The Crooked Staircase (Jane Hawk #3), By Dean Koontz ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

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

Release Date: Available Now

512 Pages

Synopsis: “I could be dead tomorrow. Or something worse than dead.”

Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she’s breathing, she’ll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom—-and free will—-of millions. Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane’s husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but the secret cabal behind the plot. Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane’s enemies are determined to see her dead…or make her wish she was.

Jane’s ruthless pursuers can’t stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from Southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits her when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.

Like the first two books in Koontz’s Jane Hawk series, The Crooked Staircase is a wild ride from start to finish. For a quick recap: A sinister and secret organization calling themselves the “Techno Arcadians” are planning on reshaping society to their liking through the use of nanotechnology. They are implanting nanos into the brains of certain people who they feel, according to their computer’s algorithm, will “turn society in the wrong direction.” Once the nanos are in place the Arcadians use them to control the “adjusted” person. Some, they have commit suicide, usually taking other people with them. Others are enslaved and either forced into sexual slavery or made to serve the organization in various functions. Jane’s husband, a former soldier, was one of their victims and as Jane, an FBI agent, began investigating his suicide, she discovered the horrifying plot. Now she’s been publicly discredited and after some horrifying threats, has been forced to place her young son in hiding with close friends, she’s now determined to bring the Arcadians down. 

Before reading this series, you have to accept that reality gets skewed at times, particularly in regards to Jane. While this isn’t a fantasy and she doesn’t possess superpowers, given the sheer number of people she’s going up against, there’s no way she wouldn’t have gotten caught by now. The Arcadians have infiltrated virtually every segment of society, including law enforcement, the government, and the media. While she’s had several close calls, she somehow manages to not only escape but also to take out a few Arcadians as well. But Jane is such a phenomenal character, you really don’t mind suspending disbelief. The secondary characters, whether they be allies or villains, are always interesting and well rounded. In this installment, I was surprised that there were a few moments where I actually felt sorry for the main antagonist because of his backstory.

As with the previous books, this ends with a cliffhanger, but it seemed a little too abrupt especially given that what happens hits so close to home for Jane and her son. At the end there is the option of reading the first few chapters of the next book, The Forbidden Door, which is due out in October, but I personally don’t like reading excerpts in advance, so I’m just going to have to suffer until October. 

I highly recommend The Crooked Staircase to readers who love strong female characters and high octane thrillers. If you haven’t read the previous two books though you might wind up a bit muddled, so you should definitely check those out first.

 

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Hold Back the Dark (Bishop/Special Crimes Unit #18), by Kay Hooper ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal, Suspense, Thriller

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

Release Date: April 3rd, 2018

352 Pages

Synopsis: Madness has taken hold of Prosperity, North Carolina. Residents are killing each other, as if in a dream, and waking up with no memory of the monstrous acts they’ve committed—-or why. As the death toll climbs, the local sheriff’s department is further rocked by a murder carried out by their own. Deputy Katie Cole knows that whatever monster is afoot is beyond her scope…

The Special Crimes Unit is called in for their specific brand of investigation. It will take all their training, all their experience, and every extra sense they can call on to get to the bottom of things in Prosperity. And as a dark pattern begins to emerge, even the most experienced and hardened SCU agents have to wonder if this is beyond their understanding.

I’ve been an avid of this series since the first book, Stealing Shadows was released in 2000 and one of the main reasons is because every time I pick up a new book in the series, I feel like I’m meeting up with old friends. Hold Back the Dark was no different. Although it seemed a little slower for things to start this time, that may have been because somehow I missed the two previous books. It didn’t take long for me to get sucked right back in to this dangerous world with the elite Special Crimes Unit and they’re civilian counterpart, Haven. The story is told in the third person by several agents, but this works really well as they’re all working the same case, and it actually lets you get to know them more. The only other criticism I have is that I thought the ending came together a little too quickly, but it tied up all the loose ends and set things up nicely for the next book.

The Bishop/Special Crime series is another one of my favorites and Hold Back the Dark did not disappoint. Although it’s a long running series, you could technically read this as a stand-alone. Kay Hooper always thoughtfully provides at the end of each book a list of the agents and what their psychic powers are and which books they’ve appeared in thus far. She also provides a glossary of the powers themselves. However, if you have time, I suggest you go back to the beginning because you’ll get to know each agent so much more personally and that truly adds to the overall mythology arc of the series, which, while it has a multilayered storyline and is action packed, is also very much character driven. I highly recommend Hold Back the Dark and the previous books to readers who love police procedurals, thrillers and suspense, with the occasional romance thrown in, and plenty of exciting paranormal powers.

