Book Review: Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman

Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: April 10, 2018
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times . . . but her many deaths are not final: They are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days.

Only two people know of Carol’s eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and—when she lapses into another coma—plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her . . . alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol’s dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave.

And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her—summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this drama of life and death fight to decide her fate, Carol must in the end battle to save herself.

The haunting story of a woman literally bringing herself back from the dead, Unbury Carol is a twisted take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Carol has an unusual affliction. She randomly falls into a coma so deep that neither her heartbeat nor her breathing can be detected. She appears to be dead and calls this state Howltown. Only two people know about Howltown – her best friend, John Bowie, and her husband, Dwight. Dwight married Carol for her money and he wants to get rid of Carol and have her money all to himself. When John Bowie dies, he sees his opportunity. Now he is the only one who knows about Carol’s affliction. The next time Carol goes to Howltown, he will tell everyone she died. His plan is fool-proof as long as he gets her buried before she wakes up.

Unbury Carol felt a bit like a Christopher Moore or Tom Robbins book to me. I think it was because of the characters. They felt like characters from a Western film noir. (Is that a thing?) They were vividly drawn and almost cartoonish but in a serious way.

Although this book had good characters, I didn’t find the plot all that compelling. It’s billed as a thriller, which to me means twists and turns that make it so I can’t put the book down. This wasn’t the case with Unbury Carol. There was the suspense of whether or not Carol would be saved from her fate but it just didn’t grab me.

I’m afraid that author has fallen victim to the dreaded sophomore slump. I loved his debut Bird Box, which made not loving this book that much worse. I’ll give him another chance whenever he releases another book. Fingers crossed!

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)