They call her Blister. She’s a hideously disfigured twenty-three year old woman, living in a shed next to her father’s house, hidden away from the world.
Jason Tray is a successful cartoonist, banished to his agent’s lakeside cabin for a few days of mandatory rest and relaxation. One night, while hanging out with a couple of the locals at a dive bar, he takes them up on their offer to go “see … go “see Blister,” having no idea what they’re talking about.
He peeks through the window at the most nightmarish thing he’s ever seen.
In the morning, he wakes up, hung over and regretful. He’s better than this. He needs to…apologize?
From the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of PRESSURE, DWELLER, and WOLF HUNT comes a tale of fiendish secrets, ghastly crimes, and human monsters.
“Impossible to put down, rich with character and humor, BLISTER explodes off the page.”
— Peter Adam Salomon, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of All Those Broken Angels
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In the first few chapters, I was chuckling about Tray’s character and his unacknowledged love for stressing Chuck. But when he was invited to go see Blister, I was as scared as he was when he peeked into that window.
The story then takes a turn when we learn about Rachel. And not from the tales the townsfolk spread, but straight from her. You see past her disfigurement. As the story goes forward, there are more twists and turns. More horrific graphic violence and yes, lots of laughing too.
Great story. Once started, you have to know what happens next.
I received a free copy of this audio book from the author. I picked it based on the cover and the brief description. I expected some creepy story, maybe horror, but it was so much more. It is the story of a horribly disfigured girl feared and made fun of by her small backwoods town. Her gun toting daddy keeps her in a shed out back. Cartoonist Jason, banished to the lake in her town, befriends her. There is a part that is gruesome and horrific but mostly it is about the power of friendship that turns to love., with some added comedy. Engrossing story with great characters. Ignatz the dog is great. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
One of the best I have read from Mr. Strand. He is a master of not only short stories but of unputdownable books. Talk about compelling and laugh out loud funny too. It’s not just one thing, it’s kind of all things…all things good and original and entertaining in one book. FYI all this author’s books are like that.
I was attracted to Blister by Jeff Strand because the book’s Amazon page claims it is a mixture of horror suspense and horror comedy. The novel, published in 2016, is a purchase-for-free Amazon selection. The cover either will either attract or repel a reader; for those it attracts, there may be questions. I am not sure how something is classified “horror comedy” when the first few lines of the Amazon description are: “They call her Blister. She’s a hideously disfigured twenty-three-year-old woman, living in a shed next to her father’s house, hidden away from the world” (Amazon description page for Blister).
The horror part is the disfigurement of Rachel, also known by the nickname Blister, a name given by folks in the town of Lake Gladys who had decided to treat her as a freak. A disappointed boyfriend had slashed her face with a straight razor and cauterized the wounds with a blowtorch when she was a teenager. Now twenty-three years old, she was resigned to the fact that no amount of plastic surgery would ever restore the face she had previously. Rachel tried various masks to wear in the event she had to meet anyone other than her father. Most of the time, she remained isolated in a small cabin constructed and guarded by her father.
Jason Tray is a successful cartoonist. A prank Jason pulled in his neighborhood backfired, and his agent decided Jason should hide out for a short period in a cabin owned by the agent in the town of Lake Gladys. While having drinks in a local bar, Jason was invited to accompany two local teenagers to go to a cabin and see “something” unusual. Peering through a window, Jason saw “Blister” without her mask, reacted predictably, and ran away from his window peeping activity but not before hearing the disfigured person responding with sobs.
The next day, Jason felt horrible about the way he had acted and felt compelled to return to the cabin and personally apologize to the person he had seen, Rachel. The first person he met was Rachel’s father, Malcolm, a man very protective of his wronged daughter, who advised Jason to leave and never return. At this point, readers are past most of the horror and the cringe-worthy description of how unfortunates can be emotionally abused.
Jason and Rachel deliver most of the dialogue that makes up the humor component of the story. It is witty, enjoyable, sarcastic, and not overdone. I found it difficult to believe there could be so much humor in such a tragic story.
There is, of course, a mystery. Why did this happen to Rachel? What happened to the party or parties who hurt Rachel? Readers will presume that there is going to be extended communication between Jason and Rachel. How will that relationship work out, or will there be any relationship at all?
The story delivers multiple surprises, and a suspension of disbelief is required at a few points when reading about law enforcement responses, but for the most part, this is a page-turner entertaining read. I found only one disconnect about the difference between a grocery, or convenience store, and a drive-in theater, but I won’t clear it up for readers. The story is a worthwhile fun read, and no one can complain about the price. I gave this story only four Amazon stars because of the disconnect mentioned earlier, but I will read more by this author. I am a fan of humor even more than horror. Jeff Strand did an unusually good job combining the two with Blister.
I couldn’t put this book down until it was finished. It was just that good. It’s told in the first person singular. Poor Jason sure takes on more than he can handle when he decides to take advantage of the offer for some R&R. He gets tangled up in a five year old crime, meets the victim of said crime and very quickly becomes another victim involving that same crime. It’s a fast paced story that keeps you reading until the end, wondering how he’s going to get out of the mess alive, or at least with his sanity intact. This was a very good story and I gave it five stars.
Blister is an interesting story, well written with well developed characters. Some of the action towards the end seemed a little far fetched however the character of Rachel aka blister, was amazing. She was smart and funny but made some choices in the end that I thought was not very realistic. Overall a decent read.
I liked this book, and the main character’s sense of humor. It was far-fetched but interesting.
This story was strange and yet it sucked me in completely. It was tragic, sad, funny, unbelievable and more. You hear about women getting disfigured by their boyfriends or ex-boyfriends, but I can’t imagine having to live after they tried to destroy you. Imagine being the “freak” and “monster” in a small town that has to live in a shed behind her house because of what her boyfriend did to her 5 years ago.
There were parts of the story that went beyond believable, but still made for a good story. I liked the characters of Rachel (Blister) and Jason. Wow, what a story.
Teenage novel…easy to read but no depth
Was enjoying it, but it got to be too unbelievable at the end.