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    Bait: A Novel
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    Bait: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Bait: A Novel
    Ebook227 pages3 hours

    Bait: A Novel

    By J. Kent Messum

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    No one is coming to your aid. We have ensured this.
     
    Six strangers wake up on a remote island in the Florida Keys with no memory of their arrival. They soon discover their common bond: all of them are heroin addicts. As the first excruciating pangs of withdrawal make themselves felt, the six notice a yacht anchored across open water. On it lurk four shadowy figures, protected by the hungry sharks that patrol the waves. So begins a dangerous game. The six must undertake the impossible—swim to the next island where a cache of heroin awaits, or die trying. When alliances form, betrayal is inevitable. As the fight to survive intensifies, the stakes reach terrifying heights—and their captors’ motives finally begin to emerge.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Publishing Group
    Release dateAug 27, 2013
    ISBN9781101625330
    Unavailable
    Bait: A Novel
    Author

    J. Kent Messum

    J. Kent Messum is an author and a musician, and always bets on the underdog. He lives in Toronto with his wife, dog, and three cats.

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    Reviews for Bait

    3.5/5

    34 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I sort of expected to hate this book. 6 strangers with heroin habits are kidnapped and dumped on a deserted island with instructions to swim shark-infested waters to the next island to get to food and heroin. But why? Who's responsible? Surprisingly, I got sucked into the easy read and breezed through it. Simple plot, mostly expected outcome, but still a quick distraction.
    • 3/5
      BAIT Review BAIT, by J. Kent Messum, is a mostly soulless experience loaded with cardboard characters and buckets of chum with which gorehounds may satiate their ravenous appetites.

      I read this over two months ago, yet waited to review it. To this day, I can't say that I liked a single thing in this novel, aside from the violence. I was hoping for an in-depth character study on the trials of addiction blended with much action and gruesome details. I received the latter, but was disappointed in the former. Still, I would like to see where Messum goes with his writing. While I didn't care for his voice, I did enjoy his no-holds-barred style.

      A solid three only recommended for seekers of heartless bloodshed.

      (Author's note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Penguin in return for my honest review.)
    • 5/5
      I happened to come across this book on one of my many trips to BnN and the moment I read this on the cover: "Jaws meets Lord of the Flies meets Drugstore Cowboy", I was hooked!! It is a fast and fun read, full of adrenaline!! Definitely not for the squeamish! I loved the style that it was written and the fact that even though you know you won't be spending too much time with any of these characters, you still do get emotionally involved with them. The story had many different elements that makes it a unique story like no other!!
    • 3/5
      I think it’s pretty safe to say that I am horror fan. When Nerdophiles has a horror film to review they send me. It’s in the Wildman family blood. My mom still gets freaked out when she hears Rocky Mountain High on the radio when she’s driving highway and lumber trucks pass by. When my sisters were three and four their favorite movie was Scream. My dad watched Killer Klowns from Outer Space with me for the first time when I was probably five and I thought it awesome. Usually I like my horror movies to have some measure of plot and character development but I can even appreciate – at least to an extent – some gratuitous gore films. I’m not hard to please.

      For some reason, though, I’ve never really pursued horror novels with any sort of regularity. Sure, I read some Stephen King now and again but who doesn’t? It’s Stephen King! He’s as ubiquitous as Tom Clancy or John Grisham. I’m making an effort, though, to branch out a bit. I’m trying to embrace the literary side of horror.

      Bait was my first attempt and was I think I made a good choice going with Bait over some of my other options. It reads just like the perfect horror film. Okay, so, maybe ‘perfect’ and ‘horror’ never really quite go together. But Bait reads just like any good horror release. I was really surprised by my reaction to it to be honest. When I watch horror movies I do so pretty mindlessly. The movie is what it is and I just watch it for the fun of it. Generally they aren’t boring movies; something is always happening. Sometimes they are slow to start but eventually they get going. And then suddenly there’s a resolution to everything – or at the very least an end to the movie – and you walk away thinking, “Yeah, that wasn’t a bad way to spend two hours.”

