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Book Review

Publisher's Note:

New York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice brilliantly conjures the shadowed terrors of the Louisiana bayou—where three friends confront a deadly, ancient evil rising to the surface—in this intense and atmospheric new supernatural thriller. It’s been a decade since the Delongpre family vanished near Bayou Rabineaux, and still no one can explain the events of that dark and sweltering night. No one except Niquette Delongpre, the survivor who ran away from the mangled stretch of guardrail on Highway 22 where the impossible occurred…and kept on running. Who left behind her best friends, Ben and Anthem, to save them from her newfound capacity for destruction…and who alone knows the source of her very bizarre—and very deadly—abilities: an isolated strip of swampland called Elysium. An accomplished surgeon, Niquette’s father dreamed of transforming the dense acreage surrounded by murky waters into a palatial compound befitting the name his beloved wife gave to it, Elysium: “the final resting place for the heroic and virtuous.” Then, ten years ago, construction workers dug into a long-hidden well, one that snaked down into the deep, black waters of the Louisiana swamp and stirred something that had been there for centuries—a microscopic parasite that perverts the mind and corrupts the body. Niquette is living proof that things done can’t be undone. Nothing will put her family back together again. And nothing can save her. But as Niquette, Ben, and Anthem uncover the truth of a devastating parasite that has the poten…

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The Heavens Rise

by Christopher Rice

Reviewer: Lydia
Genre: Fiction
Recommended Age: 18+

Overall Book Review:

I would have to say that even after reading this book, I am of the opinion that it is in a genre of its own. Usually I can put a book into a category of some sort once I am finished, but that was not the case with this one. Neither a mystery or science fiction…and not plain old fiction either. I was pretty impressed by the subject and pace of this book for the most part. There were a couple of chapters that seemed to drag just a little, but then something exciting or creepy would happen that grabbed my attention once again.

If you read the synopsis of this book, you will see that it mentions, albeit briefly, a parasite or some sort of disease. That is what this book is mostly centered around, but had I not read the synopsis beforehand, I wouldn’t have necessarily guessed at that right away. In my opinion, it seemed as if the characters in this book either all belonged in a mental institution (because of seeming hallucinations instead of reality), or that they were in a living nightmare. I wouldn’t want to lead the lives I was reading about, but they made for a thrilling story.


Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  16 mild obscenities; 6 religious profanities; 5 derogatory names; 5 scatological words; 8 F-Word derivatives.

Violence/Gore:  Animals are described to be abused; dead animals are described in detail; a girl is murdered, and blood is mentioned briefly; a character is mentioned to die from an aneurysm; a character deliberately injures himself, blood is described briefly; a woman admits to killing her mother; a character shoots another with a gun and kills him, blood is mentioned briefly; creepy, abominable animals are mentioned.

Sex/Nudity:  Minors kiss; sex is referred to twice; a girl is mentioned to have lost her virginity; a girl’s body is briefly described by a male in a sexual way.

Mature Subject Matter:

Murder

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Adults drink; minors drink; minors mentioned to deal drugs; prescription drug abuse.

Overall Book Rating
Profanity/Language
Rating:
9
10
Violence/Gore
Rating:
6
10
Sex/Nudity
Rating:
3
10

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About the Reviewer

Lydia
Books and reading have always been an important part of my life. When I was very young, my grandma was the library director at our local public library. Years later, after she had retired, I became a librarian at the same library and worked there for several years before taking a part-time job at a local coffee shop, which gives me more time to do what I love, to read and to review books! A few of my favorite authors are Aimee Bender, Diane Chamberlain, and Curtis Sittenfeld however, I will read almost any book I come across! In my spare time you can find me reading (of course), volunteering at a wildlife animal rehab, or hanging out with my three house rabbits.

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