Carrion Comfort Paperback – January 1, 2010

and in the case of Carrion Comfort it may have done the reader some good to have cut this book down by around 200 pages. I think if this book suffers from anything, it is length. And let me add I am not someone who will shy away from a 1000 page book, I love Game of Thrones and loved the Memoirs of Cleopatra, and those books could be used as weapons! The problem here was simply too much description and back details that simply did not drive the story. That being said, this is still an amazing book and with some patience you can get to the meat of it! If you don't mind gnawing that bone, you might want to give this a try.So instead of the usual vampire, nails, teeth, claws, bat wings and coffins, you are faced with mortal beings that have a mental Ability to 'push' themselves into the minds of others and control them. A particular group of these vampires have been playing violent games over the years, using humans to commit horrible acts, to amuse themselves and to humiliate normal humans who do not possess this ability. There are several side stories that Simmons juggles through-out the book including the pursuit of a Nazi criminal who has the ability by a Jew that had escaped him during the War, the battle between the three vampires themselves (suddenly deciding to kill one another) the pursuit of the vampires by one of their victims daughters, an organization that includes high ranking members of the Senate Council, FBI, CIA etc. that are set out to destroy them all, and the ongoing misadventures of one of the vampires who's hatred of women (he only uses the Ability on women) results in various abuses and rape scenes scattered throughout the book. So yes, this can get a bit trying. There is a lot of action, crashes, fights, stabbings, shootings, fires, gang activity, and on and on. If Simmons had considered dividing these stories into three books, I think it could have been presented in a much cleaner and definitive way. It can get tiresome and I am not generally a slow reader, but this book was a slow read.Simmons is a fantastic writer with a great eye for action and everything appears much like a movie, it is very fluid just somewhat drawn out in many places. The core of the book for me was the three original vampires (Nina, Willi and Melanie) their dispute and the humans pursuing them as a result of that, and it was that story that kept me plowing through everything else that was thrown in there. It's almost like Simmons just threw his bullets into the fire and watched them explode.So, if you are a Simmons fan I would recommend it, but would caution you to have some time on your hands. I don't regret the journey.

I read this 20 years ago. I'm glad I decided to read it again. I think it's better the second time around.

5 starsThis is my second reading of this wonderful book. I read the twentieth anniversary edition.Dr. Saul Laski is a renowned psychiatrist and a concentration camp survivor. His story as recounted by him in this book is heartbreaking and realistic.Nina Drayton is a wealthy woman living in New York. Her best childhood and lifelong friend Melanie Fuller and movie producer William Borden are three acquaintances who meet on a yearly basis. They have one huge thing in common. They can bend people to their will; they can make people do things they would never have dreamed possible. They murder by proxy.When Saul learns of some horrific murders in Charleston, he flies down there to learn what he can. He believes because of the senselessness of it and the timing of the killings, that it is the work of these mind control people. He also reads in the paper about the death of William Borden in a plane crash. He simply doesn’t believe it. For William “Willi” Borden was also Oberst Wilhelm von Borchert, an officer, a friend of Heinrich Himmler’s and his personal torturer during his incarceration at the infamous Chelmo concentration camp during WWII.Along with Natalie Preston who is the daughter of one of the horribly used people at the Charleston massacre and Sheriff Bobby Joe Gentry, a particularly insightful and well-read sheriff, Saul embarks on a dangerous plan.Not only are Natalie, Saul and Sheriff Bobby Joe after the killers, but also some secretive agencies and other assorted henchmen are chasing the mind “vampires” as well. Some of them are their own kind, afraid that their powers do not reach the astounding levels of Melanie, Willi and Nina. Many more murders are committed and atrocities abound.Saul, Natalie and Sheriff Bobby Joe each undergo personal nightmares as part of their journey to find the vampires.This book has it all: senseless violence, sex, treachery, backstabbing, secret clubs, psychology, horror and manipulation. It is a remarkable novel and easily one of the best books of its original publishing date of 1989. I want to call it a tour de force, but that is such an overused and hackneyed phrase nowadays.Mr. Simmons’ research must have been exhaustive. There are many technical details in the book about which I didn’t know. Drugs used in the book, machinery available and the stark reality of inner-city Philadelphia are just some of the topics he covers. (I worked in anesthesia in the 1980’s and was a veterinary technician before that, so I know more than the average Joe about anesthetics and other drugs.)This is a remarkable novel. If it were possible, I would give it more than five stars.

I chose this book because it was on at least two lists that I came across for best horror/thriller books. I would definitely not include it if I were the one creating such a list. The topic was definitely intriguing and there were parts of the book I did find pretty good, but it took me much longer to finish this book than it typically does because I just wasn't that into it. I've read plenty of other novels of similar or longer lengths and have torn through them because I was really engaged with the story. That was not the case here. There was SO much of this novel that could have been shortened and other areas that I feel could have been more explored. This certainly wasn't the worst novel that I have ever read but it was far from the best. In the end, I would say, it was just OK.

Loved the book, although there were parts that were so horrifying I had to take breaks from reading.

This book is in my top 10 all time list. Dan Simmons' story is captivating, sorrowful and thought-provoking.

Wow. What a story!A really well thought up concept and thoroughly researched.Delivered over a very long period of time, from Nazi Germany to the 1980's it is a tale of utter inhumanity. It brings home the concept of those with power become predators. But those with the gift for manipulating others, are seemingly missing a conscience all together. They are all utter psychopaths reeking destruction on people and their families without any thought for the repercussions.Our hero's turn out to be the most unlikely of people, but so courageous to go up again these foes.It had a big twist at the end, and despite this being an epic story, I could not put it down.It deserves a 5 star review.

Unnecessarily long.one can skip portions and pages and still find nothing missing.Predictable & boring read at times.1st fiction which took me more than month to finish and acted like a sleeping pill.Overrated and disappointing.

aber wohl nicht jedermanns Sache.Ich stimme jedenfalls Stephen King zu der zu "Carrion Comfort" sagte, dass er es zu den drei besten Horrorromanen des 20. Jahrhundert zähle.Viele Elemente, die mich schaudern lassen habe ich auch in späteren Horrorwerken gesehen, so dass es wohl auch großen Einfluss auf das moderne Horrorgenre hatte. Wie alles von Simmons, was ich bisher gelesen habe, sehr lesenswert!