OK, this is one seriously addictive and creepy read, and is a perfect pick for Halloween (or any other time of year if you are in the mood). The atmosphere is fantastic, and I love the epistolary style its told in. Fragments of journal entries, text messages, reddit posts, police interviews and recordings are used to lead the reader through a suspenseful mystery. It also makes for a much quicker read, which can be a positive thing when you are anxious to find out what is going on.
The protagonist Matt is our main character and we get a good chunk of the narrative from his journal entries, but we also get information from an assortment of other sources such as text messages, news articles, as well as notes from his psychiatrist to his parents about their sessions.
Matt attends a private school in Manhattan and aspires to be a writer. However, he feels incredible pressure from his dad to become a lawyer (following in both his parents’ footsteps). He has an interesting relationship with a childhood friend, Lauren, who is now a very popular girl at his school (he’s not popular in case you wondering). They don’t exactly intentionally “hide” their on going friendship, but they don’t advertise it either, so almost no one realizes they are still friends. They chat through texts regularly and I think they each have parts of themselves that they only show to each other. I enjoyed the fact that these childhood buddies remained close (in a completely platonic way) despite their very different interests and social circles in their “regular” lives.
When Lauren goes missing, Matt is impacted very deeply. Much more so than anyone realizes. His nightmares, that were already bad, intensify to a point where the question becomes, are these nightmares more than just dreams, is there something super natural going on here that is haunting and terrorizing Matt? And if so, is it possible the same thing happened to Lauren? I was not familiar with the Slender Man urban legend, but the book did a great job of bringing me up to speed and tying it in with Lauren’s disappearance and Matt’s nightmares. The book also captures the high school gossip experience, with online speculation and opinions about everything showing up in chat sessions, teenagers jumping to wild conclusions and spreading their opinions as facts. Actually, that doesn’t seem to just be high school any more, I guess that’s real life in an online world these days. If this type of drama doesn’t work for you, you might not enjoy the book.
If I had to find a criticism, it might be that there were certain passages that seemed to go on longer than I’d have liked. I found myself too anxious to know what happens next to sit patiently through every word, and I am torn on if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, it does show that I was so into the story that I couldn’t wait to get to the details on where the story was headed and that is a huge, huge plus, one that I think out weighs any real negative here. But then I also wonder if that perhaps the balance or order of building suspense versus providing information were a bit off? If there might have been a way to provide both, but structured slightly different so I would not feel a level of impatience in parts of the book? (I’m not a writer or an editor, so I might not be accurate or know what I’m talking about, it’s just a thought).
On another note, I got a kick out of the Reddit conversations, complete with the negative trolls popping in, some people posting nothing useful (and getting downvoted accordingly). Not to mention, some of the usernames were good. Like KJ_Parker_Is_God. It’s a minor thing, but actually added a bit of levity to the story for me, it was a welcome bit of tension relief from time to time to fall into the familiar pattern of reddit conversations. I also want to mention this story was published anonymously and I am quite curious who the author is. They are obviously a fan of the fantasy genre, they are also quite familiar with reddit, so I feel like maybe I might “know” of them from some thing other than this story and I’d love to make the connection. Particularly if they’ve written anything else.
So, overall, I found this to be a great read that was suspenseful and a bit mysterious. I quite enjoyed the style it was told in, and really find my largest complaint is that I don’t know who wrote it. ...more
Strange Weather is a collection of 4 short novels, each telling a unique story. They are all independent of one another, and could be read in any order. I may not rate this one quite as high as most of the works I’ve read by Hill, but I suspect most of that comes from my preference for longer works. The stories are quick and varied covering funny to horrifying to creepy and the main character in each are varied.
One aspect of these that some readers will love, but some may not is the endings can ;eave the reader just on the edge of “what happens next”. You can probably guess, for good or for bad, how the cards will fall, but Hill will leave you right on the precipice, giving the reader something to think about and let their own imagination fill in the details. This is something I have always enjoyed, I feel like endings like this make a book last a bit longer for me because I find myself thinking about the ending more than if every last detail had been provided. That said, I know not all readers love this type of ending as much as I do.
SNAPSHOT This has a serious throwback vibe and reminded me of my youth when Stephen King was about the only author I read. A mysterious “Polaroid Man”, who has a camera that takes more than just a picture. It is suspenseful and creepy and a bit mysterious.
