A Modern Horror Story
592204
"What Is the What" is Dave Eggers' fictionalized biography of Valentino Achak Deng's Sudanese experience. If most of the events were not true or at least based upon actual experiences, the horrors exposed would be hard to be. As is, they are hard to stomach. So much of today's biographical and autobiographical writing is "Yuppie Angst" (rich, spoiled brats crying about their hangnails). Here we find real suffering. Because of its geographical setting and religious backdrop, "What Is the What" also provides insight into and hopefully motivation for action regarding the current unspeakable brutality in Dafur.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph. D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.
2995406
This story starts out a little slow but its of the slow burn variety that builds into something terrible and terrifying so I didn't mind too much.

Stevie's best and only friend, Jude, wandered out into the woods near their home one day and never came home. No one besides Jude's mother and Stevie seem terribly upset about it. Jude was an unlikable sort, sure, but the lack of interest in finding him is a little bothersome so Stevie decides to investigate on his own. He and Jude had spent endless hours in the forest doing what boys do in the woods and came upon a creepy old house. Stevie is certain that house has something to do with Judes disappearance.

This story is a mishmash of many horror-ish things. Its a coming of age tale mixed up with remnants of Kings Pet Sematary and a splattering of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but its totally its own story. What is eventually revealed is horrifying, disturbing and very gruesome and could give you nightmares if you think about the images too much.

I enjoyed the slow unraveling of this story and watching how the origin of a nightmare begins. Stevie was an interesting kid, struggling with a disorder that makes him a target and growing up with a nasty step-dad. Hes determined to find his friend and later hes unafraid to stir up a little trouble to get at the truth. Theres a side story that I won't reveal that absolutely captured me where one very unlucky woman is faced with a moral dilemma like none other Ive ever read and I felt for her. She only wanted love but she got something else entirely!

A word of warning, if you need one, there are deaths in here and many of them happen to innocent little beasts but its all part of this story and felt like an awful, natural progression of one of the characters.

If you like your horror gory and creepy then this ones for you.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.
3573820
If theres one thing this story suffers from, its a lack of a good editor.  There are numerous instances of poorly chosen use of punctuation, inappropriate word choices (the author often uses passed when he meant to use the word past), and more than a few choppy, stilted sentences.  These are all things that I view as minor flaws at worst, and I generally am unable to overlook this sort of thing; I think that speaks volumes for the quality of storytelling that Whitehouse is able to produce.

This is a great story in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft.  The characters are believable and interesting, and the story hooked me almost immediately.  I have already purchased another title of his, The Face of Fear & Other Stories.  I believe he has enormous potential as a fiction writer in general, and a horror writer in particular, and I foresee a long and fruitful career for him.

This is a short work, only around 70 pages, but for 99 cents, I think its a great deal.  I will be watching this author closely.
533443
"The Camber Horror" by David Barker is a story about genuine "horror" in the woods behind the house of the main character's brother. The author's description of this horror leaves the reader's imagination wide open to re-create it in his/her own mental image of a "horror". I think this is a good technique to use, rather than spending many pages describing it down to the last detail. What I envision as a horror might not look anything like what you would envision, so it works well for both of us. One interesting phrase the author used was that the horror was like a bad acid trip - the kind feared by all the children of the '60's who worried they would have a bad trip that would leave them a drooling, paranoid shell of their former selves; that fear of a bad acid trip is something everybody imagines differently, regardless of whether or not they actually used acid, but it invokes that 50-year-old fear, contributing to a personal interpretation of what the "horror" might be. But the over-riding question throughout is: WHAT is this thing, WHERE did it come from, WHY is it here now, WHEN did it arrive, and most importantly, WHAT does it want?

