Review: Short Stories III: Strange, Weird & Sci-Fi

Short Stories III: Strange, Weird & Sci-Fi by Rich DiSilvio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

7 startling tales from an author who is fearless in letting his imagination roam free and who willingly offers homage to his inspirations, both literary and musical. I still cannot stop pondering the incredible denouement and conclusion of "Adam and Adams," a story which returned me to the Nuclear Scares and Apocalyptic literature of my 1950's childhood.

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Review: Darkness at the Edge of Town

Darkness at the Edge of Town by Jennifer Harlow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A compelling suspense thriller that runs the gamut of emotions, DARKNESS AT THE EDGE OF TOWN is Book 2 in the Dr. Iris Ballard series. Iris, now a national "hero" after killing a suave, wealthy, multiple rapist-murderer while still a forensic psychologist with the FBI. Against her better judgment, she returns to her Rust Belt hometown to locate her brother, who may have joined a cult.


Shades of Branch Davidian, Jonestown, and Heaven's Gate echo throughout the novel, which will appeal to readers of Sandra Brannan, Tess Gerritsen, and Iris Johansen. There is a plethora of obscenity, some violence and tragedy, and some sexual scenes, so 18+.

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Review: Blakemort

Blakemort by Shani Struthers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've not read the PSYCHIC SURVEYS Series in order, though I have read Book 1 and Book 4, and BLAKEMORT, which gives background prequel on one of the new characters. So far I do believe OLD CROSS COTTAGE is my favourite. It provides both depth and breadth--there are multiple threads of haunting involved, and we really delve into the reasons why and the emotional backgrounds. Several of the characters--alive and dead--particularly resonated for me; and Ruby and Cash certainly pull our heartstrings as they develop their relationship while simultaneously coping with numerous hauntings. I am definitely going to catch up on this series.

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Review: Old Cross Cottage

Old Cross Cottage by Shani Struthers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've not read the PSYCHIC SURVEYS Series in order, though I have read Book 1 and Book 4, and BLAKEMORT, which gives background prequel on one of the new characters. So far I do believe OLD CROSS COTTAGE is my favourite. It provides both depth and breadth--there are multiple threads of haunting involved, and we really delve into the reasons why and the emotional backgrounds. Several of the characters--alive and dead--particularly resonated for me; and Ruby and Cash certainly pull our heartstrings as they develop their relationship while simultaneously coping with numerous hauntings. I am definitely going to catch up on this series.

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Review: Slashing Mona Lisa

Slashing Mona Lisa by D.M. Barr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SLASHING MONA LISA is a hardhitting and heartwrenching mystery focusing on themes of self-esteem and self-acceptance in a contemporary society celebrating youth, falseness, and cookie-cutter appearance, bullying by fat-shaming.


Intrepid protagonist Camarin lost her epileptic twin to that shaming, and her burning purpose is to expose fat-shaming and convince those who don't match society's ideal that they are fine as they are.

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Review: Palmer Entity: Supernatural Suspense with Scary & Horrifying Monsters

Palmer Entity: Supernatural Suspense with Scary & Horrifying Monsters by David Longhorn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

PALMER ENTITY is the sequel to the horrifying novel ROOKWOOD ASYLUM.
The late Doctor Miles Rugeley Palmer, who along with all the other staff and all the patients of the former Rookwood Asylum, perished in the fire in 1955, has for all these decades collected to him in spirit those patients and staff, together with additional spirits who have died in the building over the years. This massed entity seemingly is confined to the building's premises, but in the remaining copse of trees is awakening the ancient pagan god which once ruled that forest. American Paul Mahan unwillingly agrees to participate in a ghost hunting documentary in the building, fearful that more tragedy will ensue, which of course does occur.

PALMER ENTITY is riveting and terrifying, due to the implacability of the horrors and targeting of bystanders and the virtually innocent. I quite enjoyed this read, as I did the first in the series, and hope it continues.

