Horror World Book Reviews
January, 2006
THE
RECKONING by Sarah Pinborough
Reviewed by Patricia Snodgrass
The
Reckoning is not your typical horror novel. It contains
horror elements, true, but it also adds a generous portion
of suspense and murder. Further, there are several romances,
all of which have gone horribly awry, and in the midst
of it all stands a house that makes Stephen King's Rose
Red look like a daycare center. Despite it's ambiguous
classification, The Reckoning is one hell of a fine read.
Set
in a small town in England, the novel opens with the apparent
murder of Philip Grace. But who (or what) committed the
crime isn't realized until two decades later. Carrie-Anne
stumbles onto the secret and it costs her and her family's
life. The police don't understand the bloody scrawl across
the refrigerator door that states, "Teacher, we got
it wrong," and isn't until much later in the novel
when her childhood friend Rob Black figures it out.
Nothing
in This novel is, as it seems. Teacher isn't who you think
he is, Gina isn't the woman you believe she will become,
and the house is not as benign as it appears. The story
is engaging, and the characters and story line will keep
you guessing right up until the end. And the ending, like
the rest of the novel, is not as it seems, either.
Leisure
Books
*********************************
FOREVER
ODD by Dean Koontz
Reviewed by Randy Chandler
Odd
Thomas sees dead people. "Because I can see them,
I bridge life and death, and they hope I can open for
them the door they are afraid to open for themselves,"
Odd narrates. "Their melancholy drains me. Their
need exhausts me. I am wrung by pity. Sometimes it seems
that to exit this world, they must go through my heart,
leaving it scarred and sore."
Because
young Odd apparently touched the hearts of a lot of his
fans, Dean Koontz wrote this sequel to ODD THOMAS to continue
Odd's odd adventures. Not being much of an Odd fan myself,
I don't know if this new book will work the usual Koontz
magic for Odd's devotees. All I know is that FOREVER ODD
was a disappointment to me.
The
plot is thin, the book is sluggish with overlong descriptions
of place and actions, and the narrative lacks snap. When
the villainess Datura finally appears midway through the
book, it seems that the story is finally shifting into
high gear, but then she makes a premature exit and the
tale backslides into sluggishness. Occasionally, the author's
poetic prose shines through and almost makes up for the
book's shortcomings. Almost.
Odd
himself is an ingratiating character with a lackluster
narrative voice. I know I'm in the minority on this, but
I don't understand his popularity. Koontz's Chris Snow
(the narrator of FEAR NOTHING and SEIZE THE NIGHT) is
by far the more interesting character, and I'm still eagerly
awaiting the promised third book in that trilogy.
I
think Koontz's recent books, THE TAKING and LIFE EXPECTANCY,
are among the best he's ever written, but with FOREVER
ODD he seems to be going through the motions. While I
can't blame him for trying to give his fans what they
ask for, the supply-and-demand approach to novel-writing
doesn't seem likely to produce stunning results. In this
new novel, it surely did not.
I
remain a diehard Koontz fan, and I will continue to read
everything he puts out. I admire his willingness to stretch
himself creatively and try new directions in his books.
More often than not, he makes it pay off in a big way.
As a fan, I'm willing to cut him some slack when one of
his efforts misses the mark for me.
I
know this makes me Odd Man Out, but I'll be very happy
when he finally lays Odd Thomas to rest.
Barnes
& Noble
*********************************
XOMBIES
By Walter Greatshell
Reviewed by Nate Kenyon
Louise
(Lulu) Pangloss has been dragged from town to town by
her mother for years. At seventeen, she looks more like
twelve, and her mother does not hesitate to use that to
her advantage whenever she can to gain more sympathy from
the various men she's chasing down.
Afflicted
with Chromosomal Primary Amenorrhea, Lulu has never menstruated;
this comes in handy as the world quickly becomes overrun
with a new and devastating virus that is introduced through
the adult female population. Agent X turns people into
raving maniacs, and the infected search out the rest of
the human race with a lunatic's sense of purpose, intent
upon spreading the virus as quickly as possible.
Lulu
is a resilient young woman, and she proves it in short
order as her mother is quickly lost to Agent X and she
finds herself alone against a horde of bloodthirsty monsters.
With help from Mr. Cowper, a mysterious older man Lulu's
mother had insisted was Lulu's biological father, she
escapes the clutches of the strange blue-skinned Xombies
and manages to get to a secret military installation.
There, she and Mr. Cowper join one of the last pockets
of civilization planning an escape to the frozen north
on a nuclear submarine.
