Exquisite Corpse Review

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(More customer reviews)So you're a Poppy Z. Brite fan? Read Drawing Blood? Read Wormwood? Read Lost Souls? Consider yourself able to handle anything she could possible deal out? Think again. Do not read this book just because you loved her other work, and certainly don't read it if you've never read her other works. There are things in this book that you can never un-read; she makes you feel things you can never forget. Granted, all you hardcore fans out there won't head this warning- I certainly wouldn't have. So do go right ahead, and when you are done you will know what I'm refering to. All of which is not to say that this is not an incredible book- as always, Poppy Z. Brite is the master of descriptions so vivid that they make you feel, smell, or taste her words. And that is what makes this book so profoundly disturbing and so utterly unforgettable.

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The Manhattan Hunt Club Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is vintage Saul; take too many under-developed characters, place them in a suspenseful plot full of twist and turns which eventually result in a big, suspenseful, over-the-top finale. The Manhattan Hunt Club is a very good summer read; it's the kind of book that reads itself quickly and which you can't help but find entertaining.
The plot is simple in itself; a society of rich, high-class socialites have developed the ulitmate game. They send prisoners down the subway tunnel systems where they hunt them to death. Our main hero, Jeff, becomes a huntee but, of course, he isn't guilty of the crimes he is accused of. He needs to run away from the hunters and survive their attacks. Mix to this about half a dozen more characters, including a female politician, Jeff's father and mother, Jeff's girlfriend and Jinx, a young girl who lives in the tunnels and you get a book that is very full. Maybe even a little too full.
Sure, the tale moves along quickly and it is very suspenseful, but stopping at just a little over 300 pages, the book never gives you the satisfaction of truly knowing any of the characters. Saul spends too much time on suspense and not enough time developing the characters. Hence, you end up not really caring for any of them.
Still, the book offers some great moment and the 75-pages finale is pretty great. This is a good summer read. It's classic Saul, but it's not Saul at his best.

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Twilight of the Dead Review

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(More customer reviews)As a fan of all-things-zombie for over twenty years I had never experienced "zombie fiction" before, and eagerly scoured the Amazon reviews of probably the exact same books you have already looked at. After reading the glowing reviews of this book I discounted the amateurish cover art and immediately ordered it.
Upon arrival the first thing I noticed once I began perusing the first few pages was the size of the font. I'm sure I'm being nit-picky but it seemed to me that a larger size font was chosen to maximize the number of pages - slim still at just over 200 pages. This, coupled with the actual dimensions of the book and the heretofore cited simplistic cover art just gave me the feeling I was holding something aimed at a much younger audience. Don't get me wrong, I fully realize this is a book about the Zombie Apocalypse, but I guess I expected something a little more literary after seeing reviews calling it the "best book I ever read" and throwing out phrases like "metaphysical subjectivism." I have to wonder what other "books" these reviewers tend to read.
As for the story, I will admit it is enjoyable for what it offers. However, some things had me wondering "wait, didn't they just say.." and "that doesn't seem right, wouldn't they have..." a little too often. I felt like I was reading a second or third draft where the plot hadn't been cemented nor the holes filled in. And my god, please use a proofreader in future. I can forgive an overlooked comma but there were too many instances where something that should have been caught actually took me out of the story wondering if maybe I had read it wrong. The biggest offender being a cliffhanger-type situation closing out a chapter - "But he had been bitten!" instead was printed "But he had bitten!" which made no sense in the context of the scene and really ruined the tension of the moment.
Character-wise it was refreshing to have a female protagonist, but I was struck by the fact that seemingly every male in her life, excluding her father, either wanted to have sex with her or already had. Seemed a bit banal to me. I found myself rolling my eyes every time another newly introduced male character threw out a clichéd come-on or uttered a moronic innuendo. Enough.
Bottom line: it's a fairly enjoyable read if you can get past the overall unpolished feeling and glaring editorial oversights.
I just glanced down at the next part of this review form, where it says "I am over the age of 13." A very applicable phrase with which to end this .

