The Hole, by Guy Burt

• Title:  The Hole
• Author:  Guy Burt
• Borrowed from DC Public Library
• Started:  10/16/2010
• Finished:  10/16/2010

I went to the public library to pick up Justin Cronin's book The Passage which I had on hold.  When I got there the book wasn't ready yet, so I looked at my list of books to read and noticed Guy Burt's After The Hole.  The public library didn't have that book, but it did have The Hole.  I thought, well, I guess The Hole is the first book, and After The Hole a follow up, so I might as well read this one first. 

Quick internet searches told me, however, that The Hole/After The Hole are the same book (US/UK versions I think), and this short novel took me just a few hours to read.  It wasn't as scary or disturbing as the reviews had led me to believe, but it was a good read and the epilogue ending (which reminded me of The Handmaid's Tail) changed the meaning of all that had come before it.  I thought it strange that 5 teens could be alone in a hole for so many days without sexual activity (well the main story does tell of one such event), especially with all the drinking.  But many of the clues were there and when you read the epilogue more of the horror of the events can be read between the lines.

Not the best book, certainly not the scariest or most disturbing.  But a fun read a certainly a hell of a first book written by a then 18 year old.