LOADED OK, so this story has some interesting characters, and is initially told from several seemingly unrelated perspectives. One of these perspectives is seriously unhinged, which always makes for a pretty interesting read. The one commonality between the stories being told by the different perspectives is they all feature guns. The horror in this story does not come from some mysterious or unknown force, but rather from the humans and what some are capable of. For me, this is not really a story to be “enjoyed”, its uncomfortable, but I think that’s the point. It’s a story that I both loved and hated at the same time, and I think the reason for the “hate” is the topic and the violence are entirely too plausible and the fact that this is one that is entirely too close to real life. This is a story that really could happen and that is what makes it uncomfortable.
ALOFT
Aloft was a great follow up to Loaded because it starts out with some serious laugh out loud moments. That is exactly what I needed after the heaviness of Loaded. I particularly enjoyed the main character, Aubrey, who’s inner thoughts and narration provided some much needed comic relief. This story begins mid-flight for a skydiving. and while it may be lighter than the one before, but it provides its own type of fright. The story was definitely different and enjoyable.
RAIN
Rain features a deady rain that causes thin deadly shards to fall. Getting caught in the rain does not just cause the inconvenience of getting wet, but rather, the unfortunate and unttimely death of those outside due to impalement by the falling spikes. It’s a horrifying situation.
Overall, I think this is a good set of stories. If forced to pick favorites, I’d probably have to go with Loaded and Aloft. I know I mentioned having a Love/Hate reaction to Loaded, but again, I think it’s because of the topic. I hate the violence caused by guns in the real world, which made this a harder read. But when it comes down to it, this story will likely stay with me the most and made me think more than the others, and for that reason, i still love it. I’d recommend the story for anyone who is a fan of Hill or anyone looking for some shorter horror novels.
One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning is not a book for the squeamish! The body count rises at an astronimical rate, and details are not spared. I enjoyed it, and have to admit, parts were certainly unexpected, always a good thing. It takes place on a remote island that is currently home to an adventure group that does team building exercises.
The current group of coworkers on a retreat to the island find themselves trapped there as their ferry home crashed amongst the rocks, littering the corpses of its incoming passengers. Did they die in the crash? Were they murdered? Or is something else going on? If they didn’t die in the crash, are they safe or are they the next potential victims? All things to think about instead of heading back home as they planned. I have to admit, just the thought of traveling to a remote island with coworkers is a bit horrifying by itself. But then to get stuck there as horrify deaths that start to pile up? With no idea who you can trust? Then it becomes a living nightmare.
This book is part of a series that I’ve not previously read. I am always a bit hesitant to do this, because often I feel like I am missing critical backstory or not understanding the depth of relationships of characters, etc. and in the end my reading experience might not do the book justice as I am jumping in at the wrong point. In this case, I do think it works as a standalone. I would expect I might have had a better understanding of Haters had I read the first book, or maybe caught on to what was happening a bit quicker. But I don’t think that it mattered. The details I was missing I think created a bit more mystery (like you would have in the very first book).
So, what is a Hater? Well, they are normal, rational people. Some of the time, anyway. They can blend in with the population, have normal interactions, but they prey on people, and move lightining quick. Their goal is to inflict pain, so there are no quick merciful deaths with Haters, they are excruciating and gory. Again, I’ll repeat, this book may not be for the squeamish.
Overall, I would say this was an enjoyable and gruesome read and I do think it worked well as a good starting point to the series for me. And again, I have to mention that being trapped with coworkers always adds an extra dose of horrific fun to a story.
I am going to start with talking a bit about reading order, I think both of The Boy on the Bridge and The Girl with All the Gifts can easily be read as stand-alones. The descriptions from the publishers are incredibly vague for both, which I tend to enjoy. That said, there is something about the world I had no idea of before reading The Girl With All the Gifts that gave an additional level of mystery and suspense that I think I could miss if I had known ahead of time. That has most likely been spoiled for most readers by this point, particularly with the movie and reading The Boy on the Bridge first will certainly take that bit of mystery away as well. But with that in mind, I would recommend reading The Girl With All the Gifts first if you plan to read both (and maybe skip this review and read my review for that book instead)
While I was reading this one, I was asked a couple of times if knowing the outcome of The Girl With All the Gifts (which is set after this) ruined my reading experience at all. I really don’t think it did. This is a new set of characters and circumstances that have a story of their own to tell and I never felt like having some knowledge of upcoming events lessened my level of interest for this story. And like I said earlier, I think if I had read this first, it might have slightly lessened the intrigue in The Girl with All the Gifts, so I am happy I read them in this order.
The Boy on the Bridge is centered mainly around a crew in a mobile lab. It is staffed with both military and scientists with a mission of understanding and hopefully curing this new plague that is overtaking the people. Once infected, people become what they call “hungries”. It’s basically just another name for zombies. Unthinking bodies that used to be human, but now think about nothing but feeding. And they have an overwhelming urge to feed on other people (and in turn infecting them). Their sole purpose becomes feeding, hence the name hungries.
