Steve Stred's Blog, page 14

Book Review: The Mountain King by Anders de la Motte

Title: The Mountain King

Author: Anders de la Motte

Release date: Originally released September 28, 2022. English release January 30, 2024

Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for a digital ARC of this one!

And a huge, huge thanks to my friend Char Cocrane for putting this on my radar!

I was immediately intrigued after reading Char’s review and was so happy to get approved for this one. I love reading about urban exploration and I find there’s very few books out there – whether in the thriller or horror genre’s – that focus on it at all.

This novel is translated from the original Swedish release and with that in mind, you know you’re in for a story with desolate landscapes, dreary atmosphere and a constant feeling of being on edge. That seems to be the trait for almost all of the bigger Swedish novels released over here.

The story follows Detective Inspector Leo Asker. She’s worked hard to put her background behind her – living under a father who became more and more distrusting of society and earned the nickname Prepper Per – and now heads up the Major Crimes Unit in Malmo. The novel really kicks off when a young woman – Smilla, a daughter in a well-connected family – and her boyfriend, MM, seemingly disappear and are presumed kidnapped.

What I liked: It’s from that point where de la Motte really takes off. We learn Leo has a strained relationship with her mother and sister, as well, when a few phone calls are made, Smilla’s family and Leo’s mom (who is a powerful lawyer) conspire to bring in a Detective from higher up – a man whom Smilla previously had a brief fling with, before it ended and he harassed her.

All of this makes for a cat-and-mouse game with Smilla’s disappearance, but also with Leo trying to find the truth, after being jettisoned to a ‘forgotten department,’ and the Major Crimes Unit follows a lead that has nothing to do with the true disappearance.

de la Motte kept the tension high throughout and this was wholly down to the short snappy chapters. It was a great way to create an atmosphere that constantly crackled with energy and makes it tough for readers to catch their breath. The middle half of this book is filled with numerous hints, sleight-of-hands and ‘maybe it’s this guy’ moments, as de la Motte keeps the true identity veiled until the final quarter.

I will add, I loved the quick time jumps back to Leo’s youth, to learn the truth of what happened between her and her father and how he continued to travel down a road that grew ever darker and more distrustful. It also worked to showcase the ‘why’ of her decisions when we arrive at the very end.

Lastly, I will add this as well – there’s a character – Hill – who is imperative as a secondary character. He was friends with Leo as a kid before moving away and now, as an adult, teaches at a University and has written a bestselling book on urban exploration. He was so fully formed, he would’ve even made for a great lead character, but I’m glad it was Leo, as she’s a formidable and strong lead who kicked so much ass, it was awesome.

The ending and discovery of the identity was great and seeing how a lot of minor things were connected was really well done.

What I didn’t like: Two things really. Much like I’ve found with every Thomas Olde Heuvelt novel’s I’ve read – well, I’ve read ‘Hex’ and dnf’d ‘Echo’ – it felt like throughout, and most likely due to it being translated, a lot of areas were bereft of emotions. As though each sentence was written by a robot. I was very worried in chapters one and two that this would be the case of the entire novel, as those first two chapters came across as completely emotionless, but thankfully that changed and it took off. Saying that, there were parts scattered throughout that just felt hollow, and I think that’s due to the nature of translated work.

Secondly, the very ending of this one, after everything is all said and done, sets up the next book. This is book one in the Leo Asker series after all, but I found it incredibly cheesy and almost completely unbelievable. Leo is given a permanent job/post and within two seconds of her sitting at her ‘new’ desk, the phone rings and someone is asking specifically for her? I know we needed a hook for book two, but it felt very forced and comical.

Why you should buy this: If you’re like me and love reading about people going missing in odd places and the frantic search that takes place to find them, ‘The Mountain King’ will be right up your alley. This one was compulsive, entertaining and I can’t even count the number of times I was convinced it was one person who was the mountain king, only to be completely wrong. And while I said the last closing part was comical, I’m completely invested in Leo Asker and want to read all about her adventures and watch her kick ass!

4/5

Book Review: Her Heart Beats for Ancient Beasts by Calvin Demmer

Title: Her Heart Beats for Ancient Beasts

Author: Calvin Demmer

Release date: March 16th, 2024

Huge thanks to Calvin for sending me a digital ARC for review! I’ve long been a massive fan of his work, since his phenomenal collection, ‘The Sea Was a Fair Master,’ (which should be a must read for all fans of horror!), so I’m always excited when we get a new release from the master of short-story writing.

