After reading Brian Keene's Castaways, I have quickly become a
big fan of his. With a combination of horror, suspense, action and
gore, Keene's books are either original or an original take on an
age-old theme. Terminal is no different.
Tommy O'Brien didn't have much in his life
besides his wife, Michelle, and his son, T.J. Living in a trailer park in Hanover, Tommy, like his father, worked at the Foundry with his only friends, John and Sherm, producing patterned metal moldings for minimum wage. After being diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer and told he has one month to live, Tommy's meager existence is sent spiraling out of control. He cannot bring himself to tell Michelle of his diagnosis for fear of crushing her and, when his employer is downsized and he is laid off, decides not to reveal this either.With unpaid bills piling up and a desire to ensure that Michelle and T.J. will be better taken care of after his cancer has ended his life, Tommy decides his only option is to rob a bank. Along with his dimwitted friend John and wreckless friend Sherm, Tommy sketches out the details of the robbery while trying to hide everything from Michelle.
As soon as things are put into action and the bank robbery begins, things go awry almost instantly. After guns are drawn, hostages are taken and a boy with supernatural abilities is discovered, Tommy, John and Sherm's friendship is tested like never before.
Jumping right into the plot, Terminal grabs the reader from the very first page. Keene's characters are given enough depth to empathize with some and despise the others. The dialogue is believable and the characters' relationships with each other are given enough foundation to make them credible. While Terminal lacks the gore typical of Keene's other books, it makes up for it with a more believable plot and a cast of more 'real world' characters.
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