But
their destination is nothing like any of them could have
predicted, as what is waiting in a remote airbase amid
the frozen wastelands is even more terrible and shocking
than Agent X itself. Lulu must battle an entirely different
enemy as she struggles to protect the last vestiges of
a dying way of life, against an overwhelming force that
cannot be stopped.
Xombies
is a triumph, both epic in scope and entirely unpredictable,
and anchored by one of the most refreshing and unique
voices in modern horror fiction. Lulu is a brilliantly
conceived, original character. She is smart, inventive,
interesting and vulnerable, all at the same time, and
she infuses the novel with life, even among the dead.
Lulu and her mother are a fascinating contradiction, one
physically underdeveloped, the other emotionally immature.
As Xombies moves along, Lulu is the only woman among a
throng of men. As such she is an outsider, both a threat
and a seductive force. There is a constant threat of violence
and thread of tension running through the book, amplified
by the claustrophobic confines of the submarine.
Xombies refuses to be easily defined, however, and because
of this it has the potential to frustrate those who are
looking for straight-ahead horror. The novel starts with
a tremendous bang, and the first third contains some of
the most effective action and suspense scenes in recent
memory. The pace slows considerably in the middle, though
if it weren't for the frenetic beginning, this wouldn't
have been so noticeable; and then, just as readers might
feel like they're getting a handle on things, Greatshell
throws them for a loop once again with a surreal plot
twist that nearly derails the book.
In
less capable hands, Xombies might have lost its way, but
Greatshell is no ordinary writer. This is an expertly
written novel, tight, fast and with very clean prose,
and yet it deals with some pretty heavy themes such as
the balance of power between men and women, haves and
have-nots, and the excess of modern civilization. It also
happens to be lots of fun to read. Expect great things
from Mr. Greatshell in the future.
Barnes
and Noble
*********************************
LOVE
BITES By James Newman and Donn Gash
Review by Shannon Riley
Sizzling
hot and, at the same time, terrifying, Love Bites is an
excursion in erotic horror from authors James Newman and
Donn Gash. The premise is simple, but grows quickly more
complex. A husband who wants to put some excitement back
into his marriage bed decides to try wife swapping with
a couple he has met via the Internet. The trouble is that
he has to trick his more conservative wife into going
along with the plan.
After
meeting the attractive couple, who seem nice and completely
ordinary - except for their non- conventional lifestyle,
the three decide a camping trip to a remote area will
provide the perfect way to introduce the wife to the more
sophisticated pleasures of lovemaking. The situation goes
quickly downhill from there.
This
is a tightly plotted and well-written story, filled with
surprises. Just when you think you know where it is going,
it takes a sharp left and doubles back to smack you right
in the head. Love Bites is a fast fun read that carries
an inherent warning: Beware of strangers, and more important,
beware of what you ask for, you just might get it.
James
Newman is the author of the fantastic Leisure novel Midnight
Rain, and he and co-author Donn Gash have also teamed
up to pen the popular collaboration Death Songs from the
Naked Man. Keep an eye on these two talented writers.
Signally or together, they know how entertain readers
with nail-biting, edge of your seat action.
Love
Bites sports stunning cover artwork and illustrations
by artist Alex McVey that are well worth the price of
the chapbook alone. The total package is a sure fire winner.
Limited to 250 copies, this title will be gobbled up fast.
Love
Bites is a tantalizing treat no lover of spicy horror
should miss!
Nocturne
Press - Limited edition chapbook
Shocklines.com
*********************************
THE
SPIRIT BOX by Stephen Gallagher
Review by Mario Guslandi
One
of the reasons why the type of dark fiction I prefer
are short stories rather than novels is that my own
suspension of disbelief doesn't last long and as soon
as I start to foresee where the plot is going I lose
interest and wish the end would come quickly. Unless,
of course, the writer is very good and manages to obtain
my undivided attention. In other words I don't read
any horror novel, but solely the ones I expect to be
EXTREMELY good. Being so selective means there are just
a few authors I can trust when dealing with long fiction.
Stephen Gallagher is one of these authors and his latest
novel 'The Spirit Box' provides further evidence of
that.
To
start with, don't be misled by the title: this is not
a ghost or supernatural novel. The Spirit Box is simply
the nickname of the vault where an American company
,whose job is to test new chemical products for medical
use, stores the experimental drugs. These compounds
are not necessarily effective or worth any investment,
but two young employees working part-time for that company
mistakenly think so and decide to steal some of the
still untested drugs coming from Russia.
Since security is tight , the only way to get the stuff
out of the vault is to swallow it, and that's exactly
what Rachel, an unattractive employee seduced by one
of the young criminals, ends up doing.
