Author: Keith R.A. DeCandido
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 336
Format: E-book
Source: Personal purchase
Definition:
Twenty years ago they lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. In the years after, their father, John, taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America...and he taught them how to kill it.
Sam and Dean have hit New York City to check out a local rocker's haunted house. But before they can figure out why a lovesick banshee in an '80s heavy-metal T-shirt is wailing in the bedroom, a far more macabre crime catches their attention. Not far from the house, two university students were beaten to death by a strange assailant. A murder that's bizarre even by New York City standards, it's the latest in a line of killings that the brothers soon suspect are based on the creepy stories of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Their investigation leads them to the center of one of Poe's horror classics, face-to-face with their most terrifying foe yet. And if Sam and Dean don't rewrite the ending of this chilling tale, a grisly serial killer will end their lives forevermore.
My thoughts:
As a long-time superfan of the show Supernatural, I've been meaning to check out this series based on the show. As you can tell by the name, the first book in the series brings the Winchester Brothers together with Edgar Allan Por (not literally in person, obviously, but you know what I mean). I didn't fall in love with the book, yet I didn't hate it either. I think that when I need something easygoing to read in between books, I might even continue onto the next book in the series. However, this experience wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be.
Nevermore takes place in between S02E08 and S02E09. Even though "there's a ghost in the 'rocker' dude's house" sounds rather silly to me, it's not something Sam and Dean Winchester and fans of the shows aren't used to. So, the hunt takes them to Edgar Allan Poe's old home in New York, etc. etc. etc. I'm saying "etc etc etc" because there's nothing really interesting or exciting going on in between. Really, not. I think if this was an actual episode of the show, we could watch and drool, as usual, but it just didn't work for me on paper.
I think there's more to it: first of all, it reads like fan fiction. I don't know if the author was a fan of the show prior to writing this book, but if he wasn't, he's done his homework well. However, if it was meant to be along these lines from the beginning, I think a true fan of the show would do a better job because we would have fun reading it.
And then, both Sam and Dean's book versions annoyed me. While watching the show, you can tell why they're doing what they're doing from a single expression on their faces, but the "this is how Dean was feeling" kind of descriptions in the book suffocated me. Dean came off as careless, and Sam came off as a nerd who doesn't even know how to have fun. It wasn't way too far off, but it wasn't close either.
So, I'm just gonna say that you should give this book a shot if you find yourself curious. The best part about the book is the soundtrack; that's when it really feels Supernatural.