This one is made up of some new work and some previously published work, but one thing I noticed throughout, was the settings/locations and themes all were very in tune with the title, but also from where Calvin is from – Africa. Well, he’s specifically from South Africa, but a lot of the stories had Egyptian themes, God themes and savannah locations.

What I liked: Compiled of ten stories, this one rips along and for some may even be a single-sitting read. I took my time with them, as every story Calvin writes is layered and will have a level of complexity that may not be apparent until some quiet contemplation occurs once done.

The collection opened with my three favorite short stories in the batch in a row.

First up was the wonderfully bleak, ‘Highway Hunger.’ This one is based around a highway worker who is tasked with cleaning up roadkill. The job is straight forward until one such case where something odd is found and it soon reveals itself to be a creature from local lore.

Next was ‘Never Sleep Again,’ which was the singular highlight of the entire collection for this reader. A retired detective is called back to help with a new case. This case has the exact same similarities to the case that drove him into retirement in the first place. It is creepy, unsettling, magnificent, and makes me never want to find any dirt on the floor around the bed or couch.

The third story was ‘Another Warrior in Paradise.’ This was such a cinematic story about a young member of a tribe who wants to ascend to Warrior status within his people. He has three trials to complete, and once he is successful, he learns that paradise has different meanings to different people.

From there we get some more fantastic stories and there wasn’t a single let down in the group. The title story is a creep-fest about something lurking. ‘The River Ran Red’ was a fast-paced story where the jungle is stifling and when the creature reveals itself, everything goes splat. ‘Karma’ was a really engaging cosmic story about a strange patient arriving in a hospital and the visions some see when they come into contact with her.

‘Shapes in the Water’ was classic Demmer. Two brothers leap into a wormhole in the hopes of finding their lost brother in whatever strange world he ended up in. We get some great creatures, a potential truth about a well known Loch animal and just a really fun story.

‘The Throne of Space and Time’ will make sci-fi and time travel lovers very happy. Told within a few letters left behind, we learn of what happens when you make a discovery and meet up with the guide to the underworld.

‘Forbidden Fruit’ is a story I’d read previously, but it was great revisiting it again. It follows two big game hunters who’ve hired a guide with a mythical nature about him. The guide warns them about not always trusting the land and soon they learn why.

And the collection finishes with the bleak ‘The Destroyer,’ another story showcasing why meeting a God, this time a trickster and a master of storms, is never a good idea.

Overall, from start to finish, Demmer showcases his ability to grab the reader quickly, pull us in deep and hold us under the surface until we stop kicking.

What I didn’t like: As with every collection, readers will connect with each story different and blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard we say this a bajillion times, but truth be told, Demmer’s writing is just so pure and crisp, you’ll swear you’ve been transported to wherever the story is based and you’ll feel the sweat on your skin and the smell the fear all around you.

Why you should buy this: Did you just read what I wrote? If not, Calvin Demmer is a ‘MUST READ’ short story writer. His work is masterful, dark and comes at you from every direction. Nothing is safe, nothing can be trusted and even when you think the story is based in a firm reality, he’ll open the cosmic portals and rain creatures of acid upon your face.

A blistering batch of stories that never lets up and showcases why I can’t rave about Demmer enough.

5/5

Book Review: The Galleria by Alexander Michael

Title: The Galleria

Author: Alexander Michael

Release date: January 2nd, 2024

Thanks so much to Alexander for sending me a digital review copy of this one!

I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into with this one, as I saw a brief synopsis, but I’m fairly open to going into everything blind either way.

The story does feature a foreword that illustrates there are three interconnected novellas that can be read in any order or the reader doesn’t need to read the other two novellas at all, as all things lead towards a full length release coming up. I can safely say that I never felt lost or that I was missing something by having not read the other two, which was great, but I could imagine other readers who’ve read the other two as well, will have enjoyed whatever little Easter eggs that have been dotted throughout.

What I liked: The story follows a cab driver, who has a love/hate relationship with his job. It pays the bills and he gets to meet eclectic people, but he also dislikes a large percentage of the crazy folks who hop in late at night.

On one seemingly normal evening, a young woman jumps in, and has a strange hypnotic effect on him. Within their short interaction, she opens his eyes to some potentials that lay just beyond what we can normally see and from there, he becomes almost obsessed with her, hoping she gets back in nightly.

Michael does a great job with this scene and then having her burrow under our taxi drivers skin. It’s an element that can either work or not, but in this case, we get to walk that line between ‘enough already’ and ‘he needs to find her!’

