Quicks Reviews | What I've Been Reading Lately

This is quick catch up of the books I've been reading lately.

Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) by Maureen Johnson

Truly Devious is a new YA mystery series. I realized about halfway through Truly Devious that it was the start of a series. I wish I had known that before reading it. I probably would have skipped the series altogether. As soon as I realized, I became petrified I was reading a mystery with no resolution. I was mostly right. Thankfully, I did get a mystery that had a resolution, but Truly Devious was not a good fit for my reading style. If you love YA books that arc over the length of a series, this could be a fun mystery for you. I probably won't continue on.

6/10: Good Read

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The Listener by Robert McCammon

Is there anything better than a favorite book by a favorite author? I loved The Listener. The characters were awesome, and McCammon's writing was as great as ever. If you’ve never read McCammon before, I am absolutely OK with The Listener being your first experience.

9/10: Highly Recommended

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Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

Mapping the Interior will likely be my favorite novella of the year. It packed a huge emotional punch for me, and I had trouble getting it off of my mind. It's about a 15 year old boy who begins seeing the ghost of his father. It just won the Bram Stoker for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction, and it was a well deserved win.

8/10: Great Read

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Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I can't imagine any book for the rest of the year topping the experience I had with Bird Box. I put off reading it for so long because the premise didn't sound like a book that would be a big hit with me. With the upcoming release of Unbury Carol (which sounds amazing!) and the upcoming movie release of Bird Box, I knew the time had come to see what Bird Box was all about. I'm calling it right now - Bird Box will be my favorite book of the year.

10/10: Awesome Read

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Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

Summer of Night is a must read for fans of coming of age horror. If you are a fan of Stephen King's IT, you will probably love Summer of Night, too. I found there to be a lot of similarities between the two. I highly recommend going with the audiobook for this one. It's a chunky read, and the narrator does a great job.

8/10: Great Read

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I think that covers most of what I read last month. It was an amazing run of books!

Book Review | The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones

The Night Cyclist is a horror novelette from Stephen Graham Jones.

"The Night Cyclist" by Stephen Graham Jones is a horror novelette about a middle-aged chef whose nightly bicycle ride home is interrupted by an unexpected encounter.

I loved this story from Stephen Graham Jones. I'm a runner not a cyclist, and damn it, now I want a bike.

I've never experienced so much suspense in a bike ride before. I swear this entire tale could have just been the main character chasing after a creature of the night on a bicycle and I would have loved it. There was a bit more to The Night Cyclist than that, though.

Everything about this story felt authentic - from the restaurant field (the main character is a chef) to what it must really feel like to be a cyclist.

The Night Cyclist weighs in at 32 pages. I would only recommend it to folks who love reading short stories, but I do without a doubt recommend it. I laid down my $.99 so I could read it on my Kindle, but you can read it for free on Tor's website here: https://www.tor.com/2016/09/21/the-night-cyclist/

8/10: Great Read

Book Review | Ugly Little Things by Todd Keisling

Ugly Little Things is a collection of horror stories by Todd Keisling.

THIS IS GOING TO HURT.

The eleven stories in Ugly Little Things explore the depths of human suffering and ugliness, charting a course to the dark, horrific heart of the human condition. The terrors of everyday existence are laid bare in this eerie collection of short fiction from the twisted mind of Todd Keisling, author of the critically-acclaimed novels A Life Transparent and The Liminal Man.

Travel between the highways of America in “The Otherland Express,” where a tribe of the forsaken and forlorn meet to exchange identities. Witness the cold vacuum of space manifest in the flesh in “The Darkness Between Dead Stars.” Step into the scrub of rural Arizona and join Karen Singleton’s struggle to save her husband from a cult of religious fanatics in “When Karen Met Her Mountain.” Visit the small town of Dalton in “The Harbinger” and join Felix Proust as he uncovers the vile secrets rooted at the heart of Dalton Dollworks. And in the critically-acclaimed novella “The Final Reconciliation,” learn the horrifying truth behind the demise of the rock band The Yellow Kings.

With an introduction by Bram Stoker Award-winner Mercedes M. Yardley and illustrations by Luke Spooner, Ugly Little Things will be your atlas, guiding you along a lonely road of sorrow, loss, and regret. This is going to hurt—and you’re going to like it.

After reading and loving Todd Keisling's The Final Reconciliation earlier this year, I was excited to have the opportunity to read more stories by Keisling in Ugly Little Things.

The first thing I want to mention is The Final Reconciliation is included in this collection. You can read my full review for that here. It's my favorite novella I've read so far this year.

I didn't realize that several of the stories in Ugly Little Things had been previously published. This was fine for me as I hadn't read any of the other tales, but your mileage could vary on that.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a few of the tales fell into the novelette/novella range. I'm a big fan of that format when it comes to horror, and I think these longer works are also the best of this collection.

I highly recommended The Final Reconciliation earlier this year, and with Ugly Little Things you get that novella and more. It's kind of a no brainer if you are interested in checking out Todd Keisling's work. He's an author I keep on my radar, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Quick Reviews | Every Dead Thing and Gwendy's Button Box

Every Dead Thing is the first book in the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly.

When former New York City detective Charlie Parker is pulled into the search for a missing woman, he finds insight into the murderer responsible for the slayings of his own wife and daughter -- a monster/artist/serial killer who uses the human body as his canvas and takes faces as his prize.

Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and two career killers, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the Louisiana bayous and faces a brutal confrontation with the killer known only as the Traveling Man.

Charlie Parker. Every time I come across the Charlie Parker series, I see nothing but high praise for it.

My first introduction to John Connolly was last year when I read his young adult novel The Gates. I was struck by his sense of humor, and I knew I needed to read more of his books.

Every Dead Thing was a great introduction to the series. I didn't find the dark humor I expected after reading The Gates, but I did find a solid thriller. The introduction of the Charlie Parker character took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting such a rough and heavy introduction. I'm taking it as a good sign that this will not be your average series.

I'm looking forward to continuing on with the next book. There are fifteen Charlie Parker books at this point so I may have a long treat in store.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy provided by publisher

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Gwendy's Button Box is a horror novella from Stephen King and Richard Chizmar.

The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told... until now.

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside.

At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game.

One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me."

On a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat like for a suit, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat...

Journey back to Castle Rock again in this chilling new novella by Stephen King, bestselling author of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, and Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December. This book will be a Cemetery Dance Publications exclusive with no other editions currently planned anywhere in the world!

I think I've changed as a reader. They say no two people read the same book. I truly believe that. Back before I had kids, I loved books with kids in peril. I remember the night I started reading Mary Higgins Clark's Where Are The Children? I stayed up all night reading it in one sitting. After devouring Greg Iles' 24 Hours, I passed it around to family members. I remember how mad I was at Stephen King after reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I couldn't wait to read the story of a little girl lost in the woods. It was going to be scary, and King was going to show her no mercy. But it wasn't, and he did, and I became one of the folks who simply wasn't a fan of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Gwendy's Button Box reminds me a lot of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Old me probably would have hated Gwendy's Button Box, but current me really enjoyed it. I'm not somehow a better reader, but I'm probably a changed reader. I won't even go near a book with kids in peril now that I have kids of my own.

I'm really curious what other readers thought the buttons would do? I did not expect the buttons to do what the buttons turned out to do. This has me thinking - do the buttons do the same thing for each person who becomes the proprietor of the box? The man with the hat said something along the lines of "you already know what they do". If Gwendy believed the buttons made it rain, would it have rained when she pushed the button?

I've read way too many magic treehouse books so you can probably guess what my buttons would do. My buttons would be far less sinister than Gwendy's buttons, but my responsibility as a button proprietor would also pale in comparison to what Gwendy had to face.

So Gwendy's Button Box has left me pondering quite a bit which is a great thing. Stephen King is an amazing writer. This book is worth reading just for the touch King puts on everything he writes. This is possibly my first Richard Chizmar story.

I don't know what else to compare a King story to other than another King story. (Who else compares?) There was an 11/22/63 feel to Gwendy's Button Box, but it's obviously a much, much smaller tale in scope. I feel like Captain Obvious when I recommend a Stephen King book, but fans shouldn't miss out on this one.

8/10: Great Read

Quick Reviews | Loch Ness Revenge, The Great God Pan, Six Wakes

Here are some quick thoughts on a few books I've read recently.

Loch Ness Revenge by Hunter Shea

Deep in the murky waters of Loch Ness, the creature known as Nessie has returned. Twins Natalie and Austin McQueen watched in horror as their parents were devoured by the world’s most infamous lake monster. Two decades later, it’s their turn to hunt the legend. But what lurks in the Loch is not what they expected. Nessie is devouring everything in and around the Loch, and it’s not alone. Hell has come to the Scottish Highlands. In a fierce battle between man and monster, the world may never be the same.

Nessie. Poor Nessie! What did Hunter Shea do? Hunter Shea turned her into a monster.

Loch Ness Revenge was good fun, though! As children, Natalie and Austin watched their parents get sucked under by Nessie. Now they are setting out to kill her.

You've never seen Nessie like this before!

7/10: Recommended Read

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The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

A terrifying tale about the god of wild places.

The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Machen's story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism.

I wish I could say I loved The Great God Pan, but I didn't. I enjoy reading any classic horror for what it is so I wasn't necessarily disappointed. I just didn't enjoy it very much.

There were a couple of stand out moments that gave me the creeps, but I had trouble discerning what the plot was even supposed to be.

4/10: Not My Thing

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Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

A space adventure set on a lone ship where the murdered crew are resurrected through cloning to discover who their killer was -- and the secret to their mission.

It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.

At least, Marie Shea iv had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died, from illness once and from injury once...

Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Pituitary, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. Apparently Maria wasn't the only one to die recently.

I was expecting a science fiction thriller. I was not expecting to feel like I was in the middle of an Agatha Christie novel. Six Wakes was a very pleasant surprise. If an Agatha Christie style mystery set in space with clones and AI isn't fun, I don't know what is.

8/10: Great Read

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Have you read any of these books yet? I'm curious to hear if anyone else was surprised by Six Wakes.

Book Review | The Secret Life of Souls by Jack Ketchum, Lucky McKee

The Secret Life Souls is a thriller from Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee.

At the heart of this psychological suspense novel is the haunting depiction of a family’s fall and the extraordinary gifted dog, Caity, who knows the truth. As the drama unfolds Caity evolves from protector to savior, from scapegoat to prop, and eventually, from avenger to survivor. She is an unselfish soul in a selfish world—and she is written with depth and grace by authors Ketchum and Mckee, who display a profound understanding of a dog’s complex emotions. With her telling instincts and her capacity for joy and transformative love, Caity joins the pantheon of great dogs in contemporary literature.

Eleven year old actress Delia Cross is beautiful, talented, charismatic. A true a star in the making. Her days are a blur of hard work on ­set, auditions and tutors. Her family—driven, pill­-popping stage mother Pat, wastrel dad Bart, and introverted twin brother Robbie—depends on her for their upscale lifestyle. Delia in turn depends on Caity, her beloved ginger Queensland Heeler—and loyal friend—for the calming private space they share. Delia is on the verge of a professional break through. But just as the contracts are about to be signed, there is a freak accident that puts Delia in the danger zone with only Caity to protect her.

The Secret Life of Souls is one of the books I've been wanting to go back and give a proper review. It was released during my complete internet hiatus (November was an ugly month), but I've also had a hard time writing a review for it. It's a pretty short book, and all the things I love about it are tied to events in the story that I don't want to give away. I will just have to gush about it on the whole.

First of all, this is obviously a dog book. When I heard Jack Ketchum wrote a book about a gifted dog, well, it's harder to want a book more than I wanted The Secret Life of Souls. There are not enough genre dogs in my life.

Even with my expectations set so high, I loved The Secret Life of Souls.

As an adult, I avoid a lot of dog books. You won't catch me going near books like Marley and Me or The Art of Racing in the Rain. My chest hurts just thinking about what may be inside of those pages. After being a die hard Dean Koontz fan, though, I long for dogs like The Secret Life of Souls' Caity. I knew I would be in great hands with Jack Ketchum. He did write Red after all - an entire book avenging the death of a dog.

I'm not trying to lull you into a false sense of security. The Secret Life of Souls is a gut wrenching read. It's a psychological thriller, and it will certainly make you uneasy, but it's a great book. And a great dog. Have I mentioned how much I love Caity?

I posted The Secret Life of Souls as one of my favorite books of 2016, but it may very well be my favorite book of last year.

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Fireman by Joe Hill

The Fireman was released in paperback today so I decided this would be the perfect time to do some catch up and finally post a review for it.

The Fireman is a horror novel from Joe Hill.

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.

The fireman is coming. Stay cool.

No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.

Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.

Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to ruthless Cremation Squads—armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger she briefly met at the hospital, a man in a dirty yellow fire fighter’s jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.

In the desperate season to come, as the world burns out of control, Harper must learn the Fireman’s secrets before her life—and that of her unborn child—goes up in smoke.

Why did I read The Fireman?

Joe Hill. After NOS4A2, I'm a fan for life.

The Strengths

Joe Hill. Joe Hill inherited some hella good genes. There is a lot of Stephen King in Joe Hill and that's a great thing.

The Fireman is original and a lot of it has stuck with me even though it's been months since I read it.

Dragonscale - the virus - is more than just a cool premise. I thought "OK, this is one of those times I'm just going to have to go along with the imagination of the King family", but it went and got all science-y on me which made me love it even more.

The Weaknesses

You won't hear me say this very often, but The Fireman was too long. I love me a chunky read, and I really love a chunky read from Joe Hill, but I felt like The Fireman was chunky for chunky's sake. It didn't need to be that long and that ultimately hindered my enjoyment of the book.

Would I recommend The Fireman to others?

Yes! The Fireman was one of my favorite reads last year.

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)

The Long Walk is a dystopian novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.

On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying.

I've been asked on many occasions if I've read this book, and I never stopped to wonder why. Of course I see now why this book has been recommended to me throughout the years. It's like asking someone who's afraid of clowns if they've read IT. The Long Walk is a perfect fit for me. I wish I had read it sooner! I wish I had read The Long Walk prior to the upteen billion dystopians I've already experienced in recent years. It kept reminding me of The Hunger Games instead of vice versa as it bloody well should have been.

I listened to The Long Walk on audio which was a great experience. Grab it off Overdrive if you have yet to read this one. There's an amazing introduction by Stephen King included with the audio. I have the "Bachman Books" on my shelf so I pulled it down to read the introduction again only to find a completely different introduction! If you've already read the Bachman Books, you might be interested in reading the second introduction King wrote for it.

I've put off reading Bachman over the years. Up until now I think I've only read The Regulators (right after reading Desperation) and Thinner (right after watching the movie). I've had some deluded idea in my mind that I wouldn't enjoy them like I enjoy a King novel. I can't speak for the rest of the Bachman Books, but you don't get more Stephen King than The Long Walk. He really, really thought no one would know Richard Bachman was Stephen King?! No one writes like Stephen King. In my opinion, no one even comes close to writing like Stephen King. So now I have some more reading to do!

The Long Walk was a great way to end a not-so-remarkable reading year. It serves as a good reminder of how important it is to pull down the back titles throughout the year and enjoy some gems I've been missing out on.

8/10: Great Read

Review | The Sky Jumpers Series by Peggy Eddleman

Sky Jumpers (Sky Jumpers #1) by Peggy Eddleman

What happens when you can’t do the one thing that matters most?

12-year-old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in—than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help.

For once, inventing isn’t the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

Why did I read Sky Jumpers?

Those badass kids on the cover are cliff diving into a deadly band of air. I needed to find out more.

I've been excited about Sky Jumpers since before it was released, but I've continued to put it aside for other things. I came across the second book in this series on Overdrive, and I decided it was time to catch up.

The Strengths

The kids and the cliff diving completely lived up to the cover and my expectations.

Post-apocalypse. This is a middle grade post-apocalyptic. I have never read a post-apocalyptic book intended for such a young audience. For some reason I thought this would target kids a bit older, but my elementary kids could read this one. That's pretty exciting.

Friendships. Friendships are a big part of why I enjoy reading younger books. Everything doesn't dissolve into a romance. I like these kids.

Entertaining. Sky Jumpers was a fun read.

Stand alone. Sky Jumpers is the first in a series, but it is a full story that can stand on its own.

The Weaknesses

I'm too old to believe the science of Sky Jumpers. That's OK - it's still great fun, but sometimes it's easier to just "go with it" when you are still filled with the childhood magic that I no longer possess.

Would I recommend Sky Jumpers to others?

Absolutely, but more so to the younger readers in my life and adults who already partake in middle grade reads.

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

The Forbidden Flats (Sky Jumpers #2) by Peggy Eddleman

Escape one danger. Jump into another. . . .

Twelve-year-old Hope has always felt a little different from everyone else who lives in White Rock. She tries hard, but she doesn’t always think before she acts. She takes big risks. Sometimes her risks pay off, but sometimes they fail. Sometimes she fails.

Hope knows that the most dangerous thing about living in White Rock is that it’s so close to the deadly Bomb’s Breath—the invisible, fifteen-foot-thick band of compressed air that’s hovered over the earth since the Green Bombs of World War III. The citizens of White Rock live in fear of the Bomb’s Breath. Only Hope has figured out a way to go through it—and lived to tell the tale.

But when a massivetremor rips across the earth, the Bomb’s Breath begins to lower over White Rock. It’s up to Hope and her friends Brock and Aaren to make the dangerous journey far from home across the bandit-ridden Forbidden Flats to the wilds of the Rocky MMountainsobtain the one thing that may be able to stop it—before the Bomb’s Breath sinks too far and destroys them all. This time, Hope can’t fail.

I had a great time reading Sky Jumpers so I went straight into reading The Forbidden Flats.

This was a great followup. The Bomb's Breath - the deadly air that the kids were cliff diving into in Sky Jumpers - is now lowering over their town. The kids have to figure out how to stop it. It's a brilliant premise.

I didn't love The Forbidden Flats as much as Sky Jumpers, but I had a great time with this series.

7/10: Recommended Read

Book Review | The Last One by Alexandra Oliva

Survival is the name of the game as the line blurs between reality TV and reality itself in Alexandra Oliva’s fast-paced novel of suspense.

She wanted an adventure. She never imagined it would go this far.

It begins with a reality TV show. Twelve contestants are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of their endurance. While they are out there, something terrible happens—but how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it human-made? Cut off from society, the contestants know nothing of it. When one of them—a young woman the show’s producers call Zoo—stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game.

Alone and disoriented, Zoo is heavy with doubt regarding the life—and husband—she left behind, but she refuses to quit. Staggering countless miles across unfamiliar territory, Zoo must summon all her survival skills—and learn new ones as she goes.

But as her emotional and physical reserves dwindle, she grasps that the real world might have been altered in terrifying ways—and her ability to parse the charade will be either her triumph or her undoing.

Sophisticated and provocative, The Last One is a novel that forces us to confront the role that media plays in our perception of what is real: how readily we cast our judgments, how easily we are manipulated.

This is my third review of the week, folks. I have no idea what has gotten into me.

I'm thrilled that I get to praise another book today, though!

The Last One! I was so skeptical about this book. I thought it was going to be another standard entry in an oversaturated market, but trusted reviewers were making me want to give it stronger consideration.

Most of the reviews I've read are from people who don't watch reality TV but say it doesn't matter to the enjoyment of this book. I don't watch much reality TV, but the one show I do watch is Survivor so I can address it from that point of view. You definitely don't need to be any kind of reality TV fan, but I enjoyed the perspective. We all know those shows boil down to the editing so I got a lot of enjoyment in the portrayal of how heavily edited the shows actually are. The viewer sees the "reality" that gets created on the editing floor.

But enough about the reality TV bit because it's really only a means of setting up what The Last One is all about. The first line of The Last One is "the first one on the production team to die will be the editor".

What is happening while these contestants are out vying for a million dollars? Is it all part of the competition?

I enjoyed this book so much. I read it because I wanted some distracting entertainment. I got that and so much more.

And this is a debut! Two of my favorite books I've read this year are debuts. (This one and Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace.) That's exciting.

The range of folks I would recommend this to is pretty wide. I think it's billed as science fiction. In my opinion, the best genre books blur the lines through all of the speculative fiction genres. Fans of post-apocalypse, zombie (not a zombie book), dystopian (not a dystopian), YA (not a YA), will all find reasons to love this one, too.

8/10: Great Read

Book Review | Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Dark Matter is a science fiction thriller from Blake Crouch.

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable--something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Why did I read Dark Matter?

Blake Crouch. The science was a complete surprise. You'd think the title "Dark Matter" would have clued me in, but no. I didn't give it much thought past it being a new Blake Crouch. I enjoyed his book Run, and then I loved the Wayward Pines trilogy. I need to make some time for some more of his back titles, too.

