Book #1.5: Serial

Ok, so this is Book #1.5 because it's just a short story, but I have to review it because I have a lot to say about it.

"Serial" is three-chapter horror story written by Jack Kilborn (the pen name of author J.A. Konrath) and Blake Crouch. I found it on Kindle, and I was immediately sold (... well, it was free, so, "sold") by the beginning of the description:

"Jack Kilborn (aka J.A. Konrath) and Blake Crouch turn their attention to the twin golden rules of hitchhiking:
# 1: Don’t go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy.
# 2: Don’t pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be a raving nutcase.
So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Nutcase #2?"

YES!! What a brilliant premise for a horror story.

Fair warning: it's rather graphic, but that's to be expected. It's well-written and always keeps you interested. The authors don't use the trite, over-used murder tactics... These killers have some pretty interesting ideas. It's one of those books that makes you think, "Man, the guy who thought of this is a sick person." But it's awesome.

I'm not going to talk much about what happens in the story, because it's way more fun for you to find out for yourself (download it for free on your Kindle app of choice). What I do want to talk about is how it was written. I didn't know this until after I read the story, but I respected it a lot more when I found out.

The two authors, Konrath and Crouch, decided to collaborate, and after some emails back and forth, chose a loose topic -- hitchhiking. Basically, Konrath was responsible for writing a chapter about a hitchhiker who is killed by the person who picks him up. Crouch was responsible for writing a chapter about a hitchhiker who kills the person who picks him up. They were not allowed to read each others' chapters until the entire story was complete. For the third chapter, where Killer #1 meets Killer #2, Konrath started the text, then passed it Crouch, and the two authors ping-ponged their story until it was done . But I repeat, they had not read each others' first chapters when they finished the story. This is mind-blowing to me. The story got so much cooler after I found that out.

Really, really great short story. Some of the reviews on Amazon are really bad, and I can't figure out why. I didn't see anything wrong with it, nothing boring, nothing cheesy. Can't recommend it enough.

5/5 Stars

Read on January 3, 2011.

--C