Abandon by Blake Crouch

Despite the negative reviews this book received I will openly and gladly admit that this story was a wonderful work of art. The story opens on Christmas Morning, 1893 in a little boom town called Abandon in Colorado. A town that was once filled with cheer has now been downgraded to simple survival mode through the winter months while the town's occupants decide if they'll stay on one more season? Maybe the mines will reopen and once again produce ore plenty enough to help the town regain it's footing. Maybe it'll close for good and Abandon will be reduced to yet another ghost town that seems to be rapidly spreading along the mountains in the West.

This particular Christmas morning the towns preacher has a vision and hears a voice from God that tells him to gather all the towns people in the very mine that once gave Abandon so much life and joy, and seal the door forever trapping every man, woman and child in the dark, cold, wet subterranean environment that was to become their tomb. That's one hell of a way to go. No one was every heard of again from Abandon, and a mystery began to develop and shrouded the town as to the sudden terrifying disappearance of it's occupants for nearly 116 years.

Meanwhile, 116 years later an adventurer and his journalist daughter set out to discover the truth behind the strange disappearance of the people of Abandon while the father will also be attempting to fulfill an ulterior motive that will eventually lead to the death of literally his entire scouting party, including himself and several other characters that come into play much later in the book.

A really great aspect of Abandon is how the author, Blake Crouch manages to make a seamless transition between 1893 and the more present 2009. Beautifully written as both story lines run somewhat identical to each other, which to me was very pleasing. As I was making my way through the chapters a myriad of situations began to develop in my head. Was this a supernatural thing, was this a pandemic, hell, was this an alien invasion, all of which were shut down midway through as I realized the town preacher just lost his mind and willing killed over 129 people. His excuse was the town grew wicked and uncontrollable so God's voice spoke clearly and calmly into his ear, telling him what was to happen next. The one person every single man, woman and child in the town of Abandon Colorado trusted brought them to their ultimate and untimely deaths. This book was a very heavy read.


For more information on Abandon or Blake Crouch, please visit his Goodreads page.

I received this book from GOODREADS for this review