The crew for Rosie (the nickname they have given their armored mobile lab) is quite diverse in personalities, which always makes for a more entertaining read. Dr. Rina Kahn is accompanied by her assistant Stephen Greaves. I don’t think Stephen is ever labeled autistic, but he clearly exhibits many of the traits often associated with autism, and other crew members refer to him as The Robot at times. But I enjoyed his perspective which gave insight into his thinking and really humanized him in way that may not be as evident from another person’s perspective. Stephen is also incredibly intelligent, developing the e-blocker that prevents hungries from smelling humans, giving the scientists a much needed layer of protection while doing their work.
And I hate to go into the plot too much with this one, particularly with as vague as the publisher kept their info on it. I will just say I enjoyed the blend of science and crew dynamics as well as the excitement and terror of the threats facing the team. I also enjoyed the level of hope they had that they could turn things around and find a cure. Did I love it quite as much as The Girl with All the Gifts? Well, maybe not, but that was an incredibly high bar for a book and when it comes down to it, I think the discoveries about the world in The Girl with All the Gifts is one aspect that edges that book a bit higher. That’s hard to replicate within the same world, so I can’t fault the second book. When it comes down to it, this was another fun and exciting book from Carey...more
Looking for a fantastically creepy book to start off October? The Apartment by S. L. Grey may be just what you need. It is a haunting tale told through alternating perspectives from husband and wife, Marc and Steph. Both have been traumatized and then things start to get …. creepy.
I’ve read Sarah Lotz’s The Three and Day Four and loved them both. This is the first time I’ve read one of the books she co-authors with Louis Greenberg under the pen name S. L. Grey. It definitely did not disappointed and makes me think twice about house swapping for vacation.
Marc and Steph’s relationship is definitely in need of work. In addition to dealing with the house invasion, Marc also has a traumatic history involving his first family, before he met Steph. So, when the opportunity arises to “get away” and take the honeymoon they never had, they leave their young daughter behind and head to Paris hoping this will get them back in touch with each other, make everything good again.
Unfortunately, once they get to Paris, they encounter one problem after another, and their romantic, relaxing time away starts to feel more like hell. The apartment is nothing as advertised, in a virtually abandoned building (the only resident being a woman living up stairs, who like as not, is a squatter. The relationship issues they had before arriving seem to be compounded rather than resolved. And amid it all, things get creepier and harder to explain.
The alternating perspectives are interesting as this couple, at least at times, seems to be growing apart rather than closer. The different perspectives make you question if either narrator is fully reliable. From one perspective you may question the sanity of the other. From the other perspective, you may wonder what supernatural forces could be in play. It is a book where you question everything and trust just about nothing.
My only slight criticism while reading this was in the beginning of the book, the amount of emphasis and reinforcement that was directly used to let the reader know how traumatized this couple was by a recent home invasion. It almost felt overly dramatic (I’m not trying to trivialize it, I just felt the level of emphasis actually dampened the level of drama, at least for me). It wasn’t major, but I wonder if a little more showing, a little less telling for that one tiny aspect of the book could have been effective without repeating reminders about their traumatic event. But it wasn’t something that deterred my enjoyment, so I would consider this a minor thing.
I don’t know about Louis Greenberg (I have yet to read his solo work), but I am convinced Sarah Lotz doesn’t want her readers to be comfortable on vacation or holiday. First planes in The Three, then cruiseships in Day Four, now house swapping in The Apartment … all have new level of creepiness!
The Apartment is fantastically haunting and shuddersome, making it a great choice of book to set the mood as we head in to the fall season, prime time for all things creepy, supernatural and haunting....more
I love a great vampire book when it has a good dose of darkness to it, a feel of danger that overwhelms the romanticism. Certain Dark Things is far from the darkest vampire story I’ve read, but it still has a great balance and in addition, it also has a very interesting setting.
The story takes place in Mexico City, which has it share of problems in this book, but vampires are not supposed to be one of them. A declared “vampire-free”zone, task forces seek out vampires that dare to enter.
Our protagonist, Domingo, does what he can to survive in this city of crime and gangs. He collects garbage, sifts through it to find usable/sell-able items. He is pretty much alone in this city, and finds himself enamored with a beautiful woman he sees on the subway. When she approaches him, he is ecstatic, and also has no idea what he is in for or how his life with change from this chance encounter.
Atl is a vampire that is not only trying to lay low in this vampire free zone, but is also trying to hide from other vampires. Her relationship with Domingo is both sweet and compelling (I don’t know that I would call her sweet, but he is young and somewhat innocent, he brings a level of naivete that just makes me want to use that word.)
