Horror World Book Reviews
April, 2005

DESOLATION by Tim Lebbon
Reviewed by Mark Justice

One thing you can say about Tim Lebbon: the guy doesn't repeat himself. DESOLATION is different from anything else Lebbon has written.

Cain is the protagonist in Lebbon's latest outing. Tortured (in more ways than one), Cain is a stranger in a strange land, living on his own, unsupervised for the first time. For most of his early life, Cain was treated as an experiment by his insane father: locked away in darkness and silence for days at a time, forced to grow up apart from humanity, without friends or affection, all in an attempt to give Cain something his father calls Pure Sight, a power or state of being that even his father cannot adequately explain.

After his father's death, Cain spends six years in an institution, undergoing therapy to undo the damage caused by his father.

Allowed to move out of the institution, Cain finds himself living in an apartment building filled with odd tenants. There's Magenta, who seems to change her appearance every day; George, who is hiding a beast inside; Whistler, player of the pan pipes and collector of a strange menagerie of fans; and, finally, Sister Josephine, who may or may not be a flying nun.

His neighbors soon prove to be even stranger than Cain had feared. They share a secret that will ensnare Cain and put at risk his newly won freedom. But Cain has a secret of his own, locked away in a chest in his apartment. It's something Cain cast out long ago, but old secrets can't stay buried forever.

DESOLATION is Lebbon's most surreal novel. Now, before you panic, by "surreal" I don't mean that kind of story in which the writer spends several pages and hundreds of adjectives and adverbs to move a character from the bedroom to the bathroom (or did he really go to the bathroom...or ...could it have been a dream? Hmmm...). But Lebbon does a fine job of letting the reader feel Cain's confusion and uncertainly, allowing the line between reality and illusion to grow very thin. It's a tone that he successfully maintains all the way to the novel's surprising conclusion.

DESOLATION is an unusual, disturbing read, and a fine addition to Lebbon's body of work.   

Available from now from Leisure Press

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FEAR ME by Stephen Laws
Reviewed by Nanci Kalanta

Who is Gideon? Three women, seduced by him seek to find the answer. Yvonne, Bernice and Jacqueline band together fight against Gideon's unnatural hold over them and in the process uncover a terrifying secret.

Unmercifully abused by Gideon they cannot understand why they keep returning. Bernice has a plan to end the torment and their revenge sets off a horrific chain of events.

Paul Shapiro can't understand the rage that overtakes him and causes him to kill the "Others". He doesn't know who they are but knows when they are coming and knows that he is in a fight for his life.

Paul Shapiro's father, a Vicar, knows Gideon's real purpose and sets out to save his son's soul.

Van Buren has been seeking to avenge the death of his wife 50 years earlier. He spends his fortune hunting down Gideon. Kidnapping Paul to use as bait, he sets a trap for Gideon unaware that Gideon has plans of his own.

FEAR ME follows these people as they are tortured and tormented by Gideon. Family and friends aren't safe from his reprisals. A terrifying showdown at the end reveals Gideon's true purpose and nature and begs the question "can faith truly defeat evil?"

I normally don't read vampire tales; they're just not my cup of tea, but being a big fan of Stephen Laws's work I gave this one a go. Fast paced with lots of twists and turns, this book held me from page one. I highly recommend this book for both fans of the vampire genre and Stephen Laws.

Available now from Leisure Press.

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HORN OF PLENTY by Thomas F. Monteleone
Reviewed by Nanci Kalanta

HORN OF PLENTY is the first entry in Borderlands Press DARK VOICES Chapbook/CD series.

On first reading of HORN OF PLENTY I wasn't too impressed. It was a good tale, well told; but it didn't knock my socks off.

Now, things changed dramatically when I popped the accompanying CD into the CD player. Wow! What a difference between reading the story and listening to Monteleone turn himself into a "middle-aged, overweight, black jazz musician." The music accompanying the story really made it into a production rather than a reading. He gives voice to his main character that my skull theater could never do.

The George Thurston Quintet is a second rate jazz band playing "big clubs in small cities and small clubs in the bigs." One night, they discover an abandoned trumpet outside a club and the main horn man, Roland "Razor" Blades, keeps the horn. His playing on the new horn escalates the band to newfound fame and fortune but George Thurston wonders if it was worth the price of admission.

Creepy and atmospheric this story is reminiscent of an old Twilight Zone episode. So put on your headphones, sit back and enjoy the story. Tom Monteleone knows how to bring his characters to life and proves the adage that it is not the tale but he who tells it.

Available now from Borderlands Press.

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THE MANOR by Scott Nicholson
A Review By Steve Vernon

Once in a blue moon a good yarn comes along, and I'm glad to say that I was here to catch this one. Scott Nicholson's THE MANOR doesn't break that much new ground, but the field is tended with a craftsman's eye for detail and plot.

There's a chill that runs through the beams and timbers of Korban Manor. Not all the kindling and split Appalachian hardwood can warm the air of this cloistered sepulcher of a mansion. Sculptor Mason Jackson has come here to make one final Alamoesque stand at achieving his dream of success before giving up his dreams. He's aiming big, and his work seems to feed upon the
dank chill air of Korban Manor. He becomes obsessed with carving a replica of Ephram Korban, the dead master of Korban Manor. Yet with every swing of the mallet, every gnaw of the gouge and chisel, the sculpture becomes less of an artifact and more golem-esque. Who is the master here - the creator or the creation?

Scott Nicholson has carved himself out a brooding gothic snarl of a novel. There's poise and craftsmanship, but there's something darker beneath this tale. It's a look at creativity, and the forces that feed the artisan's forge. With touches of Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Gray and H.P.
Lovecraft's "Cold Air", and a heaping helping of Nicholson's knowledge of Appalachian esotericism, THE MANOR is a creepy tale that's guaranteed to satisfy.

Fans of Peter Straub, Sharyn Mccrumb, and Manly Wade Wellman are going to enjoy curling up to the ever-burning fires of Scott Nicholson's THE MANOR.

Available now from Pinnacle

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LIKE DEATH by Tim Waggoner
Reviewed by Ron Dickie

As a child, Scott Raymond witnessed the murder of his entire family. As an adult, he is haunted by not only his memories of the event, but also by his lack of certain memories from the event, such as the identity of the killer, and why Scott alone was spared.

Still scarred by the events of his childhood, Scott comes to Ash Creek to write about a different mystery: the disappearance of a six-year-old girl named Miranda. While investigating, Scott meets a teenage girl, also named Miranda, who bears a striking resemblance to the six-year-old one.

Together, Scott and the teenage Miranda embark on an adventure that will have Scott questioning his belief in reality as he knows it, and have the reader's head spinning at the images that Tim Waggoner conjures up.

LIKE DEATH takes its readers into the dark, twisted underbelly of our reality and shows them what can be lurking for us in the shadows. And it's not pretty.

Tim Waggoner writes with a passion and imagination that that demand your attention. He deftly switches back and forth between straightforward horrific settings to surreal, mind-bending landscapes without losing the reader's comprehension along the way. This book is full of a lot of weird stuff, but at no time did I ever go, "Huh? What the hell did he do here?"

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention one scene in particular. Without giving anything away, Chapter Eleven will be talked about for a long time to come. It is that intense. I can't recall the last time one particular scene stayed with me for so long afterward.

If you are a fan of writers like Gary Braunbeck, Tim Lebbon, or Tom Piccirilli, then you will also enjoy LIKE DEATH. But make no mistake, Waggoner's voice is uniquely his own. Read this book and discover it for yourself. You won't be the same once you're finished!

Available from now from Leisure Press

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