They're Coming to Get You, Laura

Ever get the feeling as you read a book that you've read this story before? Well, that's the feeling I got when I was reading Zombie, the next entry in the Cursed Manuscript series by Iain Rob Wright (although why I keep calling it Mummy is beyond me). The story it reminded me of? Stephen King's Cujo, just swap out the dog for zombies.

I was tempted to skip this one, as I feel zombies have been played out, but I'm somewhat of a completist; it wouldn't sit well with me not to read the complete series.

At the beginning of Zombie, we meet Danny, Laura, and their three-year-old daughter, Rose. They're on their way home from Laura's parents' house, and Danny really shouldn't be driving because he's been drinking. There's an accident involving a van, and the van's cargo is... You guessed it. A zombie. What follows is a comedy of errors as, despite being told repeatedly to get away, Danny ignores the warning as he tries to help the driver. Zombie escapes van, Danny fights zombie while trying to continue to help the driver, Danny gets bit and is now infected. The happy, little dysfunctional family ends up back in the car. In the meantime, another zombie escapes from the van, and the zombie chow van driver has joined their ranks. Why don't they just drive away? It's not because it's wrong to leave the scene of an accident, which drunk Danny would probably do in a heartbeat. No. When the van collided with the car, it forced the car off the road and into a ditch. So, why don't they call for help? I'll get to that.

This particular entry of the Cursed Manuscript series suffers credibility issues from the very beginning. I can hear you thinking, we're dealing with zombies; how can we have credibility issues when we're dealing with zombies, because zombies don't really exist. Some would see a walking corpse as the biggest credibility issue of the book, but certain allowances have to be made. In horror fiction, zombies exist, vampires exist, werewolves exist. End of story. But even in the most incredible situations, the characters must have some credibility. We also know we wouldn't have horror if it weren't for stupid people making stupid decisions at the most inappropriate times. With this established, we can now commence with the eyeball gymnastics. SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT: In the beginning, God created... Oh, uh... wrong story. In the beginning, Laura and Drunk Danny are arguing. It seems what was supposed to be a weekend with the grandparents, whom they haven't seen in over a year thanks to the COVID lockdown (so their already strained relationship has been strained that much more because they were stuck inside with each other for over a year), has been cut short by a text from Danny's boss. There's an emergency. All hands on deck. Expect to report to work first thing in the morning. On a Sunday. Naturally, Laura doesn't buy it. All Danny had to do was show her the text. Does he? NOOOOO. He bullies his way through, gets them in the car, and they leave. In the car, the argument continues. Laura is going to text her parents and apologize. Danny says she's not apologizing for him, grabs her phone, and throws it out the window. Responsible Laura, who always puts her daughter first, grabs Danny's phone and throws it out the window. They decide to stop, get out, and look for their phones, leaving their daughter in the car --- without hazard lights. Can you say accident waiting to happen? I had to stop at this point. My eyes needed a break from all the rolling they were doing.

There are some timing issues regarding how quickly the virus kicks in that I can make allowances for. They're the same I would make for any zombie piece: living host vs dead host, recently dead vs older dead, etc. And we know that these aren't your typical zombies, as damage to the brain doesn't stop them in their tracks. I can overlook that. Thankfully, all the zombies here were shamblers. Had there been sprinters and marathon-running zombies, I would've closed the book, never to return. Zombies don't run (I will die on this hill). The BIG issue I had was with the regenerating zombie. Drunk Danny, now Zombie Danny, is shot in the face. The description literally says the lower half of his face disintegrated. From the nose down, there's nothing. But somewhere between getting his face blown off and attacking his wife upstairs, his face regenerated. That's the only way I can explain his mouth moving as he tried to bite her.

Had I known about these issues going in, especially that last one, I would've went with my gut and skipped this one, but as I said, I'm a completist, but as it stands, this one doesn't really offer up anything new in zombie fiction. I wouldn't recommend it, but should you decide to take the plunge, do go in expecting anything groundbreaking or new. 2.5/5 stars

Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?

Iain Rob Wright is not a new-to-me author. I've read several of his books, and he's never disappointed. I've had my eye on the Cursed Manuscripts for a while, but have only now gotten around to reading any of them.

Witch is the first of 10 books (with possibly more coming), and from what I can see, despite the name of the series, it is a stand-alone book, so it will be interesting to see if these ten books are tied into each other at some point.

In Witch, we meet Ashley and Jude, besties since they were wee ones. One of the problems with the book itself is that even though the kids are placed at about 14 years of age, sometimes they come across as older, sometimes younger. Ashley could be an independent young woman, if it weren't for Jude, who's kind of a wuss, never standing up for himself, never getting angry, which makes him a prime target for bullies. And that's just how the book starts. End of summer is approaching, school year about to start, and Ashley and Jude are on the run from a pack of bullies. They run into the woods to escape their tormentors, stumble across this run-down, abandoned farmhouse, and upon exploring the inside, discover a naked woman chained to the floor. Only, there are no shackles on the chains; instead, the chains have been passed directly through the woman's hands and feet. They report it to the proper authorities, the police investigate, only to find the farmhouse, but no woman, which makes Ashley and Jude look like liars. They return, only to find the woman still chained to the floor. Are the police covering up something here, or is something more sinister at play? Ashley and Jude are determined to get to the bottom of things so they can prove to everyone they were telling the truth.

With Witch, Wright creates a compelling story, but there are a few things working against it. Initially, once you start reading, you might get the impression that this is a YA novel, but you quickly learn the subject matter teeters into too-dark-for-kids territory. It flips back and forth throughout, and it can't seem to decide which one it wants to be. Second, Jude and Richie (one of the local bullies) appear to have an obsession with Ashley's big-for-her-age boobs, and they're referenced constantly throughout. This feels like a nod to Richard Laymon, who appears to have a T&A (tits and ass) obsession in his books, and anybody who knows me knows I am not a fan of Laymon's books. I'm not a prude, but the way it's presented in his books feels juvenile, and you get that feel here as well. Wright also touches on a number of themes here, but they aren't explored to the extent they could be because of the length of the book: magic, the bonds of friendship, sexual awakening, bullying, abuse, and coming of age, to name a few. If it wasn't for the shadow of Laymon looming over this book, this could've been a solid 4-star read, but as it stands now, 3.5/5.

