PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 10 or Oh Bugger

For my one word, I read Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters. It billed itself as a horror novel but I would beg to differ. Everything moved very slowly and ordinarily for most of the book. It didn’t earn the horror label until the last 30 or so pages which was disappointing.

While the pacing made sense, it felt like there was a slow subtle build-up like a roller coaster and then dropped 500 feet for the last 30 pages. It’s great on a theme park ride but not ideal for a book. It went from feeling a bit slow and generic to an episode of criminal minds too quickly. While I loved the ending, I don’t think Winters did the best job of getting there.

I think this novel would translate very well into a visual medium. Film can do an exquisite job of conveying the subtle malice that the reader must work to translate from the page to the imagination. It would be easier to show the tension brewing and how Susan feels targeted. If done correctly, I think a film could do a better job with this story than the book.

It was entertaining and a quick read but my overall rating would be meh.