      I reacted the same way to Bait. When I started reading it I was getting ready for bed and I figured maybe I would read a few chapters. The next thing I noticed, though, I was forty-six percent of the way through the freakin’ book! I hadn’t even realized it. I just got caught up in the story. I don’t know if it was really a good story. It’s just a classic torture/gore sort of story that you want to mindlessly get through because you need to know how things end.

      I liked that. The whole time I was reading this I was thinking, yeah, this would be a pretty decent movie. Though, to be fair, they’ve kind of already made this movie. Several times. The basic plot of Bait revolves around the idea of some very dangerous and shady people taking a bunch of junkies out to some deserted stretch of coast land in shark infested waters and putting them into a sort of game of survival. It is all very reminiscent of the Saw series and the book’s enjoyability is probably on par with Saw 2 and Saw 3 – the last decent additions to the series before it all started to go down hill.

      What I didn’t like were the motivations of the people who took the characters and forced them into this situation. This is going to be a spoiler so I’m just going to warn you now. But I am sick and tired of the crazy special forces military people being the antagonists in things. It really gets old and having grown up as an army brat I find it disrespectful that people are constantly demonizing veterans as crazed lunatics and killers. It just really bothers me and I almost stopped reading when I found that out. I really did.

      But I kept going and while I don’t know if this was necessarily a good book, like I said, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it in the same mindless way I would any horror movie on Netflix. So, I think that says a lot about this book, actually. The author knew his source material, his target audience, and his genre. He made it work.

      Final Thoughts:
      I’m not entirely sure the target audience for slasher films and torture/gore horror films are usually the same targeted by horror novels and thrillers but in the case of Bait they are certainly one and the same. If you’re a fan of the genre at the movies and you’re looking for some light reading you really should consider checking out Bait. I’m not sure I would buy the book because it’s definitely a one time read and you’ll be limited as to how many friends of yours you could lend it to but ifyou can find it at your local library? Definitely give it a chance. But only if you’re a horror fan. I can’t really see other people like it it much.
    • 4/5
      Bait is the debut novel of J. Kent Messum.

      Messum had me 'hooked' from the opening prologue - a desperate attempt by a man in the water to out swim the natural predators of the ocean.....

      But the sharks aren't the most dangerous animals out there. Instead, it is the men on the boat, making bets, drinking beer and filming the carnage that are truly more dangerous.

      Six people from the down and out neighbourhoods of Miami wake up on a deserted island deep in the Florida Keys. Strangers to each other, they eventually find common ground - they're all junkies. And each is starting to jones. The men on the boat have left them an envelope with instructions, along with a few sandwiches. What they crave is on the next island - all they have to do is make it there.

      Sound like the TV show Survivor? Absolutely - Survivor combined with Jaws - on heroin.

      Messum spins his story in past and present chapters, allowing us to know the lives of each of the six in the days leading up to the island. Although each of the six has a set of hard luck circumstances that led to them being 'chosen', it's hard to be empathetic. They aren't likable characters. Messum doesn't spend a lot of time developing their personalities though. Bait is completely plot and action driven.

      And Messum has done an excellent job with that. We just know that someone's going to bite it. Or get bit as the case may be. The question is, who? Will someone make it to the end? How will they do it - working together or sacrificing each other? Who are these guys on the boat?

      Messum uses worm metaphors to describe the lure of and the junkies' love of dope that made me squirm more than once. "The worms in their heads grew fat and satisfied, rolling cool and wet through their disjointed thoughts."

      I did find the motivation of those on the boat to be a bit clichéd and predictable. These characters seemed more like caricatures. But they work if you look at it with an action flick eye. Bait has thriller movie written all over it. Messum provides a nice little twist near the end.

      Bait was a quick down and dirty one sitting read at 288 pages - addictive and adrenaline reading for sure. Read an excerpt of Bait. (Gentle readers be warned - blood, gore and violence) A strong debut - I'll be sure to 'catch' Messum's next book.
    • 4/5
      Wow, fast paced very quick read. Think The Donnybrook but with heroin instead of meth. Too bad it is not a reality TV show......yet.