Ink, By Jonathan Maberry ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Child Rape, Horror, Supernatural, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 17th, 2020

464 Pages

Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry, comes a standalone supernatural thriller Ink, about a memory thief who feeds on the most precious of dreams.

Tattoo artist, Patty Cakes has her dead daughter’s face tattooed on the back of her hand. Day by day it begins to fade, taking with it all of Patty’s memories of her daughter. All she’s left with is the certain knowledge she has forgotten her lost child. The awareness of that loss is tearing her apart.

Monk Addison is a private investigator whose skin is covered with the tattooed faces of murder victims. He is a predator who hunts for killers, and the ghosts of all those dead people haunt his life. Some of those faces have begun to fade too, destroying the very souls of the dead.

All through the town of Pine Deep, people are having their most precious memories stolen. The monster seems to target the lonely, the disenfranchised, the people who need memories to anchor them to this world.

Something is out there. Something cruel and evil is feeding on the memories, erasing them from the hearts and minds of people like Patty and Monk and others.

Ink is the story of a few lonely, damaged people hunting for a memory thief. When all you have are memories, there is no greater horror than forgetting.

Argh! I finished Ink three days ago and I’m still trying to sort out my feelings. This is a follow-up to Maberry’s Pine Deep trilogy which I LOVED, but it can be read as a standalone. Let’s get what I didn’t like out of the way. First, I’m not a prude, but I thought there were way too many sex scenes, and the ones with the villain masturbating while he fed on his victims’ memories were particularly unnecessary and turned my stomach. Also, too many characters and POVs. Really, the only two I wound up caring about were Monk and Patty. And finally, the pace was too drawn out and there wasn’t enough action until the final few chapters. I loved the actual storyline with this psychic vampire feeding on people’s memories through their tattoos. I also really connected with Patty and Monk and their traumatic backstories. This is a spoiler, but I feel it’s necessary, Patty’s little daughter was gang raped and killed, and while this is mainly talked about off scene, I think it could be a possible trigger for some readers. The last few chapters were everything I had hoped the rest of the book would be. So for me, Ink wasn’t bad, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Most reviewers however are loving it, so if you’re intrigued don’t let my review dissuade you from reading it. Although the events in Ink take place years after the ones that occurred in Maberry’s Pine Deep trilogy, I do recommend you read it not only because it’s one of my favorite horror series, but also because there are numerous vague references to the “Trouble,” in this book and there’s no explanation until after the halfway point, which I think could be annoying to some readers not familiar with the previous books.

Misfits, By Hunter Shea ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Rape, Thriller

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 8th, 2020

288 Pages

Synopsis: During the height of the 90s grunge era, five high school friends living on the fringe are driven to the breaking point. When one of their friends is brutally raped by a drunk townie they decide to take matters into their own hands. Deep in the woods of Milbury, Connecticut, there lives the legend of the Melon Heads, a race of creatures who shun human interaction and prey on those who dare to wander down Dracula Drive. Maybe this night, one band of misfits can help the other. Or maybe some legends are meant to be feared for a reason.

Dare to walk,

Down Dracula Drive,

In day or night,

You won’t survive.

They wait in trees,

And hide below,

Hungry for people,

Too blind to know.

Misfits is the fourth book I’ve read by Hunter Shea, and just when I thought he couldn’t possibly go darker, he’s proven me wrong. I need to warn you there are two fairly graphic rape scenes, so these might be a trigger for some readers. The first happens near the beginning and is the catalyst for almost everything that happens next. The second takes place near the end and in a rare gender reversal, features one of the male characters as the victim. Neither is gratuitously written in as each serves as an integral part of the story. There is plenty of blood and gore as I’ve come to expect from Shea, but what I love about his writing is the unique and creative twist he always gives his stories. In this case, he sets an urban legend into the early 1990s, and I was instantly sucked in. As usual his characters are complex and easy to connect with, as all of them break with stereotypical teen roles. I know not to expect happily-ever-afters from Shea, but to my surprise, the ending (in a perverse way) here is about as positive as I’ve read from him. Undoubtedly Misfits will please Shea’s many fans, and for those who are new to him but are fans of hardcore horror that also has some depth, he’s an author you should definitely check out.

 

 

Cut Off, By Adrianne Finlay ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Horror, LGBTQ, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 11th, 2020

384 Pages

Synopsis: Warcross meets Lost in this haunting young adult sci-fi thriller in which teens compete to survive in the wilderness for one million dollars on a new virtual reality show. When something goes horribly wrong and the contestants realize no one is coming to save them, they must question their very reality—and how much of the game is really for show.

Each contestant has their own reasons—and their own secrets—for joining the new virtual reality show CUT/OFF that places a group of teenagers alone in the wilderness. It’s a simple premise: whoever lasts the longest without “tapping out” wins a cash prize. Not only that, new software creates a totally unprecedented television experience, allowing viewers to touch, see, and live everything along with the contestants. But what happens when “tapping out” doesn’t work and no one comes to save you? What happens when the whole world seemingly disappears while you’re stranded in the wild. Four teenagers must confront their greatest fears, their deepest secrets, and one another when they discover they are truly cut off from reality. Sci-fi, mystery, and romance converge in this high-stakes, fast-paced read that will leave you guessing to the very last moment.

While I thought Cut Off was a little slow to start, by the halfway point the pace picked up and there were some interesting plot twists which made me glad I stuck with it. There were a couple of issues that prevented this from being a more enjoyable read. The first was the formatting of the eARC. Some of the sentences were out of order, especially during the interviews with the contestants, which made things hard to follow at times. The other problem were the characters who weren’t what I’d call one-dimensional, but I did think they were somewhat formulaic. I did wind up connecting with River (the loner) and Cam (the sassy beauty), but even though I enjoyed Trip (the brash genius), I wanted to know even more about him, and Lexie (the deceiver) never had any of her backstory revealed. Despite this, I did enjoy the overall story and it kept me questioning what was real and what wasn’t. I definitely will be trying the next book that Adrianne Finlay comes out with.

Hollow Ones, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 4th, 2020

336 Pages

Synopsis: Odessa Hardwicke’s life is derailed when she’s forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent, who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self -defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk duty pending a full investigation. But what most troubles Odessa isn’t the tragedy itself—it’s the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent’s body after his death.

Questioning her future with the FBI and her sanity, Hardwicke accepts a low-level assignment to clear out the belongings of a retired agent in the New York office. What she finds there will put her in the trail of a mysterious figure named John Silence, a man of enormous means, who claims to have been alive for centuries, and is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity’s best and only hope against unspeakable evil.

The Hollow Ones isn’t quite as good as the authors’ previous joint venture, The Strain Trilogy, but I do think it’s a promising start to this new series. The biggest issue I have is with the character of John Silence. As a fervent fan of The Pendergast Series, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Silence shares far too many similarities to Aloysius Pendergast, the enigmatic FBI agent, including living in the same building and driving the same style of car. Once more of his backstory is revealed, there are some differences, but I still found it off putting, especially in the beginning. Thankfully, I loved the other two main characters, Odessa and Solomon, and enjoyed reading how Silence came into and effected both their lives. I thought the plot itself very imaginative and quite frightening, and it kept me turning the pages. I’m hopeful that as Silence’s backstory is fleshed out even more in subsequent novels, the shared traits between him and Pendergast won’t be as noticeable. I assume from the ending The Hollow Ones is the first book in a planned trilogy or series, so I will definitely be checking out the next book.

 

 

Survivor Song, by Paul Tremblay ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Massachusetts, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 7th, 2020

320 Pages

Synopsis: In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government’s emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie’s husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie too, was bitten. Natalie’s only chance for survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to get a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and her unborn child.

Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink.

Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers raving through the pages…and shake them to their core.

I sometimes wonder about this enormous masochistic streak I have and if I need professional help. I mean why else would I request a book about a pandemic in the middle of a pandemic? But in my defense, I love Paul Tremblay, so how could I resist. One reason why I think Tremblay is a great horror writer is because usually you’re left thinking at the end of one of his novels: “Damn! That could really happen!” His upcoming novel, Survivor Song is one of those.

This is not your typical zombie apocalypse novel, as the virus here is similar to rabies, except instead of weeks for someone who’s been bitten to start exhibiting symptoms, it can take under an hour. There’s actually this running riff throughout the story that has multiple characters explaining that victims are not zombies. Tremblay is also not known for happily-ever-afters, but that didn’t stop me from hoping for some sort of miracle for Natalie. I loved both her and Ramola and the close friendship they shared. Except for two teenage boys that provide a bit of comic relief as well as proving themselves quite helpful to Natalie and Ramola, there aren’t any other characters that really standout. But that’s okay because it’s the two women who the reader connects with as they share their inner most thoughts through their nightmarish road trip. I thought the ending was a smidge chaotic, but overall Survivor Song is sure to be another hit for Paul Tremblay. If you love strong, character-driven horror, I guarantee you’ll love this. It will immediately pull you in and not let go until you’ve reached the very last page.

The Living Dead, by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Zombies

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 4th, 2020

656 Pages

Synopsis:

It begins with one body.

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead.

It spreads quickly.

In a midwestern trailer park, an African American teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen family and friends. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailers hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, an anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak preserving data for a future that may never come.

Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.

We think we know how this story ends.

We. Are. Wrong.

Before he passed away in 2017, horror movie legend, George Romero, had been working on a novel titled The Living Dead, which would have brought his epic zombie saga from film to page for the first time. Sadly, he never got to complete his manuscript, but author Daniel Kraus has been able to bring it back to life using his notes. And overall, I think Romero would be quite pleased.

With its 656 page count, The Living Dead is a beast. As you can guess from the premise, in addition to loads of zombies, there’s also a large, diverse cast of characters and backstories. Kraus wisely keeps the chapters short and tight though, which makes it easy to follow. My favorite character, hands down, is Etta Hoffmann, the autistic researcher and chronicler of the zombie apocalypse. She is unquestionably the heart and soul of this story. While in the beginning, everyone is separated, fighting their own battles, once they’re brought together, the plot really takes off. My one criticism is that this could have been edited a little, particularly in regards to the numerous details included as part of the multiple backstories, yet aren’t really necessary in making the characters memorable. But honestly, this is a very minor complaint. Despite its length, I finished this in three days. When real life interrupted I found myself longing to return to my reading.

In my opinion Daniel Kraus has done the legacy of George Romero proud, and I believe most purists will be pleased even with changes like switching the timeline from the sixties to present day. It has all the classic zombie gore Romero fans would expect, along with fascinating  characters you’ll connect with, and an absolutely thrilling storyline. I HIGHLY recommend this to the legions of fans who admire Romero’s work, as well as anyone who appreciates a well-told horror tale that will keep them up reading late into the night.

The Patient, by Jasper DeWitt ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Horror, Mental Health, Supernatural Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 4th, 2020

224 Pages

Synopsis: The Silent Patient by way of Stephen King: Parker, a young, overconfident psychiatrist new to his job at a mental asylum, miscalculates catastrophically when he undertakes curing a mysterious and profoundly dangerous patient.

In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient.

We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case—a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.

Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But from his first encounter with the patient, things spiral out of control, and, facing a possibility beyond his wildest imaginings, Parker is forced to question everything he thought he knew.

Fans of Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes, and Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World, wil be riveted by Jasper DeWitt’s astonishing debut.