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Courtney Colvin was nearing the end of her teenage years when the undead apocalypse began. She survived, forsaking her youth and innocence, and five years later she continues to exist--albeit lonely--in the fortified town of Eastpointe. Nightmares and the unwelcome advances of Leon Wolfe are the worst things she's dealing with now in her otherwise mundane life. But when a newcomer arrives in town and claims to know the location of the antidote to the zombie plague, it sends Eastpointe into an uproar. To retrieve this cure, she and a group of other survivors must venture outside the relative safety of the compound's walls and into a world ruled and dominated by the flesh-eating undead. Twilight of the Dead puts a new spin on the zombie genre, yet remains true to the classic rules that have already been set forth. A sure-fire reading pleasure for anyone who loves character-driven horror. This Special Edition contains an Introduction by David Moody and three bonus short stories detailing important moments in the lives of other survivors

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Pure Murder (Pinnacle True Crime) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have never read a book before that made me so furious. Not the quality of the writing, but rather the story itself. Corey Mitchell does an incredible job of pulling you right into the story as we find ourselves right alongside the father of Jennifer Ertman, a young girl, who was brutally murdered in 1993 in a park in Houston, Texas. We have no idea how she is killed or why or by who, but eventually we learn all that and so much more.
It take nearly 200 pages before we even get to the crime and by the time we are there I was completely entranced and mortified. In addition to learning about Jennifer, we also learn about her best friend, Elizabeth pena. I enjoyed how the athor did not try to make both girls out to be the perfect angels like so many other true crime authors do with their subjects. We learn that Elizabeth is a flawed individual and not the perfect daughter. This only serves to make her even more human and more sympathetic.
We also learn about the six main culprits behind this incredibly gruesome and horrifying crime. Instaed of creating sympathy for the killers, this also makes them more human as well. It is fascinating to know that they all came from relatively stable, happy home lives. Definitely breaking the mold of the typical killer, or at least how the media attempts to portray them.
Getting to know the two girls, as well as all six of their killers, made reading the murder scene almost unbearable. I never have experienced sheer terror when reading a true crime book, until now. After it was finally over, I wanted to put down the book and take a shower. There was no way though that I could stop reading this story.
I could not imagine this story getting any better (or worse as the case would be for the families) but it did. The insane ordeal that Jennifer and Elizabeth's families had to endure is completely maddening. Trials, delayed executions, Supreme Court rulings, and even meddling by the president of the United States are just a few of the obstacles they have to endure.
This book is intense, very well-written, and truly terrifying. I was not familiar with the case and know I cannot believe I did not know about it before. A truly staggering book that I highly recommend to readers of true crime, but also to parents, as well as people tired of criminals receiving more rights than the victims.
A genius work of literature.

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Two Innocent TeensThe crime was unspeakable. On a summer night in Houston, two bright, beautiful, success-bound teenage girls crossed paths with a group of young men fueled with alcohol and rage. Four days later, when searchers finally found Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena, their bodies were unrecognizable...An Orgy Of ViolenceAt first, the teenage boys grabbed Elizabeth, while Jennifer escaped. But Elizabeth's desperate cries brought Jennifer back to help her best friend. Both girls were subjected to sexual assaults of every conceivable kind...and long, painful, drawn-out deaths...No MercyFor days afterward, the killers bragged openly about their crime. By the time prosecutors got the case, convictions for double murder looked like a "slam dunk." But the families of the victims were in for a horrible surprise. In this terrifying case, justice would be a torturous journey... Includes 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos

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The Devil Next Door Review

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(More customer reviews)that would make even Ruggero Deodato nauseas.
What would happen if 6,000 years of human evolution reversed themselves in the blink of an eye? Thats the interesting premise in this novel from the always interesting mind of Tim Curran. This book kicks like a mule from almost page 1 and doesn't let go to the end. As an aside, that's what I enjoy about this novel, as well as Curran's Biohazard and Resurrection (which I'm currently reading), he doesn't futz around and pushes you immediately into the thick of things; he knows he has a cool premise and runs with it.His novels instantly grab you and have you compulsively turning the pages long into the night.
The book is amazingly savage (pun intended). This is possibly the most graphically and realistically violent novel I've ever read. Not a limb or innard goes unmolested or uneviscerated. If you can bear the literally unrelenting brutality on display here you'll find an incredibly interesting work about the nature of humanity and how we're really not as far from the animals as we like to think we are. It's a truly entertaining and original take on the apocalypse. I don't know how Mr. Curran does it but I've loved everything I've read by him and kudos to Severed Press for publishing such an utterly awesome writer.

