Review: Where the Dead Go to Die

Where the Dead Go to Die by Aaron Dries
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Review: WHERE THE DEAD GO TO DIE by Mark Allan Gunnells and Aaron Dries

I'd long ago grown weary of the sane-old same-old common to much zombie fiction, so I'm much gratified to come upon WHERE THE DEAD GO TO DIE, a fine collaboration from two excellent horror authors, a novel which turned my emotions upside down and topsy turvy. Yes, the authors proclaim their intention to expose and explore emotions, and reading this has left me emotionally wrung out [not to mention both awestruck and quite terrified]. Indeed, the human condition can produce both the worst of monsters...and the heights of angels. WHERE THE DEAD GO TO DIE is timely and apropos horror, finely-tuned, uproariously scary [again, fear the living, the self-righteous who see evil everywhere but within], and a masterstroke.

View all my reviews

Review: Hauntings: Three Haunted House Novellas

Hauntings: Three Haunted House Novellas by Olivia Harlowe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: HAUNTINGS: THREE HAUNTED HOUSE NOVELLAS by Olivia Harlowe, Mason Graves, Violet Archer

Three very different, but frightening stories, each of a haunted residence--empty for a time, until purchased (in two cases) or inherited (in one case). In all three stories, the new residents (and visitors) discover the house they thought empty--really is occupied. These manifestations are without exception implacable, as well as malignant and determined. Enjoy three novellas to frighten, terrify, and invade dreams.


View all my reviews

Review: Raven's Ridge: A Haunted Mystery

Raven's Ridge: A Haunted Mystery by Connie Myres
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Review: RAVEN'S RIDGE

I was very agreeably surprised by the depth and expanse of this novel. Going in, I expected an "ordinary" haunted home novel, and hoped for some serious spookiness. RAVEN'S RIDGE provided so much more: gaslighting, friendship, treasure, history, and effectively, a treatise on good vs. Evil, with some of the nastiest, mist cold-blooded and heartless villains ever! There's so much to this story, which I found thought-provoking and unforgettable.

View all my reviews

Review: Fiero's Pizza

Fiero's Pizza by Ike Hamill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: FIERO'S PIZZA by Ike Hamill

FIERO'S PIZZA is a weird and engrossing paranormal. I say weird because its premise is substantially different from any I've read. The premise and its consequences are tightly constructed and logical, given the foundation.

A couple move from Connecticut to Central Maine where they have bought an antique farmhouse and sizable property. Time passes, and the family goes to include four sons--and an implacable demonic parasite. Shocks and scares abound.

View all my reviews

Review: FEVER DREAMS: A Bracken and Bledsoe Paranormal Mystery

FEVER DREAMS: A Bracken and Bledsoe Paranormal Mystery by Campbell Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: FEVER DREAMS by Campbell Jones
(BRACKEN AND BLEDSOE PARANORMAL MYSTERY #1)

FEVER DREAMS is the first entry in the paranormal series featuring Katie Bracken and Elliot Bledsoe, paranormal investigators. I read this after reading NIGHT CHILLS, and while the hauntings in NIGHT CHILLS were frightening and nearly implacable, I found FEVER DREAMS much more disturbing. The setting to my mind is oppressive and there were a couple events in the swamp that were significantly frightening, to the point of wondering if the protagonists would survive, let alone succeed. Additionally there is one plot thread which really perturbed me as it unfolded in the denouement. I guessed at some of the past events, but the eventual final denouement really surprised me.

View all my reviews

Review: FEVER DREAMS: A Bracken and Bledsoe Paranormal Mystery

FEVER DREAMS: A Bracken and Bledsoe Paranormal Mystery by Campbell Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: FEVER DREAMS by Campbell Jones
(BRACKEN AND BLEDSOE PARANORMAL MYSTERY #1)

FEVER DREAMS is the first entry in the paranormal series featuring Katie Bracken and Elliot Bledsoe, paranormal investigators. I read this after reading NIGHT CHILLS, and while the hauntings in NIGHT CHILLS were frightening and nearly implacable, I found FEVER DREAMS much more disturbing. The setting to my mind is oppressive and there were a couple events in the swamp that were significantly frightening, to the point of wondering if the protagonists would survive, let alone succeed. Additionally there is one plot thread which really perturbed me as it unfolded in the denouement. I guessed at some of the past events, but the eventual final denouement really surprised me.