Mr. Raptor, You're in the Army Now

I'm a sucker for dinosaurs, so when I saw the poster for a movie titled Primitive War, I knew it was a MUST SEE, especially after the disappointing and god-awful Jurassic World: Rebirth. Primitive War is what the lastest installment of the Jurassic franchise wishes it was. It was through watching the movie that I learned Primitive War was part of a series of books. So that meant a trip to the bookstore.

Thankfully, I only bought the first book, because this is one of those instances where the movie is better than the book. Why? Because the movie is streamlined, and it doesn't suffer from the same problems that plague the book. That's not to say the movie is without issues, but the issues are what make the movie fun because they're believability issues. The issues in the book are distracting enough to pull the reader out of the story.

The basic premise of Primitive War is simple. The book takes place during the Viet Nam War. A bunch of Green Berets go missing, and Jericho sends the Vulture Squad into the jungle to find out what happened to them. It doesn't take them long to find out they were probably eaten. By dinosaurs. How did the dinosaurs end up in this valley in Viet Nam? Those blasted Russians. They've been running experiments that they hope will bring the United States to its knees and allow Russia to rise up as a Superpower. The Collider is what opened up wormholes and allowed the dinosaurs to enter into our timeline.

There are two main groups involved here. You have the Vulture Squad, a special ops group whose primary purpose, until now, has been to search out prison camps and free any American soldiers being detained/tortured. And you have a group of Russian soldiers who are attempting to locate the American soldiers. As the story stands right now, it feels like the turtle and the hare, with the Americans being the turtle and the Russians the hare. And when I say this, it's because it feels like there are glaring timeline issues. Ryan and his Vultures have to be helicoptered into the jungle; this implies there's some distance between where they're dropped off and Jericho's camp. The Russian compound is at the far end of the jungle. The Russians are on foot. Yet it feels like the Russians made it to Jericho's camp in no time at all. Likewise on their return trip. They steal a boat and head upriver, while just a short time later, Father Vulture, the Vulture Squad's helicopter transport, takes off. It feels like the Russians made it all the way back to their compound faster than Father Vulture covered half the distance by air. Mind you, the Russians made record time while escorting an American prisoner, which, to me at least, should have slowed them down. Also, when Ryan and his squad traveled by river, they encountered a herd of Triceratops and Kaprosuchus (prehistoric crocodiles) that slowed their journey. Where were these creatures when the Russians made their river trip? There are a lot of little time issues like this that make the reader stop reading and say, "Wait a minute..."

The other "Wait-a-minute" moment comes when one of the American soldiers is attacked by one of the raptors. He's gutted. His stomach has been slit open by a raptor claw and his intestines have all but fallen out. They have to push them back in before they can bandage him up and transport him. Yet, a short time later (like later in the day, not months later), when the camp is attacked, he throws himself out of bed, he's all set to run off after one of the Russian soldiers he spied crossing the camp. He goes with the Black Ops team when they go off in search of Ryan and the rest of the Vultures. He's running, he's jumping, he launches himself at somebody, has enough strength to try and strangle somebody, and the entire time my mind is screaming, Gutted! Intestines falling out! Blood loss! Near death! He shouldn't be able to do all this.

Thankfully, I only bought the first book. I was so psyched when I found out there were four books to the series (so far) that I almost bought them all. I didn't, though. I only bought the first one. I would've been so pissed with myself if I had bought all of them because after reading the one, I don't know if I could bring myself to read the remaining three. However, that's not stopping me from chomping at the bit for any news I can get on the movie sequel. THAT I will definitely see.

Final Rating: 2.5/5 stars 

Necromancer Rising

Last year, I dipped my toes into what I don't normally venture into, and that's paranormal romance. What originally attracted me to the book I chose was that it was described as Supernatural, only if Sam and Dean were "togther" (wink, wink). It was also described as Urban Fantasy. When the horror sections disappeared from the bookstores, urban fantasy, with its vampires, werewolves, and witches (oh my!), is watch scratched my horror itch. And while I liked the characters, and I liked the storyline, I was put off by all the sex. Not that I'm a prude or anything, but it was too much, and the guys boinking every chapter detracted from the story.

Well, this year I decided to dip my toes into that water again, but this time I sought out a male author, not a female author and not a female author using a male pseudonym. I settled on Richard Amos's "Necromancer Rising" series. Why? Because with the central character being a necromancer, it harkened back to my early UF days with the Anita Blake series by Laurel K. Hamilton.

In Death Eternal, Book 1 of a 4-book series, we're introduced to Marcel August, the necromancer of the series. We also find out that, thanks to Death walking off the job 20 years ago, the necromancers have gained more power. Where previously there were able to raise and speak to the dead for brief periods, usually to help with police investigations, they can now scan, reanimate, control, bind, and release ghosts. You might think the job of a necromancer would be boring, sitting around waiting for the police to require your assistance. Not so. Not now. Not since Death walked off the job. You see, now there's nobody to escort the ghosts to the spirit plain, so they're stuck here.

During the course of a routine poltergiest call, Jenn, Marcel's partner and BFF, is injured. The High Warden basically blames Marcel for what happened, even though it wasn't his fault. Their routine call had been interrupted by a rogue necromancer and a zombie. Rogues are necromancers who have gone crazy, unable to handle the power upgrade because they opted not to take the Necrojuice, which necromancers must inject on a regular basis in order to keep the powers under control.

Jump to Marcel's transfer out of London to the town of Oakthorne, where upon his arrival, he's encounters a ghost named Louise and is abducted by a rogue and almost killed, until he's rescued by a tall, dark, and handsome stranger.

Yep, you guessed it. Death.

And the two men immediately feel some connection. Under the guise of wanting to help Marcel find out what happended to a missing ghost, Death admits to being fascinated by Marcel, but there's something more going on. Needless to say, the sparks fly and the clothes eventually come off. But surprisingly, it doesn't happen for a while. And there's actually a story here, a mystery that becomes the major focus of the novel despire the overarcing storyline, which is Death and Marcel finding a way to love safely. What do I mean by that? Not giving that away. You'll have to read the book to find out.