The Strengths

SCIENCE. This is how I love my science - mixed with a page turning thriller. Dark Matter is not hard science either. It's heavy science if you consider the fact that it deals with quantum physics, but it is presented in a way that's accessible to everyone.

It's a fun read which I'm coming to expect from Blake Crouch.

The Weaknesses

It's hard to articulate what makes it a 4 star and not a 5 star read for me, but part of it has to do with how the story progressed. It could go any way at any time which is fun, but it's hard to lose myself or care more than just at a superficial level as I'm stepping through short chronological events. You're mileage may vary here.

Would I recommend Dark Matter to others?

Yep!

8/10: Great Read

January 25 | Currently Reading

The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards was announced last week. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out.

This past weekend was my 5 year blogiversary. It's kind of hard to believe! This blog (and the book blogging community) has been through a lot of changes in the last 5 years.

Books Read Last Week

Savage Season (Hap and Leonard #1) by Joe R. Lansdale

OK, this was just plum fun. I'm not up to speed on my Lansdale so I'm just now venturing into Hap and Leonard. I, of course, have heard plenty about them and with the TV show coming up, I decided this might be a great diversion from the horrible reading slump I've been in.

Sometimes I make excellent choices.

8/10: Great Read

The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti

I just finished reading The Box Jumper. If I don't post my thoughts later this week, I will add them to my update next week.

Books Currently Reading

Medusa's Web by Tim Powers

This is my first Tim Powers. So far it is trippy in a good way.

What about you? What are you reading this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

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This post is being shared as part of Book Date's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Lies of Locke Lamora | Reread Thoughts

The Lies of Locke Lamora is the first book in the Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch.

In this stunning debut, author Scott Lynch delivers the wonderfully thrilling tale of an audacious criminal and his band of confidence tricksters. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part "Robin Hood", one part Ocean's Eleven, and entirely enthralling...

An orphan's life is harsh — and often short — in the island city of Camorr, built on the ruins of a mysterious alien race. But born with a quick wit and a gift for thieving, Locke Lamora has dodged both death and slavery, only to fall into the hands of an eyeless priest known as Chains — a man who is neither blind nor a priest.

A con artist of extraordinary talent, Chains passes his skills on to his carefully selected "family" of orphans — a group known as the Gentlemen Bastards. Under his tutelage, Locke grows to lead the Bastards, delightedly pulling off one outrageous confidence game after another. Soon he is infamous as the Thorn of Camorr, and no wealthy noble is safe from his sting.

Passing themselves off as petty thieves, the brilliant Locke and his tightly knit band of light-fingered brothers have fooled even the criminal underworld's most feared ruler, Capa Barsavi. But there is someone in the shadows more powerful — and more ambitious — than Locke has yet imagined.

Known as the Gray King, he is slowly killing Capa Barsavi's most trusted men — and using Locke as a pawn in his plot to take control of Camorr's underworld. With a bloody coup under way threatening to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the Gray King at his own brutal game — or die trying...

I listed The Lies of Locke Lamora in my update post Monday, but I failed to mention it was a reread. I wish I had because I think the simple fact that a book is worth rereading says a lot about the book.

If you'd like to read my original review, that can be found here.

A few people commented that they own a copy of Locke Lamora but haven't read it yet. If you happened to grab a Kindle deal, do yourself a favor and add on the audio. Audible has one of those amazing deals where you can add on the audio for $3.99. I think I enjoyed it even more via audiobook! It's truly fantastic.

I'm hoping to make my way through this series again before The Thorn of Emberlain is released in July. This will probably not be my last reread of the series. There is something about this series that I adore.

My biggest complaint the first time around was the interludes. The plot would get going and then we would jump back in time. Maybe it was already knowing what happens, maybe it was the audio, but I didn't mind the interludes at all this time. I enjoyed revisiting the history of my old friends.

I'm not sure I had any complaints at all this time around.

As with most rereads, I now feel the need to up my rating, but my initial feelings are probably more accurate so I won't.

8/10: Great Read

Book Review | Slade House by David Mitchell

Slade House is a horror novel by David Mitchell.

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents—an odd brother and sister—extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late. . . .