View all my reviews

Review: Night Chills

Night Chills by Campbell Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: NIGHT CHILLS by Campbell Jones
(Bracken and Bledsoe Paranormal Mystery #2)

NIGHT CHILLS is the second installment in the Bracken and Bledsoe Paranormal Investigators Mystery series by April Campbell Jones and Bruce Elliott Jones. However, it's the first I'd read, and I immediately fell head over heels with the characters and plot. Dr. Katie Bracken and skeptic screenwriting professor Elliott Bledsoe are the "push-me/pull-you" of paranormal investigators, so much so that frequently they are mistaken for an old married couple. In NIGHT CHILLS they investigate a lovely old Victorian on Coronado Island, California, which is inexplicably linked to the famous and historic Hotel del Coronado. The hauntings are really frightening and the plot is taut and riveting.

View all my reviews

Review: Daughters Unto Devils

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: DAUGHTERS UNTO DEVILS by Amy Lukavics

An exceptionally well-plotted, tacitly woven and imaginative novel, DAUGHTERS UNTO DEVILS has much to recommend it, even to audiences other than its YA appeal. Ms. Lukavics is a fine author, creating a world all its spooky own, both the terrible mountain winter, and the autumn prairie stretching to the mysterious forest. The characters are well-fleshed, and the author's subtlety in cleverly building the very real horror is worthy of a writer many times published. In addition to the provision of terrors both otherworldly and human, the very real spectre of mental illness is a chord well-strummed. In this historical setting, it goes unrecognized in favor of possible demonic influence.

DAUGHTERS UNTO DEVILS is an engrossing novel with the power to linger long in the mind.

View all my reviews

Review: Spider's Web

Spider's Web by Mike Omer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: SPIDER'S WEB by Mike Omer
(Glenrose Park #1)

First in the series of police procedural set in Glenrose Park, Massachusetts, SPIDER'S WEB is a one-stop riveting read with a clever and cunning killer whose obsessions may nevertheless be his downfall--if the police can find him on time. The characters are easily empathetic, and in a number of situations, author Mike Omer strongly plays to the reader's heart. Action is non-stop and the suspense remains at a high level. I anticipate the next in series.



View all my reviews

Review: The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black by Kerry Wilkinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: THE WOMAN IN BLACK by Kerry Wilkinson

A riveting British police procedural with a complex and shock-laden plot, THE WOMAN IN BLACK will keep pages turning and readers well-engrossed. Well-defined characters allow ready empathy. I especially appreciated the author's subtle application of clues without telegraphing the denouement.

View all my reviews

Review: The Devil's Prayer

The Devil's Prayer by Luke Gracias
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: THE DEVIL'S PRAYER by Luke Gracias

A convoluted and complex mystery-suspense-thriller, THE DEVIL'S PRAYER will keep readers on tenterhooks wondering "what next?" With supernatural, religious, and historical threads interwoven, this thriller will appeal to a widely diverse audience. The author's affinity for delineating both visual scenery as well as heartfelt emotions, and ability to effect reader's suspension of disbelief, combine into an exciting thriller with serious overtones.

View all my reviews

Review: Don't Turn Around

Don't Turn Around by Caroline Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: DON'T TURN AROUND by Caroline Mitchell
(Detective Jennifer Knight Crime Thriller Series Book 1)

An engrossing British police procedural with a strong paranormal foundation, DON'T TURN AROUND showcases Detective Constable Jennifer Knight of the Haven, England police force. Psychic from childhood, Jennifer is exiled to a backwater community because of what is deemed her mental health issues. Daughter of a detective sergeant mother who died young, Jennifer resents her ex-police father and his alcoholism. In a new series of unexplained deaths mimicking a series investigated by her mother, with a killer self-styled the Grim Reaper, supernatural occurrences including apparent possession, confuse and sidetrack Jennifer's determined investigations.

View all my reviews

Review: The Paranormal Investigations of Mr Charles Fort

The Paranormal Investigations of Mr Charles Fort by T.E. Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review THE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS OF MR. CHARLES FORT by T. E. Scott
(The Charles Fort Mysteries Book 1)

Bumbling British civil servant Moreton, narrator of this series, is frequently stuck between a rock and a hard place as his orders to accompany intrepid investigator of "anomalous phenomena," Charles Fort, send him to odd places and odder people.. Moreton is not only a skeptic, but supremely feckless, and like Holmes' Dr. Watson, he is often wrong-footed. Unlike Holmes, Fort is also not too smooth, but he is indefatigable. Their combination makes for a fascinating "tour" of postwar Britain in 1919, and the milieu of mediums and spiritualists, skeptics and frauds, bureaucracy and crime.

