Lying Season (Experiment in Terror, #4) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

May 19, 2013 Regina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, favorite-series, urban-fantasy-uf, favorite-authors, ghost, broke-my-heart

So you know I am a fan of the Experiment in Terror series. My reviews of Red Fox and Dead Sky Morning did little to conceal the fact this fact. Lying Season is the 4th book in the Experiment in Terror series and is a game changer. This review does not contain spoilers. Author Karina Halle brought readers along for a great ride in the first three books, but we all knew (and desperately hoped) that certain situations would be confronted. Well Karina Halle does that for her readers in Lying Season. So you know I am a fan of the Experiment in Terror series. My reviews of Red Fox and Dead Sky Morning did little to conceal the fact this fact. Lying Season is the 4th book in the Experiment in Terror series and is a game changer. This review does not contain spoilers. Author Karina Halle brought readers along for a great ride in the first three books, but we all knew (and desperately hoped) that certain situations would be confronted. Well Karina Halle does that for her readers in Lying Season. Perry goes to Seattle for a week. The network that she works for and hosts her internet show is having its holiday party so Dex convinces her to attend. But where will Perry stay? With Dex, his fat dog, and his girlfriend of course! It is also a working trip, Dex identified a new location to film their show -- an abandoned wing of a mental institution. Could anything be more terrifying than an abandoned wing of a mental institution? Dex and Perry's filming of the mental institution is an obvious confrontation with both Perry and Dex's own troubled mental illness past. Through this, readers learn more about both Dex and Perry and their personal struggles. Perry continues to have terrifying nightmares and everything points to Dex's past as the cause. Perry begins to learn more about Dex's past but in a terrifying way.

Lying Season broke my heart. It broke my heart. Broke it. Okay, I just really needed to emphasize that. Readers should be warned, it ends with a cliff hanger and so you MUST Have On Demon Wing's nearby if you want to preserve your sanity. The cliff hanger is not cruelly inserted as some authors do. I promise that the ending makes sense within the storyline and I applauded that damned cliffhanger.

Perry and Dex encounter some serious baggage both their pasts and the action and horror element is taken up another notch.

It was moments like this I wish we had some theme song.

One of the frustrating parts of this series is Perry's immaturity. Yes she is only 22, but not many 22 year olds still live with their parents and follow their parents rules. Not many parents are as cruel and controlling to their 22 year olds:

If that gets your weight down [Perry], I'm all the more for it," my mother had to add.

Whose mom says that shit?! If nothing else, EiT serves as a parenting-not-to-do guide. But Perry does grow some in Lying Season. Despite her parents desire for her not to do something, she does it. She takes her career in hand and decides she needs to focus on certain aspects and learn certain skills. Readers get to see Perry interact with other people besides Dex, and Perry is damned funny; and appears to be confident. Readers get to see in Lying Season Dex's emotional and psychological weaknesses. This aspect of Dex is not surprising, given the back and forth between Dex and Perry and given what we learned about him in Red Fox. But, I still found it immensely disappointing. Isn't this what is great about EiT though? That the characters are far from perfect; that the characters sometimes make flawed decisions because they are afraid -- like people who are afraid do. Experiment in Terror is full of sexual tension, horror and ghosts and characters that sometimes go in to the dark abandoned second floor on their own.

Please read this series, start with #1. Darkhouse may be a little slow, but then continue on with Red Fox and I promise you will be hooked. June 23rd Karina Halle releases the seventh book in the Experiment in Terror series: Come Alive. So in celebration of my obsession, I will be reviewing each of the books in this series leading up to the release date.

To read more of this review and others like it check out Badass Book Reviews ...more

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Aug 13, 2013 Francesca the Fierce (Under the Covers Book Blog) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-2013, books-read-2020

We have finally come to THAT book. I was once told that this might end up being my favorite book in this series, quickly, after my initial reaction of wanting to throw the damn thing against a wall when I read THE END. To say I was anxious and a bit scared to read this is an understatement.