Another aspect of this book I enjoyed the different types of vampires (because not all are the same evidently). Not only do vampires have their own culture and organizations (like vampire gangs), but there are also differentiation between vampire as well. Some are more dangerous and frightening than others. Atl may need to drink blood to survive, but she is a type of vampire that is capable of having what seems almost human relationship. But never forget, as much as we want to root for this pair, Atl is not human so we can’t expect her to adhere to our cultural expectations.
Moreno-Garcia does a wondrous job with atmosphere, characters and pacing, creating a vivid and visceral fresh take on vampires. If you are in the mood for for a fresh vampire tale with an intriguing culture, Certain Dark Thing is definitely worth a read....more
Hex is an incredibly creepy tale, one that can I don’t think I’m likely to forget anytime soon. It is disturbing and unsettling, a ghost story that goes beyond just a mysterious aberration. A small town is haunted and trapped by a ghost. One might think, hey, just leave the town if she’s so bad, right? But nope. Not that simple. There seems to be a curse that prevents them from leaving. Not that no one has tried, but it never ends well. As soon as they cross over town lines, they experience a strong compulsion that will destroy them if they do not return.
The ghost herself is definitely creepy. With her mouth and eyes sewn shut, she can appear anywhere in the town at any time. She doesn’t really interact with anyone, just appears. Maybe in the town square. Maybe at the foot of your bed. Anywhere is fair game because the town is essentially hers. I have to admit, the fact her eyes and mouth are sewn shut added a major creep factor for me. You can’t help but wonder what could happen if those stitches were removed, plus the imagery of it is certainly more striking and unsettling.
As a safety precaution, the town has also implemented a software program to track the ghost’s whereabouts as well as keep an eye on the town’s border. People can reference the Hex app on their phones to find the ghosts last known location. Its an interesting modern addition to the story, one that helps bring what could be an old ghost story to life in the modern age.
The audio performance of this overall was very good. For most of the voices and emotions, I felt that Jeff Harding did a great job, really adding to the atmosphere and suspense. My only complaint really is that sometimes some of the boys sounded a bit too whiney for me. This review is coming on the heels of my last audiobook review where I had the same complaint for that narrator, so it may be a case where my tolerance for whining is super low.
I definitely recommend this one if you are in the book for a story that will creep you out!
No book has ever made me more afraid of the cold and ice and than Stranded. Seriously, the setting for this book brings a new and frightening definition to the word freezing. It also presents an interesting reading experience via a twist that comes about halfway through the book. The first half is a gripping thriller. One that will make you feel the frigid harsh world of the arctic.
Weather and circumstances batter the crew of the Arctic Promise from the beginning. Their situation quickly escalates from concerning to holy hell, things can’t possibly get worse. But, well, things can often get worse, and they can definitely get more strange. That’s what this unfortunate crew discovers out in the frozen arctic.
I found it incredibly hard to put this book down during the first half of the book, the story and atmosphere seized my attention from the very first page and held it unrelentingly. Until the twist. I feel like the sudden and unexpected reveal we get around the halfway point really shifts the tone of the book from gripping thriller to total WTF is going on mode. The speculative aspects of the book come out in full force and you can no longer call this just a simple thriller. Once I got over the shock, I worked my way to trying to puzzle out how everything could resolve (because it wasn’t really a straight forward survival game any more).
I almost feel like it was the suddenness of the shift/reveal that pulled me out of the story a bit more than anything else. It took a little while for me to “adjust” and really start thinking about the path the story had taken. I found once I did this, it became more intriguing. Did I love it as much as I loved that first half? Maybe not, but I also feel like its nice to be completely blindsided by a book now and then, and that’s what this one did for me.
One constant through out the book was that I enjoyed getting Noah’s perspective. A deck hand that appears to be incredibly level headed and likable, but is challenged by working with a crew that seems to neither trust or like him, not to mention the incredibly tense/hostile dynamic caused by working under his evil father-in-law. As a reader, I was quite curious why this character I seemed to like could be so unpopular with his crew mates. And seeing as how this crew has more than there share of issues to work through, crew dynamics are incredibly important.
Overall, Stranded has amazing atmosphere and tension. It is also a book that gives the reader the unexpected, throwing a twist half way through that shifts the type of story it is. I may have been really unsure about the twist at first, but I did like how it challenged me to think of possible resolutions/endings. Overall, a good read.
