Jeff’s Reviews > The Blooming: A Novel > Status Update

Her own theory--that whole dissertation thing. Because she was a scientist. Actually specialized in the thing that she was fighting. A brief recollection after about 150 pages of neglect.

So many obviously unresolved(able) threads, I knew this was headed for a shortcut, like most of the other ambitious aspects of the book. But this. Erica is above Tales from the Crypt fare, but you wouldn't know it here. The old Thinner plot, which was probably wasn't totally unique when Bachman wrote it.

This Terminator 3 section is undeniably fun, but the foundation was never built to sustain these abrupt character shifts. No suspension of disbelief. A very poor imitation of Jack Torrance.

And that's even worse.

This far in and now she's telepathic? The underlying premise that a mycologist is being told <spoiler>by her daughter that a fungal infection can be relieved by one person giving it to another</spoiler> is so frustratingly absurd, even if everything else had been smooth, this would kill it. Every chapter starts with a painfully obvious setup that results in the inevitable conclusion two pages later as a cliffhanger.

The big reveal at this point in the story should have been a looming presence that we suspected but were unsure about, rather than a blaring siren that the reader has been exasperatedly waiting for the protagonist to notice. This is like a ghost story where the ghosts are all caught on camera every night and nothing happens to the footage or the photos, the victims just choose not to do anything about the proof.

44 chapters of outrageous disobedience, lying, threats, and admission of wanting to hurt people and animals...then suddenly she's strict with her daughter.

This book's spoiler-heavy summary ruins more than just the potential suspense of the plot.

The nonchalant approach to the kid's ominous threats and clearly homicidal behavior has gotten ridiculous. Maybe because this is the author's first attempt at a straight horror story, but these are all the cheapest methods for achieving haunted house horror, right down to the basement our protagonist is in denial about avoiding at all costs. Ferencik is so much better than this, especially about naturalism.

The underlying theme of naturalism has really taken a backseat to haunted house thriller nonsense.