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Review: Rookwood Asylum: Supernatural Suspense with Scary & Horrifying Monsters

Rookwood Asylum: Supernatural Suspense with Scary & Horrifying Monsters by David Longhorn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a quiet English community, once there existed a thriving forest, home to capering wildlife and birds, especially noted for its rooks. Earlier eras stayed away from the forest for reasons of superstition or just quiet discontent. Then came a plan to raze most of the trees and build on the site, and Rookwood Asylum was constructed. An unfortunate choice of location, indeed; and an unfortunate choice of directors, for Doctor Miles Rugeley Palmer was a rampantly egotistical megalomaniac, a person of short stature determined to make a blazing mark on his world. He cared not for the value of human life nor dignity. Humans existed for the purpose of his experimentation, in which he blended medical science with the paranormal.

Eventually Palmer discovers "the perfect subject," a seventeen-year-old unwed mother named Annie. But his "treatments" (including electroconvulsive therapy) unleash her brain capacity, and she overpowers him psychically. The results are tragic for all: a fire engulfs the East Wing, and all patients and staff are killed.

Decades later a developer remodels the asylum building into expensive apartments, but of course there are tragedies galore, during renovation and once tenants move in. Among the new apartment owners is American Paul Mahan, who teaches at a Tynecastle university. As the truth of the tragedies and of the history of the asylum unravels, Paul is fortunate to escape with his life, after being targeted by "Liz," a ghost haunting the renovated complex.

I found ROOKWOOD ASYLUM a compelling and horrifying read. The horror is implacable and encompassing, and leaves the expectation of an equally engrossing sequel (PALMER ENTITY).

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Review: Monster of the Asylum

Monster of the Asylum by B.T. Lord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read the sample, then bought the book, and found it totally compelling. I needed no suspension of disbelief to comprehend the paranormal elements, which are so well delivered and interwoven with conviction. Characters are thoroughly delineated through their actions, converse, and internal dialogue; several experience character evolution, while some undergo character devolution with its resulting consequences.

Although the story line involves lots of hauntings, nevertheless these express realistically, and throughout the paranormal is interwoven with the past history and present circumstances of the building and its environs. The eponymous Monster is different than expected (and this is borne out by the suggestions of viewers who are in real time watching the broadcast of the ghost hunting investigation), yet its nature (past and present) worked excellently in the context and was very realistic and possible.

I did not realize until I had finished the novel (in one sitting) and read the two Author's Notes that the co-authors are themselves experienced in the field of the paranormal and of paranormal investigations. I now realize where the realism is derived from. I'm eagerly awaiting the continuation of this series.

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Review: Caught Up In It

Caught Up In It by David Burnsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Although as Noir mystery I couldn't term the Blu Carraway Investigations Series "light-hearted," I can call them entertaining, spirit-lifting, and a delight to read. Yes, there is violence; but the author delineates his characters so deeply, explores their backstories and their potential future timelines. He also sets up a really puzzling mystery that the protagonists and associates and friends must work at diligently to solve while they remain alive, because they are all definitely in danger here. The characters also demonstrate a depth of feeling that is not often encountered in Noir, I don't think, and this make for a well-rounded mystery with plenty of depth and breadth.

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Review: The Codebook Murders

The Codebook Murders by Leslie Nagel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE OAKWOOD BOOK CLUB MYSTERIES is one of my absolutely favourite cozy mystery series. I can't help but love characters who adore books, and this series features several strong-in-integrity female characters, along with several male series characters who are respectful, supportive, and loving (even protective). The books are well-written and compelling, examining the characters in great depth, and providing puzzling mysteries to be solved.

In THE CODEBOOK MURDERS protagonist Charley Carpenter and her Oakwood Book Club (which reads and discusses only mysteries by female authors) stumble upon a 40-year-old local mystery, and how it resonates with their current book club selection, Agatha Christie's DEATH ON THE NILE (which made me want to reread it!). The case is so cold, but a killer still lurks, active and determined to keep the original murder forever unsolved, no matter who has to die or be ruined.

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Review: Ancestral Transgression: A Paranormal Mystery Novel

Ancestral Transgression: A Paranormal Mystery Novel by R.P. Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As is author R. P. Wood's earlier book, DEAD GOD OF HOLDREDGE VALLEY, ANCESTRAL TRANSGRESSION is set in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Courtney and Peter rent an expensive secluded cabin to rejuvenate their failing relationship. But being alone seems to bring out the worst in each, and the advent of a Totem which appears and disappears in multiple location, angry messages written in the Cherokee syllabary, and terrifying sounds at the cabin should propel the duo back to their urban home--if only they had the sense to heed the approach of danger.

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Review: The Fifth Grave: A DCI Jacob Mystery

The Fifth Grave: A DCI Jacob Mystery by Rob Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE FIFTH GRAVE, from prolific thriller and suspense author Rob Jones, is the first in the new DCI JACOB MYSTERY series. Wiltshire England Detective Chief Inspector Tom Jacob is a marvel: maverick, rule-breaker, a strong individual broken in spirit after the tragedy a year prior. After a sterling career on the London Metropolitan Police and the Thames Valley Division at Oxford, the tragic death of his fiancee and bereavement leave, he has returned to his childhood home, the Old Watermill, on the Wiltshire Downs. A trio of metal detector explorers out in the forest on Boxing Day (December 26) uncover a skeleton beneath a beech tree's roots. It proves to be a cold case, but Jacob and his team are determined to solve it: and then the new killings commence.


Consistently taut suspense, surprises, a shocking denouement and explosive ending contribute to a riveting and thought-provoking read.

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Review: Beneath Cruel Fathoms

Beneath Cruel Fathoms by Anela Deen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First in a Norse-like epic fantasy series, BENEATH CRUEL FATHOMS features as protagonist Isaura, a Healer, who has set sail for a distant land after the sudden unexpected dissolution of her marriage. Unfortunately, this is a time of multiple dangerous tempests on the sea, as never before known, and the ship capsizes, all crew lost. Rescued by the last of the merfolk, Isaura joins with Leonel to uncover the truth behind these terribly dangerous storms. Part fairy tale, part fantasy, all delight.

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Review: A Book of Bones

A Book of Bones by John Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What could possibly outshine a new entry in John Connolly's meta-exceptional Charlie Parker Series? I'd be hard pressed to judge, because this is my equivalent of Christmas and birthdays rolled into one. I think Paradise would consist of rereading this entire, lengthy, always engrossing, series again in consecutive order from the very beginning. Private Investigator Charlie Parker of Scarborough, Maine: a former police detective, widower, who also lost his first daughter, parent of a second daughter who walks between worlds and regularly converses with her father's murdered first daughter, a mortal man who has died and returned...I can think of no protagonist to compare. And Parker's friends, the indombitable Louis and Angel....An incredible, delightful, irresistible trio.

In this 17th novel in the series, the trio continues to track the odd English lawyer Quayle, and his Pale as Death associate, the morally corrupt Pallida Mors, following their trail of brutality from Indiana to Maine, and on to England, where numerous ritual sacrifices are undertaken in pursuit of reviving an ancient Earthbound evil. At the heart of the matter is the infamous Fractured Atlas, a living entity which will remake this world for the much, much, worse.


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Review: Deep Past: A Novel

Deep Past: A Novel by Eugene Linden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When, early in the first few pages, I read that something has been uncovered in a forlorn, isolated, region of the world (specifically, the Kazahk Steppes), immediately I knew I was embarking on a suspense-laden thrill ride. What was revealed? Why shouldn't it have been discovered? What does this mean for humanity and the world at large?


All these burning questions ignited my intrigue, and this thoughtful (and thought-provoking), literate exposition in a thriller maintained my close attention throughout. Afterwards, I found myself lost in the possibilities: What If? DEEP PAST is a novel we all ought to read and consider.

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Review: The Night Window

The Night Window by Dean Koontz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE NIGHT WINDOW is the conclusion to Dean Koontz' enormously riveting (and realistically terrifying) JANE HAWK Series. As this is the final novel in the Quintology, I really feared the ending, so throughout the novel I remained on tenterhooks. This series is so terrifying because IT'S ALL SO POSSIBLE, both in terms of the technology (if not already, soon) and even more intensely, because of the human failings and foibles, the Narcissism, the immense drive for power over others, the greed. Think Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great cloned into one, then that one multiplied. Such is the nature of the Arcadian conspiracy: to enslave all but a tiny percent of humanity, to erase individual freedom and free will. This horrifying prospect drives former FBI agent Jane Hawk to wage war against all Arcadians, no matter how high in government nor politically connected nor wealthy beyond comprehension.

