This book was definitely not for me. For starters it was all over the place, and it was confusing. I DNF at 22%, after reading a few other reviews I was glad that I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I'm sure this book is meant for someone else out there.

I love psychological thrillers. However, Lesath didn’t live up to expectations. Several times, I wanted to stop reading, but I forged to the end to see if any of the mysteries would be revealed. The ending was the most interesting part, but by then it seemed too little too late. I understand that the plot was meant to be ambiguous and confusing, but if that’s the intent, there needs to be enough breadcrumbs sprinkled into the story to keep the reader engaged.

There wasn’t, and I often felt frustrated with the story and how the characters were presented. Greg is our protagonist, but I felt very little for him. This book is largely “telling” not “showing”, so most of the action stayed surface level, rather than delving into what Greg was experiencing internally. For example, the book starts with him waking up in a strange foreign facility where he learns he looks exactly like an escaped inmate. Except, he isn’t allowed to leave until the inmate is captured and returned.

That’s a pretty awesome set up and I was excited to see what happened next. But Greg’s reaction is very one dimensional, as it is throughout most of the story. There’s no deep emotion or panic. If I were Greg, I’d keep my head down. I’d be terrified, panicked, a big sweaty ball of anxiety. Greg is none of those things.
And when an inmate starts harassing him, Greg reacts by starting a fight. Why? As a reader, we have no background information on Greg’s emotional wellbeing. We don’t know if he’s prone to anger or outbursts, so why in the world would he risk fighting an inmate? Wouldn’t that be the exact opposite of what someone in his position would do?

And then he ends up in the infirmary where someone slips him a note suggesting there’s a trap door under the bed. That’s an intriguing plot twist, but once again, I questioned the realism of his character as it’s presented. Wouldn’t a man in this situation be terrified to slip into a trap door that goes to a different level of the facility? But we don’t get any real clues as to Greg’s emotional status or mentality. He just goes for it.
Yes, at the end, some of the mysteries over Greg’s actions are slightly revealed, but while I was reading these opening scenes, I was confused, frustrated and ready to quit on the book.

I wanted more from such a promising premise.
More emotion.
More connection with the characters.
More clarity.

The end picks up the pace a bit and there’s much more flavor on the page, but by then I just wanted it to end. I admire that an idea like this was tackled, and I still think it’s a fantastic premise, but I believe it would have benefited from a few more rounds of edits.

With all that said, this book has been getting mixed reviews. Some love everything that I find frustrating. Give it a read and decide for yourself!

I can’t rate Lesath (three stars for neutral, I guess). DNF at 10% because this book just wasn’t for me. Ten percent isn’t much of a book, but I could feel it in my bones that this was not going to suddenly become interesting for me.

It’s not poorly written (as far as I read) nor is it a boring story idea. Mistaken identity institutionalization is super terrifying. The beginning especially pulled me in, but soon after I found my attention drifting within two pages.

It was hard to just drop a book so early, but I wouldn’t have had the will power to pay attention to this book as it deserves. And I read other reviews and found that other readers felt the same and gave me no reason to continue pushing through.

My apologies. I’m sure there are people out there who will love Lesath.

Did you read Borne? Read Borne. Then read Lesath. They both fall into that "weird" genre, which is becoming an actual genre for books. I'm finding that I'm drawn to this weirdness. Maybe it's because I'm weird, I don't know. ANYWAY, Lesath starts out with guy who is being imprisoned because he looks like another prisoner who escaped and also looks like him and could he take the place of this guy so no other prisoners know there's been a breakout. Honestly, what the hell is that?

It's a damn good book is what!

Lesath is creepy, kept my pulse up and all out just messed up. There's all these twists and turns and some of them make sense and some don't and man, I loved this book.

Get to reading!

This was a convoluted story that was not really what I was expecting or hoping for from the description. It felt like less of a horror and more of a sci-fi thriller which is really not my thing. It started out well enough and there is lots of action but the longer it went on the less I enjoyed it. The ending left me with more questions than answers. As a horror lover I certainly don't need every little detail to make sense but I do at least need to know what is going on and why. It also helps if I care what is going on or why.

I received a complimentary copy for review

This is LITERALLY one of the most unique novels I have ever read. While the unanswered questions didn't necessarily sit well with me (I like things wrapped up in a neat little bow) I think the atmosphere was spot on. I do hope the author writes a sequel (for selfish reasons like I won't be able to stop thinking about this book without answers), but can totally understand NOT having one. This book IS enough even if it keeps us hanging by threads!

Unfortunately, I found myself unable to finish this book. The pacing was off - too much happened to the main character in too short a space of time, before I even had a chance to really connect with him. While I thought the premise was good, it felt a little too forced and therefore unbelievable and unenjoyable.

I did not like this book. The story was all over the place and I found it kind of confusing and fractured. It couldn't hold my interest and I ended up not finishing it.

This book was not for me. From the very beginning, it toed the line between weird and possibly scary to ridiculous and completely unbelievable. Main character Greg was horribly inconsistent (back and forth between rugged loner and desperate nice guy) and wasn't well established before the plot calls his character, memories, and perception into question.
Then we get to the setting. The prison/asylum was so classic horror stereotype that I couldn't help rolling my eyes. Then there's the whole thing where Greg is the perfect body double of an inmate who went missing but he has flashes of memories and associations with other characters. I'm sorry but Shutter Island did it better.

One thing I did like was the way we build doubt about Greg. Even if the baseline isn't there, the crumbling of his facade (the double takes after every horrific but unexplainable moment, the slippery nature of his memories, etc) was really well done.

