Bad Things

This book has almost everything you expect from a supernatural thriller...mystery, deaths, things that go bump in the night ...you get the picture.A man named John loses his 4 year old son for no reason. He just dies and no one knows why. His life is now useless. He & his wife divorce and his younger son who was a baby at the time of Scott's death does not know his father and his mother refuses visitation.John becomes an alcoholic until he finally wakes up and realizes he's wasting his life. He moves to a coastal town and works as a waiter. Hislife is lonely, but it's a life. Until the emails begin. Until the telephone calls start. He knows he has to go back...for Scott.This was an enjoyable book. The storyline was tight and didn't deviate from where the author wanted to go. Had me guessing till the end!I'm looking forward to reading more from Mr. Marshall...😁

Marshall has an interesting spin on the "supernatural small town" story--much, MUCH better than Wayward Pines imo. Creepy things are happening in a small Washington state town, things that eventually draw the protagonist back after he left due to family tragedy. The nature of the otherworldly evil is surprising, but makes sense (unlike the M Night Shyamalan-esque explanation for Wayward Pines). Marshall has created a rich world populated with fun characters, especially the resourceful loner protagonist. He's one of the most gifted writers working in horror/thrillers, and even though Bad Things is not one of his masterpieces, it is superior to most of what's out there in the genre. His writing is consistently strong--edgy and visceral, with imagery and descriptions that are smart and horrifying.

I have had problem with the book sellers that work through Amazon and I was given an immediate refund to take care of the issue. I have since used that seller and have had only excellent service.Every book that I have received has been in the condition that was promised. I have had to return nothing due to misrepresentation.I look forward to using this seller and Amazon in the future.Michael Marshall's "Bad Things" arrived in the advertised condition in a very timely manner. Very pleased, as usual.

After the huge disappointments that, for me, were Marshall's STRAW MEN TRILOGY and THE INTRUDERS, it took me years to give the author another go. The mentioned books simply died with their endings, half-baked concoctions that left me bothered with their pedantic author who obviously didn't want to write satisfying resolutions. BAD THINGS tells me that perhaps Marshall is incapable of writing solid endings, just like William Lashner, whom I will mention later.I will not summarize the plot; it's been done by others better than I could do it. But I will address my problems with the novel:It wastes too much time and too many pages in subplots that are merely distracting.It deals with a topic that has been treated before several times, that of an entire town contaminated by evil, and it does it in a hurry, as in not really believing its own premise.It wastes all the chances to really go deep into the woods of evil. The Kelly family was murdered at the town's beginnings so that the town could prosper. Human sacrifice with a modern face, but connected to our ancestors' savagery, and the evil that carries over onto our times, has been written about before (AMERICAN GODS, in the only good part of that other disappointment), and after (THE WOLF IN WINTER, by John Connolly). It's a great topos, but Marshall wastes the opportunity.Not only the murder of the Kellys is left to wither, but the female element and the strong sexual overtones remain firmly in the realm of a whisper. And here is where the novel could have opened wounds. A woman, we are told in flashback, once took her only daughter to the woods and left her there throughout the night. The child was terrified and "something" happened, but Marshall is never honestly clear about this. At one point the child was nude and had soiled herself, so she had to wash in a brook. By the time her parents picked her up next morning, she was dressed again and washed, but the old child had "died." This was a new, damaged child. The girl grows up and, as a woman, decides to go alone to the woods where she had been abandoned, undress, and wait for the embodiment of evil that the entity which inhabits the forest uses to commingle with humans: a huge dog. The same dog that accompanies the girl's mother and, according to mom, sleeps on her bed. OK, so we are supposed to draw the picture of a young girl taken to the forest so that the omnipresent evil there can possess her, which would almost require nudity, but Marshall gets cute and gives us glimpses, like an old reel through the trees, never a straight answer. The girl (now a woman) hates her mother, but obviously her mother comes from a long tradition of females who got friendly with the evil spirits and sees nothing wrong with this, or with sleeping (both meanings I guess) with an evil dog who years ago (apparently) raped her daughter. This is potent stuff, but the author is like a tourist in a rush to get to his destination who misses all the interesting and dark places on the road. The novel AMERICAN ELSEWHERE has a similar subplot of a girl who has no choice but to copulate with a powerful being. That novel also beats around the bush of its own plot. It is as if some authors who write in English were programmed with a Hayes Code of their own: insinuate and mention casually, but never, ever, get there.The girl's mother appears for about six pages in the book. The dog shows up three times. The junkie boyfriend of one of the meandering and inconsequential subplots eats up one quarter of the novel.The other major female character with a serious sexual problem is the intermediary of evil, Brooke, who can have Bad Things happen to people because in her family that was their task: messengers of ill will. Brooke is severely underused in the novel, a flat cartoon that in better hands could have been seriously tragic. Here, she shows up in a couple of occasions and then that's it for her.There are a couple of criminals who end up helping the good guys, as if Marshall had read too many of John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels. It barely works in Connolly's books and his Charlie Parker character has become too righteous, too preachy: a moral crusader. Let's hope that Marshall doesn't take that route.The protagonist's children, both the dead boy murdered by evil at the beginning and his younger brother, don't figure much at all, either in the novel or in the protagonist's mind. We have a pro-forma mourning father, but not much beyond that.The ending is not as bad as in the previously mentioned books by Marshall, but it is a let down. Our hero is disagreeable. His woman (the forest girl) is still attracted to and gravitating towards evil, as if it were a bad lover who raped her when she was young and abused her all her life but who makes her feel what no other lover has, ever. Here, of course, she would get really close to one of William Lashner's most fascinating characters, Hailey Prouix (Fatal Flaw), who was "initiated" by her uncle and who could never shake off her relation with him, mostly because she didn't want to; that is, Haily was fatally and sexually attracted to evil. And just to get the common grounds even closer, Lashner manages to write a disappointing ending for Fatal Flaw as well, but that is nothing new coming from that author.Still, I could not help but like certain aspects of this book. I find myself thinking about this or that detail weeks after I've read the novel and as I am reading other books, so I guess Marshall did get me here. I wish he could bring himself to write satisfying endings; not necessarily where good triumphs over evil, but endings that make sense, and characters that I care about and that he cares about enough to develop well.

