Thunder Road

by Chris Curry (Pseudonym), Tamara Thorne

Final Destination

The California desert town of Madelyn boasts all sorts of attractions for visitors. Join the audience at the El Dorado Ranch for a Wild West Show. Take a ride through the haunted mine at Madland Amusement Park. Scan the horizon for UFOs. Find religion with the Prophet’s Apostles—and be prepared for the coming apocalypse. Because the apocalypse has arrived in Madelyn. People are disappearing. Strange shapes and lights dart across the night sky. And a young man embraces a violent destiny—inspired by a serial killer whose reign of terror was buried years ago. But each of these events is merely setting the stage in preparation for the final confrontation. A horror of catastrophic proportions is slouching toward Madelyn in the form of four horsemen—and they’re picking up speed…

Genres: Horror

499 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather eclectic novel by Thorne and perhaps her first novel published under a pseudonym. Typical of Thorne, this is set in small town in California, largely a tourist trap by the name of Madelyn, which boasts a wild west show, a 'haunted mine' ride and all sorts of other stuff. Thunder Road takes place in just one week, with a chapter for each day. Thorne employs a lot of characters here and shifts POVs rapidly and regularly. While I guess this could be considered a horror novel (it was marketed as one), it is really more of a thriller replete with UFOs.

First, we have the 'Prophet' and his Apostles, a religious sect/cult that maintains the 'end of days' will be this coming Sunday during the solar eclipse. The Prophet runs his multimillion dollar empire from town and has a huge compound staffed with Apostles there as well. Next, we have the local sheriff and his tattooed squeeze Cassie (and their kid). Cassie runs the local theater in town. We also have a sheep farmer named Marie, who the local cowboy who runs the Wild West show is in love with. Justin is a teenager sociopath whose role model is a serial killed dubbed 'the peeler' as he cut skin off his victims. Finally, we have Alex and her assistant in town to document the numerous reports of UFO activity around town. There are other characters in this drama as well, but Thorne manages to pull off this large cast well.

The sitrep: several people have 'gone missing' lately and the sheriff is stumped. The Apostles have amassed a huge armory and are dying to 'tame' the heathens in town and beyond. The UFOs are very active and the military has an interest in this as well. Justin is perhaps the wildcard as he takes victims here and there. Really, most of the story is a build up to the 'apocalypse' that the prophet foretold and the denouement. A fun story, but not really very scary. Again, I would call this a character based thriller rather than horror and Thorne moves the story along nicely. 3 strange stars.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really in the mood for a horror but this was way out there. I enjoyed the amusement park aspect and the UFOs. There's a lot going on in the town of Madelyn.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty decent horror novel. It centers around UFOs, a serial killer, a religious cult, and a psycopath teen. The ending is pretty unique because the culminating events are interpreted differently by an array of characters so the reader has to draw his or her own conclusions about whether what happened was all good or evil. I would like to read more books by this author.

[Aaron Zavadsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I thought the book was okay. This book lots of characters and a number of different story lines, which I like. However, the ending could have been better. There was a lot of build up to the climax but then....nothing. The ending was rushed and there was minimal resolution.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apocalyptic horror told from almost all the character's perspectives. Very entertaining, fast read.

[Marnie Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just about gave up on this at the beginning as there are so many characters and a lot going on but I'm glad I hung in there as it did turn out to be a pretty good book. I do still think there were too many characters. As crazy as this book is the craziest thing to me was when Alex finds out about Carlo's "secret" and she's just like "ok so he killed three women but I really like this guy", what?? Obviously in a book like this you can't get too caught up in all the unbelievable details though, overall this was pretty fun.

[Lorri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been around for a few years, but I just got around to taking it off my shelf and reading it. UFOs, religion, murder--it makes for a weird combination of events for a story, but it works. Someone is going around killing people and animals in Madelyn. Some people believe it is aliens, others have a more practical opinion. After an earthquake, the townspeople are cut off from the rest of the state. That is when everything comes to a head.... Interesting characters and a fast moving ending!

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Thunder Road” by Tamara Thorne, was a very enjoyable read. It concerns events happening in the town of Madelyn, and events are happening plenty. Strange lights in the sky, odd things happening to livestock, people disappearing, and a crazy religious cult gearing up for the Four Horsemen to ride down Thunder Road to signal the apocalypse. This story was very engaging, and kept my interest the whole way through. It cycles chapters between characters as the storylines build up, moving toward a climatic finish. Really enjoyed this one and recommend it.

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.

This novel is okay but not the best that this author came out with . Characters were not all interesting and the ending felt a bit rushed. However, it was a fast read and it is a good one if you are looking for a horror related vacation novel. I have never read a novel about desert towns specifically aliens before and this was good. Tamara's ability to use horror elements that are not just ghosts and haunted houses are wonderful however this novel was not as good as the other work that I am planning to reread.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent thriller, Curry has an amazing ability in taking folklore fairy tales and making them believably thrilling. In this case we see an exploration of the God/Alien theory as a new chapter of the Bible is written in a small-town American drop out centre. A particularly good story mechanism is employed in that we follow individual characters as though looking over their shoulder rather than just following a story.

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well written sci-fi / horror novel.
Keeps you interested from the first chapter. aliens, cults, cowboys, and serial killers? Yup, somehow the writer fits it all in and it works. Recommended for fun and chills.

[Karen Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contained a large cast of characters, but it all seemed to mesh pretty well together. There were UFOs, a serial killer, religious zealots, the U.S. government and the population of a small California desert town. It wasn't Thorne's best, but it was still a good read.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

charecters were interesting,writing ....good, ending was dissapointing kind of fizzled out

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? Another winner. Great plot, colorful characters.

[Mark Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book, although i wasn't sold on the ending. Things fell into place too quickly and too easily for my liking. But who am I to nit pick?

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you give me a story with serial killers, UFO's and lunatic religious zealots, I generally think it is too much. However, I loved this.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very long story with a few characters I liked and some that were downright easy to dislike from beginning to books end.