The Vines

by Christopher Rice

[littleread1]

The thing I loved most about THE VINES is the fact that while creepy as all get out, there isn't a clear cut right & wrong/us vs. them vibe. Of course bad things do happen, but at the same time ... you understand them. Maybe even empathize with them a little? At one point while reading I turned to my husband and said "Go vines go! Kill the people!" I am pretty sure he just rolled his eyes at me and went on doing whatever he was doing at the time. But that was a fun and unexpected turn of events in a story that reminded me of a lot of the classic horror stories I have read.

The story opens on a southern plantation - creepy by reputation alone - where we witness a woman being wronged emotionally. From there we follow her through an emotional spiral that leads to a desperate act - which leads to her vengeance. I won't really talk about the story much past that, I really don't like to ruin things for you! I will say that at first I didn't like the expanding cast of characters ... until suddenly I did. Not sure why that changed; maybe because I got a wider view of the world, but I never felt like I was missing out when I was with one person - I knew all the gaps would be filled.

The end crept up on me, I was too involved in the story to notice the percent read getting higher and high until BAM - the book was over. While there was certainly some closure, I am not sure if I was mentally ready for the story to be over.

If you like ambiguous entities, bad people, good people, and killer plant life, then by all means pick this story up!