John
Bishop, a Briton who has been working for three years
with the company and is now ready to move back to the
UK, gets emotionally and physically involved in hunting
down the thieves after his own daughter Gillian tragically
commits suicide by means of a drug overdose.
In Bishop's mind the destiny of Gillian and Rachel (whose
life is severely endangered by the drugs sitting in
her digestive tract as well as by the greed of her most
determined accomplice) are somehow linked. I don't want
to give away too much, so all I'm prepared to add is
that the plot will lead you across a number of breathtaking
turns and twists for 276 pages , the last part of the
story taking place in the fascinating but scary landscape
of mountains covered with snow after an unusually hard
blizzard.
Gallagher
is a fantastic storyteller who knows well his trade.
The novel grips the reader from the outset due to the
intriguing plot and the extremely credible characterization.
The author's writing style is so vivid that the reader
has the feeling to be watching a movie.
Actually
I wouldn't be surprised if this excellent thriller would
be turned into a film in the near future. Suspense and
entertainment are granted. But reading the book is also
a rewarding trip in the realm of good quality writing.
Subterranean
Press
Shocklines
*********************************
MISTRESS
OF THE DARK
By Sephera Giron
Review by Gary Frank
Abigail
Barnum is not your ordinary small town girl moved to
New York City in order to start a new life and leave
her old one behind. In fact, Abigail appreciates the
darker side of life: hanging around with drag queens,
strippers and working at a tourist bar named Ooolala.
Though she has an apartment of her own where she keeps,
amongst other things, a human skeleton, she moves into
an apartment with friends, Vicki and Brad where the
three of them spend their time stoned and in bed together.
Then
into Abby's life (and her section of Ooolala) walks
Jimmy, a man she calls a Johnny Depp look-alike who
she decides she will love and who will love her no matter
what.
Abby's
real trouble begins one Halloween night when she, Vicki
and Brad play a little rough and blood is spilled. From
there, Abby's life spirals downward but instead of worrying,
Abby does what she needs to do to get through it all,
including making Jimmy hers.
Mistress
of the Dark is written as a diary, which keeps the story
in a tight first person narrative. Abby, however, is
an unreliable narrator and as she goes from somewhat
unstable to dangerously deranged, what she says may
or may not be entirely true.
The
horror of the story, because it is told in a cold detached
manner, slips by almost unnoticed which makes it all
the more chilling. Here's a woman who can kill someone
and write about it as if she were chopping vegetables
of cubing steak. There are some points where Abby turns
whiny and depressed and seems to revel in this at length.
But otherwise, she seems to approach everything (from
work to killing people) with the same detachment that
makes it hard to feel for Abby's decent into self-destruction.
I
feel there are a few logic issues, such as the use of
a chainsaw in her apartment building not attracting
attention and the police never knocking on her door,
even when people she's been seen with go missing that
strains the ability to suspend disbelief completely.
Also, there are a number of dream sequences that I never
quite understood how they fit into the story. Then there
are repeated e-mails from her mother that Abby never
answers, but this storyline is never resolved as to
why her mother keeps e-mailing her and she keeps deleting
them.
Yet
because Giron tells a fast-paced story that keeps the
reader wondering what Abby's going to do next, these
issues became secondary to me. Mistress of the Dark
is an interesting exploration into the mind of a dangerous
woman who very well could be the person you work next
to or say hello to every day at the coffee shop.
Leisure
Books
*********************************
TERROR
IN SMALL DOSES By John Grover
Review by Shannon Riley
A
desperate woman living in a run down tenement on the
wrong side of town discovers during one of the frequent
power failures that horrifying things happen when the
lights go out we learn in "Black Out," the
leading story, and one of the best, in John Grover's
new collection Terror in Small Doses.
Six
short tales comprise this small volume, but don't be
mislead by its size. Good things do come in small packages,
and you'll find some real gems among the offerings here.
"Patience"
tells the story of the thing that waits under the stairs,
and "Conjurer" recounts the difficulty of
trying to outwit demons.
Beware
"The Gibbering," for the haunting voices speak
of failures and mistakes that can never be undone.
"Release
Me" finds a man with the gift of opening the portals
between worlds betrayed by his own powers.
The
collection ends with a powerful and chilling tale entitled
"Available for Parties." This cautionary tale
reminds readers that appearances can be dreadfully deceiving.
John
Grover, co-author of Space Stations and Grave Yards,
and author of the forthcoming book A Beckoning of Shadows,
is a talented young author whose work is fresh and original.
Terror in Small Doses is a worthy effort showcasing
his unique vision of darkness.
To
learn more about John's work, visit him online at www.shadowtales.com.
Nocturne
Press - Limited edition chapbook
Shocklines.com
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