I loved this book! Such suspense, and a great twist, though I can see that not being for everyone. The setting was phenomenal, I loved the historical aspect. Blake Crouch has done it again.

Abandon is a real page turner, though quite different from Blake Crouch’s recent science fiction epics. In parts it feels like a traditional adventure story with the atmosphere of a western. It reminded me of Preston & Child novels.

It’s a truly compelling story, linking past and present through two timelines: a mystery in the nineteenth century ultimately solved in the present.

Blake Crouch knows how to tell a story and this one has plenty of twists and turns with some memorable characters. It’s not just about solving a mystery but surviving in extraordinary conditions in a wilderness that contains natural as well as human threats. 

Journalist, Abigail Foster, is a great central character to put to the test and characters in the past are wonderfully credible. Overall, it’s a really exciting read.

Oh wow. Creepy, enthralling, spellbinding, and did I say creepy?
Another good book from this fantastic author, which is unlike anything I have ever read before. A tale of two times, yet easy to follow and captivating in both times. The past is revealed in its own time, as it becomes more clear in the present, and there is an increasing sense of suspense and danger. In fact, hugely so!
Plenty of great twists, and good characters who are believable, together with good writing, make this a great book, which I am happy to recommend.

Loved this. Gave me all the thrills I seem in a book and I didn't want it to end - but wanted to find out more at the same time. Will definitely be reading more from this author.

3.5

This one was a bit different from the recent Blake Crouch releases, being more a horror/thriller rather than the techno-thrillers of Upgrade, Dark Matter and Recursion.

Splitting between the dual timelines I found a bit jarring at first, and found myself for the first 1/3rd wanting to be in the present day, however the pay off later on was worth the development of the characters from the1890s timeline as we slowly start to see what transpired. A couple times I was left with my jaw on the floor.

Whilst this is a bit removed from other books I've read from the author, it does still retain those gut wrenching family moments that seems to be a hallmark.

Received arc from Pan MacMillan and Netgalley for honest read and review,this review is my own.
The blurb for this sounded really good and I had high hopes of another brilliant read from Mr Crouch....
Well it was not as anticipated, not supernatural, not too much horror and for me a confusing 2 storylines.
This one was definitely not for me and honestly I was a bit disappointed.

DNF at 30%. This one was not for me unfortunately. From the description, I was hoping for a tense survival story / mystery with a hint of the supernatural, but this felt like a pretty standard action thriller which is just not my thing. There were so many different scenes - hopping between present day and the past - and characters that I was finding it hard to follow and recall who everyone was, so it didn’t feel worth continuing.

A bit of a let down to be honest. I just felt it dragged and wad repeatative. There are better books out there with a similar premise

Captivating premise of an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of an entire town.

I was expecting a supernatural or sci fi twist based on reading previous books by the author but this was a straight up and clever mystery thriller full of suspense, intrigue, secrets, insanity and greed.

A well paced read with two timelines that were clear and easy to follow and loved the blend of past and present with interesting mirrored plot lines. All characters were well developed. Recommended.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

I feel very bad about this, but nothing you can say will convince me that Blake Crouch penned this novel. Nothing at all.

I don't know if this should maybe be considered a life lesson for me - don't look back, that's not where you're going? That's definitely correct in the case of exploring Blake Crouch's older novels - yikes! This was not a fun ride. I'm sure I am not alone in this but when I enjoy an authors work very much, I have the tendency to want to read everything they have ever written before. Turns out, you should just keep following the trajectory, because there's a pretty low chance they've been as good right from the start.

I reached the 25% mark and began to question if the book actually would ever have a "moment" where it started to have a bit of energy injected into it, an exciting turn of events, or if it was just going to feel like a muted episode of Most Haunted but it just never materialised. It really was like turning the volume off on a murder mystery - there was never any chance of enjoying that.

I can't recommend it, unless you're happy to be led to believe this is a thrilling paranormal story about disappearing people from a small town only to realise that the only thing that was truly thrilling was the blurb, which, having completed the book, now feels something of a lie.

ARC provided from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one was tough for me and I found like it dragged! I like Crouch's writing but the plot itself took too long to get me invested. A heavy read.

Having read the masterpieces that are Dark matter and recursion unfortunately this one just didn't really hit the spot for me as much as I was expecting... that said, I really did enjoy the premise and it did get my emotions going. Overall I did really enjoy.
Blake Crouch really is an amazing author and remains firmly as a top fave for me.

I am a big fan of Blake work, since I loved 2 of his past books. So when I was gave the opportunity to review this book I jumped without even think. Is a very emotional draining book and I dunno if is because is a older work of the author it seems to me that it take long time to actually enjoy the plot. It took several chapters that I felt that where going over the same and it become a bit boring in a way. But that’s the only down fall. In general Blake is such a magnificent storyteller and he is brilliant creating characters. If you like the author it work give it a shot to this book. Like I said is a well written book. And we enjoy it for most of the part it took ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from this reader. Big shout out to NetGalley and Pam Macmillian for the ARC

I have read several Blake Crouch novels, this is one that was published some years earlier, it is a multi-genre tale that I have to admit I was not expecting, emotionally draining, where the past refuses to be buried as it seeps inexorably into the present. It underlines some of the evil and the worst traits of humanity, vividly brought alive through some of the wide array of characters created and developed by the author. There is an inescapable brutality and violence, macabre deaths that are hard to stomach. The location setting is beautifully written with rich descriptions that make it easy to imagine and so atmospheric. In 1893 in a old west remote Colorado mining town of Abandon, everyone disappears, a haunting mystery that has never been solved.

It is now 2009, a history professor, Lawrence Kendall, his estranged journalist daughter, Abigail Foster, an older couple, who are interested in paranormal phenomena and taking photographs of it, along with 2 mountain guides, are intending to finding out what happened in Abandon as they head out to the old ghost town. This is not a story of supernatural suspense, as we go back and forth in time, encountering some larger than life characters, there is a real feel for just how hard times were in 1983, the struggles to simply survive, a place which included its share of swindlers, gamblers, preachers and prostitutes. The present day party soon run into problems as they climb, the weather deteriorating into challenging blizzard conditions. they are walking into the territory of terror, an adventure that turns into a battle for sheer survival, is history about to repeat itself?

Crouch can certainly spin a gripping yarn of bonkers insanity, the lengths people will go to try and satisfy their greed, and religious fervour. I did enjoy reading this, there was plenty of knife edge suspense, tension and horror, although it might not be my favourite Crouch book. For me there were too many moments where it was all much too much, too far fetched on occasions, and I was not convinced by the conclusion. However, I can see many other readers really loving this. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.