I said previously that I was originally drawn to the series because of the echoes of Anita Blake, a series I loved, to a point, but as I was reading, I also picked up echoes of Richelle Meade's Georgina Kincaid series, another UF series I loved. So I was surprised to find that the series wasn't a tired retread of something that I'd read before. The story is fast-paced and action-packed (Amos knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat), and the author has populated his world with cast of likable and not-so-likable characters. Outside of Marcel and Death, my favorite here was Louise, an overly chatty ghost who Marcel befriends (this is the ghost Marcel encounters the night he arrives in Oakthorne).

I mentioned previously that the clothes don't come off for a while, and that was the only shadow hanging over my head as I was reading. I was totally caught up in the story, but with every turn of the page, I cringed, wait for the boinking to start and the story to derail. Thankfully, it never happens. I'm not talking about the boinking (this is, afterall, billed as a romance in addition to an urban fantasy novel); I'm talking about this not turning into an orgy and the story forgotten. Amos has created a well-balanced story that never lets up. The reader is compelled to keep reading to find out what happens next, and the brakes are never put on for the gratuitous sex scene. When it happens, it happens naturally as part of the narrative, not dropped in because the author thinks now is a good time for a boink. And surprisingly, I didn't even mind that this ended on a cliffhanger, which I usually hate, only because the next book was readily available. Also surprisingly, I jumped right into the next book. Normally, if I like a series, I space the books apart in order to savor it and enjoy the company of the characters, but that didn't happen here. Ten days, four books. Not because I wanted to get it over with, but because I needed to know what happened next, not just with Marcel and Death, but with the mystery itself, which only deepened and evolved with each book. If all of Amos's books are like this, I'm in big trouble, especially if the series runs long. It means I'll need to carve out large blocks in my reading schedule.And trust me, I will be returning to this author.

Recommended? Most definitely, especially if you're a fan of the early Anita Blake books.

Bumbles Bounce

 Usually, when I stumble across a killer cryptid novel, it's typically the North American Sasquatch, so when I crossed paths with Douglas Corleone's The Yeti, I automatically added it to my TBR.

The Yeti tells the story of Dr. Zack Hitchens, an evolutionary biology professor from Rhode Island. He is planning a sabbatical so he and his wife can scale Mount Everest. Zack, by nature, isn't an adventurer; his wife was the thrill-seeker. Scuba diving, spelunking, paragliding, she did it all. Mountaineering was the one adventure he had agreed to share with her. They climbed all the local mountains -- Estes Park, The White Mountains, and Mount Rainier. Now, she wanted Everest. When his wife is killed in an automobile accident, he's all set to scrap his plans. A friend, after her funeral, kind of guilts him into going. Not necessarily to climb, but to use it as sort of a retreat. Hire someone to take her ashes and release them at the peak. Reluctantly, he agrees, but once he arrives, finding somebody to take the ashes up becomes problematic, and the leader of the expedition encourages him to take them up himself. Not necesssarily all the way. Just get to Base Camp, and he'll see to it that somebody completes the journey, but once there, he decides to push on.

Zack isn't alone on this expedition; there's a complete cast of characters, some of whom are not who they claim to be.

Unlike many of the killer cryptid novels, Corleone has created more than just a creature feature novel. It's a novel about grief, about honoring a loved one's memory, and persevering through hardships to see that person's goal accomplished, even when they can no longer do it for themselves. Corleone has also populated his world with some wonderful characters, and for the most part, they're all likable, even the ones who have lied about who they are.

The first half of the book is like the adventure itself, kind of slow-moving, but once they start the climb, the pace picks up. The book, for the most part, is enjoyable, although I would have preferred more of a Yeti presence throughout, and while the ending is satisfactory, I wasn't particularly a fan of it, but I understand why the author made the choices he did. If you're looking for a killer cryptid novel that has more substance than the usual publications, this is definitely one to check out. Highly recommended. 4/5 stars.

Haunted Forest Tour Derailed

The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand has been on my radar/TBR for a while, thanks in part of some FB groups that have been raving about it. I'm familiar with James A. Moore and know he delivers quality horror fiction, but I'm less familiar with Jeff Strand. I believe that, prior to this, I've only ever read one other Strand novel, and that's in part because he's known for comedic horror, and that's something I need to be in a certain frame of mind for. Well, I finally got around to it, and personally, I don't know what all the fuss was about. 

The premise of The Haunted Forest Tour is relatively simple--a forest crops quite literally under the town within a matter of hours, the trees coming up with such force that residents are impaled on the sudden growths. Not explanation is given (you'll have to read the book to learn why). The forest is inhabited by a variety of monsters. A developer buys the land, and it isn't long before The Haunted Forest Tours are born. So far, there have been no incidents at the park, which is too good to be true, so you know something is bound to happen on the special Halloween Tours, and sure enough, two trams full of tourists break down inside the park. A blood bath follows, with only a handful of survivors escaping the massacre and trying to work their way out of the park. 

This was probably another case of going in with high expectations that weren't met. As I mentioned earlier, James A. Moore is known for delivering quality horror time after time, and Jeff Strand is supposedly known for his comedic horror, so I expected some top-notch horror comedy. And while the horror was there, the comedy was nowhere to be seen. Then again, maybe it was and I just wasn't feeling it. I've often been told that I have a strange sense of humor, never finding the funny in what most folks think is funny. I can sit through a comedy totally straight-faced, not finding anything funny about, yet everybody around me is practically pissing their pants with laughter. You have a semi-large cast of characters, none of whom are fully developed, so you really don't get attached to them, and as a result, you don't care who lives and who dies. In a case such as this, you usually give up on the human characters and start rooting for the monsters, but sadly, the monsters weren't even all that interesting, so you didn't want to root for them either. I kept hoping the forest floor would open and swallow them all just so I could be done with it, but alas, that didn't happen either. The only real horror to be found here is the book itself as you slog through it, praying for the end. This is not one I would recommend.

Supernatural It Ain't

 I don't know what possessed me to pick up this one... Oh, wait... I remember what it was... It was billed as something, something Supernatural, only if Sam and Dean were "together". I didn't care about the "together" part; I was just in the mood for something to scratch that Supernatural itch without having to rewatch the episodes. In short, I wanted something familiar yet new.

Morgan Brice's Witchbane starts off strong enough with brothers Seth and Jesse Tanner setting off to explore Hellgate, an infamous haunted tunnel in their hometown. Their intention is to debunk the myth surrounding the site, but they soon get more than they bargained for, and younger brother Jesse is brutally butchered by a supernatural entity. Well, at least we know we're not going to have a Wincest situation here.

