My Thoughts on "Slipway Grey" - book review - (spoilers throughout)

****** Now I will give my thoughts containing spoilers ******

(Directed at the authors)

I have to start by saying that I much preferred the first half of the book to the second. I really liked how the chapters alternated from a funny (bordering hysterical) present day setting to a dark and creepy flashback which clearly showed that Mandy was seriously twisted. The flashbacks were erotic and dark while the other chapters were witty and written in a way where the jokes and funny moments sounded like a friend was telling a story. It created a good balance which really hooked me in.

I also like how you kind of kept me guessing as to how it would end by the flashback chapters. When I started it, I figured there could really only be 1 of 3 endings: A) the shark dies. B) Mandy dies and Luke lives. C) Mandy and the shark live and everyone else dies. After the flashback where you had Mandy kill the drifter teen from Memphis, it showed that you had no problem killing innocent kids Mandy has no conscience, so I really didn’t know how the book would end.

After we caught up to present time for good (mostly after truth or dare), though, the book started to slip a bit for me. The humor died down a lot, things stopped making as much sense, and the stupidity of these shitty, horny kids (which made me laugh) had me less interested that the first half. Even though all the killings were pretty similar, they were all entertaining. One of my gripes, however, is this: You expect me to believe that a bull shark can eat roughly 600-700 lbs of meat in an 8 hour period???

And then the ending... **serious spoilers follow**

What happened? When Glen escaped the shark and came back to the dock, i was like “haha, ok”.
When the only plan Luke could come up with was to use Glen as bait, i was like “but, but he was already holding the spear gun... kill Mandy then the shark...”
When Luke and Glen kill Mandy and then immedietally started cracking jokes even though they just found out 5 classmates had been murdered, i was like “yeah, that is totally a normal reaction.”
And then when the maid kills them and runs to mexico, i was like “well, that is a big frick me ”

Then the epilogue...

This one had me confused. I thought we were led to believe that Mandy’s parents led her to be crazy and kill everyone and that she and the shark just had a friendly, mystical bond, but then in the epilogue we learn that the shark is like the house in the Amityville Horror and is “making” these girls into killers. It just seemed fishy to me (pun). Setting up for the sequel?

All-in-all, i thoroughly enjoyed the book. I would recommend to anyone who made it this far to give it a quick read (i read it in about 3-4 hours while juggling work). It is funny, erotic, creepy, and written by fellow TD.com-ers. This book is definitely not appropriate for young children. By the way, you guys did a great job making Mandy seem sexy in my mind. Well done boys!