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Cannibalism. Murder. Rape. Absolute brutality.When civilizations ends...when the human race begins to revert to ancient, predatory savagery...when the world descends into a bloodthirsty hell...there is only survival.But for one man and one woman, survival means becoming something less than human.Something from the primeval dawn of the race."Shocking and brutal, The Devil Next Door will hit you like a baseball bat to the face.Curran seems to have it in for the world ... and he's ending it as horrifyingly as he can." - Tim Lebbon, author of Bar None"The Devil Next Door is dynamite! Visceral, violent, and disturbing!." Brian Keene, author of Castaways and Dark Hollow

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Vampire : The Masquerade (Revised Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)Vampire: The Masquerade is an excellent product for the gamer who would rather have a character who has personality and, more often than not, a debilitating character flaw than a character who is a sword-swinging warrior or a blaster-wielding intergalactic hero. This game has a solid system that is simple to learn and a breeze to use, and the only dice that are used are ten-siders, eliminating problems with finding the four-siders or the twelve-sider under the couch. For the Vampire veterans out there, White Wolf has fixed and updated several things, including the insanely over-powered merit Iron Will, the damage rules (how does a dead guy take lethal damage from a bullet? Well, they fixed that little discrepancy for the Revised Edition), and the practically useless Giovanni Discipline of Necromancy has been fixed so it has more practical applications in chronicles without crossover to Wraith: The Oblivion. As a general rule, the Revised Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade is a wonderful product and an awesome improvement from the previous editions (they were great too, but the current version is better), with better art updated background information, and, perhaps the most convenient feature, every Discipline, clan, and sect in the same place; the scattering of this vital information over three $20+ books was a major shortcoming of the previous editions of Vampire. My only grievance is that the high-level Disciplines are not in this book. But beyond that, the Revised Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade is, in my opinion, a nearly flawless product.

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THE MIDNIGHT DANCE CONTINUES...They stalk in the shadows, moving gracefully and unseen among their prey. They are the blood-drinking fiends of whispered legends –Kindred, Cainites, the Damned. Above all, they are vampires. Their eternal struggle, waged sicne the nights of Jericho and Babylon, plays itself out among the vampires' grand Masquerade is imperiled, and the night of Gehenna draws ever closer.UNTIL THE END OF ALL THINGSThis new edition of Vampire: The Masquerade is an updated, revised version of the popular classic. In this mammoth volume can be found all 13 Clans, all major Disciplines, and a host of brand-new infomation on both the Kindred and the...things...that hunt them. This book compiles everything that a Vampire player or Storyteller needs to know about the Kindred and the World of Darkness for the new millenium. Plus, the new edition provides all-new information on the changes that affect the Clans, and on the beginning of the end of the Camarilla. Finally, the first of the Storyteller rulebooks is the best again!

