2019
At the end Religion rears it head
The book was interesting but the ending was very very weak. I was sorry I wasted time reading it. Good grief Religion....I’ll never recommend this book.
The book was interesting but the ending was very very weak. I was sorry I wasted time reading it. Good grief Religion....I’ll never recommend this book.
March 22, 2019
Just could NOT find my groove with this one. Very very slow to develop. I called it quits when I was nearly half way through and the author introduced two NEW characters, one of which was a 70 year old woman considering anal sex. No thank you...stay on point.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews