Nikolas P. Robinson's Blog, page 4

Hollow: Linkville Horror Book 4 by Mike Salt, Narrated by Curtis Michael Holland

Take one part As Above, So Below, one part The Descent, and one part Jacob’s Ladder (with just a dash of House of Leaves) and you’ll end up with something that adequately sets the stage for Mike Salt’s Hollow, the fourth installment of his Linkville Horror series. There’s much more involved than those three components, but they capture the atmosphere Salt crafts with this claustrophobic tale of terror.

Beneath the sleepy, seductive, and sinister town of Linkville is a tunnel that runs through the whole of downtown. Despite attempts by the city to renovate it and transform it into a tourist attraction, it’s fallen into disrepair. When Tyler and Robin returned to their hometown of Linkville, to visit with their friend Bird, they had no reason to think they’d be venturing into that tunnel. But when Bird frantically leaves his brother’s house upon their arrival, intent on tracking down his family and their friends who have been missing for a few days, Tyler and Robin feel compelled to help their friend out.

But it doesn’t stop with the tunnel. A hole in the tunnel leads into what appears to be a cavern hidden beneath, and that’s where Bird is certain his brother and sister-in-law have disappeared. Cooler heads do not prevail, and the three friends venture into the depths of a place from which there seems to be no escape.

Hollow is filled with labyrinthine mysteries, nightmares that come to life, claustrophobic tension, and the uncertainty of being unable to trust one’s own reality. It’s a bleak and torturous tale of survival from which there might be no such thing as surviving. While it’s a fully encapsulated story, without any need to explore the other Linkville Horror books, I suspect that this experience is more than sufficient to draw readers/listeners back to Linkville, even if they never get to explore the seemingly endless evil that exists just beneath the surface…and that may be a blessing. If Salt ever does invite readers back to the tunnels, it might be best to decline that invitation, as it can only get worse from here. Tyler and Robin would most certainly agree.

The narration provided by Curtis Michael Holland takes a little getting used to, but once you’re comfortably settled in, it’s a fun ride. I will say that he sounds just a bit like H. Jon Benjamin, which isn’t a bad thing, it just brings to mind many of the animated characters he’s voiced over the years while you’re trying to focus on the story.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Hollow-Audiobook/B0CL5K4H5X?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix, Narrated by Tai Sammons & Bronson Pinchot

It’s not a popular opinion within the horror community, but I have not been a fan of Grady Hendrix. His writing is top-tier, and the concepts behind his work have always been compelling, but there’s something in the execution that’s never worked for me in the past. I’ve seen the rave reviews of books like My Best Friend’s Exorcism and The Final Girl Support Group, and I’ve gone into them hopeful…only to feel disappointed. I wanted to like them. Something about the characters and the pacing always left the stories lacking.

And then I took a chance on Horrorstor.

This was what I was hoping to find. The other Hendrix books didn’t do it for me, but this one contained the perfect blend of wry humor and sincere horror. The characters didn’t irritate me, the pacing felt simultaneously practiced and natural, and the story itself was fascinating.

If you’ve spent any time shopping at IKEA, you’re familiar with the planned layout that’s guaranteed to draw you deeper into the store before you ever have a chance to find an exit. The way out is through, but it’s a long way through. This is precisely the dynamic ORSK has implemented in its shameless attempt to copy the already established IKEA. And that makes it all the more difficult for employees to figure out how or why things are being damaged, defiled, and destroyed overnight. And, what’s worse, sales are down.

Could someone be breaking in? Or is this a case of someone phrogging in the establishment? That’s what the manager hopes to find out when he enlists two of his employees to spend the night there with him, as they prepare for a visit from corporate headquarters.

Unfortunately, the truth is far worse and infinitely more difficult to understand. Will any of the employees survive the night, or will they get lost in the labyrinth?

There’s a lot to unpack, from the scathing indictment of consumerism and the mindless drive to shop and spend that’s promoted and encouraged by the corporations hoping to pad the bottom line to the predatory conditions at-will employees are subject to, simply to keep the lights on. Hendrix imbues this story with plenty of social commentary.

The chapter breaks–with their increasingly sinister product descriptions–were one of the best things Hendrix could have added, making the whole experience that much more entertaining.

Tai Sammons’s narration of the main story was fantastic, and Bronson Pinchot’s delivery of the product advertisements separating the chapters was a masterful stroke of brilliance.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Horrorstoer-Audiobook/B00NLPAZ9W?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

The Walking by Bentley Little, Narrated by John Pirhalla

If you’re familiar with Bentley Little, you’re probably well aware that he’s an author who excels at tales of small towns with dark secrets, hidden mysteries, and sinister forces beneath the surface. He takes the mundane and everyday aspects of our lives and transforms them into something sublimely creepy with apparent ease. That is, in fact, the man’s bread and butter as far as I’m concerned, and few have come close to doing it half as well.

The Walking includes a fair bit of what you’d expect from Little but with a lot more history involved than is often found in his work. The tale unfolds during two different periods, as the revelations behind what’s happening are deeply tied to events of the distant past, where a town of witches was established in the Southwest. In this place, they could be safe from persecution and the religious intolerance of the rest of American civilization. That is until everything falls apart.

In the modern day, we discover a plague of peculiar variety, in that some recently deceased people are suddenly driven to walk, although they’re clearly quite dead. Family secrets are uncovered, the cruel fate of the once-prosperous town of witches is revealed, and the cast of characters we’ve been following are forced to meet face-to-face with the mysterious force that’s animating the dead and calling them home.

Fans of The Summoning are sure to enjoy the appearance of a certain opportunistic FBI agent.

This was slower than a lot of Little’s work, but it was not disappointing for that fact. It felt different from much of his other work, including the pacing and the wider scale of the overall narrative.

John Pirhalla’s narration was top-notch, leaving no complaints and nothing to be desired.

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Walking-Audiobook/B0919B6SDX?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Slashtag by Jon Cohn, Narrated by Lauren Ezzo

Jon Cohn invites us to Slashtag, a multiplatform reality program that promises to take horror to new, previously undreamt heights. The Propitius Hotel, once the home of America’s most notorious and prolific serial killer, Arthur Wilson, is the setting for this nightmare-inducing challenge that pits seven celebrities (or what passes for celebrities) against the clock as well as the malevolent entities that wander the haunted hotel.

The characters are all believable and distinct from one another, especially as their carefully crafted facades begin to crumble under the strain of life-or-death stakes, and the people beneath are gradually revealed. Cohn handles that character development/dismantling with masterful skill. As self-awareness kicks in and self-preservation becomes essential, we witness these people transforming before our eyes, even as they struggle to maintain the personae they know their fans are logging in to see.

Tawny and April are amazing characters, fascinating and fleshed-out, and the rest of the cast Cohn introduces us to is no less vibrant and interesting in their own ways, even if their personality is bland (yes, I’m talking about Britt). In some instances, the clear analogs to real-life people are a lot of fun, especially as we meet the wealthy board members of Krentler Media.

The uncertainty of whether what’s happening is real or contrived is deftly handled, as characters react in vastly different ways, depending on where they fall along that spectrum of belief…until they’re all in the loop, and fully cognizant of the danger they’re in.

The premise behind the reality program itself, the purpose behind the torture and slaughter, and the mythology that’s brought to bear are enjoyable and metered out with just the right pacing.

Lauren Ezzo’s narration is spectacular, providing each character with their own delivery and cadence. Her narration made the book all the more enjoyable.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Slashtag-Audiobook/B0C4QHNXRD?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Recursion by Blake Crouch, Narrated by Jon Lindstrom & Abby Craden

Blake Crouch guides us through a narrative full of twists and turns, switchbacks, and–well, obviously–recursions, as he tackles the well-trod ground of time travel, bringing a fresh new spin to the topic. False Memory Syndrome is becoming a plague, as people find themselves suddenly–and seemingly at random–overwhelmed by new memories of a life that wasn’t the one they’d been leading up until that moment. These memories are as vibrant and real as the ones they’d had access to only seconds earlier, and the confusion and contradiction are enough to drive people mad.

One detective’s obsession with the often disastrous impact of these false memories and the unknown vector by which the mental illness is transmitted leads him to an inevitable meeting with a research scientist focused on salvaging memories for those suffering from dementia, as she hopes to ease the horror of that debilitating condition. Unfortunately, a wealthy and powerful benefactor with seemingly unlimited capacity to predict market trends and so much more has his own goals for the technology, and he’s seemingly two steps ahead of both of them.

Crouch takes us from the seemingly innocent and altruistic beginning to the cataclysmic end, as the truth–and reality itself–becomes a tangled mess of interwoven timelines. At once thrilling and depressing in the way it captures the worst of human nature, this is a must-read.

The narration provided by Jon Lindstrom and Abby Craden is fantastic, and they thoroughly capture the characters and bring the listener into the story.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Recursion-Audiobook/1984886878?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Death Pacts and Left-Hand Paths by John Wayne Comunale, Narrated by John Wayne Comunale

John Wayne Comunale brings his usual irreverent humor and blasphemy to this tale of a working stiff who–like many of us–wishes he could find a shortcut to the life he would rather be living. Sometimes, that might be as easy as pushing someone in front of a bus, which–as it turns out–might be more challenging than you suspect. In this case, the desired shortcut comes in the form of a “Satanic” ritual.