As the story unfolds, she disappears and he takes it upon himself to find her and its at this point that we go from a fairly mundane story to a seedy underbelly world where drugs, sex and violence lead the way.

Describing things like Clive Barker or Barker-esque can sometimes be overused, but in this case its spot on. Reading this I felt like I was reading something that Stanley Kubrick adapted from Barker. An ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ through Clive’s imagination, if you will.

What I didn’t like: Truthfully, this book was really, really solid, but it never completely grabbed by the throat and held me down, forcing me to turn its pages. I think this is just more of a case of the ‘noir’ aspect to it, that this readers brain typically stays away from, as it never fully connects. So, this one will definitely grab others WAY more than it grabbed me.

Why you should buy this: Michael has done a wonderful job of taking a ‘basic’ character and thrusting him into a world he clearly doesn’t belong in. It makes for some uneasy and awkward moments, which are only heightened by our Taxi drivers desire to find the girl, but also to see everything that he has been missing out in his boring life. A very unique take on the classic ‘fish out of water’ trope.

4/5

Book Review: Among the Living by Tim Lebbon

Title: Among the Living

Author: Tim Lebbon

Release date: February 13th, 2024

Huge thanks to Tim, Titan Books, Netgalley and Edelweiss for the advance copy of this one. I’d requested this on Edelweiss as soon as it was on there. A month later, it popped up on Netgalley, so I requested it and was approved the same day. Then two days later – approved on Edelweiss haha! So, there we go!

It’s occurred to me that I’ve pretty much only read Tim’s ‘eco-horror’ releases while reading this one. Novels such as ‘The Last Storm,’ ‘Coldbrook,’ ‘The Silence,’ and the phenomenal ‘Eden,’ have all been set in worlds where the characters are predominantly outside fighting to survive. ‘Coldbrook’ might be the outlier there, as it’s not so much an ‘eco-horror’ like the others, but even then, it involves surviving and the great outdoors. Throw in his humourous ‘Run, Walk, Crawl,’ non-fiction release and it’s safe to say writing about the outdoors is Tim’s bread and butter. Everything seems to be more vibrant and the emotions raised that much more. Hell, even throw in his recent novella, ‘The Last Day and the First,’ and it all comes to show you, Tim is a writer who thrives when everything is outside.

Now, I prefaced this by saying I’ve read mainly his ‘eco-horror,’ which means I’ve not read really any of his sci-fi works nor any of his IP works such as his Aliens stuff or his novelizations such as Kong: Skull Island (which is essentially an ‘eco-horror’ novelization!), so others may feel the opposite where they prefer his sci-fi stuff, but for this reader, his wilderness work is pristine.

Which leads us to ‘Among the Living’ his newest novel, launching sky high from the mighty Titan Books. Everything about this one had me excited and when Tim posted a few times that this one might be one of his most straight-ahead horror novels, I knew we were in for a treat.

What I liked: The novel is set in the near-future and focuses on a subject that honestly and truly petrifies the shit out of me. The world has warmed and the permafrost is melting. Which means things that are hundreds of thousands of years old are unthawing and making their way back into the real world.

A side piece here from me. Everything about that little paragraph I’ve written is terrifying and is something that freaks me out. Much like the movie ‘Outbreak’ scared the hell out of me when it was released, the reality that this is actually happening currently is enough to keep me awake at night. Another concerning thing, for me at least, is the turning-of-the-cheek to science and vaccines and vaccination education. Working in a healthcare adjacent position, we see – daily – what the results of being vaccinated and unvaccinated are and with the world’s collective increase in turning their backs on these things, I stress over what will happen when one of these dormant diseases unthaws and spores into the air.

Anyways, I’ll get off my soapbox and get back to the meat and potatoes of this novel. Safe to say, I was scared to my core from page one. The story follows Bethan, Alile and Goyo, who travel far north after being tipped off that a group is illegally searching for rare minerals. The trio do their best to prevent climate destruction. The person who tipped off Bethan is her former best friend, Dean. He is one of the folks mining for these rare materials. While Dean and his group are deep in an unexplored cave complex, they discover old cave paintings and seemingly mummified bodies, dead for centuries. That is, until one of them moves.

It’s from here that Lebbon has created a white-knuckle thrill ride where Dean and Bethan try to overcome their differences – from an event in their past – and work together to prevent the spread of what has waken.