Best Seller, by Susan May ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Book Publishing, Supernatural, Thriller

I’d like to thank Susan May for sending me an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

462 Pages

Synopsis: JEALOUSY IS A GREEN-EYED MONSTER AND HIS NAME IS WILLIAM BARNES.

A girl with power over luck. An obsessed author consumed with envy. Two nemeses drawn down a path from which only one will return.

After witnessing her mother’s brutal murder, ten-year-old Nem’s life seems destined for tragedy. Then she discovers an old journal which holds an incredible secret. Nem now possesses the ability to control the fortunes of others. It is said that luck is probability taken personally, and she’s about to get personal with her own brand of justice.

Decades later, the literary world hails William Barnes’ debut as a masterpiece. His best seller success, though, doesn’t survive his next two books. Readers abandon him, his publisher cancels his contract, and his agent isn’t returning his calls. 

Meanwhile his undeserving protégé, Orelia Mason, enjoys a meteoric rise in the charts, coinciding suspiciously with his fall. So William embarks on a plan to win back the life he’s certain she’s stolen. If people die along the way, well that’s their problem. He’ll discover though, that’s battling fate when luck is not on your side can be a deadly game. 

This is A Star is Born meets A Portrait of Dorian Gray and the consequences are not pretty. In fact they’re darn well bloody.

From the internationally best selling author readers call the new Stephen King, comes a dark and twisted tale of jealousy, revenge, and a very special power.

I first saw Best Seller reviewed over on Carrie’s blog at http://carriesbookreviews.com After reading her 5 star, stellar review, I knew I had to try to get my hands on this, and at her suggestion, reached out to the author on Goodreads. I was thrilled when Susan May graciously sent me an ebook and I’m even more delighted to say that the book is everything that Carrie said it was.

The story alternates between Nem’s and William’s POVs, and while right up until the halfway point, I had pretty much made up my mind who was the protagonist and who was the antagonist, everything wound up being completely upended much to my surprise.

The plot itself is creatively ingenious and manages to perfectly meld the real world difficulties of becoming a bestselling author (and remaining one), with a fantastic supernatural addition. Thanks to plenty of twists and turns which happen right up until the shocking end, the pace was breathtakingly fast which had me finishing the almost 500 page book in two sittings. 

Best Seller is a fun and exciting read from beginning to end, and I HIGHLY recommend it! This is the first book I’ve read by Susan May, but it certainly won’t be my last!

Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1), By Roshani Chokshi ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adventure, Diversity, Hindu Mythology, Humor, Middle Grade Fiction, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Rick Riordan Presents/Disney Hyperion for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

368 Pages

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru’s doorstep and catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. ‘Just a quick light,’ Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again. 

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it’s up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, ‘Mahabharata,’ and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

Aru Shah and the End of Time is a phenomenal beginning to this new middle-grade series by YA author Roshani Chokshi (The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes). A fantasy based on Hindu mythology, the two main characters, Aru and Mini, are completely relatable and despite their vulnerabilities, wind up putting the “Grrrr” in girl power. The story is beautifully told and is fantastically diverse. It also has all the thrilling action, adventure, and laugh-out-loud humor that Rick Riordan is himself famous for.

This is the first book in the new Rick Riordan Presents imprint which empowers other authors to write stories inspired by mythology and folklore of their own heritage. Roshani has three more books planned for the Pandava Quartet, which I can’t wait for. Sadly the next book, Aru Shah and the Song of Death doesn’t come out until next April so I’m going to be on pins and needles waiting for that. However, as part of this new venture put together by “Uncle Rick”, J.C. Cervantes’ book, Storm Runner, which is a contemporary mystery based around Mayan mythology is coming out in September. And in January 2019, Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee goes on sale. This is said to combine Korean mythology and space opera! To say I’m excited about this new imprint, doesn’t quite do my feelings justice. These are the kinds of books that if I was still a children’s librarian, I’d be pushing them into the hands of every middle-schooler who walked through the door!

Project Pandora (Assassin Fall #1) by Aden Polydoros ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller, YA Fiction

Tbanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

372 Pages

Synopsis: Tyler Bennett trusts no one. Just another foster kid bounced from home to home, he’s learned that lesson the hard way. But when strange things start happening—waking up with bloody knuckles and no memory of the night before or the burner phone he can’t let out of his sight—Tyler starts to wonder if he can even trust himself.

Even stranger, the girl he’s falling for has a burner phone just like his. Finding out what’s happening only leads to more questions…questions that could get them both killed. It’s not like someone’s kidnapping teens lost in the system and brainwashing them to be assassins or anything, right? And what happens to rogue assets who defy control?