If you are looking for a quick escape and you’re a fan of creepy horror, you should definitely check out The Patient when it’s released in August. It’s a fast-paced story that begins as a psychological horror tale before taking a turn to the supernatural. Parker’s online posts relating his experiences with the mysterious patient known as Joe are captivating and for the most part, keep you guessing as to what is really going on with him. The main reason I marked this down a point is because although Joe’s childhood is a big part of this story, when Parker finally speaks with his mother in the final third of the book, I was still left with questions which left me somewhat frustrated. I also think both the story and its characters would have benefited if the book were slightly longer. That said, I was entertained and easily finished this in a couple of hours. The Patient is Jasper DeWitt’s debut novel and I’ll definitely be looking out for future books by him.

Home Before Dark, by Riley Sager ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 30th, 2020

384 Pages

Synopsis: In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the house really haunted by evil forces as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?

What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits, became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes, and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous by Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint of a history filled with dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

Alternating between Maggie’s uneasy homecoming and chapters from her father’s book, Home Before Dark is the story of a house with long-buried secrets and a woman’s quest to uncover them—even if the truth is far more terrifying than any haunting.

The first book I read by Riley Sager was Final Girls (2017), and with each book he writes he just keeps upping his game. Home Before Dark kept me up until the wee hours of the morning, had me nervously checking my pantry and linen closet as I walked by them, and has quite possibly ruined one of my favorite songs, Sixteen Going on Seventeen from The Sound of Music for me for life!

There are two stories at play here. The first takes place twenty-five years ago and is told through the book House of Horrors, by Ewan Holt, which is an account of the family’s twenty-two day ordeal in Baneberry Hall. The second takes place during the present day, and follows now thirty-year-old Maggie as she desperately tries to uncover the truth of what happened all those years before.

Maggie is somewhat aloof and remote, but given what her life has been like, who can blame her. She’s had Baneberry Hall following her around for most of her life, and to top things off she has no memories of her time there, and she’s positive her parents have lied to her and everyone else about what happened. It’s made her reluctant to trust anyone, yet I wound up quite liking her. She does have a compassionate side, and her determination to discover the truth, even when it upends her entire world, is something to be admired. I also liked Ewan, and while I disagree with some of his decisions, I understand how desperate he is to save his family. The secondary characters play small yet pivotal parts, and a couple of them have some quite interesting backstories that tie into Baneberry Hall.

The house itself almost becomes a character in its own right thanks to Sanger’s vivid details. I have a picture in my mind of not only what Baneberry Hall looks like, but what the atmosphere feels like after being the site of so many tragedies. There is more than one mystery that needs to be solved, and the path to the answers is a twisty one indeed. I thought by the midway point that I pretty much had everything figured out, only to be proved wrong multiple times. It drove me nuts, in the best kind of way!

Home Before Dark is a pulse-pounding, suspenseful tale of horror and mystery that will leave you questioning everything. It doesn’t have a lot of blood and gore in it, but this proves that you don’t always need those graphic elements to instill true terror. One word of caution: if you’re not a fan of snakes, they’re in here in all their creepy, slithery glory. For readers already familiar with Riley Sager, this is another knockout from him. For those who haven’t read his books, I guarantee that if you try this, you’ll immediately want to scoop up his others.

 

The Loop, by Jeremy Robert Johnson ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Bullying, Diversity, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 29th, 2020

320 Pages

Synopsis: Stranger Things meets World War Z in this heart-racing conspiracy thriller as a lonely young woman teams up with a group of fellow outcasts to survive the night in a town overcome by a science experiment gone wrong.

Turner Falls is a small tourist town, nestled in the hills of western Oregon, the kind of town you escape to for vacation. When an inexplicable outbreak rapidly develops, this idyllic town becomes the epicenter of an epidemic of violence as the teenage children of several executives from the local biotech firm become ill and aggressively murderous. Suddenly the town is on edge, and Lucy and her friends must do everything it takes just to fight through the night.

