Title: Baby Talk (1 & 2)
Author: Mike Wells
Publication Date: May 19, 2011; November 2, 2011
Publisher: Mike Wells
Pages: 189
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I received this book from the author
in exchange for an honest review.
in exchange for an honest review.
In this creepy horror novel, Neal Becker is convinced that his 5 month old baby daughter can talk. But that's impossible...isn't it? Except that Neal didn't really want to get married in the first place and pushed his wife for an abortion. And now, Baby Natasha knows it. She's out to get Neal, or so he believes. Join the two in a terrifying battle for survival that will make your blood run cold!
Baby Talk is a two part horror novel (I say novel because it really does read like one larger volume split into two) about Neil Becker, a man who has either lost his mind or has found himself in a very unfortunate situation. This book is definitely original. To be honest, it reminded me quite a bit of an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark! You know? that creepy Nickelodeon campfire show you secretly still watch and love. Or maybe that's just me... I was creeped out from the first page. The characters in Baby Talk are well-developed. I was panicking right along with Neal and found Annie truly annoying pretty early on. The best part of reading this book was the uncertainty of Neal's mental state. There's no way to tell whether it's all in Neal's head.
Confession: I've always found babies to be a little creepy (along with clown dolls and dummies). Not only that, but they're pretty terrifying in the sense that I have no idea what to do with them. So, while I didn't completely identify with Neal's (sometimes overly dramatic) actions, his fear over being left alone with the baby was something I can get on board with. And Baby Natasha is not a normal baby. Every single incident with Baby Natasha had me cringing. Honestly. Of course it's pretty unbelievable, but no more than most other horror novels (or movies, for that matter). I think that's what takes the creep factor over the edge - the fact that Natasha does things that babies just can't do!
Mike Wells did a superb job writing this book. It's fast paced and kept me turning pages - a truly "unputdownable" book! My only real complaint is that they should never have been split into two. The first book ends extremely abruptly (like I said, these books seem like one longer novel in two parts - think Tolkien or Jordan). Aside from that, this book was really good. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call it horror - it was definitely more creepy and weird than terrifying. I'd probably recommend it to someone who loves a good campfire story.
