Crimson is a tough one to review for me. After reading Rollo's fantastic The Jigsaw Man, I couldn't wait to dive into this one. Out of all the great books that I read in 2014, Jigsaw Man was tied for my absolute favorite. The writing was crisp, the characters were three-dimensional and fully fleshed out, and Rollo made an unbelievable story completely believable. Jigsaw Man was also his second novel. Crimson was his first and it shows. Gord's fantastic writIng style is still there. But, you can tell he was still cutting his teeth. The characters didn't feel fully developed and the story had the feel of a puzzle that was put together with the wrong pieces and were made to fit even when they didn't. Don't get me wrong. There are still some great ideas explored in Crimson. Unfortunately, all of those ideas didn't make for a great, cohesive story. I'm going to chalk this up as Rollo learned many things between writing Crimson and Jigsaw Man. If the progression between #2 and #3 as it was for #1 and #2, then the third story of his should be lights out.
This was a good thriller from Gord Rollo. Although at times I thought it became a little campy it was overall a good read from start to finish.
Fans of Stephen King's "It" might see this as a bit of an homage. An evil that follows a group of young boys from childhood through their adult lives. Plenty of gore and fairly well-crafted campfire horror. It was a quick read that I couldn't put down.