About the character (and the writer, I presume)... I enjoyed hearing the thoughts of a guy, very accomplished at certain mysterious things, also breaking down the moment, the discussion, the event, in very psychological terms (and still sounding like a person) saying things that you've never been able to articulate yourself.... "But however different they may be in reality, we carry into e-mail conversations vestige of the expectations implicit in the more old-fashioned kind. We think that if we say something, then the other guy will say something right back." That is the perfect assessment of a passive-aggressive e-mailer. But there is a whole lot more going on in this book...Perfect, smart, funny nailed-it - a combo of elegant and "guy"

'Bad Things' is yet another excellent novel by Michael Marshall (Smith). With his unique alternatating first/third person style, this one pulls you in with developing sense of dread and paranoia of an old Oregon town with a supernatural past gone awry. Great summer book, but stick to reading it during daylight hours...

I first was introduced to Michael Marshall's writing through The Straw Men trilogy, and am really, really enjoying his style. He has a way of telling the story, and forms sentences that you only WISH you could say. Very unique style, and personally I really enjoy the alternating perspectives he brings to the novels.This one did not disappoint either. Love the setting and the character development, and it was a bit of a surprise ending as well. Good read!

Very interesting read. Michael Marshall is a fantastic author, with great twists and futuristic stories.

Mr. Marshall is simply the world's best fiction author. His use of words is masterful and evocative; the English language becomes a magic wand with which he conjures up the most vivid scenes and interesting - but totally believable - characters. This book is excellent, just as his other works are. From page one, I find myself drawn into all his books and I am able to put my own life aside for the entertaining hours I spend reading them. I highly recommend this story. Congratulations.

Oberflächlich gesehen kann man Michael Marshalls neustes Werk als düsteren Okkult-Thriller sehen, der sich angenehm anders von der Menge vergleichbarer Massenware abhebt. Dahinter verbirgt sich jedoch eine ergreifende Geschichte von Schuld & Sühne, unglaublich spannend und in gewohnt lakonisch-coolem Stil.

I have enjoyed all of Michael Marshall book so far.I was hooked when I first read straw men and have not been disappointed since.This book has a good feel and is well set out with a good mix of action and plot.Enjoy.

I have read scarier books and some of the stuff is quite unbelievable, but still it's a nice read.But don't believe one of the reviews, which says "A genuinely scary thriller with satisfyingly malevolentvillains". That's a bit exagerated, but still you won't be disappointed if you like easy written thrillers.

Keine Ahnung, was ich erwartet habe, aber sicher nicht das. Trotz Lesefluss hat mich die Geschichte nicht überzeugt, auch wenn ich mir ständig „Stephen King-artig“ vorzuhalten versucht habe. Manche Abläufe machen einfach keinen Sinn, es bleibt vieles an der Oberfläche. Ich bin froh, ist es zu Ende.