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Bad Things
Three years ago, lawyer John Henderson watched his four-year-old son tumble from a jetty into the lake outside their Washington home. In a terrible instant, a life all too brief and innocent ended. But it wasn't drowning, the fall, or even some previously undetected internal defect that killed the little boy. Scott Henderson had simply, inexplicably...died.
Today, John is a different man—divorced, living a solitary existence in a beach house in Oregon, working as a waiter in a restaurant that caters to the summer crowd. Withdrawn from a life and past too painful to revisit, he touches no one and no one touches him. Then one night he receives a short and profoundly disturbing e-mail message from a stranger. It reads: I know what happened.
It's enough to pull John back to Black Ridge—the one place on earth he'd hoped never to return to—in search of answers to the mystery that shattered his world. In this small, isolated Pacific Northwest community, populated in large part by descendants of the original settlers, the shadows now seem even darker and more sinister than when tragedy first drove him away—and the wind whipping down out of the primal forest can chill a man to his soul. It seems that bad things have always happened in this town of generations-old secrets—and are happening still.
The deeper John digs into his own past, and into local history, the more danger he draws toward himself...and toward his estranged and helpless family. And though he doesn't know it, he's not the only one who's been called back to Black Ridge.
And that's a very bad thing...
Today, John is a different man—divorced, living a solitary existence in a beach house in Oregon, working as a waiter in a restaurant that caters to the summer crowd. Withdrawn from a life and past too painful to revisit, he touches no one and no one touches him. Then one night he receives a short and profoundly disturbing e-mail message from a stranger. It reads: I know what happened.
It's enough to pull John back to Black Ridge—the one place on earth he'd hoped never to return to—in search of answers to the mystery that shattered his world. In this small, isolated Pacific Northwest community, populated in large part by descendants of the original settlers, the shadows now seem even darker and more sinister than when tragedy first drove him away—and the wind whipping down out of the primal forest can chill a man to his soul. It seems that bad things have always happened in this town of generations-old secrets—and are happening still.
The deeper John digs into his own past, and into local history, the more danger he draws toward himself...and toward his estranged and helpless family. And though he doesn't know it, he's not the only one who's been called back to Black Ridge.
And that's a very bad thing...
370 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
53 people are currently reading
891 people want to read
About the author
Michael Marshall
70 books413 followersA pseudonym used by Michael Marshall Smith
Michael Marshall Smith (who dropped the "Smith" to write The Straw Men) lives in north London with his wife Paula, and is currently working on screenplays and his next book, while providing two cats with somewhere warm and comfortable to sit.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
(1) Michael Marshall - Religion/Spirituality
(2) Michael Marshall - Acting
(3) Michael Marshall - Fishing/Geography
(4) Michael Marshall - German Children's Books
(5) Michael Marshall - Indonesian Fiction
Michael Marshall Smith (who dropped the "Smith" to write The Straw Men) lives in north London with his wife Paula, and is currently working on screenplays and his next book, while providing two cats with somewhere warm and comfortable to sit.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
(1) Michael Marshall - Religion/Spirituality
(2) Michael Marshall - Acting
(3) Michael Marshall - Fishing/Geography
(4) Michael Marshall - German Children's Books
(5) Michael Marshall - Indonesian Fiction
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
March 16, 2017
I hate it when a book sells itself as a psychological thriller and conveniently forgets to mention a big supernatural element! John Henderson heads off to Black Ridge in the hope to learn more about his son's mysterious death, but his informant is acting strangely. And so is the rest of the town! While trying to find answers, John helps the daughter of a friend with some troubles she's having with some drug dealers. What does this have to do with anything? Nothing, as it turns out!
Stupid, boring book that tries to sell itself as something it's not!
Stupid, boring book that tries to sell itself as something it's not!
April 13, 2020
A creepy and sometimes gripping chiller set around a town where 'bad things' seem to happen. Another inventive and innovative tale by Marshall. As weird as it might sound, I always find Marshall Smith's work lacks a soul, I never get fully engaged with it! 5 out of 12.
March 9, 2012
So after a week filled with way too many doctor appointments and precious reading opportunity I decided to try this story based strictly off the title as the movie Very Bad Things with Christian Slater and Cameron Diaz is one of my all time favorite movies involving the trippy and sick ways a night gone wrong proved too much for all concerned--I kinda thought this story would be full of twists and turns and suspense and all that but never really got that..The story starts off with the unexplained death/murder of a four year old and the heartbreak and tragic circumstances that pull a loving family apart and end with a divorce and the father working as a waiter trying to forget the past..when the past winds up in his email with the sinister tease of "I know what happened to your son"..And from there the book takes you on a pretty uninteresting ride and a story that drags with a truly stupid drug and money extortion side plot with loser druggie couple- silly Kyle and Becky, some weird waitress named Kristina who is always around for no apparent reason and I found myself going back at least twice to find out why she was even relevant, weakly drawn evil power siblings, sarcastic and stupid town cops and the paranoid and wacky Ellen who also "has a past" and was the person behind the email that started it all. I was ready to give this book up several times I admit but had to find out what really happened and BOO it was thinly crafted silliness that I found hard to believe and hard to enjoy..The cocky sarcasm of the writing either makes you want to read or punch the author in the face and I wanted to do both..every character especially the main guy is snarky, rude and cliched...Not the suspenseful thriller I expected at all, just laughable suspense with an ending that makes you sit there dumbfounded, like- Really did I just waste time on this lame reveal..Boo again--almost a one-star but there were shining moments and enough cliffhangers I suppose to make me reluctantly read on..
