The Hollow Ones is an uncomfortable mashup of many, better, thrillers. Admittedly, I may have expected too much from the director of so many of my favorite films. New FBI Agent Odessa volunteers for desk duty after shooting her own partner in a justifiable homicide. In the course of herContinue Reading
Four Native Americans kill an elk years in the past and live, and die, to regret it. After all, The Only Good Indians are vegan Indians. The first part of the book has the pacing and the plot of a thriller. However, the middle slows down substantially to a slow-burnContinue Reading
“They’ve turned the Empire State Building into a—no…it can’t be…a giant pantry? And we’re the meals.” —from the epic graphic novel, Vampire State Building. During a remodeling, a mysterious hidden room with a locked iron door is found behind the walls of the Empire State Building. After opening the room,Continue Reading
Final Cuts is an anthology of eighteen “all new dark and strange fiction inspired by cinema and television.” As with all anthologies, the stories vary in skill-level. However, these tales also swing wildly in genre. All have horror settings or themes. But some are also thrillers, fantasy, and romances. MyContinue Reading
Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows is a good example of the atmospheric horror of the 1800s despite being published in 1907. Think of the books (not the movies) Dracula and Frankenstein. I thought the pen and ink drawings were effective in depicting the plot. However, a bit of color would haveContinue Reading
Something is Killing the Children Vol 1 is an excellent start to a new horror comic series. One dark night, four boys are playing truth or dare. James tells a story about a monster in a ravine. The other boys don’t believe him and go to the ravine to proveContinue Reading
Something evil lurks inside a Long Beach warehouse in A Walk Through Hell. Two FBI agents, Goss and Hunzikker, walk into a warehouse never to return. An eight-person SWAT team is sent in to find the missing agents. Thirty seconds later, they come out talking of dread and someone comingContinue Reading
What happens when four women become friends? They pair off. So what is Elise to do when her best friend, Julie, goes missing while hiking? She believes Julie is returning—even over two years later. And then, joyously, Julie returns. But The Return is not what Elise, or anyone, expected. Mae,Continue Reading
If you’ve lost someone beloved, The Other People want to help… Gabe sees his daughter, Izzy, in the back window of a car ahead of him on the freeway one night. He assumes that he is mistaken until she mouths the word “Daddy”. He gives chase but loses the carContinue Reading
The Not-So Dead Isaiyan Morrison (The Dead Series, #1) Publication date: January 21st 2020 Genres: Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult All Faye wants is another chance at being normal: hanging out with friends, playing video games, reading the latest Manga… As a wraith, her craving for a normal existence seemsContinue Reading
The Last Starling C.L. Denault Publication date: December 24th 2019 Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult “They’re coming.” Words of warning haunt Jayce Wakefield’s dreams. He doesn’t believe them any more than he believes in the blue-eyed raven delivering the message. It’s totally absurd. They’re just dreams. He has nothingContinue Reading
“The last time I saw the pendant, it was on Becca’s neck. She was my best friend. And I killed her.”—Heather, Now, from the Dead Girls Club. There were four members of the Dead Girls Club. Dead Becca didn’t send the pendant. Heather didn’t send it to herself. That leftContinue Reading
“Lark was a religious community: participation was expected, baptism a stipulation.” “…but soon the fog would descend, making Lark unreachable. Unleavable. There would be no more ships until April.”—from Impossible Causes. Atmospheric combination of The Village and Carrie sets the scene in this coming-of-age gothic horror thriller. I expected toContinue Reading
Dr. William Abbey’s trouble is threefold. First, he is a mediocre doctor at best in 1884. Much better at diagnosing disease than curing it. Second, he falls in love with a woman above his station, leading to debts and eventually exile to South Africa. While there, he watches the executionContinue Reading
Twenty-six short tales make up the Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven. Ghosts and vampires are if course present in a compendium of horror tales. Surprisingly, there are also stories about thumb-suckers and a town where it really is raining men. Of course, with any short story anthology, thereContinue Reading
Frank Carter, the Whisper Man, has been in prison twenty years for kidnapping and murdering five young boys in rural Featherbank. His m.o. was whispering through each child’s window before luring them to their death. And now the whispering has begun again… Did Frank have an accomplice all those yearsContinue Reading