The cast and crew of the realty series Castaways have to fight for their lives when the supposedly uninhabited island they are on turns out to be inhabited, by a tribe of carnivorous monstrosities.Castaways is the first novel by Brain Keene that I have read, but it sure won't be the last. It was the kind book I love reading. One that snags my attention and refuses to let it go until I reach the last word. Then it walks away, while I stand there calling after it, "Come back, book! Come back! At least call me!"But do they ever call? No. They never even write and they'e frakking books. I'd expect books to write a You're Welcome note, you know?When I started reading Castaways I was expecting a cross of Survivor (which the titular realty show is clearly based on) and the 80s schlock classic Humanoids From the Deep. With both the ad copy on the back of the book and the text itself stating up front that the monsters kill the men and keep the women for mating purposes, what else could I compare it to?But I was wrong.Although author Brian Keene states in his afterward that the inspiration for his book is 100% Richard Laymon (to whom the novel is affectionately dedicated) I knew differently. No, I knew without a single doubt in my mind that the inspiration for Castaways lay in an almost forgotten piece of crap/guilty pleasure grade-Z 80s horror movie when I read this passage on page 154:Jeff pointed into the darkness. The others turned in that direction. A pair of yellow eyes stared back at them. The eyes blinked, and then returned. Then another pair appeared. And another. Then six more. Then a dozen.I kid you not when I say to you that Castaways is Survivor meets Attack of the Beast Creatures. If you have seen that movie then you are incapable of ever forgetting it, and you cannot read the above passage and not be reminded of a scene just like it in Attack of the Beast Creatures. The major difference between the two is that the book is scary as hell, while the movie is unintentionally laugh out loud funny.Okay, I do not doubt for a moment that Brian Keene was not influenced by Attack of the Beast Creaturesin any way, shape or form. But the surface similarities between the two were just so strong that I had to give a shout out to a forgotten movie that is a perfect Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode contender.Keene's novel, if it were a movie, would be at home on the Drive-In circuit, though. It is nothing more than a terrific B-monster movie captured on paper. It's gory as hell, but not excessively so. Keene also keeps the "necessary" rape stuff to an unpleasant minimum, something for which I am profoundly grateful. From the comments he makes in the novel's afterward, wherein he shares the novel's origins in a short story based on Richard Laymon's Beast House novels, his opinions on the matter seem to reflect my own. If that had not been the case, then I might not have been able to finish to book. Instead I hit only one extremely distasteful rough spot in an otherwise excellent thrill ride of story. One that I can highly and happily recommend to any and all monster fans. From the start, this book is very much an homage to Richard Laymon. The style, plot, and actions all follow what you would find in a Laymon novel. Keene uses the Afterword to explain some of the history behind the idea moving from short story to novel; you can read those details yourself in the book. I will state that as a fan of both Laymon and Keene, I loved the book!The story follows a reality show cast as they proceed through their daily challenges. Not realizing of course that their challenges are about to get more serious and involve a lot more reality. The show, naturally called Castaways, is a close copy of Survivor where contestants are put on a deserted island and then vote someone off every couple of days. The problem ends up being that the island is not that deserted. A tribe of devolved, more-animal-than-human creatures are already on the island and they view the contestants as food or procreation hosts.The action all took place in a 24-hour period which helped me to speed through the reading of the book. Things kept happening and I didn't want to put the book down. Maybe some of the minor characters weren't flushed out as much as they could be but they matched the same stereotypes that you would see in a typical reality show. In fact, one of the characters in the book even points that out and compares each character to their stereotype. You can't really get too much more specific about how the characters are supposed to act than that. A very fun read and one that should not be missed by horror fans.
What do You think about Castaways (Leisure Fiction) (2009)?
So much fun. A novel with an '80s style horror feel, set in today's reality-TV-glutted world.
—mysja
The book started out great but I thought that it was a little less interesting after I died.
—Ashywashy
If Survivor was more like this book, I'd probably watch it.
—eze2love3
Very interesting and disturbing twist to survivor.
—Carol