June 5, 2009
Too much supernatural stuff for me
April 14, 2018
A surprisingly insightful literary work that belied its thriller label. If you start this one, stick with it and keep an open mind...you'll be surprised at the depth and truth of it.
June 20, 2020
The plot wasn’t without flaws (I find sone authors rely on a supernatural element as a short-cut to creating tension, and though I’m not completely against this in a psychological thriller, here the aspect became more and more like a crutch) but it did - oddly tacked on side thread about helping a colleague and his girlfriend with a drug/money extortion threat apart - keep me fairly interested for long enough to get through.
However there was something about the writing and the main character which put me off quite badly and substantially reduced my interest. Maybe it was a level of snarkiness in the first person POV where this character narrated - whinging and superhuman and distanced. Maybe it was the inability of the author not to get the reader on-side early on, I just spent the first quarter of the book thinking ‘who cares?’ and wondering why I was being told all this irrelevant information.
I would have enjoyed this more as a twenty year old. My tastes have changed/matured and I think these days I need a different balance from my thrillers.
However there was something about the writing and the main character which put me off quite badly and substantially reduced my interest. Maybe it was a level of snarkiness in the first person POV where this character narrated - whinging and superhuman and distanced. Maybe it was the inability of the author not to get the reader on-side early on, I just spent the first quarter of the book thinking ‘who cares?’ and wondering why I was being told all this irrelevant information.
I would have enjoyed this more as a twenty year old. My tastes have changed/matured and I think these days I need a different balance from my thrillers.
August 31, 2016
When bad things happen to people is it because they deserve it? When bad things happen to you do you say to yourself “What did I do to deserve this?” The whole concept of action and consequence is brought into play… At least in your mind. In the case of Michael Marshall’s protagonist in Bad Things it seems that the very ultimate in bad things has happened, his four year old son has died. As an indirect result of this tragedy his marriage has ended and his legal career waylaid.
When we meet John Henderson he is living in coastal Oregon and working as a waiter in a seaside restaurant. His is a solitary life with little to no contact with his former wife and remaining son, or, for that matter, any of his former friends or co-workers. Then one night he receives an ominous e-mail message that reads “I know what happened”. John himself does not know what happened even though he was a witness to his son’s death. Naturally he follows up the message by returning to Black Ridge where he once lived and where the tragedy occurred.
Black Ridge is depicted by Michael Marshall with an ominous sense of foreboding reminiscent of the early works of the master Stephen King. An eerily real, small Pacific Northwest community surrounded by a menacing forest with local inhabitants who seem chillingly distant and a prominent town family who seem to have local authority figures and all the townsfolk under their power. The setting in this novel is as much a ‘character’ as the human characters.
Once there, John meets up with the sender of the email message, Ellen Robertson. She maintains that the death of John’s son has eerie similarities to the death of her husband. She intimates that she is being watched and that her emails and phone messages are being monitored. John recognizes her sincerity and decides to remain in Black Ridge to discover if there is any basis to her paranoia.
John is not the only person to have recently returned to Black Ridge. Kristina has been away for a decade, but has now returned. She doesn’t like the place and doesn’t understand herself why she has made her way back to her home town. John also reunites with a former co-worker who has remained in the area, and whose history seems tied to John’s buried past.
The mounting suspense and the revelations of the plot culminate in a page-turning climax where John’s past is explained and he is temporarily reunited with his ex-wife and son. The periphery characters are tied into the revelations in a satisfying way.
More of a supernatural thriller than a mystery, this novel evokes a sense of imminent evil. The reader wonders if this is all in the mind of the protagonist somehow brought about by his sense of guilt for past wrongdoings, or whether the evil is an entity unto itself. The ending leaves the reader with just the right amount of unease and a feeling that the evil encountered in the pages of the novel could resurface at any time to dishevel someone else’s world.
I will read more of Michael Marshall’s fiction even though his novels do not follow the criteria for the mystery genre which is my favourite. After reading this novel I have become a fan of his writing style. Written with a flair for stating profound wisdoms making the reader nod his/her head in agreement, while at the same time evoking a sense of looming dread, this novel is a masterwork of supernatural suspense.