Unfortunately, the writing style was stiff and didn't flow well, making this harder to get through than it needed to be. There were large words that didn't fit (kind of like searching in a thesaurus because you don't want to use the word "afraid" even though that's the best word to use in that moment) and that consistently slowed me down. Not to mention the moments when the narration drifts into the minds of other characters without context and for only a moment.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

What a strange and disorganized story! I enjoyed the weirdness, the confusion, and the not-knowing-what's-going-on when it was obviously done intentionally. But there were two many times where it just seemed like an oversight. I was often wondering who was speaking, I couldn't follow the descriptions of locations, and I had a hard time understanding the purpose of several of the characters. There is the good kind of odd and then there is this. It just didn't work for me. The author has to give the reader something. At the very least I should be able to follow the world-building. I wanted to feel immersed in the plot but the descriptions of the surroundings were incomplete or erratic giving me no chance for imagery. This honestly led me to not caring about the plot events or the characters. I felt bored quite often and just slugged through the story.

2 stars for concept. This could've been great with the right execution.

DNFing at 25%. I just can't keep going here. The story has so much potential but I'm really stuck with the total absurdity of them keeping this guy in the institution just because he kind of looks like him but doesnt have the same scars. Everything now is just grinding my gears.
I really was intrigued by the opening scene, and I'd assume it would come back around to it, but the institution stuff after just wasnt't flowing for me.

The premise of the book was unique and had me intrigued to read. Unfortunately it fell flat for me. If you like your stories all wrapped up then this isn’t the book for you. I’m left asking more questions then when I started reading.

This book was very different from my usual. Overall, the bulk of the book is confusing and at times challenging to keep track of the time frame. The ending helped piece together the story line without providing all the answers. The author doesn't give much away, just a few tidbits to enhance the mystery and confusion of the reader. Very well done.
I couldn't put it down - the creep factor is 5/5, suspense 5/5, interest 5/5. Seriously - the creep factor.
I love the cover - definitely grabbed my attention and heightened my slight obsession with this book.
I gave it 4/5 due to my struggle at times to understand and keep up with the story line.

I have no Idea what to say about this book. I loved the story and it kept me on my toes with twists and turns and unexplainable events. However, no loose ends were tied up and it ended leaving me with as many, if not more, questions that I started with which was disappointing. I hope this means there will be a second installment.

Lesath
by A. M. Kherbash
due 9-30-2019
self-published
4.0/5.0

#netgalley. #Lesath

What a wild ride! This was really creepy, some parts were gory, building atmosphere was really well done. This is a psychological thriller that worked for me, overall.

Greg, a loner living in his car, has heard of an old abandoned building in the forest. Its surrounded by hot wire and broken glass. Curiosity gets the best of him, and he wants to see what's inside the building.
He wakes up inside the building, with gauze on his forehead, in a white room with linoleum floors and a nurse that will not speak.
Eventually Dr. Carver appears to explain to Greh that he was found outside the facility, dressed in a uniform they wear in the building. He resembles a guy that escaped the facility, and to keep everyone peaceful, they tell Greg they want him to stand in as the escaped person until they are found. Greg is given no choice.

Once inside, he learns that this is a facility to house felons you are awaiting parole. They live in a monastery-type environment and are fed red capsules to make lethargic and forgetful. when inmates start disappearing, Greg believes they are being used for an experiment.....
This is just the beginning of Greg's nightmare....
This book will make you think again about what exactly freedom means.
Thanks to netgalley for sending this e-book ARC for review.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC.

Very interesting read full of edge of your seat creepiness. The book was a mindgame that very much required the reader's suspension of disbelief.

The book left me with more questions than answers. Definitely not for someone who likes everything wrapped in a pretty bow

Man I don’t know what to do with this title. It started off great for me, and I was excited to dive in. I was left feeling confused and left out; did I miss something? What the heck just happened?

Twin Peaks meets Shutter Island meets The Thing in this utterly disorientating, disorientating mystery. Blending psychological horror with a loosely sci-fi mystery, this is a very strange book, with a good hook and storyline, if the plotting and pacing is a bit flabby and disjointed at times.

Greg is an amateur journalist exploring a manor that’s rumoured to be a government black site, when he suddenly wakes up in a cell, imprisoned by Dr Carver. As Carver explains that Greg looks identical to a prisoner that escaped a few days ago, it’s clear that things maybe aren’t quite as they seem.

With blends of sci-fi, horror and conspiracy theory, Lesath has all the makings of a great read, but I confess I found the first half a bit disjointed. There’s a ton of interesting plot strands here, but the author throws them into the story one after the other rather relentlessly, not leaving time for the reader to invest in one story or character before anther is quickly thrust into the mix. It’s a shame, because individually the plots are all interesting. That said, I recognise that the whole atmosphere of the book is intended to be disorientating, but I think it goes a step too far in trying to confuse the reader. Perhaps removing a few plot strands or introducing them later into the (much pacier and more engaging) second half.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I considered DNFing when I struggled to connect in the first half, but it salvaged a lot in the second half and made an unusual, unnerving read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Unfortunately, though I enjoyed it somewhat, I didn't love it. Mostly I thought it lacked a lot of description, details and answers, especially towards the end.

I have SO MANY unanswered questions like :
- did the doctor escape in the end?
- did the creature survive?
- who were the shooters?
and more!

I need answers...

I did however like the writing, though I would have liked to know a bit more about all the characters, I liked the suspense and tension all throughout the book that reminded me of many horror movies I've seen.

This book was really well written and the story was unique, different and i'm sure to many people very appealing. Unfortunately not my cup of tea but this is in no way a reflection on the author or the story, I just couldn't get into it. Thank you to NewGalley for the ARC.