Each and every chapter after is a cinematic masterpiece. Tim does such a job of painting the picture of what this near-future landscape looks like, with polar bears having returned from near extinction and now rampaging across their territory, to the ever-present threat of sink holes and methane geysers erupting at a moments notice.

The Goyo character is phenomenal and becomes an almost supernatural entity within, leading Bethan and Dean across the terrain as they race to prevent the downfall of all mankind.

I loved the folklore element that Tim infuses in here and I’ll need to search out and see if the Long-Gone story shared within was based on a real story or purely from his imagination, but either way, it worked so well to share the ‘why’ of those below and leads us to the violent, chaotic ending.

The ending – for me at least – worked amazingly to cap everything off and when we look at the totality of the ‘why’ and what they are trying to prevent, made total sense. Saying that, it can also be looked at as partially open-ended and who knows, we may see more of this world in the future.

What I didn’t like: This is 100% me nitpicking here, but I had hoped much, much more of this novel was going to be happening in a subterranean setting. Only the first few chapters has anything to do with the cave discovery, so I was a bit bummed when that became obvious, but for me at least, it didn’t dampen the story in the least. I just like cave horror!

Why you should buy this: Tim writes his novels with the ever growing dread that an A-bomb is about to go off. Much like many of the high-fantasy writers (Martin etc) no character in Tim’s novels are ever safe and that makes for an edgy, uncertain read, which I’m all for.

‘Among the Living’ is cold-weather, frozen-tundra horror done so very well. Another example of why Tim’s best work is when he’s writing in the ‘eco-horror’ world and honestly, I don’t think there’s another author out there who has released books at this level, to this degree, focusing so much on the ever-growing crisis of climate change and the terror that these changes can bring.

Outstanding work.

5/5

Book Review: ‘Family Til’ It Can’t Be, Gang Til’ It Ain’t’ by Chaz Williams

Title: Family Til’ It Can’t Be, Gang Til’ It Ain’t

Author: Chaz Williams

Release date: January 5th, 2024

Huge thanks to Chaz for sending me a digital ARC of this one. I had it preordered some time ago, and was trying my best to get it read before release date, but life got hectic!

I connected with Chaz a bit ago on IG, as he’s an avid reader and supporter of a lot of Indie Horror. He was with Uncomfortably Dark for a bit reviewing there as well, which is always a great thing to see, as Candace Nola does a ton of work promoting a ton of authors, so having Chaz also providing reviews there was a awesome.

With ‘Family Til’ It Can’t Be, Gang Til’ It Ain’t,’ Chaz has taken the step from having some short stories published in anthologies, to having a tried and true singular release and that’s always a wonderful moment for any author.

I went into this pretty blind, wanting to see what Chaz created for his debut and, I can safely say, for those looking for an exciting new voice in extreme horror, Chaz should be on your radar.

What I liked: The novella follows a group of friends who will always have each other’s backs no matter what. That is until a seemingly unrelated discovery of a ‘kill room’ in a warehouse reveals certain things.

Williams opens this one up with an excellent ‘prologue,’ setting the stage for the brutality that follows. We get some lush, vicious descriptions of what these teens find in the warehouse and it is clearly Chaz’s war-horn sounding that he’s entering the extreme horror game and he’s coming all guns-blazing.

From there, the friends get together and we learn that the one guy – the lawyer in the group – is actually behind all the killings. He reveals that something inside of him makes him do these killings and that, while the acts are heinous, he begs and pleads that he himself is not a monster.

Williams walks that tightrope of ‘how far would you go to help a friend’ well. We get back stories of other instances where the friends have come to help each other and we see how this bond that they’ve created is ‘thicker than blood.’

I do want to add that this novella reads as though it was covered in grime. I don’t know how to describe it well, and a part of that is I’m a 42-year-old, white guy. But this feels like it came from the streets. It has its pulse firmly in the underground and the ‘bad side of the tracks’ if you will and that elevates this story from simply an extreme story with gore to a story with emotions and attachments to characters. This group came from hard times and have stuck beside each other through the hard times.

Which makes the ending that much more emotional and one that – I’m staying spoiler free here – will either work really well for the reader or not.

What I didn’t like: For this being his debut, Chaz was all over it in terms of creating tension, keeping the pace breakneck fast and making me want to believe in the characters.

A few things stuck out for me though, and I want to approach them constructively.

The first was the very common trope of ‘only killing bad people.’ That has been done a million times before (but hey, so has monsters in the woods!), so it was great to see Chaz add his own twist to it, but I wished he’d not mentioned anything about ‘Dexter’ at all, as it will make some folks tune out immediately.

