51 by Damien Casey

51 Reviews

• 
  Coy Hall

  This is my first read from Casey, but it won't be the last. One of things that stands out about his writing is his masterful control of dialogue. Everything feels so natural about the many conversations in this book. He's also quite funny, but he does so with subtlety. The humor rises organically from the characters. There's nothing forced about it. The remarks about "gourmet burgers" had me laughing.
  He also builds mystery and delivers some creepy moments in 51. The scene in which Olivia investigates a tapping at her window had me on edge in particular. I felt the story really got moving and raced to the finish from there -- at least I didn't put down 51 after that point. Excellent story from a unique voice in the genre.
• 
  Braedon Riddick

  Damien Casey’s 51 is a fun mix of suspense, humor, and entertaining oddities. Broken up into three books in almost 140 pages, the resultant trifecta reads quickly thanks to compact chapters primed with imagination and twice-coated with comedy.
  
  “Follow Olivia Prince as she finds things in her life are not quite as they seem.”
  
  “Follow her as a life that she thinks is hers, may be anything but.”
  
  “Follow her while all of these things piss her off.”
  
  Olivia is our female lead, with a brother named James and an uncle named Gene, composing our three main characters. Soon after the parents of Olivia and James perish, the siblings along with friend Carina visit uncle Gene, who according to Olivia has “the natural good looks of a guy from a Hallmark Christmas movie,” with a house that sounds worthy of an eerie episode on Cribs.
  
  “If the group had taken the elevator down they would have been in a smallish basement that was set up as a designing room for the people who built prototypes of the dolls; below that, a sub-basement used to store all of the parts they need, as well as enough food to feed a family of five for the next fifty years.”
  
  The dolls in question is a collection of characters known as the “Sugar-Cube Dolls, a line of overly cute dolls” designed by Gene and Olivia’s late father, Alvin, that comprised the foundation and namesake of a company which saw great success, including its very own TV and film universe. Though as cute and successful as those dolls might be, they’re seemingly made of more than the eye can see.
  
  “On his phone screen, he sees a list of suggested videos; dog finds creature in cavern, top ten UFO videos-2018, and one he has frequently watched titled ‘Are the Sugar-Cube dolls actually possessed?’”
  
  I probably had too much fun reading 51. There’s at least one laugh on virtually every page, along with a handful of outright gut-busting lines. Mr. Casey has a singular brand of humor that is easily absorbed and shines brightly throughout the book. Though in spite of the overall comedic feel of the writing, a few relevant societal issues — such as racial equality and women’s rights — are subtly broached within the narrative, adding a sense of seriousness to an otherwise lighthearted tale.
  
  “The bigger message was ‘My femininity isn’t defined by what a man thinks I should or should not do.’”
  
  Even the afterword — titled the “Thingy after a story where you say why you wrote this thing and thank people” — is slap-full of laughs and quotable lines. Casey mentions therein the intention to write something “like a three episode run of a show like The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone, each part, or book as it’s called, representing a different genre I tried to mimic.”
  
  An amusing homage to ‘50s sci-fi and more modern comedy horror, 51 is replete with personality and all but guaranteed to entertain Readers and wring out many laughs along the way.
• 
  Kristina ||

  I didn't get the reason behind the title at first until the closer I got to the ending, then I literally said "ooooohhhhh" out loud. Haha!
  
  This story was unique and had quite a few twists that I wasn't expecting. There were some wild revelations early on so that left me wondering, "what more could even happen?" and let's just say there's so much more!
  
  This is a pretty light hearted and fun sci-fi thriller-ish type of story. The author has a great imagination for storytelling and should continue to write wild stuff like this!
  
  I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi(ish) things but I do enjoy a crazy story.
  
  3.5/5
• 
  Adam Hulse

  My favourite Damien Casey book so far. 51 is split into 3 parts with different themes but which work excellently as a single narrative. The last part of the book was the larger than life vibrant comicbook B-movie horror-comedy style I've come to love from this writer, but let me talk about the first two parts. Casey builds a story with likeable characters so effortlessly and swiftly that it's hard not to be blown away by it. There are scenes of genuine creepy horror here as well, and overall, I was astounded by Casey's versatility. The sci-fi/horror crossover works brilliantly, and I now have an appetite for more of this author writing stories similar to The Outer Limits! This is Casey writing a love letter to the Puppet Master movies while spooning heaps of creature features on top. Don't be fooled, though. There is a framework of storytelling here that any writer would be proud of. 51 keeps you guessing until the end, and Casey adds another string to his bow.
• 
  Dion Smith

  This book is a weird, fun mix, where you don't always know what is going on or what is going to happen, but in a good way, I don't say this very much about books, but I would have loved it to be longer, with more details, especially with the characters that come along later.
  
  At first I didn't understand the title until I got about 1/2 way then, when I had the lightbulb moment as was like 'aaaahhhh, that's what that means'
  
  It reminds me a bit of the movie 'The Dead Don't die' with a few random twists, and the dry humour.
  
• 
  Ben Young

  “Madcap” feels like the right word to describe this book. Damien took a variety of cool and interesting concepts, mediums, genres (horror, sci-fi, b movies, stalkers, tentacles, creepy toys, to name less than half) and threw them all together in a blender, then used the remaining space for some random ass bric-a-brac and genuine humor and then ran that blender lidless next to some blank paper. And it worked f-ing perfectly! I loved every page.
• 
  Joseph D. Slater

  A light, fun read.
  
  For the last couple of days, I've been having fun with this light read, and while Casey doesn't take his work too seriously in this campy 80s journey, it is still a fun story.
  I hope he continues his streak of publications, and while my tbr pile is too long to get to the next Casey book right away, I do look forward to supporting this author in the future.
• 
  Sarah

  It was a weird wild and slightly confusing ride, but it was so amazing! Damien casey has such a unique writing style, combining the weird, funny, and horror in such an amazing way. I would highly recommend checking out this book, and i would say that you should read everything he's written. You won't be disappointed.
• 
  Elford Alley

  Damien Casey fools you at first. The first few chapters of this, as with his other work, grounds the story with character. Once you're invested, once what happens to them matters to you, the story takes a hard turn into the strange. 51 is unadulterated weirdness, an ode to B-movies that never retreads familiar tropes or winks at the audience. A fantastic book.