I just really didn't love this. Honestly, I was a bit bored. I am not sure if it was the text of the stories, or if perhaps the narration just made meI just really didn't love this. Honestly, I was a bit bored. I am not sure if it was the text of the stories, or if perhaps the narration just made me want to tune it out. I had planned to write a more useful review, but honestly can't find the energy to devote more time to it....more
The Last Day of Jack Sparks is the story of a successful pop culture journalist, who made his fame writing books that focus on his experience as he explores a given topic. Books like Jack Sparks on Drugs, where he throws himself into the world of drugs and experiments to his heart’s delight, all in the name of research for his book. Not surprisingly, his books can be controversial, they are type of thing people will read to find out why everyone else is talking about them. For his latest book idea, he decides to delve into the world of the supernatural. There is definitely some humor in places as Jack Sparks clearly does not believe in the supernatural, but for the benefit of his book, he has to give things a try.
The interesting thing about this book, is you know going in that Jack Sparks is dead (it’s right there in the title!), and he died in some mysterious way while writing this book on the supernatural. It definitely casts a little darker edge to things as Jack is very honest in that he finds the idea of there being truth in the supernatural as being rather ridiculous. As opposed to an unbiased journalist, he goes into this investigation/research with a very condescending view towards the topic and can be just outright disrespectful. It really makes you wonder why he chose to write this book.
The story is told predominantly through Jack’s own (incomplete) book, with a few other relevant communications and interviews thrown in. This style worked extremely well. It let us get into the mind of Jack Sparks via his book, it gave us a bit of an outside view as well in the interviews and journal entries from other characters. And it also gave us a perspective outside of Jack, who you feel wrote in his own voice, but may not be the most reliable narrator at times as you have to keep in mind this isn’t a straight journal, but a story he intends to publish. How much of what he puts in here is solid truth versus exaggeration for dramatic versus possible delusions or maybe just plain fabrication you can’t always know for sure.
The story really takes off when Jack finds someone has uploaded a mysterious and somewhat creepy video to his YouTube channel. Everything from this point seems to change for Jack and he seems to go into a tailspin. He becomes obsessed with tracking the origin down and this shapes his decisions, decisions that seem lead him deeper into trouble. Reading everything that happened, and hear it from his perspective as it occurs leads the reader through a journey that is humorous, creepy as hell, and unexpected.
Overall, The Last Days of Jack Sparks was a book I had a very hard time putting down, it grabbed me relentlessly and made me reprioritize sleep. I have to confess I love when a book does this, even if I feel it the next day (or rather, later in the day after I take a brief excuse of a nap in place of a real night’s sleep). I left this book feeling like maybe I should have seen some things coming, but I just didn’t. The conclusion is shocking, heartbreaking and absolutely fabulous. I really just loved this one....more
Good Girls is the second book in the Motherless Children trilogy by Glen Hirshberg. I haven’t read Motherless Child, the first book in the series, but was assured this one can be read on it’s own as a standalone sequel. Having read it now, I think that, yes, it can be read without having read Motherless Child first, but I suspect my own enjoyment of this story would have been greatly enhanced had I read the first book prior to this one.
One of the storylines in this picks up immediately after something very traumatic and horrific. Like seriously, standing in the carnage type of start to a story. I don’t know for sure, but I felt like this could have been the end of Motherless Child. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to verify this, but I was able to verify some of the characters involved in this scene were primary characters in the first book, so it is definitely possible. Maybe it is just me knowing that there was as story prior to this, and so when we are “dropped into the action”, I can’t help but wonder if this the end of the first book. Either way, I may have had some serious WTF just happened moments with this scene, but it was also something to draw me in and make me wonder just exactly what caused the devastation this story starts with. It gave me compelling reasons to want to read on so I could learn about these characters and figure out exactly what was going on.
There are several perspectives and stories going on in this book. Jess, who lost her daughter and is trying to piece a life together for herself and a few other characters. I really don’t want to reveal much more about Jess’s storyline. We also get the story of Rebecca, an orphaned college student that works in a crisis center. She has a close group of friends that she seems to feel slightly on the outside of, and we also get to see the foster family that cared for her most recently before she moved on to college. Jess and Rebecca are both somewhat broken people (broken in different ways), they are both trying to get through their days. I really enjoyed Rebecca’s sections the most. She was quite likable, her friends were fun and you just wanted to root for her as you could see she really was starting to come into her own. I also worked at a crisis hotline for a while, so that aspect of it was a nice familiarity for me and probably helped me connect with this group even more.