The second thing – and this is my own personal thing (and we’ve all been guilty of it) – is the book and name dropping that really does reduce the ability to suspend disbelief. I get why we want to do it and why we all do it, but as a reader, it does drive me bonkers lol.

Which brings me to the third thing. It’s mentioned early on that part of the reason our killer begins to think about what brings him joy, is his discovery of reading extreme horror and Splatterpunk. Any time ANY correlation between someone deciding to kill someone based on reading something, or even listening to heavy metal music, makes me roll my eyes. There really is no correlation that people who read horror are more prone to violence, horrid acts or killing people. We need to actively move away from that, especially as we grapple with so many unhinged people in the world right now.

And lastly – the ending was telegraphed pretty blatantly. I’m ok when it works as a distractive piece (Hell, I get shit on for my purposeful early revealing the ‘who’ in one of my own novels), but I think it would’ve been far more subtle to have eliminated the other group text moment and left us thinking the police would be more involved.

Why you should buy this: Overall, this was a really enjoyable novella that is an easy one-sit reading. Chaz’s debut definitely shows that he’s here to deliver the dark goods and that he’ll be doing that with a unique and distinctive storytelling voice. I’m really excited to see where he goes from here and I think this one is going to be a sleeper hit in 2024 with many, many people finding it and it ending up on a number of year end ‘Best-Of’ lists.

Well done on this debut and now we await the next release!

3/5

Book Review: Intercepts by T.J. Payne

Title: Intercepts

Author: T.J. Payne

Release date: April 23rd, 2019

So, this ended up being my last read finished in 2023 and if I’d have read it earlier, it would’ve definitely made it onto my Year-End-Best-Of list.

This novel has been suggested to me a few dozen times and a lot of readers who’s opinions I trust and have similar reading enjoyments as myself have raved about it. But for a long time, I was kind of hesitant to dive in for one sort of lame reason. The cover. Honestly, this cover has never done it for me and even after reading the novel, I find the cover to be bland and lacking. I’m not sure if it was a ‘mass market’-type decision to appeal to as many potential readers as possible (which, hey, is often what all writers want, right?), but this one doesn’t scream read me. It doesn’t scream – CRAZINESS AHEAD. It kind of screams ‘last minute’ and ‘meh, this will do.’

But, when I was looking to finish my year off with a horror novel firmly wrapped together with sci-fi, this one’s synopsis fit the bill and I was kind of hoping I’d end up in a Splice movie type situation. And while we didn’t go there, this one does go in some really great directions.

What I liked: The story follows shit father, Joe, who works for a clandestine organization. He is in charge of a secret place that is using doped up people to get intelligence from around the world. The place is deep underground and he’s unable to discuss what he does with anyone from the outside world. He works long hours and focuses solely on his job and the perfection of the job. Which is administering a special cocktail of nerve stimulants to ‘tune’ these prisoners to retrieve this information.

Payne does a really solid job of setting the stage. We get the ‘why’ of Joe’s divorce, his estranged relationship with his teen daughter Riley and as the first quarter of the novel goes along, we get some hints about things starting to turn and Riley struggling with seeing something. This occurs after an incident with her mother and soon enough the novel goes from a jog to a sprint for the remaining 50%.

The location of this one is perfect. While it isn’t fleshed out with full schematic blueprints for us, it is described enough in bare-bones details to have our imaginations fill in the blanks. The same goes to the people they use. Heads shaved, hospital gowns stained and emaciated bodies abound.

What begins as a moral-testing story of how far should we go to get intelligence that can prevent huge world events, turns into a story of survival. Of Joe wanting to do whatever he can to save his daughter Riley from both the organization as well as from those who have been mistreated and experimented on.

The ending is essentially three parts. The first is the wrap up of the events in the underground lab. The second is the ‘epilogue’ of how the survivor continues on. And the third is the true epilogue which in itself made for a fantastically dark and bleak short story and could potentially see more of this world in the future.

Payne kept me completely captivated throughout and the blending of sci-fi and horror was pitch perfect.

What I didn’t like: Throughout, Joe is portrayed as a callous, asshole of a dad who never cared to be there for his daughter and even shares a few memories of when he chose work over her or spending time with his ex-wife and his daughter. It made it tough, for me at least, to completely believe that he had this sudden change of heart once Riley was involved. It was even shown a few times that his ‘love’ for her was shallow, when instead of staying with her, he up and left to return to work.

Why you should buy this: As I mentioned, this novel gallops along and was a great mix of horror, sci-fi and had some amazingly brutal and graphic moments. A lot of it reminded me of how a graphic novel would’ve rolled out and the action sequences and layers of government interference and involvement was great.

Payne has definitely hit a home run with this one and I think it’s a novel that will have a long, long shelf life as many new readers discover it.

5/5

Book Review: The Croning by Laird Barron

Title: The Croning

Author: Laird Barron

Release date: May 1st, 2012

I’ve been honored and fortunate to forge an acquaintance with Laird Barron, and I’m certain that if not for geographical restrictions, a true friendship would arrive between the two of us. I’ll never know truly the how, but randomly one day, early on over on Twitter, I had a notification and it said Laird Barron was now following you. I’ll admit – my consumption of Laird’s work has been shamefully minor, only a few short stories here and there – and because of that, I wasn’t fully aware of how monumentally impactful and inspirational Laird is within the horror world. It was through reading this novel that I was introduced to his mythology, the Old Leech and the Limbless Ones and the Children of Old Leech. I was so involved in what he was creating within the pages of ‘The Croning’ that I had to Google it and see if it was based on anything within history, but only discovered this was completely his doing.

If you’re a fan of cosmic horror and phenomenal mythology, look no further.

What I liked: The book opens with a retelling of a very famous fairy tale, which at first I was a bit confused by, but once you get through the entirety of the novel, it made total sense.

After that introduction, the novel focuses on Don, husband to Michelle and father to twins. We soon begin to see that his wife is an ‘odd duck’ in the sense that she is from an well-to-do family and her scientific studies fall into the ‘conspiracy theory’ realm of Hollow Earth and Hidden Little People.

But, as Don’s story soon unravels and we learn more and more about his experiences, we soon begin to see that maybe there is something to Michelle’s pursuits.

The final quarter of this novel is a sprint. The first three quarters is a slow-burn, chess match set up getting the pieces in place. All specifically to get us to the point of Don being sent to a strange geological discovery and all the chess moves have efficiently gotten you to the starting line for the 100m sprint at the Olympic Games. Because, when Don arrives, everything goes off the rails and Barron has the readers wrapped in the chaotic palm of his hand.

The ending is fantastic and took all the clues given earlier and like domino’s, knocks them down, one at a time. We get all the gooey bits with all the historical high notes that were needed and it’s once again brought back around to the fairy tale beginning.

What I didn’t like: I’ll admit, there were times were I contemplated DNFing this one. There are some very slow, dry and sluggish moments in the first half. As it begins to really unravel, it makes sense, but when something happens and we get pretty much zero answers at that time – looking at you Mexican trip – it becomes frustrating. Barron makes sure to tease enough to keep those devoted following along, but I fear those moments may be enough to cause some folks to tap.

Why you should buy this: Between his short stories and this novel, Barron has already created a legion of fans and a mythos that is extensive and utterly, fucking captivating. Old Leech and all around it have hooked into my brain and I’ll want to be exploring much more of his work surrounding it.

If you’ve not read any Barron yet, this one starts slow, but takes off and never comes down from there. It really ends with some of the most engrossing and unnerving moments you’ll ever read.

4/5

Book Review: The City of Corpses by Joseph Sale

Title: The City of Corpses (Lost Carcosa Book Two)

Author: Joseph Sale

Release date: January 16th, 2024

Huge, huge thanks to Joseph and Blood Bound Books for sending me an early eARC of this one. After how much I loved book one, I was eagerly awaiting the news for book two, so I shouted like Joaquin Phoenix’s character in Signs when he first saw the footage of the alien at the birthday party, when the email came through.

Now, as I said before my review of book one, I wasn’t too familiar with Robert W. Chambers The King in Yellow mythology. Saying that, I knew bits and pieces, but I wouldn’t have been able to describe to you in any meaningful way what Carcosa looked like or really was or any of the key figures. In book one, Sale does a wonderful job of doing that, while also introducing us to Alan, a man seeking a better place for him, having grown to loathe earth and when he finds the way in, he gets in completely.

With book two, I was looking forward to seeing where Sale went with it.

Saying ALL of that – from here on, it may be spoiler-ish for book one, so tread carefully if you’ve not read the first one yet. But you should. It was on my list of the best books of the year for a reason.

What I liked: I WARNED YOU – SPOILERS AHEAD!!

