Lost Man's Lane: A Novel

This book found me at the right time, after reading some truly baffling writing. Writing that was so bad, it made me question if I had read too many books and I would never find another novel to enjoy. I was in a bad place.

Lost Man's Lane saved me and renewed my faith and hope in literature. This book was genuinely enjoyable on every page. As a huge Stephen King fan, I especially loved the vibe and prose in this book. I cannot recommend this book enough. Read it already.

Stupendous. Marvelous. Need more.

As a person who grew up (teen years) in a small town, I could relate to so much in this great book, both good and bad. Everyone knowing who you are can be a good thing and also a curse. Carson made me feel as though I wished I'd gone to school there. His story travels from the mundane to the bizarre, and I found it easy to follow the plot, yet I was still surprised at the twists and turns taken. And the characters were eminently likeable. It's the first book I've read by Carson, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I enjoyed every minute of this book. I only wish I hadn't read it yet so that I could read it again. It is a mixed genre book - a coming of age, murder mystery, ghost story. It is not a scary book but it is exciting and the writing is very good. Scott Carson manages to sound like a sixteen year-old boy without having to suspend disbelief. The characters are well-written and likeable and the romance, friendships and fights are very believable. The drama builds and the supernatural slowly makes its way into the story. There is not one thing that I didn't like about this book (sorry for the double negative). Twists and turns show up near the end and I didn't foresee them (though one reviewer thought it was predictable). I highly recommend this book and rate it five stars plus!

If someone is smart, they'll buy the movie rights to this book and make sure only the best of the best make a film or miniseries. Holy crap, reading this book was a fantastic ride! And now I'm sad it's over. The story is creepy, but not scary enough to haunt you in bed at night. Addictive though. I wanted to stay up and read it all night and say to hell with work the next day. Stand By Me was one of the few Stephen King novels I could handle, and this book reminds me of that, as well as Stranger Things—Horror Lite. I love coming-of-age stories, and this one was a treasure. The friendships are funny and heartwarming with great depth and loyalty. I LOVE this book, but now I have to go on with my life and read books that don't measure up to it. Ah well, at least I had a couple of glorious days in July 2024. :)

A supernatural thriller set in Bloomington, Indiana. A novel in the Stephen King tradition.

On his 16th birthday, Marshall Miller obtains his driver’s license and immediately gets a speeding ticket. However, he never is summoned to court because the patrolman who wrote the ticket doesn’t exist.

Michael Koryta, writing as Scott Carson, provides a long (528 pp.) interesting thriller in the Stephen King tradition. If you like supernatural plots, you’ll like this. Marshall Miller sees things that others don’t.

While this book did remind me of Stephen King (I mean that in a good way), it could have benefitted from some editing. The narrator's asides got to be a bit redundant and tedious because they went on too long and covered things already covered. Descriptions seemed to stretch about 25-30% longer than they needed to. I also noticed the overuse of a foreshadowing device...many chapters ended in statements like "If only I had known at that point that..." or "I would soon discover that I had been wrong." or similar phrases. A little of that is fine; too much is annoying. Finally, I found the plot's focus on snakes sort of random and weird. Kind of like the giant spider creature at the end of King's It left me wondering, "Okay, but why a giant spider?" (Tolkien had already done it -- twice.) I suppose it had to be something...I just didn't find much sense to it being all about snakes in the end.