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Suffer the Children Review

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(More customer reviews)While John Saul is not held in the highest of regard by many horror fans, he is the man who first introduced me to the genre. Some of his later novels did indeed become pretty repetitive, but his first novel, Suffer the Children, is a dead-on, unflinching classic. This was the first truly scary book I ever read; I was probably around twelve at the time, and I remember staying up into the wee hours of the morning to finish it and then finding it almost impossible to get to sleep. Reading it again now, it still possesses much of the power it possessed years ago. It is a tale of a family curse, murder, schizophrenia, general unhappiness, and gruesome, frightening events. Long ago, the scion of the Conger family killed his daughter, supposedly bringing a curse down upon the succeeding generations of his family. Now, Jack Conger fears the curse is real. In a drunken rage, he physically assaults his youngest little girl Sarah. While he struggles to remember what exactly happened that day and grows increasingly estranged from his long-suffering wife, his daughter exists in a quasi-comatose state, living in her own silent fantasy world. The Congers look at their first daughter as a true blessing through all of their pain--Elizabeth is mature beyond her years and takes care of her little sister with great love and kindness. When several local children begin to disappear, though, the Congers' delicately balanced world finally turns completely upside down.
This is a pretty scary novel, largely because the horror centers around the two young sisters Elizabeth and Sarah. The description of the gloomy woods around the home and the truly dangerous embankment nearby help produce a great dark atmosphere, but Saul's description of a series of horrible events is especially unsettling. The story gets pretty gruesome at one point, and I think some horror writers would not be bold enough to go as far as Saul did. Saul committed himself fully to this novel and dared to describe everything in great detail; combine that with his incredibly effective characterization of the two sisters and you get a true horror classic in every sense of the word. Saul hooks you securely in his clutches and drags you down with him into the pits of depravity. The ending did not provide me with a complete feeling of closure, but I certainly have no quarrel with it; in fact, the evil Saul so vividly describes almost defies comprehension and thus necessitates the type of ending Saul chose to give us. I would highly recommend this novel to any horror fan--Saul creates a psychological atmosphere of real terror that essentially oozes out of the pores of each page.

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One hundred years ago in Port Arbello a pretty little girl began to scream. And struggle. And die. No one heard. No one saw. Just one man whose guilty heart burst in pain as he dashed himself to death in the sea. Now something peculiar is happening in Port Arbello. The children are disappearing, one by one. An evil history is repeating itself. And one strange, terrified child has ended her silence with a scream that began a hundred years ago.

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Dead Is the New Black Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the first in a series of Paranmormal adventure's aimed for young adults 12 years and up. I am not in the market range but I enjoyed this story very much before passing it along to my stepdaughter. I intend to read the other books in this series as well. This book tells the story of Daisy, a non-psychic child who lives with her mother (a psychic) and her sisters Rose and Poppy, who both have psychic abilites. Daisy feels like she doesn't quite fit in. With her family or at school. But suddenly Nighshade's cheerleaders are becoming very deathly ill..its almost like something is literally sucking the life from them. As a favor to her ex-best friend Samantha, Daisy joins the squad. From that vantage point, Daisy and her new boyfriend start to investigate the murder of a teenage girl who shows up walking and talking to the pep rally...It soon apparent that Nightshade has more than its fair share of odd beings. This story was quick and quirky and fun. It definetly caught and kept my attention and my step-daughter loved it. The writing is well done and the characters are well crafted. The paranormal jukebox is just one of many great touches. I think this book will captivate any teen or pre-teen and maybe their parents. I recomend this book as lighthearted, clean, paranormal fun.

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Tooth And Nail Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a fan of both the military fiction and zombie tale genres and DiLouie's Tooth and Nail delivers both in spades.
Here's what is so cool about this novel:
1. Very realistic -- this may be about zombies, but it's not some supernatural gore-dripper -- it's about soldiers and a very scary what-if...
2. Non-stop action -- this book will never make Oprah's Book of the Month club, but I would like to name a roller coaster after it -- from the get-go, the action and tension are unrelenting and the doggone book feels glued to your hands. (NOTE: Thanks, Mr. DiLouie -- on my first reading, I finally finished your book at 4 am with sweaty palms and had trouble getting to work on time the next day -- on the second reading, I still couldn't take my time and finished it again in one marathon Saturday reading session.)
3. Better & better -- I've read some of DiLouie's past work and this is by far his best work -- the writing is tight, descriptive without being florid & puffy, and believable -- again, not a book that will draw people together on a Tuesday evening for white wine and canapes, but a kick-ass story that is well-written and doesn't stop til you get back in the station and the lap-bars retract as you put the book down for the final time.
Rock on, DiLouie -- hope you've got more in the pipeline!

