3.5⭐⭐⭐



- the book honestly got me hooked from the first pages, until i wasnt .
it gotten to the point that it has to be combine with two scenes that i couldnt understand and nearly dnf.
Apparently , i tried to finish it and it was worth it the end .




+ thankyou netgalley for the opportunity .

❤️shaye.reads

Fitfully enjoyable but not especially believable, and I had trouble suspending my disbelief enough to savor the delicious conceit of an ordinary schlubby middle-aged man fighting out a gang of killers targeting him in a convoluted conspiracy. Your mileage may vary.

Mike Dotson used to be an in-demand writer of thrillers and books based on famous TV shows, but he watched his career slip away as he traded it all in for steady work and a family. Now, a workplace shooting leaves the fifty and widowed Mike with time on his hands—time he intends to use to write his comeback novel on his dilapidated family farm. But a gang of thrill-killers and the reappearance of an old girlfriend throw his plans into disarray and threaten his life. Mike has no choice but to get serious about his own survival—and get smart about what the killers really want.

Mike Dotson is a fairly ordinary guy. He works for a TV company in Colorado. One day one of his colleagues brings a gun to work and starts shooting.
Mike survives and decides to use the time off given by the company to go to his grandmothers old farm in Oklahoma to write a book.
Mike hasn't written a book in over twenty years but decides the time is right to revive old characters.
On his first day there he encounters a woman he briefly dated as a teenager.
When he goes to bed that night after a successful day of writing he cannot have predicted what happens next.
He is woken during the night by intruders who tell him that they are going to kill him and that one of them has brought the privilege of doing this "to regain his balls".
Over the course of the night, things escalate and it turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse.
And of course things aren't as straightforward as they appeared.
I could not put this down. You must read it.

Following some very heavy drama at his workplace Mike decides to use his time off to rekindle his previous writing career. But things do not go to plan and Mike soon finds himself in even more drama when his peaceful writing retreat is interrupted by a violent gang. This is a decent thriller but there was something a bit off in the pacing which hampered my reading experience a little. Still it is a worthwhile read and I believe this may be the first book in a series so I am hopeful for the next instalment. 3.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book!
Trigger warning for shootings.
I was intrigued about this book because it's about a writer, and I love books about writers. This book preys on the idea of what made the Strangers such a scary movie. Then it threw in a twist at the end that I feel like it didn't necessarily pay off.
Characters: I liked Mike as a main character. I think he had some good senses to him. I think if Jason Henderson had kept with the original reason for the villains, I think this could've been a more affective horror novel.
Atmosphere: Isolated farms are such a good place for horror novels. Wish it was explored more.
Writing: The writing is fine, but I did see some grammatical mistakes that needs to be fixed.
Plot: The plot was pretty solid up to the villains changing the reason they're doing what they're doing. It got a little lost and confusing, but I did enjoy the ending.
Intrigue: I was intrigued about what would happen to Mike the entire time. I did want some more pay off with the change of reason for the villains though.
Logic: This is pretty logical except for the fact that Mike wrote a book that ended up getting an award in 3 weeks. I still don't fully believe that.
Enjoyment: I enjoyed this for what it was. Ended up giving it 4 stars. On Goodreads this is listed as the first book in a series, so I'm interested in seeing where this goes.

● PLEASE NOTE: Even though this is indicated as not being posted on goodreads (for some reason it would not send) I have typed this review separately on goodreads so members will be able to read. ●

'18 Miles from Town' by Jason Henderson was a super-charged roller coaster of a read for me. It is not only a thriller, but also has a vast amount of mystery and horror mixed in, which - for me - made this a hard read to put down.

The plot revolves around Mike Dotson, a middle-aged widower and father of two adult children who has just survived a workplace shooting. Having been a published author in his old life, he understandably decides to take the three weeks his job has given everybody off to recover and use it to return to his old, rundown family farm for some solace and to give writing another successful published book a go. Once there, Mike gets some solid writing done and even spontaneously goes and meets up with an old childhood girlfriend with whom he has a pleasant day visiting a dam they went to together as teens.

What ensues shortly thereafter is something Mike could not have imagined in his wildest dreams. He is held hostage by a group of people and is soon running for his life for reasons which are not at all what he thinks. He cannot trust anyone and has no way of getting help. It is not until almost the end when Mike finds out why he has been targeted that everything makes complete sense and provides a very satisfying and shocking conclusion.

I also appreciated Mike's childhood recollections and found them helpful in understanding the person he is today. They are exceptionally detailed and quite informative. Learning how book royalties work was especially interesting and educational for me personally.

The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because there are multiple editing errors all throughout. There is a sentence written twice in row, and often (because of typos and grammatical errors) I would have to read a paragraph twice just to make sense of what was being said. Hopefully this will be fixed before the book is released to the public. That being said, I do highly recommend '18 Miles from Town' for content alone. Author Jason Henderson did a fantastic job creating a highly original and exciting novel, and it is with great anticipation that I look forward to book two.

With much thanks to NetGalley and Castle Bridge Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. #NetGalley #18MilesfromTown

Mike Dotson is now 50 and a widow. Once a popular author of the Fearless book series, he gave it up to get a steady job to support his family. Now living on an old family farm, Mike wants to start writing again.

There was one part early on that was so relatable. Mike’s son is going to a party after dinner and Mike is like - what it’s already 9pm. Yup, relatable. 9pm is way to late to be going out unless it’s some kind of emergency!

This book had a long, really long slow start for me. And then it never recovered for me. I just could not get in to it. And if I did not need to review it for Net Galley I probably would not have finished.

Thank you #NetGalley for the complimentary advanced reader copy of #18MilesFromTown in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: 12/7/2021

I loved the biographical gems in the book. It is great to see a character that is my age and dealing with similar issues. The home invasion was completely unexpected!

18 Miles From Town is a book by Jason Henderson. It follows a man named Mike Dotson who was an in-demand writer at one point in his career. After having a family, things slowed down until he decided to write a comeback novel.

I was really intrigued by the book’s description, however I found it really hard to get into the story. I found it difficult to connect with the main character. Perhaps it was the formatting, or the over description, but it just wasn’t for me. However, if you enjoy thrillers I’d still recommend for you to check it out. Thank you to NetGalley and Castle Bridge Media for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

First I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC. This book is so frustrating! We have a 50-year-old widower who survives violence in the workplace. During his time off he decides to rekindle his writing career. He wants quiet, and isolation so he goes to the farmhouse where he spent his childhood. Alone, with nothing to defend himself and a cell phone that barely gets a signal, uh…yeah. Sigh why would anyone go to an isolated farmhouse after almost getting killed at your place of employment, without a gun, a bat or something to defend yourself, you know, just in case. There were too many times throughout my reading that I kept saying WTF and not in a good way. Unfortunately, I also thought the book was too long, for me it was overly descriptive, it felt like filler. In my opinion this isn’t a horror novel either. I did enjoy the parts that discussed the writing process. I don’t know, at first, I liked the main character, but as time went on I began to dislike him. There’s good stuff here, and I'll try another novel from the author but this one just wasn’t for me..

I don't know?! I went back and forth on this one! This book had all the good stuff, it had suspense, intrigue, murder ,mystery, and a twisted plotline! I really thought that this was a dream like thing and maybe it is?! Lol it definitely was Interesting, but I went back and forth on how much I liked it?! Its worth reading but not one of my all time favorites?! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

. The author tells a story about an author writing a story. Along the way he gets interrupted by a mass shooter and then a home invasion. A lot of info provided on writing process. Action scenes felt contrived to the point of being caricatures.