She Treads Softly: Mammoth

Monday, September 5, 2016

Mammoth

Mammoth by Douglas Perry

Amberjack Publishing: 9/6/16
eBook review copy; 266 pages
ISBN-13: 9780997237719

Mammoth by Douglas Perry is a so-so novel about a town-wide panic and the aftermath.

Something happens in Mammoth View at the beginning, a small earthquake and then some kind of attack that resulted in everyone fleeing the town in a panic. We don't know what the attack was until the end. Now there are just a few people left. Police Chief Hicks and his deputy are trying to figure out what happened, Billy Lane and his 2 cohorts take advantage of the situation and rob the bank. The two ne'er-do-well Johnson brothers also take advantage of the empty town. King, a radio DJ is leaving town with his girlfriend. And, instigated by Billy, the teen girls running camp up in the mountains evacuates in a rush, but leaves one of the campers behind, Billy's daughter, Tori. Over the next 24 hours chaos ensues, bringing out the worst in people, and perhaps the best in those that endure the rampage of the brothers.

Mammoth is technically well written and contains a whole lot of character development and backstory for multiple characters. The novel is told through short chapters that feature the point of view of several different characters. It is a quick read.

I agree with the reviewers who have said that the focus of his novel got away from Perry. It was about the disappearance of people who all suddenly and swiftly left town, that's intriguing on its own and what led me to read it. Add to it the bank robbery, Tori and the teen girls at the running camp, the DJ, the bad-news brothers.... and suddenly the novel morphed into something else. I could roll with that, but it seemed to swiftly and repeatedly change its focus. Okay, I decided, maybe it was just a character study of these people, but, then, no, it's about something else now. Finally, the disappearance is nothing and felt gimmicky and I was extremely disappointed when it was explained at the end.

Next, there is a whole lot of running up and down the mountain, running here, running there, running, running. I understand that Tori is a runner and will be running, but exactly how much blindly running to and fro would people be doing under these circumstances. Yes, run away from bad guys, but, no, do not run down to an empty town after you've been told everyone left it.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher for review purposes.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.