A promotion at work, a life of ease, and the girl of your dreams, what would you do to have those things? Would you summon a peculiar little blob of a demon that resembles a demon about as much as the real Hell resembles the one you’ve always imagined from a lifetime of mythology and Christian upbringing–which is to say, not at all? Well, that’s what our protagonist decides to do, and he soon learns that there’s more work involved in making these dreams come true than it would have required if he’d just put in the effort in the first place. Mistakes were made.

Sometimes the shortcut isn’t much of a shortcut at all, but it’s difficult to see that until you’re already on the path, and by then it might be too late. Hindsight is 20/20, they say.

Comunale spins a fun little tale of a life spiraling out of control, the price of hubris, the hollow pleasure derived from cheating your way to success, and how important it is to be careful what you wish for. Along the way, he builds a new mythology of the realm we think of as Hell, the beings we think of as demons, and the harsh challenges associated with bridging that infernal realm with our own.

The author narrates his audiobook edition of the book, and there’s never any disappointment to be found in Comunale’s delivery. He knows just the right amount of sarcasm to imbue the narrative with, and the voices he has in mind for his characters.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Death-Pacts-and-Left-Hands-Paths-Audiobook/B094X4HV1N?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Night Shall Overtake by Michael R. Collins

Michael R. Collins takes us in a new direction with this tenth-anniversary edition of his indie horror novel, Night Shall Overtake. A shape-shifting P.I. navigates a dark and treacherous city populated by living shadows, demonic entities, and cosmic creatures that drive men mad with only a glance. The author’s skillful world-building combines with excellent storytelling that ensures we seamlessly fall into the world he’s crafted as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Thankfully, however, this is not our world.

Hired by a mysterious client, Twila’s boss sends her out to locate a missing woman with ties to the horror-filled section of the city only monsters call home, a place populated by nightmares and creatures so inhuman as to be incomprehensible. What Twila discovers is a web of deceit and death spreading in all directions from whatever her missing woman seems to have touched. And though the subject of her search appears to be dead, there are terrifying forces at work that now have Twila and everyone she knows in their sights. Her investigation has drawn attention that no one anticipated–and no one ever wants.

As the mystery deepens and the the intrigue grows increasingly hazardous, our cast of characters soon discover that whatever they’ve stumbled into, it could have implications that threaten all life–not just their own. The question is, can Twila get to the bottom of it all before the tensions escalate into a turf war between forces that will destroy the world in the process?

This book is a fantastic dark urban fantasy weaving elements from all sorts of horror into a classic noir-ish detective story, complete with sexual tension, witty dialogue, and exciting mystery.

This title, along with others by Michael R. Collins, will also be available through http://www.godless.com at the link below:

Night Shall Overtake by Michael R. Collins – June 27th

Demon Theory by Stephen Graham Jones, Narrated by Richard Ferrone

Like much of what Jones has written, Demon Theory defies easy classification and mixes subgenres with fluidity and skill that borders on awe-inspiring. There’s a little bit of Watcher In the Woods, a touch of Jacob’s Ladder, a hint of Scream, and perhaps a taste of the first two Return of the Living Dead films serving as inspiration behind this book–that in turn serves as the novelization of three fictional films constituting the “Devil Inside” trilogy. Filled with pop culture references and nods to obscure horror flicks (for today’s audience), witty dialogue, meta-commentary, and as much dark humor as there is horror, this book is an excellent experience for fans of Stephen Graham Jones.

We begin on Halloween night as a group of medical students goes to Hale’s childhood home where his diabetic mother needs assistance. When they arrive, with Hale’s mother nowhere to be found, they soon discover they’re stuck in the secluded and rundown house as a snowstorm rages outside. As the story progresses, we discover the six med students aren’t alone, and it takes on a sort of slasher narrative as we learn more about Hale’s family, his childhood trauma, and the presumed identity of the killer. As the body count rises and the possible supernatural elements are introduced, we speed toward a conclusion that feels fitting, though slightly ambiguous.