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This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, not with a whimper, but a slaughter.As a new plague related to the rabies virus infects millions, America recalls its military forces from around the world to safeguard hospitals and other vital buildings. Many of the victims become rabid and violent but are easily controlled-that is, until so many are infected that they begin to run amok, spreading slaughter and disease. Lieutenant Todd Bowman got his unit through the horrors of combat in Iraq. Now he must lead his men across New York through a storm of violence to secure a research facility that may hold a cure. To succeed in this mission to help save what's left, the men of Charlie Company will face a terrifying battle of survival against the very people they have sworn to protect-people turned into a fearless, endless horde armed solely with tooth and nail.For the boys of Charlie Company, the zombie apocalypse will give a whole new meaning to the proverb WAR IS HELL.

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Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody: The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You Dead Review

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(More customer reviews)Name 5 ways we're all going to die. Do it! Right now! Before reading this book I knew of maybe three ways: asteroid, war, or plague. Wait, four--global warming. Robert Brockway details, like, 20, and each one scares you more than the last. I've learned way more about killer volcanos, super hurricanes, and killer robots than I ever actually wanted to know, but at least all this fear-mongering put a smile on my face. So buy the book, get informed of all ways everything and everybody wants you dead, and come join me in my bunker. I have nachos!

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Just when you thought you'd accepted your own mortality . . . Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody is bringing panic back. Twenty illustrated, hilariously fear-inducing 
essays reveal the chilling and very real experiments, dangerous emerging technologies, and terrifying natural disasters that soon could—or very nearly already did—bring about the end of humanity. In short, everything in here will kill you and everyone you love. At any moment. And nobody's told you about it—until now: • Experiments in green energy like the HiPER, which uses massive lasers to create a tiny "contained" sun; it's an idea that could save the world if it doesn't consume us all in a fiery fusion reaction first. • Global disasters like the hypercane—a hurricane so large it could cover all of North America and shoot trailer parks into space!• Terrifying new developments in robotics like the EATR, which powers itself on meat—an invention in the running for "Worst Decision Made by Anybody."

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The Dark Half Review

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(More customer reviews)"I'm back from the dead and you don't seem glad to see my at all, you ungrateful son of a bi$ch." During a time when folks began to question Stephen King's story telling ability, the "Master of Horror" pulls yet another ace from the deck. The Dark Half is a strong novel, similar to a short novella, "Secret Window, Secret Garden" from another SK book, Four Past Midnight. However, after reading the first couple hundred pages the close association with that story ends and The Dark Half begins. This novel is a nice breath of fresh air compared to other work that King released during this time period such as: The Tommyknockers, Needful Things, Dolores Claiborne, etc. Its unique style screams Bachman and displays Steve King's uncanny ability to write beyond the "typical monster under the bed" yarn, while capitalizing on his untapped ability to write a great crime novel. With a little mythology and telepathy thrown in to boot, The Dark Half delivers a prominent yarn, that will keep the reader engaged from start to finish. The only major problem I had with the book was the short, abrupt ending, which always seems to plague most of King's work (as his fans love to point out).

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Zombie, Ohio: A Tale of the Undead Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a huge fan of all things zombie, and to be honest, this has sometimes made me fall prey to less than well written, self-published, needs-actual-editing, type of novels. Lacking depth and, at times, imagination, these books left me feeling a little brain dead myself upon their completion. FINALLY I found the Kenemore! I have been a fan of his humor books from the beginning (starting with The Zen of Zombie), these books are pro-zombie and very tongue in cheek type of humor (comparing Jesus to a zombie, oh my!) And while these are humor books, I have always found them very thoughtful and well written. I have also read some other Scott Kenemore work which was published in the Kenyon Review a while back, and it wasn't a zombie story at all, but about a man tattooing a dead body. Scott Kenmore's a writer capable of many layers, and I believe he especially proves his mastery of the horror genre itself in his latest, and first, full length novel. Zombie, Ohio is a rip roaring fun, tearing up the country side with my zombie horde at my back, in this ultimate "I was raised from the dead and I can still think" adventure type of novel! Wow, that was really a mouth full!
Zombie, Ohio had me chuckling with it's asides to HP Lovecraft (where was the meteor reported?) And it's knowledge of everything from local folk lore (Wild Black Turkeys representing some type of witch?) to the intimate layout of the Ohio countryside. This book was well thought out and planned in three parts. I believe you could actually make a study of some the additional symbolism that Kenemore uses in the book, but you also would need to be aware of his allusions to Zombies in pop culture (movie references throughout also). . again, this is a novel with many layers, on the basic level it is a book about a sad, alcoholic professor who loses his life in a zombie outbreak and finds himself a lucid zombie. But on another level, it is about a man who finds himself ineffectively prepared to live courageously until he becomes one of the undead, and then, we find he is not only effective but indestructible and fearless! Scott Kenmore's novel is also the first "pro-people" Zombie novel I have read, where the people keep it together and adjust and fight the zombies back, another statement of social commentary? And that's not the only example throughout the book of social commentary, and no it is not all positive either.
I would also like to give a big nod and a chuckle to the "first time" scene. . ahh Kenemore says, you never forget your first time. Stinking hilarious! Also, because I am also a baseball fan, the reference to the minor league ball team "The Kernels" was very well received by me! Again, this book had many layers, including it's final part labeled "redemption" which ends without such a thing, if you ask my opinion (I will not give it away, this is a MUST READ, not only if you like zombies but if you enjoy horror at all!) left me very thoughtful and also feeling like Mr. Kenmore was making a statement without ever saying a word. . perhaps, in the end, there is no redemption for any of us, except in death? hmmm. . . ?
This is it guys and gals, the Zombie novel you have been waiting for and craving. . . with BRAINS!!!!!

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Pretty When She Dies: A Vampire Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I will say, while this book had it's issues for me, it kept my attention.
The story was unique and in a genre like this, that alone says something. The Texan landscape and colorful scruffy cast helps this book stand out from the herd. I enjoyed the character's and their relationships overall.
My main problem with the book was, as another reviewer commented, it could have used a good editor to clean it up. Aspects felt, for lack of a better word, amateur. Word repetition (battered for example) cropped multiple times in a single page, and there were enough grammatical errors and typos to distract. The font size changed periodically as well which was odd.
Little things like that can make it hard for me to maintain my focus within a story, but I found Frater's story and characters engaging enough to forgive some of the clumsiness. I think she has a lot of potential, and as another reviewer pointed out: it's nice to see vampires being bad, they have been thoroughly de-fanged recently. Also the book was nice looking for a self published, and I like the cover art quite a bit.
I found the bloodletting sex scenes surprisingly well done as well, and the sexual tension between the two leads is fun and believable.
All in all, if you love vamp fiction and want to go a little toward the fringes than this could be a good fit.

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Amaliya wakes under the forest floor, disoriented, famished and confused. She digs out of the shallow grave and realizes she is hungry...... in a new, horrific, unimaginable way...Sating her great hunger, she discovers that she is now a vampire, the bloodthirsty creature of legend. She has no choice but to flee from her old life and travels across Texas.Her new hunger spurs her to leave a wake of death and blood behind her as she struggles with her new nature.All the while, her creator is watching. He is ancient, he is powerful, and what's worse is that he's a necromancer. He has the power to force the dead to do his bidding.Amaliya realizes she is but a pawn in a twisted game, and her only hope for survival is to seek out one of her own kind.But if Amaliya finds another vampire, will it mean her salvation... or her death?

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The President's Vampire Review

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(More customer reviews)I loved Blood Oath, the first book in this series (and recommended reading), but I could. not. put. The President's Vampire. down. If you enjoyed Blood Oath, TPV is a slam dunk/victory lap. And if you're jumping into the series here, you'll have an excellent time and will catch up quick.
Cade, our titular and uber top secret vampire, is a very scary and inhuman piece of work. But, my fellow Americans, he is *our* very scary and inhuman piece of work: fighting the supernatural bad guys and all manner of evildoers (including a bittersweet-yet-enjoyable gory demise for Osama Bin Laden which will have to tide me over for the time being). Reading Cade's sections of the book is a lot of fun, as he pretty beyond "good and bad" and just channels his inner demonic Jason Bourne. But...Cade was once human, and he possesses honor and some dim recollection of emotions, elevating the character beyond a simple badass, one-note hero.
The supporting cast is great, especially Cade's government-appointed "handler," Zach. Zach is very human: charming yet emotionally isolated, too smart for his own good, and perhaps considering himself a little too untouchable with the world's best bodyguard keeping an eye on him. I was Team Cade in Blood Oath but 100% Team Zach in TPV...the character has really grown and come into his own.
I love comic books, monster movies, vampires (gothic to Twilighty), twisty political thrillers, and just plain fun reads. TPV delivers on all levels. A great vacation/flying read when you want to lose yourself for a few uninterrupted hours...don't start this book at 10 at night as I did! Two thumbs up.