There are also sections with Caribou and Aunt Sally. These are the sections where I really wondered if I was missing something from the previous book. They felt very disjoint from everything else which could just be because they are in a different location and are completely different from our human protagonists, but also felt like maybe it was because I was missing a bit more of the story. Caribou and Aunt Sally live in a camp full of “monsters” (and are, in fact, monsters themselves). I felt like these sections should be quite interesting, but I hate to admit, I felt my attention waver almost every time I read a Caribou and Aunt Sally section. I could see how they might tie into the other story lines and later in the book it becomes clearer how they will fit in, but I somehow never felt very interested or vested in Caribou or Aunt Sally.
And then there is The Whistler. The monster that ties them all together. The monsters are never labeled as anything more specific, but you will find them quite familiar and will be able to come up with a label for them yourself. But I will leave that to the reader as I always enjoy knowing as little as possible about monsters. It’s just more fun that way. The Whistler provides some seriously creepy and eerie scenes. And some gore as well, though it never felt like gore for the sake of gore. And The Whistler is also good for the bringing in the unexpected.
Even though there were times where I did feel maybe I should know a bit more history than I did, I was able to enjoy this one in the end. Everything did come together, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have connected more had I read Motherless Child first. No matter what, it is clear that Hirshberg is able to craft a very compelling...more
The Suicide Motor Club is a visceral portrayal of the darker side of vampires. As you would expect from Buehlman, these are not the sparkly, hunky types of vampires that teenage girls swoon over. These are the things of your nightmares becoming reality. The pacing and emotions are as relentless as the vampires of the suicide motor club.
The main vampires we meet are part of what is called The Suicide Motor Club. They stalk their prey on the highways (if the word stalking can be used when they are driving over 100 miles per hour. At night, with no lights.) Choosing their victims, causing horrific crashes, and feasting on the survivors. This to me, is just a terrifying scenario. It shows a vulnerability as there is little you can do when driving down the highway if another car decides their purpose is to make you crash. Normal people are not trained or capable of evading this. The fear of crashing is honestly scary enough for me. Especially in the 1960s before there were as many safety features on cars. But then to survive the initial crash, trapped and bleeding as waiting prey for the vampires to feast on and finish the job just takes the scenario from fear to absolutely horrifying. These vampires take a cruel pleasure in the hunting and pain of humans.
But when one of their victims not only survives, but also proves immune to their glamours and mind control abilities, the hunters become the hunted. Judith may not be able to explain what she saw in terms of what other people will be willing to accept, since vampires hide their existence. But she remembers clearly who and what caused her devastating loss on that highway. Judith’s first tactic at recovery really surprised me and yet it makes perfect sense. She is is a strong woman, and when she is given an opportunity she will seize it with all her might.
Buehlman did not just do a great job with Judith’s character, but also with the characters of the vampires. The story was incredibly well balanced with enough back story and information to allow the reader to distinguish and understand each vampire as unique from the others. They all had their own motivations and personalities. There are some interesting scenarios that occur that really test faith and trust. One vampire in particular I found absolutely fascinating.
I really want to know what happens next in the characters that survive to end of this book and yet am completely satisfied with the ending. Honestly, I just thought it was fabulous. Buehlmans ability to craft words to flow so beautifully and yet paint such a terrifying tale is in full force. Pretty much, this is a fantastic story that will force you to the edge of your seat and pitch your emotions from fear to heartache to vengeance. It is a book that can be terrifying and yet will never cross you mind to set it down until the final page has been read....more
Fellside is haunting and unique and at times, quite grim. Once I was hooked, I was firmly hooked. Our introduction to the protagonist is memorable and it takes a little time for both her and for us the readers to piece together the story of what brought her to that initial scene in the book. Turns out, our protagonist is actually a heroin addict. A horrible fire destroyed her apartment complex, killing a young boy. The last thing Jess remembers is shooting up, so when they place the blame on her, she can remember nothing in her defense.
The book takes place largely in the women’s prison that Jess is sent to. Her case was high profile in the media, she comes in to an atmosphere where some of the inmates have already decided to make her life harder. The one highlight for Jess, the one individual that really seems friendly and supportive (or at a minimum not openly hostile?) comes not from another inmate, but from what appears to be a ghost. A ghost in the form of the little boy she is charged with killing. Yeah, it kinda seems sad when the closest thing you can find to a friend is an apparition of the kid you were convicted of killing.
As you can imagine, there are lots of good characters and interplays between inmates. Well, good as in perhaps fun to read, not as in “good people”. Its a different atmosphere, and one were the most conniving seem to thrive, and we definitely get to see a lot of the darker side of human nature in this book. The fantastical elements of this really come in to play more later in the book. Before then it is more a creepy, ghostly mystery. I honestly feel like my only real complaint is that it took me longer to than I would have preferred. Maybe this is just because it is so different from The Girl With All the Gifts. But by the time I was hooked, I honestly could not remember why I wasn’t instantly hooked because it does get extremely good.