There's a time jump of two years, during with Seth has become a "hunter," tracking down and dispatching supernatural beings, and we also learn that he's not the only one. There's a whole network of hunters out there, and it seems like every pairing ends up being a gay couple working together. Seth is the only lone wolf -- so we know where this is heading. Seth had figured out who killed his brother, kinda sort of. Seems many many moons ago, some witch was killed, and every year, one of the descendants, the first born of whatever generation, of the original executioners has to be sacrificed by one of the immortal members of the coven in order to maintain their immortality. We also find that the Tanner family was a party to the original executioners and Seth, being the oldest, had been the intended target. So now Seth is out to avenge his brother's death and prevent any of the other descendants from being sacrificed. Enter Jackson "Sonny" Evan Malone, the hot, humpy bartender who Seth ends up going home with, not realizing this is the man he's supposed to be protecting. And this is where the book begins to fall apart.

I knew going in that this was an urban fantasy/paranormal romance/thriller, so I knew there was going to be some sex, and since it was a gay paranormal romance, that the sex was going to be man on man. That didn't bother me. What bothered me was that a little more than half the book is filled with sex and it feels like the urban fantasy/thriller part was thrown in as filler between the sex scenes. Take away the sex scenes and you're left with a very short novella. Additionally, the story takes place over the span of a few days, and we're expected to believe that they've fallen so madly and deeply in love with each other that they can't picture their lives without each other. Look... this is a series, seven books so far. Approach it a little more realistically. Let the romance build over the course of the series. And gay men are not walking hormones; they don't get boners every time a hot guy sneezes, or coughs, or farts, but that certainly seems to be the case here. And that's a shame, really. I had high hopes going into this book and was hoping I'd find something I could lose myself in to satisfy that itch for the monster ass-kicking, brotherly camaraderie of Sam and Dean without resorting to watching the series over again because I gladly would have continued with these books, but I can very easily imagine I'll be getting more of the same, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass. And I recommend you do the same. Final rating: 2/5 stars

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

I finished this one a while ago, but I needed to put some distance between me and the book because I wasn't sure how I felt about it. And in truth, I still don't know how I feel.

When I started reading The Red Trilogy by Paul Kane, I was in the mood for a traditional werewolf novel, even better if it was a series (or in this case, a trilogy), and that's not what I got.

You might think when you start reading this book that you're going to get a reimaging of the old children's tale of Little Red Riding Hood, and you'd be right--if the Big, Bad Wolf was a werewolf. The problem is, the first "book" in this trilogy is short. Very short. To the point where it feels more like a novella or novelette.

It's in the second "book" where the confusion starts. We're introduced to Rachel Daniels, an aspiring actress who's working as a homecare aide until her big break. She has an encounter with the beast and she gets eaten. But then we see her running around, alive, and being wooed by this guy who's actually a hunter on the trail of the beast. What we find out during the course of the book, and this happens early enough into the book that I don't consider it a spoiler, is this "werewolf" can take the form of anyone it has eaten, and the only way to can see the beast's true nature is by looking at its reflection in a mirror. Now we've seen the Rachel beast kill someone, but at the same time, we've seen Rachel in the company of someone else. So did Rachel survive the werewolf attack? You wouldn't think so since the beast is able to assume her form. But if the beast had eaten her, how can she be up and running around? It's all explained at the end of Book 2, but the explanation is so convoluted it will leave your head spinning.

In Book 3, we jump to the future and the werewolf apocalypse.

This book took me longer than usual to read, and to be honest, once I realized this wasn't the traditional werewolf novel(s) I was looking for, I almost put it aside. More than once.

The question you probably want an answer to is, Is it a bad book? And the answer is---Yes. And no. Yes, in the fact that I feel the reader is misled into thinking they're getting something other than a classic werewolf tale. And even though the book's description builds it up as a reworking of Little Red Riding Hood, I feel even that falls by the wayside after Book 1. The "No" part of that answer is only speculation on my part because I have to wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I not gone in with any preconceived notions of what I was expecting.

Other than my overall disappointment with the story, I did feel there were some pacing issues where the story dragged a bit, losing any forward momentum that it had, and I don't feel there was enough character development, at least for me, because I didn't find myself invested in any of them. As a result, I wasn't getting caught up in their story and didn't care if any of them survived to the end. But I don't know how much of this is actual and how much my feelings for the book were influenced by my overall disappointment in the book.Would I recommend it? Based on my experience with it, no, I wouldn't, but again, I don't know how much is my disappointment in not getting what I wanted vs the actual quality of the book. So the only thing I can say is read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions, which you should do with any book, good or bad review. Final rating? 2 stars out of 5.

I Want My OtherMommy!

There's something about kids and horror that just go hand in hand. Whether they are the source of evil or the ones evil preys upon, children are just plain creepy -- and occasionally you'll get one that's downright annoying (I'm looking at you, The Babadook), so I knew it was only a matter of time before I got around to Josh Malerman's Incidents Around the House. Besides is being a book that centered around a child, I knew very little by way of what to expect.

The titles implies the possibility of a haunted house novel, while the cover lends itself to the idea that we'll either be dealing with a possessed toy or an imaginary friend gone bad. It turned out to be the latter. What we end up dealing with is an 8-year-old narrator who lives in a house with her mother, her father (who she calls Daddo), and an entity she calls Other Mommy, and, as we learn early on, Bela's mother has been distant recently. Given that bit of information, we, the reader, suspect Other Mommy is either a spirit within the house or an imaginary friend created to replace the often missing or preoccupied mother figure. Things take a sinister turn when we learn that Other Mommy has been asking to go into Bela's heart and there's been talk about "carnations," and that Other Mommy won't stop asking until Bela says "Yes." I really can't say much more than that without giving anything away.

