 The Hungry Ones is the second book in the Messy Man series, the series’ first book being The Nightmare Room. Jessie Voss purchases a closed-up roadside motel which was home to a brutal experience - a man shot and killed several guests staying at that motel. Jessie hopes that with the passing of time and with a facelift, the motel could one day become a happy place where people can rest their heads. It doesn’t take long for her and one of her guests to experience some strange occurrences that escalate into something dark and evil which cannot be explained. I really enjoyed The Nightmare Room and this second book does not disappoint either. It’s a lovely layering of the past and present, of the real-world and of otherworldly planes of existence. There is a nice blend of characters from the first book, but this second story is often told in the point-of-view of a character not in the first book. I really liked the setting for this story. An old motel being restored only years after a bloody slaughter is fertile ground for dark things to happen. And for me - I have a place in my heart for little mom-and-pop motels. My first job ever was a housekeeper in a small roadside motel, so like Jessie, I did a little bit of everything to keep things running. So it was neat to immerse myself in a story located in such a place. As for the antagonist, the demons are crazy unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read. These evil spirits recreate themselves, usually at night, into masses of charred remains with human-like features. The scariest thing about them is that they are quite regenerative, so they seem impossible to defeat by humans. They’ve recruited a man named Mr. Wood who carries the demons’ physical remains around so that they can reform and hunt for lost souls to devour. They’re very creepy! And it’s sad (but thrilling) to watch them hunt room to room for the souls of those victims killed in the motel’s earlier murder catastrophe. The Larson family and Ellen reappear in this book. Much of the story is told in the child’s point of view, and it’s very well done. Ellen is just as quirky in this book as she was in the first. The new main character in The Hungry Ones is Jessie. She’s realistic and likeable and easy to root for, as she tries to protect her guests and the motel from whatever the hell is haunting the place. Steph is a little on the annoying side, but that may only be because she reminds me of someone in my own life - but she is important and consistent throughout the book. Wood is a good creepy-bad-guy in cahoots with the demons. The characters were three-dimensional and consistent which is nice. I felt like the conversation in the book was a bit flatter than in the first book I read, but not bad overall. The book had a pleasant pace throughout - nothing felt too slow or too fast. The ending didn’t seem rushed or drawn out. Each chapter pretty much focused on one character’s point of view, so there was a nice hopping from one character to another without being too confusing. I was not disappointed at all by the ending. Things were pretty well resolved without a lot of loose ends. I went into the ending wondering if we’d learn of the demons’ origins and the last sentence of the book ties it up nicely. Could there be more books in this series? There is the potential for the story to continue is some fashion. I think this book (and even its predecessor) would make excellent buddy reads. It would have been fun to work through the different pieces of the puzzle and anticipate the endings. All in all, I feel like Chris employes careful, thoughtful planning to create a complex and thrilling story. It could be easy for the story to fall apart or wander away from its core themes, but Chris’ books tell unique, horrific stories.  THE HUNGRY ONES BY CHRIS SORENSEN What do ghosts fear? The Hungry Ones... At the outskirts of Maple City sits the Crossroads Motel, a throwback to the days when the motor lodge was king. Two years ago, the motel was the site of an act so brutal that its buildings were left to rot. Jessie Voss, however, sees promise in the Crossroad's bare bones and buys it up, determined to breathe new life into the place. When the Larson family shows up on her doorstep, road-weary and desperate for a break, Jessie offers them lodging, even though her grand opening is still a week away. But the arrival of guests awakens the motel, and Jessie soon finds herself host to both the living and the dead.   Comments are closed.
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