This book is very good. Remember the two golden rules of hitchhiking?# 1: Don't go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy.# 2: Don't pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be raving nutcase.So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Nutcase #2?this book sets two serial killers against each other and it is great. also the authors wrote part one and two separately and then wrote part three together over email. Well

First a clarification: the story itself gets one star. The other star is for the afterword/correspondence between the authors that my copy included.Over all it was poorly written horror-porn spun off from an interesting Creative Writing 102 starter seed-- what if a serial killer hitchhiker comes in contact with a serial killer long haul driver? Answer: horrible gory things described in far too much detail for such a short story. I love a good horror novel, and I've usually got a pretty strong st...

Kilborn doesn’t mince words, just body parts in this engrossing short story which picks up literally where Truck Stop left off. Donaldson’s god complex, thirst for blood and need for complete victim submission come to fore in Serial at the expense of a naive hitchhiker. Kilborn teams Donaldson with yet another antagonist with a fetish for the macabre whose drive is that of the more imposing serial killer yet far more unassuming. Expect terror at every turn of the road. Serial delivers on its rel...

I knew this was short, but it was even shorter than I thought, because the last 20 pages are excerpts and interviews. So this is VERY short. 40-some pages. I wish this was a full blown novella or something, because I liked the idea, but couldnt get a good feel for the characters. The dialogue was a little bland, and the end was so abrupt.

Wow, that was an amazing read, but pretty weird and creepy. I'm speechless after reading this, I have absolutely no idea how to word my thoughts.Except, this is an absolute must-read! As long as you're down with violence; if not, avoid this.

2.0 stars. Like a lot of people, I got sucked into reading this based on all of the hype. That said, it was okay and I am not sorry I read it. It was short and fairly interesting. However, if I did not know the background regarding how this very short book came into being, I would have finished the book and asked the quesiton...Okay, so what was the point?

Couldn't finish it. Too gruesome. Liked Kilborn/Konrath's other book, Afraid. But this one was just too graphic, pushing the gore element beyond what was reasonable for the story.

After using my Amazon Prime free library book on Pines (loved it) during October I was short for a book at the end of the month. I luckily found the free PDF version of Serial on the Blake Crouch website and read it on my kindle one night before sleep. Yes, I was able to go to sleep, just not gonna go hitchhiking. It is a twisted plot and pretty morbid as you visualize the actions, yet so far-fetched a reality I found myself being amused too. I thought about the book the next morning and found m...

My husband was goofing around with my Kindle and found this one for free. We both agreed that the premise sounded awesome--what happens when a psycho driver who kills hitchhikers, picks up a psycho hitchhiker who kills drivers?I started reading it before he did, and I regretted it pretty quickly. The first scene is SO gross, and SO gory. I know they warn you about it beforehand, but it's so gory that I feel it really takes away from the premise of the story. I kind of breezed through the rest of...

I stumbled on this in my usual unplanned way. I have been following the current dispute over ebook pricing and the battle now enjoined between Amazon, Apple, and the Big Six (minus 1). Konrath has a blog called A Newbies Guide to Publishing in which he documents his anti-DRM approach to digital publishing. It' worth a read. Anyway, he has brought out several of his backlist and short stories as inexpensive digital books and Truck Stop, really a short novella, was my first. It's a confrontation b...

I heard a lot of bad things about this book and, well, I'm the sort of masochist that reads the comments on news articles online. I was both pleased and disappointed by this book. To begin with, I loved the basic idea of the story, which is what drew me to borrow a kindle and read it. Despite the many bad things I'd heard, I found the story to be well written, especially considering it was a collaboration. I was impressed by the fact that I couldn't tell where the influence and/or actual writing...

I happened across this e-book while online one day. The plot sounded tremendously interesting. It is one of the main reasons I bought an e-reader. The story was too short and vague. Then there was too much detail in spots that shouldn't have been. As others have said, the characters were predictable in their actions. With all that being said though, I don't feel that it would be a waste of time to read- just know what you're getting.

A short almost funny story that's absolutely horrific at the same time. I'm really not sure if I should recommend it since it is so realistically horrible.

Well, I read this book based on a recommendation by my daughter. I should be afraid! This has some very gruesome parts - I mean take the warnings at the beginning seriously. But, the ending was terrific! A note I read in a review stated this short story should be a public service warning to avoid hitchhiking or picking up any hitchhikers. Well, I'm too old now to consider ever doing this but in my youth, well, thankfully I am still here to read this story!

So I won a Kindle. Yep, that's right won it. Shocked as I was I wanted some free content and got this book from Amazon. It is a quick read, took me maybe 45 minutes, but only minutes into the book it had me sitting up in bed horrified at the wonderfully horrid writing of the tale of two serial killers. The book is not a five as it was a collaborative effort which in a way should make it rate higher but I am being a bit picker these days as I can't rate everything a five, can I? The book is well

A brief, twisted short story romp between two road warrior psychos; one who picks up hitchhikers and tortures them and the other who waits to be picked up and tortures the driver. What makes this short story even more interesting is it was written by two writers, JA Konrath writing as Jack Killborn and Blake Crouch. There is a behind the scenes interview between both writers involving how they wrote this story that is also worth reading.It's all over too fast to dig into the meat of either chara...

What happens when two psychotic minds come together? A story that will make the reader gasp and race through pages at lightening speed. I have not read anything else by these authors, though I do have more of Jack Kilborn's works in my TBR pile, including Afraid. I knew going into Serial that this was not a story for the weak stomached nor the easily offended. Yes, it is gory, graphic and incredibly visual, however that is what makes it an appealing read. There is no sweet coating and the story

Joe Konrath (aka Jack Kilborn) is leading the charge for self-publishing e-books. He's trying to change the way authors work, for the better of everyone (well, except for the publishing houses and literary agents who used to make much more money than their authors did). One of the things involved in self-publishing is promoting your own work, and that's what Konrath has done here with "Serial."Hitchhiking isn't safe. You could get picked up by a crazy person. Alternatively, if you're the driver,...

This collaboration between J A Konrath (pen name Jack Kilborn) and Black Crouch is visceral and darkly humorous. Very short and worthy page-turner. Will definitely read more by both authors. Oh... and the little mutual interview at the end of the story if fun to read, too.

So this is the first book read on my brand spanking new Kindle!!! Love to my fabulous brother for getting me the gift of the year, a portable reader I can take anywhere and add to whenever I want..So back to the book, this short collaborative story combines the talents of two horror writers on the subject of hitchhiking..What do you think would happen if a guy who preys on picking up and killing hitchhikers meets a hitchhiker who preys on torturing and killing those who pick them up..This story