This story was entertaining. The author packed a lot of punch into a few pages, but left me unsure if the main character ended up a hero, or an insane, drooling, paranoid shell? I thought that was an excellent way to conclude this story; rather than the author wrapping it up with a "happy ending", he leaves the interpretation of the end entirely up to the reader. Good job, Mr. Barker! It is suitable for all ages, as there are no profanities and no sex anywhere in the tale. I recommend this short story to all fans of the horror genre.
3474195
At age seven, Manny Stevens wittnesses a horrble automobile accident. Eighteen years later, he is still haunted by the face of the tragedy's only surviving victim. Within his mind, he has transformed the image of that face from a frightened and terrified little girl, into that of a beautiful young woman. But another image from that day has kept its place in Manny's mind as well, and there is nothing beautiful about it.

A love that is destined to be, forces Manny into a confrontation where nightmares become reality and only the strong survive with their sanity intact.

Scratch opens the door on a fresh,new breed of horror for the readers of fiction to sink their minds and imaginations into, as well as giving us yet another terror to contemplate when we turn out the lights for the night.
4812983
The haunted house will forever be a common piece of Americana and Widow's Point is told from a place that makes you uneasy.  Two words - "We're Here," written where they shouldn't be.  It makes for a very uncomfortable tale. It's a fast read, made faster by how the storytale resonates with your own ghost stories from childhood. Well done Chizmar's
4135201
This is a story of the corporate takeover of mom-and-pop shops disguised as a horror novel--and a very good, bloody, gory horror novel.

A new fast food restaurant opens in a small town.  Everyone is excited, except for the small business owners who will soon be out-of-business.  Turns out that is the least of their problems

People start acting very strangely soon after the restaurant opens.  Slim is a vegetarian, so she has never eaten there and doesn't feel its effects.  She and her friend John, who didn't get a chance to eat his mean, start investigating around town to see if they can figure out what's going on.  They see some very strange things ranging from dead cats to people having sex right in the middle of the street.

A stranger comes to town and tells them what he thinks is happening and what they have to do.  I liked this guy.  He didn't have all the answers, but he cared and he came to help.  He tells Slim they have to go to war.

This is an entertaining book.  The way the author described Pauline eating was so disgusting I could barely read it.  There is a lot of sex in the book, along with the regular horror story components of really bad ways to die, gross creatures, and barbecued what?  What was that again?

The only problem I have with the book is all this supposedly happened in a day or two.  How could every person in town have been affected in that short a time?  Also, at the end, the characters seem a bit too happy considering what they've done and what they've lost.  Other than those two things, this is a really good story.
3466483
In this day and age, this was a frightening story ...... but something to consider.  A story for our times.
2551669
You get all of the ingredients for a good horror story. A thunderstorm, a rustic old cabin deep in the woods and some really creepy characters. There's the huge shambling guy with the axe, the sly shotgun wielding old man, and the creepy kids.

I think the kids creeped me out the most. It had me thinking Blair Witch, when they hear the weird voices outside their tent and the kids giggling and slapping the tent.

The Harvesters is relentless and you land right in the thick of it from the get go.

Ash creeps around in the cellar of the ratty cabin and finally spots her boyfriend, Jason. He's manacled to a metal table.

From this point on, I girded myself for what was coming.

Ash manages to get his hands free before this huge man throws an axe at her. She heeds Jason's warning and hightails it but is rushed by a little kid. She sweeps past him and slams the door of the cellar shut behind her.

That's when she hears the whispering.

She rushes to the truck outside, but, of course, there are no keys. A vision flashes in her head of the keys hanging on a hook inside the cabin.

This is where I wonder what I would've done. We know the warnings for these scenes. "Don't go back inside!" But if your true love is lying in there, helpless, about to be carved up, what else can you do?

So, in she goes again.

From the very beginning it's a mad dash through this short story.

You'll get to read about it from two points of view. Ash narrates most of the story, but Jason does have his own side to tell.

Then their story meets again as they struggle to survive multiple attacks with no help for miles in any direction.

 I was thinking serial killers or a family of cannibals maybe. I'm still not sure exactly what they wanted from Ash.

That brings me to the ending. It's a cliffhanger and a big one. I kind of saw it coming, but I think I would have been disappointed if it wrapped up neatly.

This way, I get to look forward to more. I wonder if one of the next books will be about Jason. He has a dark past and I think his story would be harrowing.