The narration was well done, capturing the emotion and tension throughout without ever feeling over the top. Definitely recommend....more
Red Right Hand started out strong for me, letting me hope it would live up to my expectations. However, I am going to start this review with a disclaimer that I decided this was not quite my type of book, and while I had high hopes for it, I think that was because I did not have a clear picture of what the book would be like. And some of that is my fault.
Charlie, our protagonist comes home to be attacked by some sort of evil/hellish hounds. A mysterious Man in Black comes to her rescue and sets her life on quite a different course. The Man in Black may have saved her, but as Charlie learns more about him, she becomes uncomfortable. She stays with him more because she can’t think of an alternative or a wait out.
So, some of the things that did not work for me are probably likely to the Lovecraftian element that was clearly a trait of the book. This is something many people love, but I am not one of them. Also, since I have read very little Lovecraft, I know I missed references and connections to his work. I prefer my horror to be more psychological suspense and tension, I love the emotional ride you go through when things feel more plausible. Pretty much, for me, I am all about the emotional attachment and reaction to a main character when I read horror. Disturbing situations that feel like they could be a bit too close to reality are things that can go over quite well with me. When a book leans more towards the “weird” (I know, that’s a somewhat nebulous term), I find I lose some of my connection to the people and world. Once I lose that, the book will have a much harder time pleasing me. This book fell firmly into that category.
But while many of my issues stemmed from just not being prepared for the weirdness factor in this, at least one of my issues was independent of that. Our protagonist has had something traumatic happen in her past. This is brought up often, referring to pain or struggles she is having because of it. Referring to how she is trying to power on despite her having been a victim of something horrific. You do get some ideas of what kind of trauma she endured, but it is dangled there quite often for the reader without any clear details. Something bad happened. And since I seemed to be missing some connection to the main character, I hate to say, I got a bit tired of it being drawn out and wished they would either just say what it was, or omit it all together because the “mystery” really did absolutely nothing for me at all other than detract from the story. I found myself not caring and I absolutely hate that. When I read, I want to care. I want to really care, and feel the character’s emotions, and I just found I was not capable of that in this case.
So, unfortunately I have to admit that overall this book did not live up to my expectations, nor was it the book i hoped it was. But, that said, there may be an audience for it. I am not a fan of Lovecraftian horror, this is why I think perhaps my response is somewhat my fault as I picked this book up anyway and did not go in with the caution I should have and I hope people that do enjoy it keep that in mind when they read my review. I never want to turn people off of books that they may actually enjoy despite my experience with them....more
I loved the entire premise of this book. The story focuses on members of a scavenging team that go in to old properties to pull out pieces that can be restored and resold. Chuck Dutton, the owner of Music City Salvage, decided to seize a financial opportunity that will either make or break the struggling company. Sight unseen his signs the papers to purchase an old estate that looks promising. He pretty much paid more money than he could afford for it, so if it doesn’t work out, this decision will destroy their company. He sends his daughter (and our main protagonist), Dahlia, down to head the salvage team.
First, I really liked Dahlia. She is recently separated, working on her independence. And her personality is great. No nonsense, but very likable. As the team gets to the house, I have to say I quickly came to love what they do for a living. Going into old houses and building, salvaging the pieces that can still be of value was just a wonderful thing to read about. It brings a bit of beauty from the house’s past out, and shares it around to new places. It lets parts of the house live on even if it is about to be torn down.
The prose of this felt similar to many urban fantasy books I’ve read. I think while this is classified as horror, it would have a strong cross over appeal to readers that may not read horror, but love urban fantasy. Just the way the story is told, the protagonist’s personality and narration felt more like UF to me. Perhaps it is because of Dahlia’s personality, her against the odds, stand on my own type of persona.
Even the way the horror aspect of this was approached felt similar to UF to me. It was a bit a mystery, and almost had a slight detective style to it as Dahlia and her coworkers try to uncover the reason and source of the strange goings on. But, don’t let that dissuade any fans of horror, because while the pace and narration reminded me of many good urban fantasy stories I’ve read, the creepy ghost and haunting aspect of this puts it solidly in the horror genre. I would never classify this book as anything else, I just think because of the style of writing, it will have crossover appeal to some readers that may typically steer clear of horror.
And speaking of creepy going ons. This book is one seriously haunting ghost story. The suspense and mystery and oddities encountered kept me at the edge of my seat, reading any chance I could find. Highly recommend this one, especially this time of year when creepy ghost stories are just something you need to read....more
We all know, if you want creepy things, you have to hit the auction houses, right? Where old, dirty, dingy, creepy finds lurk in the shadows waiting for bids. OK. Typically it is just antique or faux-antique objects, but hey, this is a horror book, and so there have to be horrors to be found. An auction house sounds like a great place to uncover something that would be better not found. Our protagonist frequents auction houses as he took his family’s antique business and evolved it into a very successful interiors business for high end clientele in Los Angeles.
