The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy and what a great book it is. Although aimed at the "teen" market it is a pleasant and very enjoyable read for an adult. The plot is simple...2 contestants are selected from 12 areas (giving 24 in total) to travel to the capital and fight in the yearly Hunger Games. Of those 24 only the winner will survive in a contest of kill and be killed and only those quick of foot and mind can hope to successfully compete as the numbers reduce and the contestants are systematically killed. There are without doubt parallels with the Ancient Romans and the bloody games held in the Colosseum but I loved the fresh and direct approach of the author, the contestants really came alive and as a passive observer I hoped that Katmiss Everdeen would be crowned the eventual winner. My favourite character is the beautiful Caesar Flickerman (a name that seems to draw parallels from both Roman and German origin) and he is the man who has hosted the interviews, prior to the games, for more than 40 years...."He bounces onto the stage, it's a little scary because his appearance has been virtually unchanged during all that time, same face under a coat of pure white make-up. Same hairstyle that he dyes a different colour for each Hunger Games. Same ceremonial suit, midnight blue dotted with a thousand electric  bulbs that twinkle like stars...." I am looking forward to reading books 2 & 3...a great treat for all teenagers and adults alike...read and enjoy and give thanks for the flamboyant  Caesar Flickerman :))

A stunnng debut :)

A truly exciting and original first novel by Oliver Stark. The writing is taut and the storytelling top notch!! Quite often crime stories can suffer from overcomplicated plots and unnecessary action...this is never the case here and there are some great red herrings to keep the reader guessing and at the edge of his seat :)) Read and enjoy.....

My top favourite 5 Horror reads...

Everyone must have a list of favourite reads so here our mine and in no particular order...

No 1 The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike, a great mixture of horror and fantasy, a story within a story, a lonely space trip and vampire infection....lovely :)

No 2 No collection would be complete without a book from the master himself and in The Shining we have a very frightening horror story set in a desolate location...all adding to the horror!

N0 3  This little gem is a recent discovery by me (see my review below) it is more than a horror story but a deeply sad tale of survival.

No 4  A modern horror story by Gary Mcmahon who writes like a true veteran, the images and the sense of nihilism throughout provides a depressing yet unputdownable read....I can't wait to read more by this up and coming master of the horror genre.

No 5 This book was a real surprise to me and my first experience of Scott Sigler. It is a tantalizing mix of horror and humour and all done to great effect.

Brilliant, emotional and unputdownable!

Every so often we pick up a book that is truly unputdownable, a book that is so well written, a book that has so much feeling and emotion it lives in the memory for a very long time....Alone in Berlin certainly did that for me. I was attracted firstly to the cover of this book in various book shops around Bristol and Bath and being a penguin publication the print, pages and binding were superior. I then noticed that it was originally published in 1947 and had just been republished here in the UK, the subject matter intrigued me as did the author Hans Fallada. When we consider stories set during WW2 very few are written from the German point of view and naturally we are inclined to believe that most Germans/Berliners were happy to support Hitler as he appeared to have put their country on a sound economic footing following the very lean years after the 1st WW. Alone in Berlin looks at one mans extraordinary and single handed stand against the forces of Nazism. Berlin at the time was a city of treachery, intrigue, deceit and suspicion, citizens were encouraged to report on any unnatural activities that might undermine the word of the Fuhrer. Into all of this steps Otto, an ordinary German living in an apartment block in Berlin, when he receives a message that his only son has been killed fighting at the front. He's shocked and saddened and decides to carry out his own personal crusade and act of resistance. He begins to drop anonymous postcards across the city attacking Hitler, knowing that if he is caught or betrayed not only will he be tortured and killed but so also will members of his immediate family. There evolves a silent war between Otto  and an ambitious Gestapo Inspector called Escherich. The prose, the use of dialogue, the sense of atmosphere and the inevitable sad conclusion all come together to make this a fantastic and emotional read, a read that never loses pace of sense of direction, and a read that I would certainly  recommend as one of the most memorable and intelligent novels of all time!

Welcome to the new blog...

Well a new year and a new makeover for my horror blog....first of all I hope you like the title, it's a random selection of words that when generated will make you concentrate your mind on horror!! The words zonacrypt do have a rather bloodthirsty rhythm and can give me direction in my ramblings over the next few months...and months...on into the misty future. I have spent a rather frustrating evening attempting to use book tokens to the value of £20 online and by doing a google search it would appear that www.pickabook.co.uk  will allow you to use the said tokens....wrong!!...yes you can use but with strict guidelines, if I spend over the £20 amount then the discount is not passed on to me...why waste my time searching for books and promising good things...when it just does not happen...anyway enough moaning :)) I am reading at present a fantastic horror story called....

and is everything that good horror should be...scary..and I will do a full review when completed which should be soon. This was recommend as one of the great discoveries of 2011 by the Ginger Nuts Of Horror and you can see the full Ginger Nuts review here http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com/2011/12/top-ten-discoveries-of-2011.html

The Wolfen...prepare to be eaten!!

Some time ago I made a comment on an online forum that I felt annoyed and depressed at the complete lack of intelligent and readily available horror reading material. Recently I have been pleasantly surprised to discover such gems as “The Concrete Grove” by Gary McMahon and the ultimate werewolf tail (little play on words !) High Moor by Graeme Reynolds a new and rising star in this genre…so belief and a smile are slowly returning to my face.

After some difficulty I was successful in securing a copy of “The Wolfen” by Whitley Strieber and am so pleased that I did. In essence The Wolfen is a story of man and Canis Lupus Sapiens or more commonly referred to as the Werewolf trying to eke out a living and cohabit in an overcrowded world and a world that refuses to acknowledge it’s existence. Two policemen are murdered whilst carrying out routine duties at a car pound in a district of New York, and the investigating officers Rebecca Neff and George Wilson are tasked with bringing the perpetrators to justice. Wilson and Neff soon discover that this is not a simple case and suspicion soon falls on the Werewolf, The Wolfen as named in the book. The story evolves with a great list of characters and a cracking storyline that never relaxes. It soon becomes clear that The Wolfen pack are themselves hunting Wilson and Neff, as the knowledge these two officers now possess concerning the existence of The Wolfen, threatens the werewolf community and way of life….the hunters have become the hunted!! The chief of police Underwood is only interested in his promotion to Commissionaire and refuses to accept that a pack of Werewolves are living and running amok in his city, and are responsible for the death of two of his officers. Carl Ferguson the curator of the Natural History Museum is haunted by the possibility of an imminent Werewolf attack and in one particularly tense scene he is walking the museum late at night and is deeply troubled and frightened by every sound the building exudes. This tension and fear prevailing throughout the book draws the reader in and creates a great sense of unease. The Wolfen is a silent predator who can destroy his prey efficiently and with clockwork precision. To understand the mind of The Wolfen it must be appreciated they only really attack to satisfy their hunger and they view man as a means to exist and a good source of nourishment. They are also selective in their choice of victim,(the murder of the two policemen was a mistake) and choose to kill only those who they see as weak and who live in the fringes. They kill with ruthless and silent efficiency and it is this ability that totally immerses the reader in a nightmare reading experience! The brutal strength and beauty of The Wolfen is best described in one memorable scene from the book……

“Now she was down, she was pushing her nose past cloth, slick hot flesh, feeling the vibration of subvocal response in the man, feeling his muscles stiffening as his body reacted to her standing on it, then opening her mouth against the flesh, feeling her teeth scrape back and down, pressing her tongue against the deliciously salty skin and ripping with all the strength in her jaws and neck and chest, and jumping back to the wall with the bloody throat in her mouth. The body on the bench barely rustled as its dying blood poured out….Now her job was over,she dropped behind the wall and ate her trophy. It was rich and sweet with blood. Around her the pack was very happy as it worked….Then the pack ate in rank order. The mother took the brain. The father took a thigh and buttock. The first mated pair ate the clean organs. When they returned from their duty the second mated pair took the rest. And then they pulled apart the remains and took them piece by piece and dropped them in the nearby lake…When this was done, they went to a place they had been earlier, a great meadow full of the beautiful new snow that had been falling. They ran and danced in the snow, feeling the pleasure of their bodies, the joy or facing headlong across the wide expanse, and because they knew that no human was in earshot they had a joyous howl full of the pulsing rhythm they liked best after a hunt…..

Neff has a difficult home life and a complicated working relationship with Wilson, however they must lay aside these differences to keep focused and avoid being consumed by The Wolfen. The chase becomes a game of cat and mouse and a marvellous experience for the reader as the tension never relaxes and we rush towards a bloody conclusion. This is not merely a horror story but the portrayal of a misunderstood group trying to exist and survive in the shadows of the city and avoid the wrath of man….I strongly recommend!