In a race against the clock, they’ll have to uncover the truth behind Project Pandora and take it down—before they’re reactivated. Good thing the program spent millions training them to kick ass…

Project Pandora is the exciting and promising beginning to the Assassin Fall series, and I easily breezed through it in two sittings. It took me a few chapters to acclimate myself because not only are there several characters, when they’re under the influence of the sinister society who has brainwashed them, they’re known by Greek code names. But this is a fairly minor complaint, because from the first page, I was immediately sucked in. What I appreciated most of all is that all the action took nothing away from the characters themselves. The ending is a cliffhanger so I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel, Project Prometheus which is due out sometime this year. 

 

Genesis (Project Nemesis #2), by Brendan Reichs ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Science Fiction, Thriller, YA Fiction

Thanks to Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: Available Now

512 Pages

Synopsis: Noah Livingston knows he is destined to survive.

The 64 members of Fire Lake’s sophomore class are trapped in a place where morals have no meaning, and zero rules apply. But Noah’s deaths have trained him—-hardened him—-to lead the strongest into the future…whatever that may be. And at any cost. 

Min Wilder knows that survival alone isn’t enough.

Trapped in a violent world where brute force passes for leadership, it’s tempting to lay back and let everyone else fight it out. But Min’s instincts rebel against allowing others to decide who lives and who dies. She’s ready to fight for what she believes in. And against whomever might stand in her way.

I don’t always find a sequel that’s even better than the first book in a series, but that’s what happened here. Genesis picks up exactly where Nemesis left off, and even though I read the previous book over a year ago, I had no problem jumping right back in. Adapting to this new cruel and brutal world they’ve been thrust into, it was mesmerizing watching how the various characters continued to evolve and cope, especially Min and Noah. The world-building and story is intense and I was on the edge of my seat from the first chapter. The book is over 500 pages, but I finished it in two days because I just couldn’t put it down. The ending was exciting, although almost a little too neat, but it perfectly wraps things up for the next book, which I’m eagerly anticipating.

Moonbreaker (Secret Histories #11) by, Simon Green ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller

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

Release Date: Available Now

352 Pages

Synopsis: My name is Eddie Drood, aka Shaman Bond, the very secret agent. And I am a dead man walking.

I’ve been poisoned by Dr. DOA. There is no cure, no treatment, no chance of a last-minute miracle. So all that is left to me and my love, Molly Metcalf, is to track down my killer and stop him before he can murder anyone else.

So whether that means fighting a secret army on another world; or searching for a forgotten weapon in the Museum of Unattached Oddities; or facing off against Grendel Rex, the Unforgiven God, in the hidden heart of the Moon, for the terrible secret that is Moonbreaker…I will do whatever it takes, while I still can. Because the game isn’t over till I say it’s over–and I still have one last card to play.

Moonbreaker is another fantastic entry in the long-running Secret Histories series. If you don’t remember my reviews on previous books, this series is a magical and science fiction play on James Bond. As always I caution you that if you haven’t read the previous books you need to start at the beginning, or as what’s happened to Eddie on occasion, you may become hopelessly lost on another world or in another dimension.

Whenever a series goes on this long, there’s a danger of monotony setting in due to a lack of fresh ideas. But this isn’t the case here. Simon Green is an author who continually amazes me with his seemingly boundless imagination. The Secret Histories books are constantly fun, roller-coaster thrill rides filled with plenty of humor, snark, and sass amidst all the bloody mayhem. Each book begins with a new danger that undoubtedly will not only wipe out Eddie and the intimidating and scary Drood family, but quite possibly the world, yet Eddie, with the able assistance of his enemy turned true love, wild witch Molly Metcalf, always manages to save the day. You would think this would get old but it doesn’t. This is due to the way Green effortlessly creates new creatures, villains, magics, and science. And the powerful Drood family who has been around for millennia, has no shortage of enemies, even Eddie, who’s the moral one of the family. 

Picking up where the previous book, Dr. DOA left off, Eddie is slowly dying from a seemingly incurable poison that not even his powerful family can decipher. Even his soulmate the magic of his soulmate Molly comes up short. For the first time, it seems like this could be curtains for Eddie, who up until now, has seemed to have more lives than a cat. I was actually nervous going into this because honestly, this time I just didn’t see anyway out for him. But, in the end, and yes this is a spoiler, he perseveres. Just like all his other perilous adventures, it’s not quick or tidy, but he lives on to fight another day, although not before making my own heart stop a few times. 