When we meet John Henderson he is living in coastal Oregon and working as a waiter in a seaside restaurant. His is a solitary life with little to no contact with his former wife and remaining son, or, for that matter, any of his former friends or co-workers. Then one night he receives an ominous e-mail message that reads “I know what happened”. John himself does not know what happened even though he was a witness to his son’s death. Naturally he follows up the message by returning to Black Ridge where he once lived and where the tragedy occurred.
Black Ridge is depicted by Michael Marshall with an ominous sense of foreboding reminiscent of the early works of the master Stephen King. An eerily real, small Pacific Northwest community surrounded by a menacing forest with local inhabitants who seem chillingly distant and a prominent town family who seem to have local authority figures and all the townsfolk under their power. The setting in this novel is as much a ‘character’ as the human characters.
Once there, John meets up with the sender of the email message, Ellen Robertson. She maintains that the death of John’s son has eerie similarities to the death of her husband. She intimates that she is being watched and that her emails and phone messages are being monitored. John recognizes her sincerity and decides to remain in Black Ridge to discover if there is any basis to her paranoia.
John is not the only person to have recently returned to Black Ridge. Kristina has been away for a decade, but has now returned. She doesn’t like the place and doesn’t understand herself why she has made her way back to her home town. John also reunites with a former co-worker who has remained in the area, and whose history seems tied to John’s buried past.
The mounting suspense and the revelations of the plot culminate in a page-turning climax where John’s past is explained and he is temporarily reunited with his ex-wife and son. The periphery characters are tied into the revelations in a satisfying way.
More of a supernatural thriller than a mystery, this novel evokes a sense of imminent evil. The reader wonders if this is all in the mind of the protagonist somehow brought about by his sense of guilt for past wrongdoings, or whether the evil is an entity unto itself. The ending leaves the reader with just the right amount of unease and a feeling that the evil encountered in the pages of the novel could resurface at any time to dishevel someone else’s world.
I will read more of Michael Marshall’s fiction even though his novels do not follow the criteria for the mystery genre which is my favourite. After reading this novel I have become a fan of his writing style. Written with a flair for stating profound wisdoms making the reader nod his/her head in agreement, while at the same time evoking a sense of looming dread, this novel is a masterwork of supernatural suspense.
April 21, 2012
A stunning, riveting, multi-layered mystery-and-more, “Bad Things” is so complex and convoluted that I can only think of Brian Freeman’s mysteries in comparison. Set in the Pacific Northwest (Washington State, Oregon, then Washington State again), the settings and locales become every bit as important as the human characters; in fact, the settings are characters in their own right. Black Ridge, Washington and Marion Beach, Oregon-especially the former-are fully-fleshed, fully-dimensional characters in themselves-and by the end of the book, the reader can readily decide whether she would ever wish to live in such a locale (Black Ridge).
Michael Marshall Smith is an accomplished and terrifying author-terrifying in the sense that the events in this book seem fated-implacable-inescapable; and it is only much later that we learn that perhaps-way back when-steps could have been taken to put the world on a different path, one more fortuitous, less troubled, less inescapably evil-but only perhaps. Human choice is still very much a part of the matter, though-so that even with fate, destiny, generational heritage, and the Supernatural-not to mention Manifest Destiny, classism, and bigotry-individual humans still can and must make their own individual choices, according to their own moral codes.
Michael Marshall Smith is an accomplished and terrifying author-terrifying in the sense that the events in this book seem fated-implacable-inescapable; and it is only much later that we learn that perhaps-way back when-steps could have been taken to put the world on a different path, one more fortuitous, less troubled, less inescapably evil-but only perhaps. Human choice is still very much a part of the matter, though-so that even with fate, destiny, generational heritage, and the Supernatural-not to mention Manifest Destiny, classism, and bigotry-individual humans still can and must make their own individual choices, according to their own moral codes.
August 3, 2014
What an irritating book, hiding in the library, masquerading as a thriller no mention on the cover of supernatural claptrap. A really good story spoiled completely by a total cop out, rubbish, totally naff ending. I stopped the cd before the final little bit, this is the first time I've ever done that. I was so annoyed by it. What a load of codswallop grrrrrrrrrr. It was really good, forgivable in the bits where it lacked something, I suspected it would end how it did fairly close to the end but was desperately hoping it wouldn't but yes indeed it did. It is like two books, one that is a really good story and mystery with a really interesting main character then another book entirely that belongs in fantasy and teen fiction.
September 30, 2011
You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/09/...
John Henderson is waiting tables at a small restaurant in the Pacific Northwest,and house sitting for a friend in the area. It’s been three years since his young son died on Lake Murdo in Black Ridge,Washington,and he’s doing his best to live life and forget,when one day he receives an email that says simply “I know what happened.” Soon,John is pulled back to Black Ridge and meets a mysterious woman who claims the same thing happened to her husband. John is skeptical,but soon,events begin to lead him in only one direction:something extremely strange is going on,and more people are going to die.