So, book one ended with a few things. Alan possessed the claw of craving, firmly formed onto his arm. He had developed a connection with Cassilda, and her sister Cali, had betrayed them all and was fleeing back to Carcosa to help fall the city and end her father’s life.

We pick up there, with the four – Alan, Cass, LeBarron and Petruccio heading to the mythical city of Alar, looking for answers and a way to stop Cali.

Look, I can’t state this enough and I think I’ve been saying this in every review of Sale’s books I’ve done since the first book I read of his – but nobody out there has his gift of imagination and description. Many writers have the imagination. Many have the mastery of prose. But none of them can put the two together like Sale can and I’d honestly fight anyone to the death over the fact that he is both criminally underrated and under read. Once again here, much like book one, we get a solid story that cinematically rivals the greatest fantasy writers of all time. Pick any writer – most recently would be Martin or Rothfuss I’d guess – and what Sale’s done here is bigger in scope and depth. He just doesn’t fill pages and pages of story with descriptions of food – looking at you Martin. Couple that with the Chambers mythology fully formed and realized and you can taste the air, smell the stench and feel the ground underfoot as we go from Alar, back to Carcosa for the last stand of the mighty tower.

The last quarter of this rivals any of the big battles we encounter in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings world, massive creatures, thousands of undead and blood and shredding in every sentence. The difference here, between Sale’s books and those masters – the horror element. Sale’s mind is firmly entrenched in the horror world and as such we get darker turns, betrayal and lascivious moments that would make even the most depraved master blush.

It all comes to a head at the end, first we see what happens with Cali and then the aftermath, which sets things up for a third book. I’m elated that we’ll be getting more, as at first I thought this was purely a two series set, and I was worried Sale would have to rush through this one to get to a solid conclusion.

What I didn’t like: Having just read book one not long ago, the main characters were completely fresh in my mind. Saying that, the secondary characters not so much. A refresher at the beginning I think would’ve been great and I think something almost necessary when dealing with fiction that has the scope that this one does.

Why you should buy this: I’ve had this conversation with Joseph in the past, but I feel like he’s a writer currently writing in the wrong decade or even century. I think if he was releasing this stuff in the 60s and 70s, awards would be named after him and entire magazines would be devoted to his mythology and imagination. I suspect in another thirty or forty years we’ll be seeing this happening, but I hope beyond hope that these books take up the mantle NOW and more and more reviewers latch on to what he’s crafting and give him the praise he so rightly deserves.

As for this novel, once again, Sale has sold his soul to a god elsewhere who watches through the thin crack in the veil, allowing him to deliver a knock out. This story, these characters and this world was made for Sale to play in and he’s having a blast doing just that.

An absolute beast that is a must-read for all horror fans.

5/5

Book Review: The Backrooms by Matt Wildasin

Title: The Backrooms

Author: Matt Wildasin

Release date: February 22, 2023

As someone who doesn’t spend much time online looking specifically at creepypastas, I’ve found it fascinating – and amazing – how much of them become part of the horror community lore and eventually, we get a novelization of some sort around them. Take Jeremy Bates’ ‘The Sleep Experiment,’ or novels based on Slender Man. And even recently, Trevor Henderson, creator of a number of creepypasta creatures released his own novel, ‘Scarewaves,’ and while it didn’t have Siren Head or Long Horse or Cartoon Cat, he did create some new spooky things to run amok.

One of the most commonly known or popular creepypastas has been The Backrooms. According to the web, it was first shared in 2019, but exploded in popularity in 2022, when a short film was made and shared widely. Kane Parsons, who made that short, is now in the process of making a full-length feature film about it, and I’m excited to see what he does. I actually remember when I first came across his short film. Author Stephen Graham Jones had shared it on his Twitter page and mentioned how unnerving it was. I watched it and was held within its magic. It was fantastic. Now, for those who don’t know what The Backrooms are, it is a place that was ‘discovered’ within a seemingly normal looking building, or below a building, or within a parallel void of some sort, made up completely of bare, sparse rooms and hallways. A lot of the area looks identical throughout and as the person within moves further, often strange shadows will be seen, noises heard or creatures appear.

Which leads us to Matt Wildasin’s novella, ‘The Backrooms.’ I’ll admit, when it was announced, I was super excited to see what Matt did with this concept, but that excitement soon soured when it was shared it was an epistolary based story. As you may have read in previous reviews, I struggle with that format, so I didn’t dive in right away. But over this year, of 2023, I read a few epistolary stories that I really enjoyed. So, with the year coming to a close, I decided to jump in and see what worlds Wildasin created.

