REVIEW: Andrew Lennon - Keith

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Createspace

Publication Date: 19^th June 2015

Pages: 71

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Keith was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Andrew Lennon in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Createspace.

This is the first book I have read of Andrew Lennon. This is a short story. I generally find them a good way of introducing yourself to someone new. It gives you an idea of the writing style without having to spend too much time on first time reading.

John is like any normal guy. He works, he lives a normal life by himself in his flat and he generally just tries to get by without any drama in his life. He hates his job. More to the point he hates his boss. Sometimes he fantasises about causing him pain.

One night a pizza delivery man arrives at his door with a pizza he didn’t order. As if this wasn’t mysterious enough, the same guy literally bumps into John a few days later. He introduces himself as Keith.

Keith and John strike up an unlikely friendship. It’s the only friend John has in the world.

When demands from Keith start to get more bizarre and deadly. John has to ask himself what he is doing associating with Keith and more importantly how in the hell he is going to end that association.

I’m a bit stuck with this story. I have left it a bit to write the review to think on it. I’m not sure if I liked it or not. I know Andrew Lennon is starting out on his journey as a writer and for that I must applaud him. He is doing what a lot of us wish we had both the talent and the balls to do. Some of us are writers. Some of us are reviewers. That should tell you where I’m at.

I had a few problems with this story. I don’t want sound totally negative about it but they did affect the enjoyment I got out of it. Andrew mentions at the start of the book about the help he got in editing the book and I know from reading reviews of some of his other work that there were some issues with mistakes in another book. There were still some issues with this one as well. I found quite a few spelling and punctuation errors and a couple of instances where the words were completely wrong in a sentence and one part where a character is called by the completely wrong name. Now maybe I’m just a bit anal about this sort of thing, but, as a reader I think I need to highlight it if it does affect my reading experience.

Characters wise, this story centres on John and Keith. Neither of them were particularly endearing to be honest. John came across as a bit of a wimp but then I would count that as a success in the story because I’m pretty sure that is how he is supposed to be. He was soft and gullible and you really just wanted to give him a slap and shout “waken up!” Keith was nasty. Again a success that you feel this way about him because that is what he is supposed to be. I just didn’t find him very believable. He didn’t convince me that he was as evil or capable of being as evil as he was supposed to be. The scenes that have them together were a bit of a miss match. The dialogue was constrained at times and to be honest not the sort of conversations I could see two people who have recently met having.

Plot wise, it was a familiar story. I can’t really tell you too much about it because I don’t want to give it away. I would say though it was pretty easy to see where it was going. One book I read a few years ago now kept springing to mind when I was reading.

To be perfectly honest? I didn’t enjoy this. It all just felt a bit flat to me. If it had been a full length novel I doubt I would I have finished it.

I know this review comes across as very negative. As a reviewer I have to be honest with what I think about stories. I always try not to be rude or offensive to the author. That is not my style. At the end of the day we are talking about someone’s living and life ambition here. All I can say to Andrew Lennon is keep on plugging away at it. Continue to learn and it could all come together for you.

It just didn’t do it for me on this occasion.

To summarise: a short story about a loner getting a friend who twists and turns his life completely upside down to the point of disaster. Didn’t do it for me due to the points I have highlighted but that doesn’t mean it won’t do it for you.

General rating:

★★ Not for me I'm afraid.

Horror rating:

★★ Not very scary either.


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Book Synopsis:

Sick and tired of day to day life. John turns to his thoughts and imagination for a means of escape.

One day he meets Keith. He is taught that life doesn't have to be boring. It can be fun. You can go places, do things, and meet people. For the first time in his life, John begins to enjoy himself.

However, he soon learns that Keith is not as he appears.

He has a dark side. He is out of control and he is taking John down with him.

Andrew Lennon is the author of "A Life to Waste" and several other short stories.

He enjoys spending time reading & reviewing books.

Andrew is happily married living with his wife Hazel & their children.

You can see more of Andrew at his website.

Andrew’s author page is here.