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Southern Gods Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll tell you something: When I pick up a first novel, no matter who the author is, I expect to encounter a fair share of hiccups throughout the book. It's a first novel, there a bound to be some rough spots. And that's a fine and natural thing. But here, with SOUTHERN GODS, the fist thing I took note of was that John Hornor Jacobs writes with an assured and compelling voice throughout.
The prologue of this novel is as fine a piece of horror literature as any I've had the pleasure of reading. And when Jacobs moves us into the Arkansas of 1951, you know he's got it down cold. Ramblin' John Hastur is an engrossing character, Bull Ingram is a likable guy, all the characters are rich and alive in the pages, and I'll take odds that once you start turning the pages of this novel you won't want to stop. There are some nods to H.P. Lovecraft, but it's all filtered through a solid Southern Gothic lens and reads like nothing else I've read before.
Even if horror isn't your thing, you pick up this book, you'll be hooked, because Jacobs can flat out write. A true pleasure to read, this a book that has earned itself a permanent place on my shelf.

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Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell... In a masterful debut of Lovecraftian horror and Southern gothic menace, John Hornor Jacobs reveals the fragility of free will, the dangerous power of sacrifice, and the insidious strength of blood.------"A sumptuous Southern Gothic thriller steeped in the distinct American mythologies of Cthulhu and the blues . . . Southern Gods beautifully probes the eerie, horror-infested underbelly of the South." - The Onion AV on Southern Gods"A bit of HP Lovecraft, a touch of William Hjortsberg, Southern Gods is an effective combination of cosmic horror and southern Gothictraditions. John Hornor Jacobs will turn heads with this debut." --Laird Barron, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Imago Sequence and Occultation "In SOUTHERN GODS, John Hornor Jacobs turns the classic blues horrorstory of the devil at the crossroads into a true Lovecraftian nightmare. Steeped in Southern Gothic - and not for the faint of heart! - this is a bold and mighty debut written with breathtaking assurance. Powerful,horrific and beautiful, Southern Gods is a revelation and Jacobs is anauthor to shout about. Both deserve to go very far indeed." -- AdamChristopher, author of Empire State (Angry Robot, January 2012)"John Hornor Jacobs' fantastic debut novel, SOUTHERN GODS, is bothterrifying and beautiful. His eye for detail and compelling charactersmakes this one you'll remember long after you've finished it." - Stephen Blackmoore, author City of the Lost (DAW Books 2012) "Compulsively readable anddefinitely memorable, Southern Gods will ensure that you'll never hearradio interference quite the same way again." -- 5-time Bram StokerAward-winner Gary A. Braunbeck, author of Coffin County and Far Dark Fields "Great Yuggoth, what a great debut novel! With a sure hand forintriguing characters and deft plotting, John Hornor Jacobs establisheshimself as an author to heed. The prologue to this exceptional novel isone of the most terrifying things I have ever shivered through. It willkiss your paltry soul with fear. With superbly handled echoes ofChambers and Lovecraft, we encounter the mystery of that Tattered Man,Ramblin' John Hastur, who escorts us to the arcane secrets beyond thesun, beyond the stars, beyond that long black veil!" -W. H. Pugmire,author of The Tangled Muse"Hell-hound blues! Zombies! Lovecraft! Jacobs' engrossing gris-gris will take ya down to the crossroads and on then to the Deep Places where the hungry Old Ones sho gon git'cha!" -Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., author of SIN & ashes"John Hornor Jacobs. Remember the name, because if there's any justicein the universe, he's going to be a big deal one day soon. John's prose is by turns lyrical and tough-as-nails. He effortlessly conjures aneerie southern landscape that will surely haunt the dreams of anyone who reads Southern Gods." --Bryan Smith, Author of Darkened and House of Blood