I’m a longtime fan of Michael Marshall’s. I started with his trilogy,which consists of The Straw Men,The Upright Man,and Blood of Angels,which put him on my autobuy right away. His books remind me quite a bit of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series,in that he’s able to mix thriller with a dash of the supernatural to wonderful effect. As a parent,I can’t imagine having to go through the death of a child,and John Henderson is a man haunted by this,and becomes determined to find the real reason it happened. He’s more than just a former lawyer,and has more than a few tricks up his sleeves. He is not without resources,and in spite of his pain,is a strong and capable protagonist,who will stop at nothing to protect those he loves. Michael Marshall knows how to turn up the creep and also use his character’s surroundings to enhance the mood of the story. Wet,loamy woods surround the lake in which his son dies,and there always appears to be something at the peripheral,lingering in the shadows of the trees. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up more than once,and I couldn’t read fast enough to find out just what was causing the death and mayhem in Black Ridge. Michael Marshall’s novels are a perfect example of the slow burn. There is action,but the pleasure in these books is the build to the climax. The endings are always satisfying,and sometimes shocking,but the journey is what you will relish,peeling back the layers of each character and soaking in the atmosphere of a town steeped in secrets. Bad Things is a standalone novel,but I urge you to check out his trilogy,and also The Intruders. Heck,you really can’t go wrong with anything by this talented writer! If you like thrillers with a supernatural twist,taut writing,and lots of atmosphere,you’ll love Bad Things!
John Henderson is waiting tables at a small restaurant in the Pacific Northwest,and house sitting for a friend in the area. It’s been three years since his young son died on Lake Murdo in Black Ridge,Washington,and he’s doing his best to live life and forget,when one day he receives an email that says simply “I know what happened.” Soon,John is pulled back to Black Ridge and meets a mysterious woman who claims the same thing happened to her husband. John is skeptical,but soon,events begin to lead him in only one direction:something extremely strange is going on,and more people are going to die.
I’m a longtime fan of Michael Marshall’s. I started with his trilogy,which consists of The Straw Men,The Upright Man,and Blood of Angels,which put him on my autobuy right away. His books remind me quite a bit of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series,in that he’s able to mix thriller with a dash of the supernatural to wonderful effect. As a parent,I can’t imagine having to go through the death of a child,and John Henderson is a man haunted by this,and becomes determined to find the real reason it happened. He’s more than just a former lawyer,and has more than a few tricks up his sleeves. He is not without resources,and in spite of his pain,is a strong and capable protagonist,who will stop at nothing to protect those he loves. Michael Marshall knows how to turn up the creep and also use his character’s surroundings to enhance the mood of the story. Wet,loamy woods surround the lake in which his son dies,and there always appears to be something at the peripheral,lingering in the shadows of the trees. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up more than once,and I couldn’t read fast enough to find out just what was causing the death and mayhem in Black Ridge. Michael Marshall’s novels are a perfect example of the slow burn. There is action,but the pleasure in these books is the build to the climax. The endings are always satisfying,and sometimes shocking,but the journey is what you will relish,peeling back the layers of each character and soaking in the atmosphere of a town steeped in secrets. Bad Things is a standalone novel,but I urge you to check out his trilogy,and also The Intruders. Heck,you really can’t go wrong with anything by this talented writer! If you like thrillers with a supernatural twist,taut writing,and lots of atmosphere,you’ll love Bad Things!
February 25, 2011
I have been a fan of Michael Marshall (Smith) since I read Spares quite a few years ago. I was expecting to like this book, but instead I loved it. Much like the Straw Men Trilogy, the action drives the book, but is not the main focus. Slowly and skillfully, Marshall morphs the story from possible paranoia to unfold the mystery and reveal the supernatural cause of the "Bad Things".
The plot itself was interesting but what blew me away was the writing itself. I was completely absorbed and did not want it to stop every time I picked it up. The simple, yet insightful wisdom of the John Henderson character would pop-up at perfect moments and I would have to re-read sections just to enjoy great quotes and insights. Two examples: "Men are great with tidy, dust somehow eludes us" (this describes me so well I laughed out loud) and "What would we do without TV? Live, I guess. And sometimes you're just not in the mood for it". The way he handles the various situations are sometimes skillful. At other times he employs the "blunt hammer approach" which may not be the best tactic. This makes him flawed, which makes him more realistic. This tale makes me hungry for more backstory and I hope that the author revisits this character. His sarcastic sense of humor plays well against the more serious action and elements of the narrative. John Henderson is such a deep, well conceived, fully fleshed-out protagonist. His loss drives him, but no longer consumes him.
As usual, Marshall delivers an engaging read that is realistic despite a supernatural mystery. The supernatural aspects are not the focus, the thoughts, emotions and motivations of John Henderson are what make this such an enjoyable book.