I honestly cannot convey how much I LOVE this series and Moonbreaker once again proves why. If  you’re new to this series and you love exciting science fiction and fantasy mixed with tongue-in-cheek humor, you simply have to try these books. Do it for me! Please! I 100% guarantee you will not regret it. I’m both looking forward to and dreading the finale of the series, Night Fall, which is due out on 6/12/18. It looks to join with Green’s other popular series, the Nightside, so this should be the mother of all endings. I’m prepared to have a box of tissues handy because I know I’m going to have a downright impossible time letting go of Eddie, Molly, and even the those insufferable, yet likable quirky Droods.

 

 

 

 

Zero Day (The Hatching #3), by Ezekiel Boone ~ 3.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 27th, 2018

322 Pages

Synopsis: In the thrilling, nerve-wracking finale of Ezekiel Boone’s “hair-raising” (Parade) Hatching series, the United States goes to war against the queen spiders that threaten to overtake the human race forever.

The world is on the brink of apocalypse. Zero Day has come.

The only thing more terrifying than millions of spiders is the realization that those spiders work as one. But among the government, there is dissent: do we try to kill all of the spiders., or do we gamble on Professor Guyer’s theory that we need to only kill the queens?

For President Stephanie Pilgrim, it’s an easy answer. She’s gone as far as she can—-more than two dozen American cities hit with tactical nukes, the country torn asunder—-and the only answer is to believe in Professor Guyer. Unfortunately, Ben Broussard and the military men who follow him don’t agree, and Pilgrim, Guyer, and the loyal members of the government have to flee, leaving the question: what’s more dangerous, the spiders or ourselves?

 

They’re baaaaak! Yep. After causing all sorts of bloody, gory mayhem in The Hatching, and Skitter, those carnivorous arachnids, now known as “Hell Spiders”, are back for one more go round with the human race! Having enjoyed the previous two books I’ve been looking forward to seeing how Ezekiel Boone was going to wrap things up. Unfortunately, I wound up being a bit disappointed with Zero Day.

The problem I ran into was that there was no spider action until I was 45% into the book. Call me warped, but I wanted more blood, more gore, more spiders bursting out out of people’s bodies, more people getting eaten, more…well you get the picture. Instead, there’s a lot of bouncing back and forth between characters. Now granted, there was a lot of that happening in the other books, but there was also plenty of action which kept the pace moving. I wouldn’t have had a huge issue with this as I like most of the people, except Boone adds even more in this book. It was just too much. I didn’t connect with the newbies, and their stories took away from the trials and tribulations of the ones I cared about. Also missing was some of the sly humor that was part of the other stories.

At about the 85% mark, the final battle against the spiders and their monstrous queens begin. Finally, here was the excitement I’d been desperately looking for and it was just as fun as the previous ones. I found myself rooting for my favorite characters and was happy with the way everything played out and was tied up. 

While Zero Day wasn’t everything I had hoped it would be, overall the Hatching trilogy is one I unhesitatingly recommend to horror fans. There’s nothing deep and has no serious underlying message, it’s just fun. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that this gets turned into a Netflix series, because done right, this would be awesome! Ezekiel Boone’s next book, The Mansion, is due out in December and I can’t wait to read it.

 

Cleaving Souls, by Chauncey Rogers ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Thanks to the author for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

225 Pages

Synopsis: Some dangers you cannot outrun. Some nightmares do not end when you wake.

Something is watching Katherine Harris. She can feel it when she goes out. She can feel it inside her home. She feels it in her bed. Her husband, Alex, wants to blame her anxiety on her pregnancy, but he’s often away for work. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be stuck in a small town, to be trapped in a tiny house on a run-down street, to be alone. Kate does, and the feeling only grows worse.

Whatever is going on, Kat’s certain that it’s far more serious than pregnancy jitters. When Alex takes Kat on a second honeymoon to get her mind off things, it becomes far more dangerous as well.

Holy guacamole this was an insanely stressful read! Of  course I mean that in the best possible way. First though, I need to give out a warning to animal lovers like me who get wigged out when a cute pet dies in a book. There is a scene here involving a sweet dog. However, you can see it coming and skim over it, which is what I did. 

I was immediately hooked by the eerie prologue which immediately put me off balance, where I stayed for the majority of the book. The characters of Kat and her husband Alex are well-rounded and extremely relatable ones. They will probably even remind you of some that you know in real life. As these horrifying supernatural events start happening to the isolated Kat, my heart ached for her. I could literally feel the chilling menace surrounding her as well as her growing helplessness in the face of this unknown danger. And I also felt for Alex who loves and is completely devoted to Kat, yet doesn’t know what to do to help her. 