We'll see.
2240825
This is one of those stories you just have to read to believe, and even then you question it.  It being what was written, how it was written, and the originality of the story.  This is in no way your traditional Vampire  tale, very reminiscent of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead  (although I think this story preceded the movie), except the monsters  possess intelligence.  The feeling of being alone is invasive on the reader  and the whole thing is pulled off with an eerie, dark beauty.  There isn't  a happy ending folks, it is scary, it is a classic rendition of those  fanged demons we all associate with long capes, coffins, and widow's peaks.  It is the demonic offspring of that traditional view.  And you leave the  reading wishing to adopt that ugly child as your own.  Essential reading  for any horror fan.
4906609
A story worth dying for?

Just about the best praise that you find on a cover of any novel is that it kept the reader up all night. This holds particularly true for horror novels. I have a new one. I am reviewing Within These Walls, by Ania Ahlborn, because my wife stopped after reading just under 30% of the book.  It scared her so much that one night she slept on the couch with all of the lights on watching happy movies on Netflix. I took over after that, and while my fear never got to me that much, I can genuinely say that Ms. Ahlborns novel definitely gave several serious cases of the chills.

Lucas Graham is a washed-up true-crime writer whose wife is ready to leave him, and is desperate to reclaim the success that made him a bestselling author. He gets a chance when death-row inmate Jeffrey Halcomb, a notorious cult-leader and mass murderer writes him a letter. Halcomb hasn't spoken a word to the media for decades, but he offers Lucas access, on the condition that the author live and work in the house where the crime occurred. His wife has a business convention, so Lucas must take his teenaged daughter Virginia with him.

Running parallel with this is the past story of Audra Snow, a daughter of a congressman, who is clinically depressed and living a life of quiet desperation alone in a huge house on the Washington coast. Her friend Anita drags her out of her house, and together the two meet Halcomb, and some of his followers, camping on the beach. Slowly the charismatic leaders and his followers worm their way into Audras life, and her home.  Halcomb and his followers slowly brain-wash and brutalize Audra into capitulation. This tale unfurls toward is sad and inevitable finale interspersed with transcriptions of official documents, reports, and interviews.

Once that Lucas and his daughter get to the house things go from bad to worse with alarming frequency. The two barely speak, they both see disturbing visions, and experience inexplicable phenomena, and their relationship is so fractured that they respond by withdrawing even further into themselves.

I won't reveal any more, but as I said, Ms. Ahlborn has a deft touch with horror. She dosent club you over the head; she prefers a stiletto. This is a dark and disturbing story filled with a genuine sense of unease, and it works wonders as a novel of horror. I do think that anyone reading this book should know that it is unremittingly bleak. There is hardly a ray of light or a shred of hope to be seen. A lot of terrible, tragic events take place, and a lot of innocent people have their lives ruined or ended, in very bad ways. Also some of the plots twists and turns surprised me, while others were more obvious.

I don't like to compare one novel to another, but this book holds a place in my reading list alongside Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and The Devil All The Time, not a supernatural novel, but almost certainly one of horror, by Donald Ray Pollock as books I admire, but recommend with a few reservations. This is powerful stuff, not for the faint of heart. That is part of what made it work for me. Ms. Ahlborn tells her tale, with guts and skill, and she doesn't stray from her convictions or pull her punches one bit. Within These Walls is a shocking, scary read, and I bet that thats just what Ms. Ahlborn intended.

Review by: Mark Palm
Full Reviews Available at: http://www.thebookendfamily.weebly.com
2515927
A good addition to the horror genre, especially if you like your horror sans vampires, werewolves, and other popular intrusions.  Hacksaw has reminded us that we need no such creatures when our dreams (and what's toodling around in our subconscious that "creates" our dreams) are way scary enough!  His characters are just a group of average twenty-somethings (I think) on the surface, but when they interface with that which is less "average" and beyond their understanding, it becomes apparent that within all of us resides the potential for inescapable horror.  Cleverly written with lots of cunning nods to cultural memories and a steady stream of bodily effluvium, body humor, and sexual obsession of varying degrees. Never saw the ending coming, which made me troll back through MY memory to appreciate the set-up. Eagerly awaiting the author's next contribution.
4608630
THE RITUAL by Adam Nevill is an astonishingly well-written contemporary horror novel. It is my new favorite horror novel.

The story is so solidly grounded in the reality of four friends lost in a Boreal forest, that by the time weird things start happening, you are utterly entranced and fully bought into their precarious situation, their small bits of in-fighting and their utter terror at being lost.

Nevill writes with a convincing contemporary verisimilitude, and a sense of care for his characters that is sadly all too often lacking in contemporary horror, and that makes you feel their every shudder, grieve their every loss, and strive for their every triumph.

In the small careful nuances of his story, Nevill makes you believe, and believe utterly what is happening to his characters -- both in their inner lives, and the extreme conditions they are suffering.

The story begins when a group of old friends take a wrong turn in a deep, dark Scandinavian forest. Not so bad at first, but it's rainy, foggy, dank, and hard. The bonds that tie them together are gradually fraying as the physical conditions harden and lock around them, and they have few options to get out of the forest safe and sound.

Then, just as things look dark, it appears they are being stalked, but by what? (I should point out that because Nevill writes in such a convincing fashion, this never feels hackneyed or overwrought, just matter of fact, like a bear in Alaska).

However, the story keeps the adrenaline moving, as first one and then another is injured, and then their leader is.... You know what, I'm not going to give away this critical plot point here.

Suffice it to say that I thought the story was a "chase in the forest" story, and then -- startlingly -- I turned the page to PART 2, where the story takes a hard right turn into a different kind of tale, yet just as entrancing, just as terrifying, and even more strange.

Brilliant work, Nevill, and hard to carry off -- yet he makes it look so, so easy, and fluid.

A great new horror writer, and tops on my list!

Highly, highly recommended!
4053347
If there are any lessons to be learned from the world of books and movies, probably towards the top of the list is that it's never a good idea to camp out in an abandoned lodge in the middle of nowhere, especially if it was shut down after a series of brutal, unsolved murders.  The five women who wind up going to such a place in Richard Laymon's Blood Games should know better.  Of course, if they took their annual vacation at some nice spa instead, it wouldn't be much of a horror novel.

The five women are Helen, Cora, Finley, Vivian and the more-or-less central character, Abilene.  Having bonded in college, they had resolved after graduation to get together one week a year.  This year, it is Helen's turn and, horror fan that she is, she's chosen the deserted Totem Pole Lodge.  Some of the more sensible members of the group find this a questionable choice from the beginning, especially when they spot a teenage boy watching them lounging in the hot spring.  The boy flees and some of the others begin to get uneasy, enough to resolve to stay only a single night.  Before that night is over, however, they have another, unknown visitor who disrupts their possessions; that is enough to make them opt to leave immediately; unfortunately, the car keys are lost and they are many miles from civilization.  By the morning, one of them will be murdered.

Despite this first death, this is not a Friday the Thirteenth story in which the characters are just picked off one by one.  Laymon is a bit more clever in his storytelling than that:  these five (later four) are not merely a set of individuals, but have a bond that gives them a strength that exceeds the sum of their parts.  Through flashbacks, we see how they have operated as a team before to fight minor injustices; it's when they realize that they need to act this way again that this story goes beyond a mere psycho killer story.

Laymon is a good writer and this book shows his skills well in this book.  He may not be one of the all-stars of the horror of the genre, but he does a decent job and definitely deserves a chance if you're a horror or suspense fan.  Blood Games is a good representation of his work.
2611425
This author knows how to write a truly terrifying story. I like that in a person.

I enjoyed this book for a number of reasons. It was mysterious and I was immediately drawn to the main character. The author did an excellent job of creating a solid back story for his characters and he revealed it a little at a time with no major information dumps ruining the rest of the book.

This novel has many of the traditional creepy aspects of a good horror story, but also combines those with a mystery that you can't solve until the very last page.

I liked the Hellfire and brimstone feel of this book and thought the paranormal aspects were handled well, not coming off as ridiculous or inappropriate to the scenes where they appeared.

The idea of the chapel in the lake was original, and frightening. Good descriptions of the town and the people in it also added to the scary atmosphere of this book.

Overall, this was a really entertaining and well-written book, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
3316241
The Dark Servant is a compelling read by a first-time author who deftly weaves between genres, mixing horror and young adult themes into a wholly original tale of a mythical European beast wreaking havoc in northern New Jersey. Adolescence is bad enough but fears of rejection, uncertainty and instability are compounded by the arrival of Krampus, a real, living breathing creature who forces high schoolers to face their worst fears. This story is a parable for our time, a modern day horror story that touches on teenage angst and the monsters that lurk within in a narrative populated by characters that on the surface, may appear to be superficial stereotypes (i.e. the entitled jock, the slutty cheerleader), but reveal their true colors as the story unfolds.

A former reporter for Morris County, NJ's Daily Record, Matt Manochio smartly sets The Dark Servant in a region close to home. and his knowledge of the landscape and inner workings of the fictional Hancock Township shine. Fellow reporters will surely chuckle at a comic moment involving a large-scale press conference, replete with local and county officials in thinly disguised puffery. Highly recommended read, especially for fans of European mythology and those looking for a darker tale for the holiday season.
2973594
Malus Domestica by SA Hunt is a masterful tale of supernatural horror told with an ensemble cast. The mythology/setting that hes created is fantastic, deep, and creepy as all hell. This author has a gift for description that paints vivid (often disturbingly so) images in the mind. One caveatif you are a cat lover, this book is going to be quite disturbing. Some parts were hard to read.
The description on the jacket makes it sound like Robin is the "main" character, but in the beginning of the book she feels more like an equal part of a large cast. At about the 70% mark, she takes a more prominent role as the story brings the multiple characters together as all of them are affected in one way or another by an ancient and powerful coven of witches who dwell in Blackfield, GA.
Robin is a witch hunter. The Blackfield coven killed her mother prior to the events of the story when Robin was still a child, an event that has left deep emotional wounds. After years in a psychiatric facility (child Robin made the mistake of telling the authorities witches did it), an enigmatic occultist finds and trains her to do one thing: kill witches. Problem is, killing things that are already dead is often a tricky (and painful) task.
Increasing hallucinations of a strange creature, dreams of her mother, and an inexorable pull to return draw Robin back to her childhood home. It is time for her to face her demons once and for all.
This book has a lot of characters, but unlike what can often happen with such a large cast, I never felt as though I got lost as to who is who. Each character is portrayed vividly, from the minor characters (like the child that decides to hide in the wrong car) to the primary characters like Robin, Wayne, Joel, and Kenway - and of course the witches. You know you are reading the work of a gifted author when you have been shown how awful and evil the primary antagonist can be - yet in a quiet moment where they are talking to Robin, you start to wonder if the old woman has a point... maybe it is Robin who's misguided. Maybe they could bury the hatchet... and you almost want them to. THAT is a great story.
I don't, as a general rule, read a lot of novels classified as 'horror,' but I decided to jump on this one based on his previous Outlaw King books. I'm glad I did. This is a long book - and I still got so caught up in it that I finished it one day. Hollywood needs to stop with the remakes and start reading some of SA Hunt's books.
This book will make you change your mind on self-published authors. The formatting and editing were near perfect. If I had been unfamiliar with SA Hunt's prior work, and someone told me this was from a major publisher, I wouldn't have doubted. Malus Domestica is a near-flawless foray into a frightening world of dark thaumaturgy, mystery, and evil that will haunt you for quite some time.
If I had to say something critical, it would be that some of the scenes (where new characters are brought in) may feel extraneous at first... You've been reading about one character and then the action jumps to someone new that doesn't seem related to anything going onbut it all winds up tying together and making perfect sense by the end. (That and I felt bad for the cats.)