The Loop isn’t simply a Stranger Things/World War Z knockoff. No. Jeremy Robert Johnson has taken the whole teen misfits and zombie tropes, and spun it into something completely unique. This upcoming sci-fi/horror throws in: biological warfare, government overreach, conspiracies, social stigmas, greed and hubris, depraved indifference, aliens… You name it, it’s in here. But instead of devolving into a mess like many stories with a multitude of ingredients, Johnson skillfully blends everything into a compelling narrative that will immediately draw you in from the very first page.

Lucy is at turns vulnerable, yet badass, and readers will root for her. While her backstory is tragic, she refuses to let it define her. Bucket and Brewer as her sidekicks, provide a bit of intermittent comic relief which is needed because the events that unfold mainly over one night are utterly brutal and difficult to read at times.

While the first 25% of the book is spent more on setting up the characters and their backgrounds, by no means is it boring. Thanks to the interesting personalities and snappy dialogue, this serves as a chance to connect with them before all hell breaks loose. The pace quickly kicks into a non-stop, pulse-pounding, frenetic sequence of events that makes it nearly impossible to put this down. I devoured this in just over two hours! The ending is no happily-ever-after, but it’s the only rational outcome.

The Loop is not going to be for everyone. It’s filled with graphic violence and a few scenes had me wincing. And not all the questions raised are answered. Rather, the author leaves a few things up to the reader’s imagination. Because of the savagely gory nature of this tale, I would not recommend this to anyone under the age of sixteen. Otherwise, if you’re a fan of hardcore sci-fi horror, like Stephen King’s The Cell, and things like the Alien movies don’t faze you, I HIGHLY recommend The Loop. Just don’t expect to be able to sleep immediately after you finish!

 

Meg: Generations (Meg #6), by Steve Alten ~ 2.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 21, 2020

384 Pages

Synopsis: Dubai: An impossibility is being taken to the Middle East. The transport vessel Tonga is carrying a lioplerodon to the City of Gold. But while investors gawk at the prehistoric creature, an even more dangerous creature is beginning to stir.

The megalodon shark that Jonas Taylor worked so hard to capture is coming out of its drug-induced stupor and refuses to be contained. Now both ancient creatures, older than mankind itself, are loose in the waters of the Arabian Sea, and the region will never be the same.

I have been a fan of Alten’s Meg series since it debuted in 1997. For sheer popcorn pleasure, these books are adrenaline-filled insanity, so it pains me to say this 6th adventure with Taylor & Co. flounders badly. There are just way too many characters, both prehistoric and bipedal. For fanged, people-eating monsters in addition to the Megs, there are: Pliosaurs, Titanoboa, Pleseosaurs, Mosasaurs, among others. When you have a series about the re-emergence of Megalodons, one of the largest and nastiest aquatic creatures who ever lived (they make great white sharks look cute and cuddly), it’s the stuff of nightmares. But when you throw in all these other deep sea monsters, well, the bloody mayhem that follows just gets redundant after awhile.

In addition to the monsters, there are numerous groups from across the world that all want a piece of the action. And if that isn’t enough, there’s the family of a man killed by a Meg, who are determined to hunt down and kill all the Meg pups in revenge. Somewhere in this murky mess are the Taylors, but except for Jonas’s son David, for the most part they’re sidelined by Terri’s battle with cancer and Parkinson’s. There are so many storylines that not only does this do a disservice to the characters, but it makes it almost impossible to follow what’s happening. And to make matters worse there’s a confusing time jump that came out of nowhere and left me thoroughly confused.

The only saving grace is that the final quarter of the book manages to pull itself together and is much more entertaining. Overall though, Generations left me longing for the previous books in which the Taylors and Megs were worthy adversaries, and you were never quite sure who was going to win. Given the cliffhanger ending, I’m fairly certain there will be a seventh book and if this is the case, I hope Alten returns to the formula which served him so well: Taylors vs. Megs. Although this latest book was a disappointment, I still highly recommend the series if you love scary monsters with loads of blood and gore.