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

I'm a very skeptical reader. I will never be the kind of reader John Green wants me to be.

Going into Slade House, this line in the book description had me very apprehensive: "this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it." There is nothing greater than a haunted house story. What kind of new vision was I getting myself into?

I remained very unsure of the book through the first half of it, but then everything really fell into place for me.

The classic writing style was a perfect match for the scope of the story. Starting out in 1979 and ending up in present time, Slade House spans several decades. I normally don't care for big shifts in time, but it is brilliantly handled here.

In the end, I'm happy to say Slade House absolutely delivered on its promise of a "new vision of the haunted house story".

8/10: Great Read

Jennifer

Book Review | Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden

Seize the Night: New Tales of Vampiric Terror is an anthology edited by Christopher Golden.

A blockbuster anthology of original, blood-curdling vampire fiction from New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Charlaine Harris, whose novels were adapted into HBO’s hit show True Blood, and Scott Smith, publishing his first work since The Ruins.

Before being transformed into romantic heroes and soft, emotional antiheroes, vampires were figures of overwhelming terror. Now, from some of the biggest names in horror and dark fiction, comes this stellar collection of short stories that make vampires frightening once again. Edited by New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden and featuring all-new stories from such contributors as Charlaine Harris, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Michael Kortya, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Keene, David Wellington, Seanan McGuire, and Tim Lebbon, Seize the Night is old-school vampire fiction at its finest.

For me, there is nothing better suited for October than a great horror anthology. I spent this October reading Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden. It was the perfect choice!

It's been a while since I've enjoyed an anthology as much as Seize the Night. With this list of contributing authors, it's no wonder it was great collection:

Kelley Armstrong • John Ajvide Lindqvist • Laird Barron • Gary A. Braunbeck • Dana Cameron • Dan Chaon • Lynda Barry • Charlaine Harris • Brian Keene • Sherrilyn Kenyon • Michael Koryta • John Langan • Tim Lebbon • Seanan McGuire • Joe McKinney • Leigh Perry • Robert Shearman • Scott Smith • Lucy A. Snyder • David Wellington • Rio Youers

This anthology claims to make vampires frightening again. Outside of having read Twilight, I don't actually know anything about romantic, emotional, sexy vampires. My vampires have always been frightening so that's the place I'm coming from with this review. These tales aren't just original because they are taking the vampire back to its roots (did it really leave?), they are tales that are original in their own right.

While the vampires in Seize the Night are of the scary variety, most of them aren't your traditional Dracula derived vampires. This is wonderful thing. Seize the Night is a great anthology to curl up with on a dark night. (And frankly, a new story from Scott Smith is worth purchasing the entire collection.)

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic novel from Erich Maria Remarque.

Book Description

This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I. These young men become enthusiastic soldiers, but their world of duty, culture, and progress breaks into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.

Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the hatred that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another... if only he can come out of the war alive.

The real reason I read All Quiet on the Western Front was to listen to Frank Muller’s narration, but it turned out to be a beautifully written, thought-provoking novel.

It’s a war novel, but it’s not about the war. It’s about its effects on the men who go to war.

“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.”

I feel quite devastated by All Quiet on the Western Front, really. A great book leaves an impact, and there are definitely scenes in this one that will remain with me always. It’s a remarkable read.

“We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.”

If you’re into audiobooks, I highly recommend the audio version. Frank Muller was an exceptional narrator.

8/10: Great Read

Book Review | Pines by Blake Crouch

Pines is the first book in Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy.

Book Description

Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels…off. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact—he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.

Book Review

Well, that was a quick and fun read.

The beginning of Pines is normal enough. A guy has amnesia after a crash. You get pulled in wondering "Who is he? What's going on?". You know you are in for a bit of a mystery surrounding a strange town, but then Pines quickly becomes a mishmash of a book. It's all over the place, really, but it's intriguing and it's entertaining so you just hang on for the ride.

The most astounding thing to me is the way the ending manages to pull the entire mishmash of a Twilight Zome experience back together into a really solid read.

I was already excited about the TV series (due to M. Night Shyamalan's involvement), but now I can hardly contain myself. I'm a Lostie, and I'm hoping this series is going to fill some of the void.

It's rare that I finish the first book in a series and immediately start reading the next one, but that's exactly what happened when I finished reading Pines. I shouldn't have taken so long to start the series in the first place.