The one thing that stood out for me while reading this book is a story I heard when I was a child, about a little girl who dreamed of a man coming in through her bedroom window every night and asking her to go with him. This unnerves the parents, who think that some pervert is creeping into their daughter's bedroom. They set up their own surveillance. Nothing. They call the cops. Nothing. Then they begin to suspect something more sinister. Something supernatural. So they take it to their priest. The priest tells them that whatever is happening, you must tell her never to say yes to this man. The nightly visitations continue, and the bring their daughter in to talk to the priest. It is then that the little girls looks at a picture of Jesus, points, and says that's the man who keeps coming into her room. The priest maintains that the girl should never say yes, and while the parents agree with him to his face, they don't see the harm in telling their daughter that if that's the man who wants her to go with him, it's okay to go. The next morning, the child was dead. So with that story firmly planted in my head, I was curious to find out where Malerman was going to take the story.

At this point I want to reveal that I listened to the audiobook version, and that probably influenced my reception of the novel. The narrator did a fantastic job of capturing the childlike essence of the character, and she pulled me into the story immediately. There was something captivating about her narration; I didn't want to stop/put down the book. I often wonder, when listening to audiobooks, if it's the narrator that makes the story for me, and if I would have had the same reaction if I had read the book. That's something I'll never know the answer to, but what I do know is that I loved this book. While not fast paced, it is gripping, and Malerman takes you to places that are dark and not exactly comfortable, and you get the feeling the author is intentionally holding back one more revelation, possibly because to include it would make the story cliche and like so many other stories of this type. The only negative I have, which isn't really a bad thing, is that at times the narrator sounded like someone familiar, and that familiar someone is Zelda Rubinstein from Poltergeist, and it happens enough times to the point I have to wonder is it wasn't intentional instead of being coincidental. I happen to love Zelda, though, so it wasn't really an issue for me, but for someone else, it might be enough to pull you out of the story. Final rating, 5/5 stars. Highly recommended. 

The Neighbors from Hell

Adam Nevill has alway been on my radar ever since reading Apartment 16, and while I've accumulated some of his books, I just never got around to reading them. Until now.

The reason why I kept putting him off is because I know from discussions on his work that his books tend to be slow burns. I know Apartment 16 was. Cunning Folk was no different. And I have to be in a certain mood for slow burns. You'd think, though, that a book opening with a man being tormented by unseen things to the point of committing suicide would hit the ground running, but nope... Nevill is quick to apply the brakes as a new family takes possession of the house. Tom, his wife Fiona, and their daughter Gracey. Oh, and their little dog, too. Right from the start there are misgivings, as the place looks more run-down than he remembers, and as city folk wanting to living the dream of a house in the country, they are really living beyond their means, especially when the Moots, their less than pleasant elderly neighbors, start telling him the things that need to be done. What's they're telling him is all cosmetic work to be done on the outside, which Tom thinks is secondary when compared to making the interior livable for his family, but you can tell he sees the cash register tallying up everything the Moots are listing.

The Moots, we're quick to learn, are unpleasant people, and they make no bones about wanting Tom and his family gone. You immediately start to wonder if maybe they weren't the ones tormenting the man in the beginning, making him so paranoid that he takes his own life. If that's the case, what do they have in store for Tom, Fiona, and... They wouldn't hurt a child, would they? Would they? You'll just have to read and find out.

Nevill takes his time establishing the relationships and all the characters involved, and sometimes you just want to scream, "Okay, they're miserable old people. We get it. Now move the story along." But we bide our time and wait for the big reveal and for the ooey gooey brown stuff to hit the fan. And it does. With what's revealed about the Moots, you have to ask yourself what chance does Tom have against them, since he's basically fighting alone; his wife refuses to see what he sees and believe what he's been told, and she chalks up is "mental instability" on the stress of such are large DIY project. And with the creation of the Moots, Nevill has introduced to the literary world a pair of the vilest people you can imagine. He also ratchets up the tension with each character that's introduced, because after the revelation, Tom realizes how powerless he is against these people, and really doesn't know who he can trust.

If you're in the market for a supernatural thriller, this is definitely one to check out. Final score? 4.5/5 stars. For me it missed being a 5-star read because if the ending. While it's satisfactory, given the build-up Nevill has given us, I felt robbed, but he more than made up for it in the scenes that follow.

Not the Catch of the Day

After hearing so many good things about John Langan's The Fisherman, I went into it with high expectations. It's always a wonderful thing when a book meets those expectations, even better when it exceeds them, but alas, The Fisherman is not one of those books.

The book has a promising start: two coworkers, both widowers, end up bonding over fishing. The two hit various fishing spots until Dan suggests Dutchman's Creek. Abe has never heard of it, but he's game, so the two set off. At Herman's Diner, a local eatery, the two ask about the fishing spot and are warned away from it, so right there the stage is set for some spooky happenings, and you want the two to hurry up and get there so things can start happening. All this happens in the first 50 pages or so, then you have to wait until page 197 before they finally get there. So what happens for 150 pages? Howard, of Herman's Diner (either his name should have been Herman, or the diner should have been called Howard's Diner), recounts the history of Dutchman's Creek, which, in and of itself, wouldn't be so bad, if it felt as through the reader were immersed in the events as they occurred, but they don't. It comes across as exactly what it is, someone sitting in a room while someone drones on and on and on. It isn't until we come back to present day that the reader once again feels involved with the events as they play out.

For me, this recounting often feels unfinished, as if they author was building up to something, didn't know what that something was going to be and meant to go back to it, and never did. This is often at points where dialogue should be used, but instead the author basically says it's not important what was said, but it feels like the character is about to reveal something, then changes their mind. Quite often I was left feeling frustrated because I'm thinking it's about to get good, but then the author glosses right over it and you never get the full impact. We find out later that Dan learned of the location through his grandfather's fishing journal, and knowing that, this history could have been spaced throughout as Abe discovers the journal and starts reading through it. As a result, what could have been a great cosmic horror novel gets lost in the ramblings of an old man. Not recommended. 2/5 stars.

The FBI's Most Wanted

 I'm a sucker for killer Bigfoot stories, but there are so few well written ones out there, it's like playing Russian roulette every time you pick one up, and it's always a pleasant surprise when you stumble across a good one. The last surprise I got with Bigfoot books was Nick Sullivan's Zombie Bigfoot. So when I spied Heath Stallcup's Genoskwa: A Story of Vengeance, and that it was the beginning of a series, I decided to chance it.

Our story opens with a the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force checking out a possible terrorist cell deep within the Catskill mountains. When they arrive, they find the camp abandoned, a short bus turned onto its side, blood, lots of blood, and a couple of bodies. Not long after, they come under attack by some unseen threat, which turns out to be the Genoskwa, a subspecies of Sasquatch. When they don't return, a recovery team is sent in, and they too fall under attack. It becomes an all-out battle, and you're on the edge of your seat wondering who dies and who makes it out alive.