The plot takes an even more terrifying turn when Alex decides to take Kat back to where they spent their honeymoon—which unfortunately happens to be a cabin in the woods. I know what you’re thinking. One of the things you should always not do when dealing with unexplained creepy events, is to go on vacation to an isolated cabin. But this just ratchets up the tension even more. By this point, I had no idea what was going on. Were there really supernatural events happening or was Kat suffering from some pregnancy-induced psychosis? Well, I’m not telling! The only thing I’ll share is that when the big reveal comes, it’s shockingly brilliant and I never saw it coming. 

Cleaving Souls is the second horror book (after Rafael Chandler’s Mask Beneath Her Face), that I’ve read in the last few weeks that I unhesitatingly put up in the same category as Stephen King. This isn’t just some gore fest, although it has some “ew” moments. This is the type of story that completely messes with your head and stays there days after you’ve finished it. It’s a pulse-pounding thrill ride that I guarantee will keep you up into the wee hours of the morning reading. And once you’ve finished, good luck going to sleep! I highly recommend Cleaving Souls to fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz’s early horror novels. It’s a quick read that you won’t regret picking up.

Something About the Author: 

Chauncey Rogers is a fellow WordPress blogger and if you’d like to learn more about him and his work, please visit: http://www.chaunceyrogers.com

Biography: Chauncey Rogers was born in Arizona, and since then has hopped back and forth between the mid-western and western United States. He married in 2012 while attending school in Utah. His favorite movie since he was three is Jurassic Park, and he Wishes very badly that Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster were real, though he doesn’t believe in them as much as he used to.

The Mask Beneath Her Face, by Rafael Chandler ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Slashers, Supernatural, Thriller

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

Release Date: Available Now

412 Pages

Synopsis: During the 1980s, slashers terrorized America. With machetes and masks, these unstoppable killers stalked college campuses, quiet suburbs, and lakeside cabins.

Thirty years ago, Bobbi Metzger survived a massacre at her 16th birthday party. She spent decades putting her life back together.

Tonight, Bobbi will face a new killer; a high-tech slasher hell-bent on opening the doorway to an abyss of unimaginable horror.

How long can Bobbi survive this nightmare? What will she do to protect the people she loves? How much blood is she willing to spill?

Before I start my review, I need to issue a warning. Do not. I repeat—DO NOT— make the same mistake as I did, and read Mask Beneath Her Face right before bed. If you do, I can guarantee you will have a difficult time falling asleep!

To give you an idea of how much I loved this book, I started it at about 3:00 on a stormy afternoon, took an hour and a half off for supper, and then was fully emersed in it until I finished right before midnight. Then I stayed awake, staring at the ceiling, twitching at every creak in the house and scraping of branches against the window for at least another hour before dropping into an uneasy slumber. 

The premise is that there was a huge outbreak of slashers (think Jason, Freddie, Michael Myers, etc.), and claimed untold victims in their bloody mayhem. Bobbi and the other main characters in the stories are all survivors, sort of. Bobbi has spent the years since her sister and friends were massacred running from the supernatural monster that’s still after her. She copes by drinking and popping pills. Jessie, likewise haunted, lives as a recluse, terrified to have mirrors lest the slasher who haunts him, steps out of one to finish the job. Sam, a school counselor, seems to be doing better than his two friends, but is hiding a secret that puts him at risk physically as well as psychologically. And finally there’s young Cris. She’s a victim of human monsters rather than supernatural ones, but as a result has some dark ambitions that will shock the others. These are all flawed characters, yet well-rounded ones and I was surprised by how much I grew attached to them, especially Sam and Cris.

The world-building and plot are just insane. I’ve read other slasher books, but this blows them all out of the water! It’s bloody and gory and thrilling to the extreme. If this was a movie, I probably would have covered my eyes during some of the scenes, but since this is a book I couldn’t do that, hence my trouble sleeping afterwards. The ending is jaw-droppingly perfect, and I’m praying that this is not the last we see of these characters and their terrifying world. Ahem, Rafael? If you read this review I’m begging you to write a sequel, okay?

Mask Beneath Her Face may not be for everyone. It’s extremely violent, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see blood leaking out from my Kindle, after I finished. But it’s a wonderfully imaginative and unique homage to 1980s slasher flicks and if you’re a fan of these like me, you’re going to gobble this up! Most of you know what a fan I am of Stephen King. Well, in my humble opinion, this is unequivocally King-worthy! But, if you decide to try this, be sure to read it during the day. Preferably in the sun. With lots of people around.  And wear running shoes, ‘cause you know, just in case.