What do readers think of Niceville by Carsten Stroud? Write your own review.

Although I am usually not a fan of the supernatural or things that go bump in the night, Niceville proved to be very entertaining. The variety of characters and subplots kept it from getting too "out there". I live in the south and the people here do seem to treasure their family legends and eccentrics. All in all, a very enjoyable read.

Sort of creepy and supernatural occurrences mixed in with corrupt killing cops, a bank robbery, and a disappearing kid. Creative, somewhat humorous, very entertaining. I thought the ending was weak and rushed, but I enjoyed reading this book.

A seemingly pleasant southern town is rocked by the mysterious disappearance of a child, his recovery and then a bank robbery and the murder of four policemen who are chasing the robbers. What starts out as a "cop" drama turns into a Southern Gothic tale, with mysterious disappearances and unearthly occurrences. I found much of it extremely confusing, as if the author wasn't sure which way he wanted his narrative to go. Only my obligation to review this book kept me going to the end. I felt something that I couldn't quite put my finger on missing in the narrative. I might recommend the book to a Stephen King fan, but found it less than I had expected.

Niceville is a novel that has many characters, plots and subplots. It deals with the real world and the shadow world. There are a lot of unsavory characters and a few likeable characters. All of this adds up to a novel that has something for everyone but not a whole lot for me. There are so many characters that I had a hard time following them.

The story is sometimes gripping and suspenseful but there were times when I was on the verge of giving up on the task of finishing it.

In all honestly, I would like to give the book 3.5 stars. It's definitely a unique supernatural suspense thriller that had me sometimes riveted and sometimes bored. It was a challenge to keep the characters straight as there were SO MANY of them! It also took quite a while to see how everyone was connected, which was sometimes frustrating. But the characters were very interesting, quirky, well developed and so unusual!
Finally, I must mention that I finished the book with quite a few questions left unanswered. That is always a problem for me, I need everything resolved to truly rate any book as a "must read". But it definitely was entertaining.