Stallcup doesn't waste any time getting you into the action, and even though there's a large cast of characters, none are fully fleshed out. Most of them are cannon fodder, but there are some you get to know well enough to know that if something happens to them, you aren't going to be happy, but then again, when you read this type of fiction, you're not reading it for the characters; you read it for the monster mayhem, and Stallcup provides plenty of that. You won't be disappointed.

If you decide to read this one, I strongly suggest getting an ebook copy or the audiobook because the print edition does have its issues. The first page of each chapter is very difficult to read; there's a full page graphic that acts as a backdrop to white text. I initially bought the print edition and was forced to get the ebook just so I could read the first page of each chapter. The other issue with the print edition is a personal pet peeve, and that's improper line formatting in that there are often large gaps between words within a line. Some might not be bothered by this, but for me, it's distracting enough to pull me out of the story.

If you're looking for killer cryptid fiction, or just want some all-out monster mayhem, this is definitely one to check out. For me, the next three have already been added to my TBR pile. Final rating, 4/5 stars

A Mountie Always Get His Man, Except When They Don't

Outside of reading X number of books for the year, I never really participated in reading challenges that required you to read certain sub categories within the genre. I'd start them, then fall off because some of the categories never interested me. Last year was the first year I was determined to get through an entire challenge. One of the categories was "Slasher," and preferring to read creature features, eco horror, and tales that include monsters or other supernatural creatures, I turned to Google to direct me to popular slasher fiction. One of the titles that came up was Michael Slade's Headhunter. I was familiar with the author's name, but had never read anything by him, and since the story idea appealed to me, I decided this would be the one.

In addition  to being a slasher, Headhunter is also classified as a police procedural, another genre I'm not well versed in, so this was going to be a few firsts for me. The story is about a serial killer preying on women in Canada, raping and beheading the victims, then taunting the police by sending them photos of the women's heads on stakes. Along the way, there are detours to New Orleans (past and present), as well as trips through time, to the point where I felt at times like the book was was a jumbled mess, scattered all over the place and there was no way the dots were going to connect. That's one of the challenges I like about this particular genre (I have read some, just not a lot): trying to piece together the clues to try to figure out who the killer is. However, this turned out not to be that kind of book. For me, the dots never connected, and by the time I got to the end, I felt it came out of left field. Here, the cops are celebrating because the finally got their man, but the reader is left scratching his/her head because the pieces don't fit unless you hammer them into place with a sledgehammer. You begin to feel like maybe you missed something, you go back to check only to realize you didn't miss anything because it just isn't there. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed the book, but it was just frustrating not being able to follow the trail of bread crumbs, because there wasn't any to follow.

I also wish the reader was a witness to more of the killings (yes, I'm a gore hound) and not brought in after the fact. Towards the end, we're allowed to see through the eyes of the killer, so why not earlier?  And I know this isn't the type of book where you become attached to the characters and want to see them survive until the end, but at least make some of the characters likable. I don't think any of the characters are truly likable. We're supposed to see DeClercq as a somewhat sympathetic character, a retired cop pulled out of retirement for one more case who suffers from PTSD after his wife and daughter were both killed years ago, but his stellar reputation quickly becomes tarnished when you witness him popping pills to get through the day. And any character you begin to warm up to and start thinking, Well, this one seems like a nice person, is quickly dispatched.

After all this, you might think I didn't like the book, and you'd be wrong. The journey is an enjoyable one; it's the destination that leaves a lot to be desired, which is why what started out looking like a 5-star read ended up being a 4-star read.

They're All Gonna Laugh at You

Hot on the heels of White Smoke, I did something I rarely, if ever, do, and that's pick up another book by the same author. I don't even do that with series books, but someone told me to check out Tiffany D. Jackson's The Weight of Blood. They warned me this was a different take on Stephen King's Carrie, so I knew what I was getting myself into going in.

The catalyst for the events in Jackson's book is race and the fact that Madison Washington is biracial but has been passing for white. Once her secret has been revealed, she becomes the target of both the white and black students, as both sides believe Maddie lied because she's ashamed of who she is. They don't realize there's a reason why Maddie has kept her secret all these years, but they don't ever give her a chance to explain. And, as expected, the privileged white students are more open and brutal in their response to Maddie's deceit. It isn't long, however, before the adults in town are also looking at Maddie in an accusing way, as, thanks to social media, the town's racism is exposed for the world to see. For those familiar with King's Carrie, tensions continue to rise until the powder keg is ignited at the prom, with deadly results.

As I said at the beginning, I knew this was going to be a spin on Carrie, and reading the jacket copy, I knew race/racism was going to be the focal point, so I was prepared for similarities. What I wasn't prepared for is the fact that actual scenes are lifted from King's novel and transplanted into Jackson's, changed just enought to reflect the central theme but still obvious as to the source: from the prayer closet to the drenching at the prom. Margaret White, Carrie's overly religious mother, has been replaced by an over-protective father who seems to be lost in the past, and while religion does come into play, the need to shelter Carrie comes from the need to cover up his own sordid behavior. At the time, inter-racial relationships were a BIG NO-NO, especially in the south. This is the one thing in Jackson's book that doesn't work for me: the relationship between Maddie and her Daddy. Daddy wants her to be white, so she is white, and they go through great lengths to maintain the facade. And in Maddie's room (and the prayer closet), photographs of all the Hollywood starlets stare down at Maddie day and night. There's no escaping it. So when she's getting ready for prom, she's basically turning herself into one of these starlets, modeling herself after Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, complete with black dress and pearls. Dad says she looks like a harlot even though she's turning herself into one of the women staring down at her. It appears there's no winning with this man.

Overall, though, I did enjoy The Weight of Blood. It's a quick read, and it's so easy to get caught up in the lives and relationships of the characters, so even at the points where I was pulled out of the story by an eye roll when I recognized a transplanted scene, it was easy enough to lose myself in the story once again. I just wish the author and put a little more effort into creating scenarios that weren't duplicates of the novel it was modeled after. Despite the issues, though, I would still definitely recommend it. 3.75/5 stars

My House

Searching Amazon for a haunted house, Tiffany D. Jackson's White Smoke was at the top of the search results. After reading the synopsis, I kinda shrugged because it didn't seem to offer up anything new, but Jackson was a New-to-Me author, so I figured why not. The fact that it was classified as YA wasn't even an issue.