8/10: Great Read

Book Review | The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft

The Shunned House is a novella from H.P. Lovecraft.

Book Description

Most of them died! Almost all who lived in that house passed away after becoming sick. This has been going for over one hundred years. Dr. Whipple decided to find out why and spend a night with his uncle in that house. What will happen is left up for you to explore and enjoy the story of this house, the shunned house!

If you are looking for a book to read this October, The Shunned House is an excellent choice. I could not have kicked off this month any better.

"We never - even in our wildest Halloween moods - visited this cellar by night."

The Shunned House is a house on Benefit Street where a large number of people passed away. Due to the smells, the humid environment, and the amount of fungus present in the house, it was declared to simply have "unhealthy" conditions. At worst, the house was deemed "unlucky". No one (with the exception of the narrator's uncle) suspected anything supernatural was going on.

Once the narrator learned of his uncle's suspicions, they decided to investigate the house.

I really, really enjoyed The Shunned House. I could read spooky house stories all day, every day, but there were some great stand out moments that will stick with me.

If you love literary horror and you haven't read this yet, put The Shunned House on your list. It's one you will want to read. At 48 pages, it also makes a great atmospheric read for those who are just looking to up their spookiness level around Halloween.

8/10: Great Read

Book Review | Wool by Hugh Howey

Wool is a science fiction/dystopian novel from Hugh Howey.

Book Description

This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

I am in love with this series. Wool wasn't perfect, but I loved it pretty hard core.

Dystopians and I haven't gotten along for a while now, but Wool has reminded me of everything I love about a great dystopian.

So what's the dystopian hook with Wool? A silo. The earth has become uninhabitable, and those who have survived live in a giant silo below the ground.

There is a view up top of the outside, but it's dangerous to spend time dreaming or wondering about the outside. The highest crime is professing a desire to go outside. The punishment for committing such a taboo? You get your wish. They send you outside.

The first half of the book was awesome. It was exciting to have my love for dystopia totally renewed. As Wool progressed, I had more and more trouble suspending my disbelief and there were a couple of plot holes, but overall the suspense and the characters and my curiosity about the silo and the world outside was plenty enough to overcome the technicalities.

The Wool omnibus is also the first book in the Silo series, but for those of you who are series shy, it can absolutely stand on its own. If Wool hadn't weighed in at 500+ pages, there's no doubt I would have immediately picked up the next book in the Silo series. I get reader burn out easy, though, so I know better than to jump into another chunky monkey from the same series. I'm happy to add the Silo series to my current favorites, and I look forward to reading Shift in the near future.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic and dystopian books (with a strong female lead!), Wool is definitely a book you should put on your radar.

8/10: Great Read

If you haven't heard Hugh Howey's self publishing story, it is fascinating. Have you read Wool? Do you have any favorite dystopian books you'd like to recommend?

Book Review | The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells.

Book Description

Ranked among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in 1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of science shown in his first book, The Time Machine, not its potential for misuse and terror. In The Island of Dr. Moreau a shipwrecked gentleman named Edward Prendick, stranded on a Pacific island lorded over by the notorious Dr. Moreau, confronts dark secrets, strange creatures, and a reason to run for his life.

While this riveting tale was intended to be a commentary on evolution, divine creation, and the tension between human nature and culture, modern readers familiar with genetic engineering will marvel at Wells’s prediction of the ethical issues raised by producing “smarter” human beings or bringing back extinct species. These levels of interpretation add a richness to Prendick’s adventures on Dr. Moreau’s island of lost souls without distracting from what is still a rip-roaring good read.

Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None was not the only classic I thoroughly enjoyed reading last week. I also had the immense pleasure of reading The Island of Dr. Moreau.

I'm apparently a huge fan of H.G. Wells. I absolutely loved The War of the Worlds the first time I read it, and last year I was blown away by The Time Machine. I picked up The Island of Dr. Moreau because it's on my reading bucket list, but at this point I need to declare H.G. Wells as one of my favorite authors of all time.

The Island of Dr. Moreau actually reminded me quite a bit of The Time Machine. Both are a retelling of the main character's journey to a strange place with strange inhabitants.

There is no better combination than science and horror, y'all.

8/10: Great Read