The second installment of the trilogy begins with a familiar scenario that’s been touched on in the first, but things aren’t quite right. The deck has been shuffled and we’ve moved forward in time and simultaneously backward, it seems. Familiar faces appear but in different roles. The names may be the same, but the details are off…however, it isn’t long before we learn that recollection of the previous story’s events are clear to at least one of the returning characters–though Nona is treated as if these “false” memories are indicative of mental illness. It’s almost Christmas, and we ultimately find ourselves in a hospital where the staff prepares for a performance to entertain the patients. This installment skips the slasher element and dives right into the supernatural aspect we experienced in the earlier tale, amplifying the stakes and the danger. It’s no longer simply the cast of six facing the horrors that we witness arising in the hospital corridors–but how many people would believe that demonic entities are afoot before it’s too late?

The final piece of the trilogy comes as a direct sequel to the second installment, but following another time jump. We’re three years further along and many familiar faces have returned, this time taking the fight back to Hale’s childhood home, hoping to stop whatever nightmare they’ve been living in since they first stepped foot into that house. Nona has a plan, but can her judgment be trusted? Can anyone be trusted, as we delve deeper into the events that brought all of this about? Supernatural horror meets slasher meets brazen scientific experimentation as we learn the truth about Hale’s father, his sister, and the identities of the friends who accompanied Hale home in the first place. This one starts off with a splattery, violent bloodbath to up the ante as a group of punk criminals first arrive at the isolated house as a sort of initiation rite, setting the stage nicely for what awaits our returning cast of characters when they show up only a short while later.

Richard Ferrone’s narration is phenomenal, conveying a sort of homage to the voice of Ghostface from the Scream movies, which feels as perfect as could be with the self-awareness and referential nature of the characters contained within the narrative as well as the writing itself.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Demon-Theory-Audiobook/B002V19UD4?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

Infinite: Ghostland Trilogy Book 3 by Duncan Ralston, Narrated by Joe Hempel

Duncan Ralston brings his Ghostland trilogy to a superbly fitting conclusion with Infinite. He takes us back and forth in time, as the mystery surrounding Rex Garrote’s plan is revealed, and the truth is more horrifying than anything Ben Laramie and his friends could have imagined. The stakes are higher, and the enemies are far more numerous than solely Garrote and the forces he’s aligned beside him, but Ben is not one to give up. As Ralston races us toward a final confrontation that threatens existence, we’re forced to wonder how Ben and his allies fight an enemy who seems to know what’s coming, and who seemingly orchestrated every step they’ve taken to reach this point?

It was a treat, getting this deeper glimpse into Garrote’s life and personal history, the relationship between Garrote and Hedgewood, and the previously unexpected nature of Garrote House. Similarly, getting a deeper investment in Ben and Lilian’s families was an excellent experience, as the horrors of the Dark Rift loom ahead of our heroes.

As with the previous two installments of the Ghostland trilogy, the cast of characters is fantastic and each one is well-drawn and believable in their motivations and attitudes. The action is fast-paced and exciting, even as Ralston succeeds in giving us numerous breathers as he unveils the history that set the stage for the events we’re bearing witness to.

Joe Hempel’s narration is–as always–spectacular. There seem to be few narrators as prolific or in such high demand, and for good reason.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Infinite-Audiobook/B0B2FHQGFM?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

All Hallows by Christopher Golden, Narrated by Ron Butler & January LaVoy

Christopher Golden’s All Hallows transports us back to the simpler times of the mid-1980s, a time without cellphones and internet. I’m not a Luddite, by any stretch of the imagination, but something about the world back then triggers a healthy dose of nostalgia for me. It works especially well regarding horror because there’s no need to factor in the ever-connected nature of the modern world and its limitations on what makes sense. The bulk of Golden’s novel transpires on Halloween night, isolated to one suburban neighborhood. The setting definitely helps to make the story feel more intimate.

As the children of Coventry venture out to collect their toll of candy and treats, strange new children are making their way into the crowd, behaving strangely and unsettling some of the locals while going largely unnoticed by others. It’s not until they begin communicating with some of the neighborhood kids that we discover just how disturbing the situation is. Children and parents alike are forced to wonder what’s really going on in their otherwise tranquil neighborhood. Who are these peculiar kids? What do they want? And who is The Cunning Man?

All the while, family drama and infidelity threaten to upset the peace, creating distractions and turmoil that turn attention away from the genuine threat in their midst. Friendships are strained to their limits, families are falling apart, and a monstrous unearthly horror sweeps through the darkened streets and homes of unsuspecting victims.

Golden’s tale is a heartbreaking one. When all is said and done, no one will be the same, and the survivors might not be the lucky ones as they’re forced to face the dual traumas of loss and guilt no one is prepared for.

Narrations by Ron Butler and January LaVoy bring the story to life in a wholly authentic way that draws you into the tale as effectively as Golden’s masterful writing already would.

https://www.audible.com/pd/All-Hallows-Audiobook/B0BRYMMS4M?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp