This book I finished a few weeks ago. Yet, I am only getting around to reviewing it now, for some reason. Meant to do it sooner, but better late than never.
I just happened on this book, or the audio version of this book, at one of the local libraries. My car still has a cd player in it, so often, I look at the used audio books at local libraries. Sometimes, you can find some real treasures for cheap. If memory serves correctly, this one was purchased for all of 50 cents. That's a pretty good deal, if you get a good book for 50 cents. Many hours of enjoyment reading a book while driving, kind of like multitasking.
Anyway, I picked this book up because of the reviews on the back. It received some glowing reviews, including with some further online research to see what people said about this book, and how it was rated. It felt like it was worth giving it a shot.
It is not a bad book. Obviously, it is horror. Now, one of my favorite authors is Stephen King, often known as the "King of Horror." I have also enjoyed reading the works of his son, Joe Hill, who also is a well-known author in the horror genre in his own right. However, horror is not admittedly my favorite genre. Again, I just really like the similar writing style of both of these two authors. But neither am I against reading other authors in horror, and again, the reviews for "The Suffering" seemed solid.
Without trying to spoil anything, this is a book about Tark, a teenager with a kind of nerdy persona. He is mostly a loner, and in many ways, he seems a typical teenager. However, he is different in some important ways. What mostly distinguishes him is that he has a ghost within him named Okiku. She is a tortured soul who was murdered centuries ago. Thus, the ghost (a young girl) is hell bent on killing serial killers who would inflict similar suffering to other young children.
Tark is a Japanese-American, and so it was not all that surprising that his story switches to Japan. He and his cousin try to help in an investigation of missing persons in Aokigahara, which is known as Japan's suicide forest. It is a dense forest where people can quickly go missing if they are not careful. Legend also has it that there is an ancient, haunted village deep within these woods, but which have somehow never been discovered or explored.
Of course, Tark gets separated from everyone else. And of course, he somehow winds up finding the haunted village. There, he meets some of the missing people, including his mentor, Kagura. But it requires more than merely finding them. He finds the source of evil as he learns the history of the village, and why it became damned, if you will. There are haunted dolls and spells, and it felt similar in some respects to Stephen King's Fairy Tale in one regard: Tark has to close a portal between worlds (in this case, the haunted world of demons) before evil is unleashed with an unthinkable level of power.
Not a bad book. Admittedly, perhaps I have seen too many movies or read too many books to have been taken by surprise with most of what transpires in this one. Still, it is well-written, and keeps your attention. It is an entertaining book, and fans of horror will surely enjoy it. To that end, it comes recommended from my end.
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