The plot itself was interesting but what blew me away was the writing itself. I was completely absorbed and did not want it to stop every time I picked it up. The simple, yet insightful wisdom of the John Henderson character would pop-up at perfect moments and I would have to re-read sections just to enjoy great quotes and insights. Two examples: "Men are great with tidy, dust somehow eludes us" (this describes me so well I laughed out loud) and "What would we do without TV? Live, I guess. And sometimes you're just not in the mood for it". The way he handles the various situations are sometimes skillful. At other times he employs the "blunt hammer approach" which may not be the best tactic. This makes him flawed, which makes him more realistic. This tale makes me hungry for more backstory and I hope that the author revisits this character. His sarcastic sense of humor plays well against the more serious action and elements of the narrative. John Henderson is such a deep, well conceived, fully fleshed-out protagonist. His loss drives him, but no longer consumes him.
As usual, Marshall delivers an engaging read that is realistic despite a supernatural mystery. The supernatural aspects are not the focus, the thoughts, emotions and motivations of John Henderson are what make this such an enjoyable book.
August 25, 2015
A very peculiar book. Plotwise it's messy and disjointed. The main story line starts off briskly enough but is then completely buried in the endless logistics of the main character's rushing around in the small town where bad things happen. The rushing around is meant to convey a sense of urgency, I think, but it's more like watching a soap opera. Every other page one character is about to divulge something terribly important to another, just to be suddenly interrupted or inexplicably leave. There is a pointless subplot involving drugs and gangsters who act as if they have learned about gangsterdom from the same soap opera. There is a jarring sarcastic tone throughout the book, which makes it seem the author is trying hard to make a point about something but I have no idea what. The countless references to iPods and heavyset vegans lead me to suspect these are things we are meant to find ridiculous, but I can't think of anyone who would find either iPods or vegans unusual or controversial (well actually noboby owns an iPod anymore, but you know what I mean) making the snarky comments incomprehensible. I'm genuinely confused by this book.
April 13, 2011
This book was very creepy. The bad things were indeed very bad. This was one of those stories where I just couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened or I'd be wondering & bothered all day so I read it in just a few hours. I liked how the theme of guilt & regret ran deep in the story of John Henderson. I've often thought those are 2 of the worst feelings in the world because there isn't much you can do to change them or get rid of them. Usually they come about through your actions & you can't undo the past, you don't have do-overs where you can do things differently, and so they are extremely haunting & can shape your life in such a way it can make it unrecognizable. That is precisely what happens to John. Except he's forced to revisit his past & return to the very creepy town of Black Ridge & face all his demons. Literally.
June 1, 2015
Very disappointed with this. I hadn't read any Michael Marshall since Intruders came out. I'd enjoyed that, but felt he was starting to repeat himself, and unfortunately Bad Things seems to confirm that. I enjoyed The Straw Men, and while I thought The Lonely Dead was a bit plodding, Blood of Angels finished the whole thing off in spectacular style; but really I long for him to start doing more Michael Marshall Smith stuff again. Spares is a genuine classic, and What You Make It is one of the best short story collections I've ever read.
June 22, 2020
After the sudden, and albeit mysterious, death of his son, John Henderson's life comes undone. He and his wife separate, he leaves their beautiful modern-mansion-like home and moves far away to reinvent himself with a life that is full of day-to-day necessities and nothing else. Three years after the tragedy that stripped his life bare, John receives an anonymous email from someone who claims to know what happened to his son, forcing him to return to the town he swore he had left behind and pick apart a mystery he was ready to let fade. But it's John's return to the dark town of Black Ridge that unleashes a sequence of events that corrupt everything he ever knew of his past life.
From the cover and title, I thought I was onto a winner with Bad Things. I had never heard of Michael Marshall before, but everything about this novel looked severely promising for me. However, halfway through the book, I fell instantly out of any love for this book as I realised that it posed as a thriller but failed to mention any supernatural elements on the blurb... I love supernatural things as much as the next person, I enjoy horror movies with a haunting supernatural twist and sometimes find myself delving into the worlds of the unknown through documentaries or other forms of media. But when it comes to books, I rarely like a book that has any supernatural elements... and here's why: it becomes a scapegoat. All of the thrilling things that you imagine happening suddenly don't have a villain or a justifiable answer. It's like the dreaded, "and they woke up and it was all just a dream..." ending that everyone prays to avoid.
With that being said - I still read through the book in a handful of sittings and there were parts that I did enjoy. With the first chapter, I was pulled in, drawn into the tragedy the Henderson family had experienced in what appeared to be their otherwise perfect lifestyle! It was a shocking start that promised a heartbreaking and adrenaline-fuelled novel. However, the pacing then became to feel very slow as the plot took it's time to unravel. And while there were moments that were dramatic and full of action, they were also paired with thoughts of "okay, but why is this happening?". When John went out of his way to help his bosses daughters' drug-dealer boyfriend, and cough up thousands to help - I rolled my eyes. Yes, a nice gesture - but I couldn't help but remember that John had one surviving child and an ex-wife he didn't appear to have anything to do with.