Seeing as there’s more history and antiques across the pond, he makes a yearly trip to auction houses there to find those unique and interesting pieces that he can fix up and sell for a considerable mark up. In a small auction house, his last stop in London, he happens upon a huge mirror. The frame is unremarkable but the glass is quite old and valuable. He instantly is drawn to it and has to have it.
After winning the auction, he returns to Los Angeles and remains drawn to this mirror in a peculiar way. He also becomes frightened as suddenly mysterious, sometimes violent, deaths are occurring within its vicinity. It seems cursed, and the death toll continues to rise. It becomes clear that this mirror is more than just a mirror, and it is both creepy and evil. It is also doing what it can to gain power and is trying to get our protagonist under its influence.
I have to take a moment here to mention that this book will not be for everyone. If you are disturbed by violence or gore, or are sensitive to rape or sex, you might want to give this one a pass. But, if those are not triggers for your, and you are comfortable reading the uncomfortable moments, then I found this to be a good, creepy book. It definitely has scenes and moments I would not expect. I don’t think this book holds anything back, and for me it worked. I was very curious about the mirror, how it worked, how it came to be, and most importantly, what they could possibly do to keep it from killing. Our protagonist starts out as a decent, together sort of guy. But the mirror begins taking a real toll on him between the stress of having an object that appears to be able to cause deaths, and also becoming obsessed with it. Is he under the mirror’s control or is he just going a bit insane? It is an interesting question to think about as the chaos ensues.
Mirror Image is the tale of a horrific and deadly mirror that tallies quite the body count in its quest for power (and whatever else it’s end goal may be). I definitely enjoyed this one and recommend it to fans of creepy horror that don’t have any of the sensitivities I mentioned above....more
was quite intrigued by the description of this book, but when I heard the audiobook clip, I pushed it to the must read (lReview from Tenacious Reader
was quite intrigued by the description of this book, but when I heard the audiobook clip, I pushed it to the must read (listen) list. The narration in this book is more of a production than just simply reading. Don’t get me wrong, it is not overdone, but there is mood music in places, sound effects in the background whenever we are listening to a recorded session, little details added. Also, this a book with a good amount of emotion and panic, so the narrator had to crank it up to really get that level of turmoil and desperation across. Despite hearing this was a very visual book, I absolutely don’t feel I missed anything with the audio version, actually, this is one of those cases where I think the performance probably heightened my experience with the story.
The Dead House is a haunting and desperate tale of two girls residing in a single body. Carly Johnson comes out during the day, Kaitlyn Johnson comes alive at night. The girls are both different and almost defined by the time of day they are in control. Carly is nice and sweet and everything made of light. Kaitlyn is impulsive and daring, living in the dark.
It is a fascinating relationship and situation. Kaitlyn feels as if she is borrowing Carly’s body, as if Carly were the true person and she is the one who lives in the shadows, the secret person who has to be cautious about being discovered. Carly (and Kaitlyn) have been diagnosed as having Dissociative Identity Disorder, but their presentation is unusual, with just two personalities and that when they appear is related to time of day rather than some other events. The fact the changeover from one personality to another is so predictable is incredibly unusual. So, the reader has to wonder, is there something else at play here? Is there another explanation for these two souls confined to just one body?
I hate to get into the story too much, but lets just say there are plenty of freaky, creepy and eerie moments. Things you are not quite sure are real or imagined. Things you would never want to face in the light of day, much less in the dark of night. There was a little bit of predictability in it, but I didn’t feel like it lessened my experience too much.
This story is told through a series of journal entries, as well as video transcriptions, interview excerpts and other miscellaneous materials that could be used to piece together the events as they unfolded, things to help investigate what really happened the night of the fire that took three lives, injured many more. A fire that left Carly Johnson’s whereabouts unknown. Her body was not discovered among the dead and she has not been seen since. Investigators want to know what happened to Carly and if this disturbed young woman may have been responsible for the tragedy, but how much can you trust journal entries made by a young woman who is clearly disturbed on some level?
I love stories that make you wonder there is something supernatural occurring or the story is the result of mental illness. This is one of those stories, you hear one story from the doctors, but you get another story from the characters. Is it possible there is some type of witch craft involved? possession? or possibly something else entirely? Regardless of what it turns out to be, the story is captivating and haunting and you will want to find out.
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