Monday, March 21, 2011

Review & Giveaway: The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan

Today is my stop on the tour for The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan. She can been kind enough to provide a giveaway copy for one of you - the details for the giveaway can be found after the review!


Book: The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan
Pages: 192

Genre: Young Adult / Horror
Purchase A Copy: Amazon | Book Depository
Publication Date: October 2nd, 2008
How Did I Get This Book: From Savita Kalhan & Melissa at I Swim For Oceans
Description:  Sam knows that he and his friend Lloyd made a colossal mistake when they accepted the ride home. They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out. They were trapped, then separated. Now they are alone. Will either of them get out alive? This gripping and hypnotic thriller will have you reading late into the night.


We are so used to reading books about vampires, werewolves, ghosts and other fictional monsters that we tend to forget that people can be just as monstrous and horrifying. Kalhan conjures up such terrifying tale in The Long Weekend that it is impossible not to find yourself within the pages.

The book is not a lengthy one and the action begins almost immediately. As the reader, you can see the events unfolding before the boys, Sam and Lloyd begin to question anything. Like when watching a scary movie, I spent a great deal of time yelling at the character in the book, desperately hoping they could somehow hear my warnings. Do not get me wrong, the plot line was completely believable, that is why it is so utterly terrifying. I could completely see something like this happening, kids in general are entirely too trusting.

The character of Sam figures out something is wrong early on and begins a game of cat-and-mouse with his captor. He shows remarkable strength and resourcefulness as he tries to outrun and outwit the sick man who has taken them. It is very satisfying to see Sam’s progression to this state; he begins as sort of the sidekick to his friend Lloyd. Unfortunately, calm, cool and collected Lloyd, cracks early on and it is up to Sam to get them to safety.

I must say, this book was extremely difficult to put down. The sheer amount of emotions to pulls from you is staggering; it is tremendously hard to watch these boys go through the traumatic events. The writing style also greatly contributed to and impacted the overall creepy tone of the book. Kalhan uses short, almost choppy sentences to keep readers on the edge of their seats and inside the action.

This book will appeal to a wide range of readers because although the subject matter is extremely frightening, Kahlan never gets too graphic with things. Of course, she eludes to a number of different horrors, but never gets into too much detail. These touchy plot points will most likely go right over the younger readers heads.

If I had to describe The Long Weekend in one word it would be, “disturbing”. It is one of those books that keeps you on the edge of your seat, wanting to read more, but not wanting to at the same time. It pulls on your heartstrings and keeps your heart rate up; you cannot help but be affected by it.


Favorite Quotes
"Sam began to sob. He backed up, right  up to the bathroom doorway and listened to the steady beat of the slam, slam. What would he do when the man came in?"
"Grown-ups weren't afraid of the dark, and neither was Sam, usually. This was different. This was a different kind of darkness."
"Fear made you cold. It made you tremble. Anger made you hot. It made you want to hurt someone."

GIVEAWAY

Savita has been kind enough to provide a giveaway copy to one lucky reader! Please leave a comment below pertaining to the review or about the book The giveaway will end when the tour ends, on April 1st.

18 comments:

Kristen My Bookish Fairy Tale said...

I am really excited to read this book! I have been following the tour and I am so excited lol!

kristen_babygurl@hotmail.com

Bibliotropic said...

I've heard a few good things about this book. The plot in the summary makes it sounds fairly unoriginal, as plots go, but sometimes the execution of said plot can make all the difference, so I'm actually quite interested to read it and see for myself.

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

I'm so glad you appreciated the plot of the book, Sarah! It's a difficult book, but it's one of the best I've ever read :)

Lindsay Cummings author said...

i want to read this so bad! the cover is amazingly creepy =]

americangirlie1991 AT yahoo DOT com

Vidisha said...

want to read this book

vidishamun@gmail.com

Scoot said...

Ok, this sounds like a book that would totally stress me out while reading it. Glad to know it is a thriller - but not too extreme on the details. Sounds like a great read, thanks for sharing!

seescootread[at]gmail[dot]com

Jules said...

I would love to read this book, I hadn't heard about it until your review but it sounds great!

jules.ablaw AT gmail DOT com

Annette Mills said...

This book has been on my wish list for a while. Sounds SOOOOO good. Thanks for the giveaway!

annettesspot (at) gmail (dot) com

Kulsuma said...

I would love to read this book. It sounds great!
k_anon[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk

Precious said...

I loved that you said the action starts right away. The action and suspense always makes readers tear through the pages fast. I'm intrigued with this 'captor.'

Only include me if this is open internationally. Thanks!

precious_shusky@yahoo.com

Amy @ www.bookgoonie.com said...

Sounds spooky. My daughter loves scary books, so I am looking forward to getting my hands on it. Thanks for the review. Fingers crossed that I get it.
Amy @ www.bookgoonie.com OR bookgoonie at yahoo

Alexis @ Reflections of a Bookaholic said...

This sounds interesting. I don't often read "disturbing" books, but it sounds interesting.

Vivien said...

I'm really eager to read this one. It sounds fabulous.

Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

TheGirlOnFire said...

This is so great, thanks for the giveaway!

Stephanie the girl on fire
thegirlonfire27 at gmail dot com

Savannah said...

Great review!! I loved this book. It scared me a little!

Anonymous said...

Would love to win this after reading your great review.

Tributebooksmama at gmail dot com

Aleetha said...

this book has been into my wishlist . I really want to read it.
The cover is already creepy.

aleetha.ally at gmail dot com

Ashley said...

I've been wanting to read this one! I'm following the tour, and just seriously itching to read this one!! It looks so great and every review and interview I see just makes me want to read it more!

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