What I liked: The story takes place shortly after Y2K. For those of us old enough to remember – there was a palpable fear around the end of the 90’s when an uncertainty was proposed regarding computer functions when the clock ticked over and we went from 1999 to 2000. What would happen with the coding? Would planes fall from the sky? Would we have nuclear meltdowns?

Wildasin posits that this is EXACTLY what happened. That when the clock ticked over, life as we knew it came to an end and every citizen that lived was no longer a real body, but a binary code, existing in a simulation. But some of those codes ACTUALLY woke up, and those few who did, found themselves in a place where the halls looked the same, the rooms looked the same and they understood they’d arrived at The Backrooms.

Told through letters left behind in case someone else finds them, we follow two different characters as they try and navigate their way through the labyrinth of hallways they’ve awoken in, finding clues, strange mechanical creatures and that some rooms don’t change. It makes for a claustrophobic experience, one that pulls the reader deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole as we try to make heads or tails over what is actually going on.

The final third reminded me a lot of the sci-fi movie ‘Cube’ (actually a lot of this book reminded me of that movie!) with some unique twists and unexpected developments. It all led to an ending that seemed very prescient if you’re a person who believes that we do really live in a computer simulation and nothing that happens around us is real.

What I didn’t like: While it was suggested as epistolary, I’d actually counter that and say it’s more of a first person retelling of events, just labelled as letters, which made for an easy time for my brain.

What I wasn’t a huge fan of was all the coding stuff. It made sense in the context of the story and the way the events of Y2 happened, etc., but as someone who isn’t super techy when it comes to code and binary stuff, I wasn’t sure how it would work and if something was discovered, if it was a big deal or not.

Why you should buy this: Overall, I did have a lot of fun with this one, even if I did find at times it didn’t seem to fully grasp the environment around it and a lot of the possibilities or where it could go simply didn’t go anywhere.

This was a fast-paced read, very compulsive and ultimately one that asks some big questions and forces the reader to answer a few on their own.

3/5

Book Review: Christmas Eve Carnage by John Lynch

Title: Christmas Eve Carnage

Author: John Lynch

Release date: December 22nd, 2023

Huge thanks to John for sending me a digital copy of this one!

Over the last number of years, I’ve had the joy of watching John’s writing progress. From his first short stories, through to now, his progression and dedication to his craft have been amazing and with the ever-growing list of die-hard fans he’s accumulating, it warms my heart to know others see it too.

With this, his newest release, a Christmas-themed, extreme release, I was excited to see what hijinks he got up to and more importantly, I was excited to see if his take on Christmas horror would be something I’d enjoy, as (much like I said in a previous review posted today,) I struggle with Christmas stuff. But, there’s always an exception to the rule and I’m pleased to say, Lynch throttled this one in the throat.

What I liked: The story centers around the Feltcher family kids on Christmas Eve. Their mother died from Cancer recently, and since then their father – a cop – works double and triple shifts while drinking his sorrow and staying as far away from the house as he can. Everything reminds him of his wife.

When his youngest daughter finds one of the moms old Christmas Elves, at first nobody blinks an eye. But the Elf is magical and a maniac and soon he’s going to have his fun.

This story runs alongside a secondary plot. Where someone that the dad jailed has been released and wants his revenge. So, he heads to the house, ready to kill them all.

Lynch does a great job of setting everything up and when the blood starts flying, boy does it fly. We get Sprinkles the elf stabbing and biting, we get the deranged ex-con, stabbing and slicing and we get the kids trying to survive a double-headed attack.

The ending is not only a total blood bath, but if you couple it with the minor epilogue, we just may get more Sprinkles carnage, and I for one would be all for it.

What I didn’t like: I think the biggest thing for me was that I wished it was one or the other. Sprinkles or the ex-con. The character of Chad is great, and he was a blast to see him want to take his vengeance out, but when Sprinkles arrived, the reader is focused on him. When Chad returns, the reader is focused on him. I think ideally if the story had been one or the other, it would’ve elevated it even more.

Why you should buy this: This is exactly like all of the wonderfully brutal late 80s and early 90s Christmas horror movies that we all grew up watching and loving. Lynch delivers a chaos filled story filled to the brim with ripping and shredding and at the end of the day, the reader won’t really care who survives, as they’ll be more invested in who dies and how they die. And Lynch does that perfectly.

4/5