When I say it didn't seem to offer anything new, it deals with a family that is uprooted and relocates to a different state, unknowingly taking up residence in the local haunted house. Jackson throws all the trappings at us -- squeaking floorboards; offensive odors with no evident source; items disappearing, never to be found; animals behaving strangely; shadowy figures; and strange whisperings -- but she does it gradually, without overwhelming the reader. She also creates a rather dark, in-depth history of the location, which she does an excellent job weaving it in to the details of the haunting. That doesn't mean the book doesn't have any problems or issues. It does, and they're bad enough (at least for me) where I seriously considered putting this in the DNF file several times, but I persevered and was glad I did, as Jackson delivers a twist that takes it beyond the run-of-the-mill haunted house. She also delivers some genuinely harrowing scenes that will keep the reader on the edge of their seats.

What was so bad that it almost made me stop reading? The central character, Marigold, suffers from crippling anxiety that centers around bedbugs, and she's obsessed with the need to get high, and the reader is hit over the head with these two things repeatedly, to the point where it feels like the author needed filler to reach a certain word count. If you can overlook these two issues, White Smoke is definitely worth checking out. I know I'll be checking out more books by the author. Final score? 4/5 stars

Abandon All Hope...

 Mike Bockoven's FantasticLand is a book that's been on my radar for a while, ever since I saw it mentioned in a FB book group. What appealed to me was the Lord of the Flies-type theme. If you're familiar with Golding's classic, you'll understand what I mean.

The format of FantasticLand is one that doesn't usually appeal to me (the story is told via a series of interviews), but thanks to my recent excursion into the realm of audiobooks, I found it worked surprisingly well. You get a little bit of insight into each of the players. What we learn is that the worst hurricane to ever hit Florida has left 300+ employees of the theme park FantasticLand stranded, cut off from the rest of the world for about a month. Given that it's a theme park, it was figured that they had enough food, water, and shelter that the survivors weren't in any immediate danger, so they were low down on the list of priority areas being worked through by the rescue workers. What they didn't account for was that a majority of the stranded employees were kids, teenagers fresh out of high school, and we all know what happens when kids are left unsupervised, free to run amok in a place where "fun is guaranteed!" But everybody has their own ideas of what is considered fun.

I breezed through this book in a matter of days. I found the narrative compelling, to the point where I didn't want to put down the book. It's always interesting to see society unravel when faced with hardship and adversity, and the rate at which it happens. Sometimes it's slow in coming, and other times it's like flipping a switch. And that, I feel, is the one failing of the book. Because of the books structure, we know what happened, and we witness key events through the eyes of the participants and/or witnesses. Don't get me wrong; I loved the book---BUT I feel it loses any sense of threat or danger by not putting the reader within the world to experience the events with our own eyes as they unfold. We don't get to see first-hand the unraveling of society. You don't become emotionally invested in any of the characters, so you don't get to root for them the way you would with a more traditional narrative.

With that said, I have to wonder if I would feel the same way about the book had I read the physical (or digital) book. Most books work well in both physical and audio (provided you have the right narrator) formats, but there are some books that just HAVE to be read and there are some books that you just HAVE to listen to. I feel FantasticLand falls into the latter category. But no matter how you prefer to read, this one is definitely worth checking out. Final rating? 4.5/5 stars

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

I've been a fan of Steve Alten ever since I first read Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror back in 1997, but I usually reserve these books for summer reading and my Don't Go Near the Water reading challenge, so why I'm reading it right before Christmas when I should be reading Christmas Horror novels is a mystery to me.

Nightstalkers picks up shortly after the events of Hell's Aquarium. Thanks to all those eaten by the Megs, the Tanaka Institute is being inundated with lawsuits that are driving the institute into bankruptcy. Add to that the stress of knowing Angel's offsprings Bela and Lizzy are loose, so to say the situation is creating a strain on Jonas and Terry's marriage would be an understatement. David, Jonas's son, is depressed and suicidal over the death of his girlfriend, who was eaten by a Liopleurodon, and he feels that the only way to free himself from the nightmare he's trapped in is to kill the creature that caused it. What follows is more of what we've come to love about the Meg series -- aquatic dinosaurs long thought extinct wreaking havoc and eating people to their heart's content.

Reading one of the Meg books with its recurring cast of characters is like visiting with old friends. Fast-paced and action-packed, these books always hold me in their thrall. The only problem I had with this particular entry is the presence of Zachary Wallace, the central character of Alten's The Loch and its sequel, Vostok. Now, I loved The Loch, but Alten jumped the megalodon with Vostok, bringing in aliens, UFOs, and time travel, and, unfortunately, the author drags all that baggage into Nightstalkers, earning a number of eye rolls from me and causes enough of a distraction to lose half a star from the total rating, bringing what could've been a 5 star read to a 4.5. Don't let that minor glitch dissuade you from diving in and swimming with the megs. If you like creature features, or if you like plain ol' dinosaur mayhem, I definitely recommend checking out this series. 

They're Coming to Get You, Barbara...

Though thankfully, there's no Barbara within these pages. That would've been a bit much.

As much as I feel there's an oversaturation of zombie fiction out there, zombies will always have a special place in my heart because the first short story that I ever had published was a piece of zombie fiction. As a result, I sometimes feel the need to take a trip into some zombie-fied landscape, and what better trip to take than to take one created by the father of the modern zombie movement, George Romero.

The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus has been sitting in my TBR since the day it was published (August 4, 2020), but the itch to delve into another zombie-infested world eluded me until recently.Mind you, I was going into this book blind, having read nothing about it until the day I cracked the book open, so I can honestly say I had no idea what to expect going in. Would we be seeing the outbreak from the beginning, or since Romero's zombies have been around since 1968, would we be jumping in decades into the outbreak? I won't keep you in suspense -- we're witnessing the beginning of the outbreak. And the year isn't 1968. It's more contemporary -- 2023. October, to be exact.

