Mr. Blue Sky #BookReview

Rebecca is thirty-five, single and working for her uncle in a chemical warehouse. The terrifying nightmares have started all over again. She cannot stop dreaming about Him.

Him. An ape-like creature who saved her life as a child when she snuck off into the woods alone. In secret, they became the best of friends. But who was he?

One night, disaster strikes when Rebecca’s father goes hunting for Him in the woods and is tragically killed. Rebecca believes He is responsible, but the murder is pinned on someone else.

Even today, after all her therapy sessions, Rebecca still insists He killed her father. For the sake of her sanity she needs to find out for sure. Was He even real? Her quest for answers takes a sinister turn, and she finally returns home to seek the truth. But what she uncovers turns out to be more horrific than any nightmare she could ever imagine.

Title: Mr. Blue Sky | Author: John Drake | Publisher: Matador (May 16, 2018) | Pub. Date: 16 May 2018 | Pages: 260 | ASIN: B07D4LZQXX | Genre: Sci-Fi / Horror | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 2 out of 5 | Source: Review copy provided by author

Mr. Blue Sky Review

Queasy. That’s how this book made me feel. Mr. Blue Sky isn’t what you expect, and that might work for some readers, but it left me with a dirty taste in my mouth. I finished the final page, put the book down, pushed it away and just kept repeating “nope, nope, nope”.

The cover art and back of the book promises a creature feature horror story that doesn’t exist on the pages. Even the prologue implies a level of gore and intrigue never delivered. And all of that would have been okay, if the premise worked.

It didn’t. Not for me.

I’ve never included spoilers in my reviews, but I feel like readers need the option for this particular book.

So let’s start with the creature. Our protagonist meets this harry beast as a child and they develop a friendship, including the ability to communicate through their own developed sign language. There’s a reason for why they can have detailed conversations with minimal effort, but I found it unbelievable. The reason the creature exists, how it is connected to the story characters and the entire premise is gross, but not in a satisfying horror story type of way.

First spoiler: Click if you would like to know what the creature really is.

Second spoiler: Click if you would like to know how the creature came to be in existence.

If you read the spoilers, your next question is probably, WHY?? Welp, here you go. Spoiler #3:

My stomach is churning just writing about it. But maybe that’s the appeal of the book. Maybe taking such a huge risk with the premise is what will draw readers, because whether you like it, or if you’re like me that couldn’t stomach it, you will finish this book with an opinion. And that’s not always the case with literature.

But even if you look past the premise, there are serious transgressions with plot construction and writing mechanics. The first 79 pages are nothing but background dumping. It’s constructed in the form of a conversation between our protagonist and her therapist. Long, long pages of conversation where she does nothing but spill ever detail of her childhood. Background dumping is a huge no-no in writing because it tends to bore the reader, and that’s exactly what it did for me. If I wasn’t reviewing this book, I would have stopped by the second chapter.

There are also too many dream sequences as well as too much self chit-chat, meaning Rebecca spends too much time talking to herself, with no one else in the room. Another no-no in the writing world. Characters should talk to people, pets, plants anything except themselves. And finally, there is a forced and unnecessary love story thrown into the mix.

With all that said, it’s fair to say Mr Blue Sky wasn’t the book for me and it’s the extremely rare case that I would recommend people read the spoilers before deciding if they want to invest the time to read the novel. If you do, let me know what you think.

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You can find this book at many retailers via clicking on the appropriate link on Goodreads; however, in the spirit of supporting literacy programs, we would like to point out that you may be able to purchase this book through BetterWorldBooks.

Nico_B

Nico Bell is a horror and science fiction writer. Her work has appeared in The Second Corona Book of Horror Stories, Drabbledark Anthology and Horror Tree’s Trembling with Fear. She joined the Coolthulhu Crew in May 2018.