The reality of it was that I loved this book. For completely different reasons than why I loved the previous book. LYING SEASON is a killer book when it comes to the Dex and Perry drama. The sh*t these two

We have finally come to THAT book. I was once told that this might end up being my favorite book in this series, quickly, after my initial reaction of wanting to throw the damn thing against a wall when I read THE END. To say I was anxious and a bit scared to read this is an understatement.

The reality of it was that I loved this book. For completely different reasons than why I loved the previous book. LYING SEASON is a killer book when it comes to the Dex and Perry drama. The sh*t these two have put me through! All the will they, won’t they finally hits a wall in this book. Perry goes to Seattle to work on an episode of EIT and attend Shownet’s Christmas party. Of course, she stays with Dex. Dex and Jenn that is. Oh and let’s not forget their cute little puppy. Oh and yeah, he’s off his meds! Could Perry subject herself to any more torture?

While there is a show to film and ghosts to be spooked by (especially creepy is the ghost of Dex’s ex-girlfriend), LYING SEASON lacked the edge of horror and the scare tactics that Karina Halle used in DEAD SKY MORNING (which I absolutely loved by the way!) and she focused more on the love triangle. If you can call it a triangle when there’s never been a doubt that Dex is all about Perry.

We’ve all been on pins and needles to see what happens with Dex. Is he really interested? Is the attraction one sided? Does he have the guts to step out of his comfort zone (aka Jenn) and take a risk on Perry? Lets just all these questions are answered in LYING SEASON…and then those answers are stepped on. Karina Halle doesn’t do anything the easy way, does she?

But LYING SEASON was just perfect in every way. It’s an absolute edge of your seat read! Dex and Perry are my FAVORITE couple, as well as characters, this year and this whole book was like crack to my addict brain. And yeah, the ending….I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll just say this. After you read this book, you won’t be able to read anything else until you’ve devoured the series!

Favorite Quotes:

“You’ve got this hole in your heart, Perry. I can see it on your face. You’re so beautiful, bella, you really are, but you look so…sad. You’ve got this hole, I can see it and it is bleeding out slowly. It’s clotted only by hope. This hope, based on maybes and what ifs, is killing you. This pin is small and it moves quietly. You need a knife. Get over it. Face the finality of it all and move on.”

“I want you to stay with me,” he said. “And that’s the problem. Every time you leave me, I need you a little bit more.”

“It’s not magic, Perry. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known and before you say anything, you’ve always been that way to me.”

“You’re the light in all this madness. You’re my light. I should have been with you…” The thought hit him as his face crumpled in amazement. “Oh God, why am I not with you?” “Because you’re an idiot,” I said. ...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Cindy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: same-narrator-series, uf, rom-suspense-mystery, favorites, ghost-haunting, e-book, best-covers, scarydarkbits-uf-pnr

Again, miss Halle ran me through the frickin emotional wringer with this one! I was so invested I stayed up til 5 frickin am (good thing I didn't have anything to wake up early for this mornin haha); I just COULD NOT stop reading. We are introduced to some new characters here, and I must say that I absolutely loved Rebecca :) she was awesome. We were introduced to Jenn... I rarely use the 'c' word, but it is applicable here. Then there are our two main characters, Perry and Dex. There were SOOO ...more

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Apr 04, 2013 AH rated it really liked it

Shelves: demons, ghosts, dark, paranormal, thrillers, mystery, horror, zzread-april-2013

This series is so addictive. Part ghost story, part Blair Witch Project shaky cam, with an excellent cast of characters and ghosts. Edge of your seat scary moments!!! Full review to come...

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Feb 12, 2013 Rhiannon Frater rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorite-author

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous one, but it was still a solid read and had some very scary parts. It was heavy on the interpersonal relationships,and less concentrated on the scary. That lost me just a little bit. Even though I love Dex and Perry, I really like when they're in the middle of the scary, not just dealing with "real life." But then again, I'm not really into romance novels.

Onto the next one!!!

...more

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