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Review: All the Pretty Brides

All the Pretty Brides by Marian Lanouette
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An engrossing suspense thriller, ALL THE PRETTY BRIDES is the third installment in the Detective Jake Carrigan Series. Set in a city of 100,000 population in Connecticut, the series protagonist is a Homicide detective, now Lieutenant, with tragedy in his past--the murder of his sister at fifteen. Commitment-phobic, he is trying to reestablish a relationship with psychologist--author Mia, when a horribly tortured murder victim is discovered, capping a series of brides-to-be kidnapped on July 6, one each year for the past five years. Then the killer targets both Jake and Mia.


I was riveted. ALL THE PRETTY BRIDES is a marvelous, although gory, page-turner.

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Review: SO FIGHT I

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45021531-so-fight-i" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="So Fight I (Echoes of War Book 3)" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1554993537m/45021531.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45021531-so-fight-i">So Fight I</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18165458.Daniel_Gibbs">Daniel Gibbs</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2821052564">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
 This is Book 3 in author Daniel Gibbs' ECHOES OF WAR Series, consistently one of the most fascinating and exciting science fiction series I have read over many decades. Excellently composed, with endearing characters, suspenseful actions, aliens, and a wonderfully compelling religious and moral stance different, refreshing, and heartwarming, each novel in the series expands its characters and demonstrates winningly the character arc of the series' admirable protagonist, starfarer David Cohen.
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Review: ENLIGHTENMENT by Reno Ursal

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41458934-enlightenment" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Enlightenment (The Bathala, #1)" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1535231963m/41458934.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41458934-enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7323449.Reno_Ursal">Reno Ursal</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2820989102">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
First in a series, ENLIGHTENMENT follows young Filipine Dorothy Dizon, a resident of Las Vegas, and her unexpected protector Adrian, scion of a secret society. A contemporary fantasy weaving today's glitter society with the hidden history of the Philippines, this is a story like none I have encountered, an eye-opening and imagination-expanding novel.
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Review: Enlightenment

Enlightenment by Reno Ursal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First in a series, ENLIGHTENMENT follows young Filipine Dorothy Dizon, a resident of Las Vegas, and her unexpected protector Adrian, scion of a secret society. A contemporary fantasy weaving today's glitter society with the hidden history of the Philippines, this is a story like none I have encountered, an eye-opening and imagination-expanding novelm

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Review: The Ironclad Covenant

The Ironclad Covenant by Christopher Cartwright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE IRONCLAD COVENANT is a terrifically engrossing and exciting historical adventure which kept me riveted from Page One to the end. I've always found the American Civil War a fascinating subject in all its ramifications, and to get a close-up look, plus an incredible mystery, plus deep characterizations and extraordinary imagery, make for a completely riveting story, both in the historical era and in the subsequent contemporary adventure.

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Review: The Dead Girls Club

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

From the very beginning I did not like the protagonist/narrator. I find her selfish, self-centered, egotistical, and a drama queen. Almost immediately she goes into the "huff, puff, I'll swoon" stage like a well-bred Victorian noblewoman on her fainting couch. I'm reminded of the antagonist Kate in Robyn Harding's HER PRETTY FACE; I could not abide her character either (though I adored the book). Heather also reminds me of the unreliable narrator of GIRL ON A TRAIN. This protagonist has no reason I could see to be as she is: she didn't have an abusive childhood; she had supportive and loving parents, a best friend, and two other almost-best friends. They seemed to have much freedom as far as being able to roam and go about, separately and together. Perhaps she is one of those cases of "damned by faint praise," a person whose life is too stable so she gets spoiled and seeks out excitement, then blames her failings on others (including the victim).

All that aside, the novel did catch my interest about 18% in, and the plot is intriguing, especially certain events which begin to occur in the life of the protagonist in an odd but compelling sequence, so that the reader wonders if the protagonist is having blank spells and acting thus herself, or is being gaslighted, or is in actuality being threatened. Throughout the story, the past is interwoven with the present, so that we see why events in the past happened as they did, and in what I think is the denouement, we find out exactly what was and was not done that fateful past night, and why, and what were the intents. I will only say how tragic, for all, but especially for some.

Despite my strong and persistent dislike of the protagonist, Heather Cole, the story line did maintain its intrigue and keep me turning the pages till the end.

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Review: The Dead Girls Club

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

From the very beginning I did not like the protagonist/narrator. I find her selfish, self-centered, egotistical, and a drama queen. Almost immediately she goes into the "huff, puff, I'll swoon" stage like a well-bred Victorian noblewoman on her fainting couch. I'm reminded of the antagonist Kate in Robyn Harding's HER PRETTY FACE; I could not abide her character either (though I adored the book). Heather also reminds me of the unreliable narrator of GIRL ON A TRAIN. This protagonist has no reason I could see to be as she is: she didn't have an abusive childhood; she had supportive and loving parents, a best friend, and two other almost-best friends. They seemed to have much freedom as far as being able to roam and go about, separately and together. Perhaps she is one of those cases of "damned by faint praise," a person whose life is too stable so she gets spoiled and seeks out excitement, then blames her failings on others (including the victim).

All that aside, the novel did catch my interest about 18% in, and the plot is intriguing, especially certain events which begin to occur in the life of the protagonist in an odd but compelling sequence, so that the reader wonders if the protagonist is having blank spells and acting thus herself, or is being gaslighted, or is in actuality being threatened. Throughout the story, the past is interwoven with the present, so that we see why events in the past happened as they did, and in what I think is the denouement, we find out exactly what was and was not done that fateful past night, and why, and what were the intents. I will only say how tragic, for all, but especially for some.

Despite my strong and persistent dislike of the protagonist, Heather Cole, the story line did maintain its intrigue and keep me turning the pages till the end.

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Review: Section Roads

Section Roads by Mike Murphey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a gloriously twisty mystery packed within a combination coming-of-age plus aging-and-looking-back literary feat! In a tiny little community inexplicably founded by settlers in Eastern New Mexico and homesteaded at the turn of the 20th century, a locale without rivers, mountains, or canyons to recommend it, life is slow and entertainment sometimes found at the expense of others. In October of 1966, a group of high school kids create a prank, causing injury, and inevitably as the consequences roll out, fatality and the ruination of a life.

As time passes, the high school graduation class reunions bring some of the former classmates back to little Arthur, New Mexico, and during the 40th reunion of 2009, trouble wakes its ugly head. From that point on, a series of unreliable characters, each of whom keeps secrets from the others, from the community, and even from themselves, reveal little by little a plot which has to be read to marvel at. I had to wonder how some of these folks managed to live to 40 years after high school graduation, because some of them are their own worst enemies. Nonetheless, their entwined troubles make for a fascinating novel.

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Review: Inside The Asylum

Inside The Asylum by Mary SanGiovanni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

INSIDE THE ASYLUM is the third book in Mary SanGiovanni's "Kathy Ryan Series," after BEHIND THE DOOR and CHILLS. I marveled at the first two in the series: Kathy Ryan is an incredibly complex character, vulnerable yet tough, horribly abused in childhood so empathetic to other victims, wise in the ways of the Otherworld. Her foil is her horrible brother Toby, once her protector, then her assailant, a man who committed multiple brutal rape-murders and threatened the same to his sister.

In INSIDE THE ASYLUM, Kathy, who is a bit of a roving consultant on the occult, is called into the hospital for the criminally insane where her brother Toby is incarcerated. Another inmate, Henry Banks, who suffered an incredibly horrific childhood and adolescence at the hands of family members, long ago created for himself a fantasy realm into which to retreat; but Henry's imagination is so powerful that it has created "tulpas," entities which now are determined on living for themselves, not as illusionary "imaginary friends" anymore.

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Review: Inspired by Murder

Inspired by Murder by Audrey J. Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Psychiatrist and hopeful novelist Dr. Eric Leroy is about as feckless a protagonist as I've encountered. He is also a dangerous one, because he is incredibly self-centered and Narcissistic, with no capacity for self-analysis. Early on he decides his future bestselling, Pulitzer Prize winning novel-to-be is insufficiently vivid. Since it's a murder mystery, he decides experience is essential and sets out to get it: by murdering, setting off a comedy of errors (and deaths) worthy of Rube Goldberg.

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Review: The Ouroboros Lock

The Ouroboros Lock by Mark William Chase
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An enormously engaging Victorian-era Steampunkish Urban Fantasy presented as as a framework of three linked tales, this collection is eminently readable and yet reminds me of the best classic Gothic literature in its very compelling resonances.

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Review: The Lost Girls

The Lost Girls by Sarah Painter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THE LOST GIRLS is a dark supernatural thriller about a university student in historic Edinburgh who inadvertently commences experiencing realistic visions of the deaths of young women much like herself, and of a young man trained by his father since the age of seven to be a demon hunter. A sensorily engaging novel, readers easily empathize with Rose and desire to solve the puzzling mystery.

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Review: The Lost Girls

The Lost Girls by Sarah Painter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THE LOST GIRLS is a dark supernatural thriller about a university student in historic Edinburgh who inadvertently commences experiencing realistic visions of the deaths of young women much like herself, and of a young man trained by his father since the age of seven to be a demon hunter. A sensorily engaging novel, readers easily empathize with Rose and desire to solve the puzzling mystery.

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Review: The Death Chute

The Death Chute by Ambrose Stolliker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An engrossing horror novella set in Vermont's mountains, THE DEATH CHUTE deftly and winningly combines both contemporary events and the not-so-distant past. A Vermont native and reality producer of little note in L.A., Jake Porter has returned to his home state in order to place his mother, suffering from senile dementia, into a care home. Unfortunately he selects a lovely institution with a sad and tragic past.

As Jake grieves his mother's decline and fears she is sinking faster than expected, he also begins to develop a relationship with the physician who is the Home's administrator. These three individuals and a resident who has been at the Home a year, gradually unravel the tragic history of the building, which was once a much-needed sanitorium for Tuberculosis patients in the early 20th century.

The background history is fascinating and the story line kept me riveted through to the end, and delivered a satisfying sense of, if not mercy, at least poetic justice.



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Review: Hellrider

Hellrider by J.G. Faherty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really anticipated this novel when I saw it available at NetGalley. In some ways I ended up liking it a lot, in other ways not so much. I found myself empathising with the eponymous character, Eddie Ryder, from the beginning, until nearly the end. He's had a rough life, bad genetics, but he does love his ailing mother (emphysema) and his younger (very intelligent) brother. He tries his best to support them and himself in a tiny little "backwater" community next to the Everglades. He's made mistakes, he's paid for them; but seems like either due to genetics or his own attitudes or his reputation, he's still paying...And then comes that fatal moment...

Except: for Eddie, it's fatal but it's also a second chance. So he decides to repay everybody that's done him wrong. That was fine for a while; I enjoy vigilante justice as much as the next person, but before too long, Eddie's spirit or ghost or whatever his afterdeath energy is called loses its hold on sanity; and from there it was just over the top. Too many people get hurt who really were "innocent bystanders." Like a war zone.

Finally Mr. Flaherty ties off the tapestry with a really neatly done ending and epilogue. Scary, but neat. And apropos to the story.

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Review: The Invited

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading any novel by this author is a sure ticket to adventure, and THE INVITED is one of her best (although I love them all). The character evolution of multiple individuals in THE INVITED is to die for (sometimes literally). The friction between the Skeptic and the Believer as trouble builds, each character begins to take on the stance and characteristics of the other, the many ongoing and historical mysteries, and the umbrella and foundation of the supernatural elements involved here, make for an extraordinarily compelling, can't stop reading, story.

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Review: The Invited

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading any novel by this author is a sure ticket to adventure, and THE INVITED is one of her best (although I love them all). The character evolution of multiple individuals in THE INVITED is to die for (sometimes literally). The friction between the Skeptic and the Believer as trouble builds, each character begins to take on the stance and characteristics of the other, the many ongoing and historical mysteries, and the umbrella and foundation of the supernatural elements involved here, make for an extraordinarily compelling, can't stop reading, story.

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