Outre Review | D.J Adamson

Welcome back for another review! Outre is a short, fun read that involves mysteries and potential alien invasions. It’s not my usual kind of read, but I did enjoy it. Keep reading for my full review on Outre by D.J Adamson

Publisher: BooksGoSocial | Date: 2015 | Genre: Science Fiction

Plot: Outré is the first book in a trilogy titled Deviation. The trilogy offers different perspectives on what happened in Pinkerton, Iowa, in the year 1989. The goal of Outré is to take one event (a tornado), add another sent of events (women missing, people dead, animal mutilations, the possibility of aliens and alien abduction, others different than the norm) and come to a perspective of what could have happened.

This is Jack Cahill’s account. Fifteen-year-old Jack Cahill, along with his friends Pitts and Diddleman, are lead to believe it was not a tornado that destroyed a large area of Pinkerton but an alien abduction. Their “need to know” sets them on a quest of speculation, accusation, and investigation.

The concept for the trilogy comes from the question: Can we ever be sure that our perception of things is right?

I received Outre from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Outre Review

Outre has been sitting on my Netgalley shelf for a while. It’s a short, fun book about a potential alien invasion and I shot through it once I started.

When I say short, I mean short. This was one of the quickest read I’ve had this year at less than 200 pages long. Sometimes that’s just what you need though – especially when trying to catch up on your Goodreads challenge. I read it in a day. Any longer, and I’m not certain it would have held my attention, but the pacing worked and I got swept up in this short ride about whether or not aliens were invading.

Jake is a normal teenage boy. Like a couple of his friends, he believes there’s a chance that aliens exist. When a couple of mysterious deaths rock his small hometown, Jake doesn’t realise his investigations may lead to something bigger. Deaths lead to cattle mutilation and, ultimately, a storm devastates their community, flattening every house but one – Jake’s.

With his mum and sister missing (abducted, if Jake’s eyes weren’t playing tricks on him) and his dad seriously injured, Jake and his friends soon realise there is something much bigger going on. A cover up – but who knows what, and what exactly is being covered up?

Jake is a fun main character. He’s your average fifteen-year-old boy, ready to believe he is an adult and can explain all the mysterious events. The adults are being too practical – don’t they realise all of the signs point to invaders from another planet? He has no idea what is going on and realises he is in over his head, but with his family in danger, he won’t rest. He tries not to drag his friends into it but even aliens can’t rip apart a teenage bond and they are with him until the end.

He changed from the story. “What do you want to be when you grow up, boy?”

I needed no time to think. “A hero.”

Their conviction there were aliens made for an enjoyable introduction. But I must admit – I got caught up. The length means the pacing is consistent and the tension increases as the boys realise there is something much bigger than theories going on. A hunt and a chase through a dark wood makes for a nice climax and you genuinely start to worry about what will happen to them.

There are no answers in this book apart from the idea that yes, aliens may have invaded. The ending hints towards answers, but then finishes rather abruptly without offering any closure, just a cliff-hanger setting it up for book two. It was an intriguing ending, but I would have liked a resolution to at least one part of the book rather than left feeling the entire thing is just a set up for the next one.

As mentioned, if this book was longer, it wouldn’t have held me. But it worked for its length and the subject matter and was an entertaining read even if not one to take too seriously. If you’re looking for a bit of fun, then give it a go.

Does this sound like your kind of read?

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