Early on, I almost put the book aside several times. It felt plodding and directionless. Why? We were introduced to a large cast of characters and given backstory for just about every character introduced. You would just be getting caught up in the action, then suddenly have to put on the brakes on as we're provided their backstory. Even characters that are introduced and killed off within the same chapter have an extensive history that we learn before they die. Then, about halfway through, there's a time jump of ten years and we're given a year by year summary of things Etta Hoffman has learned and documented. While interesting, it's just slightly less tedious that the first half of the book. Then there's another time jump, this time only four or five years, at which point many of the characters we were introduced to in the first part have come together, and it is here where the story starts gathering steam. While the first half took me several weeks to get through, I finished the second half in a matter of days, and it's for that reason I would recommend it. But it's not for everyone. Why?

First off, if you're one who likes a happily ever after ending, DO NOT read this book. It's bleak as hell, and it paints a rather dismal picture of humanity. Second, if you're one of these "I'm only 20 pages in, but can you let me know if it gets better" readers, DO NOT read this book. As I already stated, the book is slow and plodding in the beginning and you'll be asking that question with every chapter. It's saying something when I contemplate putting a book aside (which would never really happen. I tend to finish what I start, and there's only a handful of books that I actually ended up not finishing). And third, if gore turns your stomach and makes you want to stop reading, DO NOT read this book. While it's tame when you compare it to today's extreme horror fiction, it does have its moments. BUT if you're a fan of all things zombie, then this one is definitely worth checking out. 4/5 stars

Here's to the Ladies who Lunch... and Slay

I first became aware of Grady Hendrix a number of years ago, when he gave his Paperbacks from Hell presentation at a Writer's Retreat I attended, and the man was funny. Downright hysterical. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. So naturally, I assumed his books would be just as funny. So on my next trip to the bookstore, I grabbed a copy if Horrorstor... And hated it. The book just wasn't funny. No, wait... I take that back. There were maybe two funny lines in the entire book, and they occurred very early on in the book. Like maybe Chapter 1. Possibly Chapter 2. The rest was a slog with a bunch of very unlikable characters. I wanted to give the author another chance, though. I mean, everyone is entitled to have an off day (off book), so it was with some reluctance that I picked up The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. It was described as Steel Magnolias meets Dracula,and I like both of those, and while it didn't WOW! me, it did end up enjoying it more than my previous exursion into Hendrix Country.

The premise is nothing new: handsome stranger (James Harris), who is not who or what he claims to be, worms his way into the lives of a close-knit community, while on the outskirts of town, children are either disppearing or committing suicide. The events happen to coincide with each other, but is he responsible? Patricia Campbell eventually stumbles onto the man's secret and takes it to her book club, and it's up to them to put an end to his reign of terror. But it's not as simple as it sounds because Patricia can't come right out and say the man is a vampire. Who would believe here? They don't even want to believe her when she accuses the man of being a child molester and a drug pusher who's selling drugs to children. It takes her three years to finally gather enough evidence, but even then they're reluctant to believe her because Mr. Harris has so firmly ingrained within their circle as an upstanding citizen, best friend and business partner to their husbands, and becomes idolized by their children. And as long as he doesn't hurt those within the community, that he continues to target the "poor" part of town, they're content to look the other way. But Patricia won't let it rest, and it's only when he attacks one of the book club members and sets his sights on Patricia's children that they decide something needs to be done.

While the book isn't as funny as I wanted it to be after seeing Hendrix's presentation, it does have its moments that had me chuckling, and it was 100x better than Horrorstor. There's a large cast of characters you need to keep track of, not all of which are likeable, but if feel like Hendrix drew a line on the floor and told all the good characters need to be on one side, and the bad characters on the other, and after everyone had chosen their sides, it's pretty much guys vs girls, which pretty much reflects the southern society of the time. I did find the pacing to be inconsistent. The book starts of strong, but about halfway through, it flatlines, at least for me (at this point I almost put the book aside), and doesn't pick up again until you're about three-quarters of the way through, at which point it moves like an express train toward the climax. Would I recommend it? If you only read "serious" horror, I don't think this is the book for you, but if you don't mind your horror on the light side with a smattering of humor, it's definitely worth checking out. 4/5 stars

But now I need a tie breaker. Which Hendrix book should I read next? Hmmmm... 

Hollywood Kills

 Some of my more recent reads have been about serial killers stalking film and TV sets and killing off cast, crew, and extras, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I stumbled across another one, and stumble I did with Chuck Tingle's Bury Your Gays. In all honesty, I was quite sure what to expect with this. Thanks to Amazon's screwed-up algorithm, I've seen some of his books online when browsing the horror selections, and a good portion of them are gay erotica with very outrageous titles. And I do vaguely remember some brouhaha a few years ago when he was nominated for some science fiction/fantasy award. So to say I wasn't expecting much would be an understatement. Boy, was I surprised.

The book tells the story of Misha Byrne, a relatively well-known screenwriter with some movies under his belt, a popular streaming series, and a short film that's earned him an Oscar nomination. In short, his star is finally rising -- until he is called in to meet with one of the studio executives, who proceeds to shatter his dreams by telling him the higher-ups want him to kill off two of his characters, who happen to be lesbians. The old trope that says gays and lesbians can never have a happy ending, that as soon as something good happens to them, tragedy MUST strike. Of course, Misha refuses, as this was something he's been building to ever since the series started. He's not going to bring them together, only to kill them off. There are the thinly veiled threats, but Misha plans to stick to his guns. Instead of being thrilled about his Oscar nomination and the upcoming award ceremony, he's stewing in a cloud of anger and fear, angry that if he doesn't do what the studio is telling him to do, he'll "never work in this town again." And if that isn't enough, he suddenly finds himself being stalked by crazed fans dressed as some of his horror creations. But are they simply crazed fans, or is the studio behind it, trying to scare him into doing what they want? Or is it something else? 

I really liked this one. It was well-written, populated with a cast of likable characters, and had the perfect balance of humor and horror (and I'm usually not a fan of horror comedy because it's so hard to do well). It moved along at a brisk pace, and took some turns I totally wasn't expecting. I mean, I thought I had it all figured out, but Tingle totally surprised me. Is it a little over the top? Of course, it is, but isn't all horror to some extent? If you're a fan of horror comedy, this one is definitely worth checking out. My only complaint? I personally would have liked to have seen a high body count and a little more gore. 4.5/5