View all my reviews

Review: Windows into Hell

Windows into Hell by James Wymore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review WINDOWS INTO HELL Anthology

I expected only good things from an anthology edited and collected by James Wymore, and indeed, this very special set exceeds my expectations. A superb rendering of varied viewpoints about what happens after death, WINDOWS INTO HELL is engrossing, enlightening, and a sheer pleasure to peruse. In some anthologies or short story collections, I can select one or multiple entries as my "favorite." Not so here: each entry is outstanding. Kudos indeed to James Wymore and fellow authors for a superb and thought-provoking reading experience!

View all my reviews

Review: The Lost Child of Lychford

The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Review: Covenant

Covenant by Allan Leverone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: COVENANT by Allan Leverone

A frightening story of implacable horror and mystery, COVENANT commences with horror and never relents. In a quiet New Hampshire community, a monster-in-human-form, a man of extensive wealth, constructed for himself a home and a playground for sadism. Eventually, after decades of torture and numerous murders, he died--but Edward Collins' evil lives on. When a gloriously happy and well-matched couple buys the century-old reconstruction built atop Collins' blood-drenched foundation, his spirit is infuriated and he terrorizes and kills, even from beyond his grave. COVENANT is an electrifying page-turner not readily forgotten.

View all my reviews

Review: Very Important Corpses

Very Important Corpses by Simon R. Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: VERY IMPORTANT CORPSES by Simon Green
[ISHMAEL JONES Book 3]

Since the first book, I've been head over heels ecstatic about this series. Ishmael Jones is a covert--very intensely--operative, currently in the employ of the generically titled The Organization. No ordinary spy is he; Ishmael Jones operates in "the hidden world," the shadows where sometimes the monsters are men; and sometimes they're monsters--literally. A lovely combination of supernatural, paranormal, and extraterrestrial/extradimensional, this series ranks high on gore content, violence, and heroism (Rocky and Bond, eat your hearts out). It's totally engrossing.

In VERY IMPORTANT CORPSES, Ishmael and his human partner Penny Belcourt (introduced in Book 1) are tasked to security at Cronach House, a Scottish fortress of high antiquity, poised overlooking notorious Loch Ness. Their charges are a secretive financial group supposed to be more secret and more powerful than even the Bilderburg Group or the Illuminati. Their sense of high entitlement enables a pointed riff on class distinctions and perceptions.

View all my reviews

Review: Living Death

Living Death by Graham Masterton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: LIVING DEATH by Graham Masterton

Author Graham Masterton is noted for his prolific output, his devotion to imaginative horror, and to his immense talent and ability to engross readers. In the Katie Maguire Series, he applies that talent to crime--specifically in Cork, Ireland. In this seventh in the series, Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire copes with an influx of stultifyingly dangerous imported narcotics, a rash of dognapping, kidnapping, and a new beau. She also welcomes into her home an ex-lover, a double amputee, who still carries a torch Katie can't return. Meanwhile behind the scenes, an enemy of Katie 's goes to great lengths to destroy her career, and a madman creates "living deaths."

LIVING DEATH is rife with the entitlement of self, expressed through several different individuals. It is also rampant with extremes of violence and not recommended for the faint of stomach or heart. This was a story throughout which I rooted for the bad guys' comeuppance.



View all my reviews

Review: Five Stories High: One House, Five Hauntings, Five Chilling Stories

Five Stories High: One House, Five Hauntings, Five Chilling Stories by K.J. Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: FIVE STORIES HIGH by Various Authors

FIVE STORIES HIGH is a themed collection, stories from five authors, interwoven into a framework entitled "Notes from Irongrove Lodge." There exists on a fairly quiet street in London a large residence...or it doesn't exist. At times, it can be located by some few individuals; at other occasions, it can't be found. Sometimes its title is Irongrove Lodge, at other times Greystone Lodge. Sometimes it's a private residence, at other times an apartment building of five flats; sometimes a horrible asylum. It is also a building whose dimensions frequently change, and it is a passage to the void.

One thing is for certain: the stories contained in FIVE STORIES HIGH will definitely boggle the mind.

View all my reviews

Review: The Feast of All Souls

The Feast of All Souls by Simon Bestwick
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Review: FEAST OF ALL SOULS by Simon Bestwick


FEAST OF ALL SOULS is an expansive horror novel constructed on a tautly plotted framework, delving into history, quantum physics, and the space-time continuum. Some portions and characters delve into what I would term extreme horror, so this is not a story for the easily upset. Nevertheless, it is a novel with powerful impact, and in many aspects, resonates with the vivid tones of reality. Almost everyone can identity with characters and some of the book's situations, though not all of us will have encountered such monsters as exist throughout.

View all my reviews