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Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Congratulations, Jonathan Maberry. You have managed to combine two of my biggest fears - the fear of unchecked biological warfare and the fear that my brains will be sucked out by zombies.
Hardened, world weary Detective Joe Ledger has seen it all in the course of his job. He knows the very worst that human beings can do to each other. Then he's not-so-willingly introduced to the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) and its mysterious, powerful leader, Mr. Church, and he finally learns that he hasn't scratched the surface of the worst that people can do. Turns out that religious fanaticism and hatred of the United States have met up with big-money corporate interests, and *voila* the Sword of the Faithful is born - zombie weapons unleashed by terrorists upon the U.S. to purge the world of infidels.
Ledger is all man. He's tough. He has an eye for the ladies and a deep abiding love for his country. He knows weapons and military strategy, and he's a natural born leader. He's chilled to the bone by this new, hellish weapon, but he and his team push forward to try to save the country before this plague spreads to the world.
If you like explosions, fighting, tough-guy talk and scary, brain-munching zombies, you'll love this book. I was riveted from page 1, and I raced to get to the last word. The zombies are strong and hungry. The good guys are the best, and the bad guys are the worst. There is nail-biting action at every turn, and a surprising amount of humor thrown in. This is one of the best zombie novels I've read in a very long time.
Bring on the sequel! I can't wait to see what Ledger gets himself into the next time.

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When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. And that's both a good, and a bad thing. It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance....

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The Dark and Hollow Places (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)Every now and then you might get a bit sad when you come to the end of a series that you loved so much, this is how I felt after reading The Dark and Hollow Places. I fell in love with this series unintentionally, I started reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth thanks to the high recommendations from book friends. Of course at the time they didn't know that I had a huge phobia about anything zombie related and well by reading the synopsis I wasn't aware that it would be about zombies because they are called the Unconsecrated. After reading a few chapters and even after figuring out that there were zombies in the book I couldn't force myself to give it up, it was too late for me, I was invested in these characters because this series was about so much more than just the creepy flesh eating undead, it was about survival, hope and love and I was in it for good.
In the Dark and Hollow Places we get taken to the Dark City, and see the story unfold through the eyes of Annah, the other twin. At first I was a bit sad that we wouldn't get to see it from Gabry's point of view, I wanted to know more about her and what happened after the end of The Dead Tossed Waves but I quickly got over that once I got to know Annah and her story. I really admired Annah for her courage and will to live, I mean this girl spends most of her time and spent pretty much years on her own waiting for Elias and she's still not willing to give up. I would've been freaking out in some of these scenes in the book and locked myself in a closet shaking with fear waiting for death, yeah, I'm a wuss. Not Annah, she was willing to fight her way to survive and sacrifice herself for her loved ones if she had to, the fact that she never gives up throughout the whole book is why I admire her so much.
In The Dark and Hollow Places Gabry, Annah, Elias and Catcher come together and we get to find out what happened to Catcher and Gabry after the end of The Dead Tossed Waves and also to Elias. In this one they struggle for survival through most of the story but not only against the unconsecrated but also against the people in charge of the city that are suppose to be protecting them but have become corrupted and are pretty much worst than the zombies.
The Dark and Hollow Places gives us a bit more of a closer look at what the world may have seemed like after the return, it is chaotic through most of it. We get a huge amount of up close encounters with the unconsecrated, and it was so much creepier that I got goosebumps and was at the edge of my seat through most of the story. It was so thrilling and intense that I was chewing my nails through most of this novel without even realizing it. I loved every minute of it, even if I couldn't read it at night and I would gladly take three more of these novels. I'm not ready to say goodbye to it yet, I loved Catcher and Annah and I want more.

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There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on hersister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Handsand Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life.But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left herfor the Recruiters.Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him tocome home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much differentfrom that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then shemeets Catcher and everything feels alive again.Except, Catcher has his own secrets -- dark, terrifying truths thatlink him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadlyto consider. And now it's up to Annah -- can she continue to live in aworld drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escapefrom the Return's destruction?

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