And when John was eventually in Black Ridge and some of the town's hidden secrets began to unfold, I started to enjoy the book again. There were tales and subplots that enticed me, but they seemed to fizzle into nothing. On the other hand, when I realised that the book was relying heavily on a supernatural element, I wasn't sucked into any of the subplots as much as I would've been usually. I felt like the weirdness, strange deaths and unique tragedies could all be written off. The only times when I gasped or felt like it was getting good was when there were physical elements to some of the horrors; with men following some of the characters, windows being broken and people being snatched from their homes.
When it came to the climax of John's adventure, I was far from gripped. I sort of just wanted it to be over. The chase went on for too long, the characters were unlikeable for me throughout the entire story and I felt like I didn't connect with any of them. And when it came to summarising all of the characters after the events, I was uninterested.
Overall, Bad Things was...bad for me. The idea of a cursed town is great, the idea of someone going around and causing emotional distress on people for a price is interesting - but it wasn't what I signed up for when I picked up this 'stunning new psychological thriller'.
From the cover and title, I thought I was onto a winner with Bad Things. I had never heard of Michael Marshall before, but everything about this novel looked severely promising for me. However, halfway through the book, I fell instantly out of any love for this book as I realised that it posed as a thriller but failed to mention any supernatural elements on the blurb... I love supernatural things as much as the next person, I enjoy horror movies with a haunting supernatural twist and sometimes find myself delving into the worlds of the unknown through documentaries or other forms of media. But when it comes to books, I rarely like a book that has any supernatural elements... and here's why: it becomes a scapegoat. All of the thrilling things that you imagine happening suddenly don't have a villain or a justifiable answer. It's like the dreaded, "and they woke up and it was all just a dream..." ending that everyone prays to avoid.
With that being said - I still read through the book in a handful of sittings and there were parts that I did enjoy. With the first chapter, I was pulled in, drawn into the tragedy the Henderson family had experienced in what appeared to be their otherwise perfect lifestyle! It was a shocking start that promised a heartbreaking and adrenaline-fuelled novel. However, the pacing then became to feel very slow as the plot took it's time to unravel. And while there were moments that were dramatic and full of action, they were also paired with thoughts of "okay, but why is this happening?". When John went out of his way to help his bosses daughters' drug-dealer boyfriend, and cough up thousands to help - I rolled my eyes. Yes, a nice gesture - but I couldn't help but remember that John had one surviving child and an ex-wife he didn't appear to have anything to do with.
And when John was eventually in Black Ridge and some of the town's hidden secrets began to unfold, I started to enjoy the book again. There were tales and subplots that enticed me, but they seemed to fizzle into nothing. On the other hand, when I realised that the book was relying heavily on a supernatural element, I wasn't sucked into any of the subplots as much as I would've been usually. I felt like the weirdness, strange deaths and unique tragedies could all be written off. The only times when I gasped or felt like it was getting good was when there were physical elements to some of the horrors; with men following some of the characters, windows being broken and people being snatched from their homes.
When it came to the climax of John's adventure, I was far from gripped. I sort of just wanted it to be over. The chase went on for too long, the characters were unlikeable for me throughout the entire story and I felt like I didn't connect with any of them. And when it came to summarising all of the characters after the events, I was uninterested.
Overall, Bad Things was...bad for me. The idea of a cursed town is great, the idea of someone going around and causing emotional distress on people for a price is interesting - but it wasn't what I signed up for when I picked up this 'stunning new psychological thriller'.
August 31, 2022
I note that in the reviews for this novel, people either love it or hate it, with very little middle ground. I tend to like everything I've read by Michael Marshall (Smith), under whatever name he's published. Bad Things is kind of an odd book, I'll admit. It begins (after a rather disturbing prologue) with our main character working as a waiter in a bar/restaurant somewhere in Oregon but with an obviously mysterious, maybe shady, past. He helps out the owner's daughter's boyfriend who's gotten involved in some bad drug deals. The book then switches to a trip to his former hometown in Washington state where the remainder of the book is set. The woman and her boyfriend do make a return appearance, but I'm not sure their presence or story is really essential to the novel. It's a bit of a strange structure. A lot of weird things are happening in (and around) town and our protagonist gets drawn into trying to figure out what's happening and help certain individuals. It's fairly straightforward but there's a growing undercurrent of something being not quite right, and that leads into some weird, supernatural occurrences that have flummoxed some readers. But knowing Michael Marshall's other work, nothing here really threw me for a loop. I question some of the characters' motivations, and there are bits of the plot (and some characters) that don't really feel essential to the novel. Like I said, a weird structure and I felt like the author was never quite sure where his own story was going, but it's a fun ride if you're willing to just be dragged along.
August 16, 2018
Un appel étrange, et voilà John Henderson de retour dans la ville qu’il habitait lorsque son fils est mort dans d’étranges circonstances. Il se rend compte que les choses ne tournent pas rond à Black Ridge et va finalement décider de tirer au clair la mort de son fils. Menant de front son enquête tout en tentant de venir en aide à la fille de son actuel employeur qui se retrouve dans une situation périlleuse à cause de son petit ami, John va s’enfoncer dans l’obscurité de cette ville aux habitants bizarres pour en révéler les secrets.
Au fil du récit, on apprend à connaître John Henderson. Peu à peu son passé se dévoile, et le moins que l’on puisse dire c’est qu’il n’est pas blanc comme neige, le type! Mais, me direz-vous, personne n’est parfait. C’est vrai, en effet, mais difficile d’avoir de la sympathie pour lui quand certains faits nous sont dévoilés.
C’est un thriller qui flirte avec la théorie de l’effet papillon et l’ésotérisme. Une lecture agréable et divertissante, mais qui ne me laissera pas de souvenir impérissable.
Au fil du récit, on apprend à connaître John Henderson. Peu à peu son passé se dévoile, et le moins que l’on puisse dire c’est qu’il n’est pas blanc comme neige, le type! Mais, me direz-vous, personne n’est parfait. C’est vrai, en effet, mais difficile d’avoir de la sympathie pour lui quand certains faits nous sont dévoilés.
C’est un thriller qui flirte avec la théorie de l’effet papillon et l’ésotérisme. Une lecture agréable et divertissante, mais qui ne me laissera pas de souvenir impérissable.
November 14, 2022
Ok I’d like to give this 3.5 stars.
The good things - MM writes suspenseful thriller type stuff really well. This book was tense, and even though not a lot really happens in the first half or so, it kept me intrigued. I also found the sinister tone really quite scary - it gave me nightmares in fact!
The bad was the ending and the overall resolution. I just didn’t get it. I liked the whole ‘visiting a sadness upon thine enemy’ kind of thing. I didn’t really get why the family was relevant? Maybe I’m just confused, but it seemed like Brooke was supposed to be some sort of conduit between the townsfolk and a witch - a witch who turned out to be under the control of someone in the town? Who was therefore indirectly responsible for the main character’s sons death?
Anyway, well executed for about 70%. Then unfortunately devolved into silliness that I didn’t enjoy.
Did enjoy the casual insert of Nicholas Golson who so far has shown up in 3 books (that I’ve noticed anyway).
The good things - MM writes suspenseful thriller type stuff really well. This book was tense, and even though not a lot really happens in the first half or so, it kept me intrigued. I also found the sinister tone really quite scary - it gave me nightmares in fact!
The bad was the ending and the overall resolution. I just didn’t get it. I liked the whole ‘visiting a sadness upon thine enemy’ kind of thing. I didn’t really get why the family was relevant? Maybe I’m just confused, but it seemed like Brooke was supposed to be some sort of conduit between the townsfolk and a witch - a witch who turned out to be under the control of someone in the town? Who was therefore indirectly responsible for the main character’s sons death?
Anyway, well executed for about 70%. Then unfortunately devolved into silliness that I didn’t enjoy.
Did enjoy the casual insert of Nicholas Golson who so far has shown up in 3 books (that I’ve noticed anyway).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2017
This is my least favorite of his so far.
The writing is REALLY good! The characters are really well-developed. Well... most of them.
This book was all over the place. Is John trying to get over the death of his son? Is he trying to save his friends from drug dealers? Is he trying to figure out what happened to his son? Is there something supernatural going on? Is the town as a whole just bad? Are the townfolk in on it? And was the whole Becki storyline just a vehicle to make two gangbangers reasonably believably show up to help out with the final battle?
And Carol. She was so peripheral that when she popped up, I kept having to remind myself who she even was. Same with Kristin.
It took until the last 70 pages (out of 370) for the author to finally pull all the strings together and tie up the story so that the reader could figure out what was going on.
The writing is REALLY good! The characters are really well-developed. Well... most of them.
This book was all over the place. Is John trying to get over the death of his son? Is he trying to save his friends from drug dealers? Is he trying to figure out what happened to his son? Is there something supernatural going on? Is the town as a whole just bad? Are the townfolk in on it? And was the whole Becki storyline just a vehicle to make two gangbangers reasonably believably show up to help out with the final battle?
And Carol. She was so peripheral that when she popped up, I kept having to remind myself who she even was. Same with Kristin.
It took until the last 70 pages (out of 370) for the author to finally pull all the strings together and tie up the story so that the reader could figure out what was going on.
November 21, 2022
In Bad Things, Michael Marshall Smith (writing here as Michael Marshall) uses the very effective supernatural/thriller formula from his novel “The Intruders.” It starts with a few people and events that are both puzzling and seemingly unrelated, gradually builds on the sense of bafflement and grim foreboding as the plot picks up, ratchets up the pace with nail-biting action in about the last third of the book and careens to the big reveal. A gripping page-turner, I had to stop myself several times from skimming – nay, almost skipping! – pages here and there in my impatience to READ THE STORY FASTER! The problem with reading too fast is that it’s over too fast. I should slow down a bit… especially since I am methodically going through everything he has written (under a variety of names, including Michael Rutger – have just picked up and begun his “The Anomaly”). Love this author!
October 10, 2021
Après un période difficile où je n'ai pas trouvé de livres qui m'accrochent, je ne m'attendais pas à lire d'une traite Les Vents Mauvais trouvé dans une BAL!!! mais j'ai aimé l'atmosphère dépressive façon Stephen KING les réflexions sur la culpabilité ; le remord etc (même si la partie lié au trafic de drogue m'a paru de trop dans cette histoire qui n'en avait pas besoin à part peut être pour nous prouver à quel point le personnage de John Henderson est foncièrement bon...)
Reste que le style est prenant, que la tension monte au fur et à mesure et que le côté mystérieux - diabolique reste suffisamment flou pour être plausible
Reste que le style est prenant, que la tension monte au fur et à mesure et que le côté mystérieux - diabolique reste suffisamment flou pour être plausible
September 22, 2025
Très honnêtement un des livres que j'ai eu le plus de mal à lire.
C'est un thriller fantastique mais...
C'est plus fantastique que thriller. Je n'ai pas du tout apprécié cette lecture. J'y ai passé trop longtemps à mon goût. C'est une lecture qui m'a bloquée dans mes autres lectures.
Finalement le seul suspens était à 10 pages de la fin et j'ai vraiment trouvé ce suspens oppressant.
Tout est fouillis, on ne comprend rien à l'histoire. Ca part dans un sens puis dans l'autre.
Résultat : on ne comprend absolument rien à cette histoire même si l'on se force à la comprendre. Heureusement que le livre était offert...
C'est un thriller fantastique mais...
C'est plus fantastique que thriller. Je n'ai pas du tout apprécié cette lecture. J'y ai passé trop longtemps à mon goût. C'est une lecture qui m'a bloquée dans mes autres lectures.
Finalement le seul suspens était à 10 pages de la fin et j'ai vraiment trouvé ce suspens oppressant.
Tout est fouillis, on ne comprend rien à l'histoire. Ca part dans un sens puis dans l'autre.
Résultat : on ne comprend absolument rien à cette histoire même si l'on se force à la comprendre. Heureusement que le livre était offert...
September 6, 2020
I read it but I’m not sure what I read. The main story was confusing. I think it was about a witch but I’m not positive. Plus I’m not sure if the bad person in the book was the witch. There was also a secondary story that was pointless. There was no reason for this story to have even been included. It was like the author had 2 book ideas & tried to write them at the same time. It wasn’t horrible though. I did keep reading because I wanted to see what happened next.
September 1, 2021
This book is hard to categorize. Horror seems the closest, but not horror in a hockey mask/ I-know-what-you-did-last-summer way... more in a Twin Peaks/Blair Witch Project/ sleep with a nightlight on way.
I loved the narrator's voice and the misty Pacific Northwest setting. This tale will really get you thinking about curses, evil, and invisible forces. Recommended reading for Halloween, but not for the faint of heart.
I loved the narrator's voice and the misty Pacific Northwest setting. This tale will really get you thinking about curses, evil, and invisible forces. Recommended reading for Halloween, but not for the faint of heart.
June 21, 2024
Very close to giving this one 4 stars, it’s a really interesting and layered plot. I definitely wanted more horror and fear here, I would have liked to explore the supernatural elements a tad more. I also didn’t feel like it all came perfectly wrapped and together at the end. However it did have complicated characters, a neat setting and an original plot that I enjoyed. Definitely check this one out for some witchy fun.
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December 4, 2025Here we go again. Another DNF and this time the novel is Bad Things by Michael Marshall. I have read more than half of this mystery and could not care less about what happens next. The giant cast of characters are running around like hamsters on a wheel and are in a perpetual state of crisis and desperation. This novel is aptly named. I will not be rating or reviewing Bad Things and the opinions are my own.
February 19, 2019
I tried to give the book a chance, with all the cliche and predictable chapter endings, but when they referenced some drug dealers as “black guys,” I stopped reading... There is zero need to make the drug dealers black. Just to perpetuate the ongoing racial issues in this country today. Pathetic & could have totally described the drug dealers in some other way...
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January 28, 2025It can really hit or miss with Michael and this was a little of both. The story was just all over the place. And the MC did so much nothing! By the time he EVENTUALLY gets to actual activity and starts to put stuff together he rushes through it and - the end. The first 90% of the book was just so slap-dash. More like he wrote parts in index cards then played shuffle with them.
April 21, 2020
A divorced father who couldn't understand how or why his son died has lived with the guilt until he is drawn back to where it happened! He is trying to help out a woman who says she knows - - What does she know and why is she evasive?
December 6, 2020
Chugs along like a good airport book. Feels like it was written to be turned into a film script - easily imagined, and fairly cliched characters and events. It was an easy read, but I didn't feel completely engaged with it, the velocity of the story kept me reading, but ultimately it was more of a 'light snack' than a satisfying meal.
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