In the end only darkness by Monica O'Rourke

Extreme horror is a genre that I don't often read, I am not sure if I will enjoy, I am not sure if I want to enjoy and I am nor sure if I will find the experience at all pleasant. “In the end only darkness” is a brutal read and involves themes of torture and rape where everyday death is just a normal occurrence. That said I often question why I read particular books and how I judge what is good bad or indifferent? and indeed if I am entertained by a book whatever the subject that has to be a good thing. This book is a collection of short stories, dealing with the aforementioned themes, and as such (as I often find) some of these stories I will enjoy and some I will find instantly forgettable. There were a few gems here where I could honestly say the readers might question his own morals; “Oral Mohel” is a rather unusual and novel way for a "circumcision" to be performed (the clue being in the title) It certainly held my attention and was both an enjoyable and painful experience to read."An experiment in Human Nature" is a very difficult story of torture in the extreme but Mz O'Rourke concludes the story in a most satisfactory manner. "Feeding Desire with Jack Fisher" will most certainly test the human "prejudice" and what you think of as normal behaviour will be sorely tested in this (what I considered) a fun read and prob one of the highlights of the book .......

"For Diana, being thin was about as far away as Europe and not nearly as attainable. Folds of flesh covered a frame that, after worms and maggots someday feasted on her corpse, would prove to be of medium bone structure; meaning she would never be dainty or petite no matter what here weight; nor on the flipside would she ever try out for women's rugby....Diana being bed-ridden because of her rather rotund body had little else to do all day and night other than to watch television-and eat....Diana lived in a studio and spent her life sprawled on a pullout sofa that hadn’t been in its original position in half a decade. The sheet beneath her wet and stained flesh was filthy with crumbs and feces smears that she couldn’t quite reach to wipe away. The sheets hadn’t been changed in months”....
So this very obese lady has a constant relationship with food until the day Jack Fisher arrives and Diana is then able to combine her love of food with her new found interest in sex under the helpful guidance of Mr Fisher. So this story may question what we feel is right and proper in a world consumed by the perfect shape and the perfect body. It is an uncomfortable yet enjoyable rump and kept me reading irrespective of the subject matter There is also a great sadness to this story and a very unexpected ending.....is that not what reading is about? enjoyment and escape from the ordinary?

“The rest of Larry” provides one of the lighter moments in this dark collection. Larry awakens to find that he was not so much a person but a torso...”A skeletal torso at that, most of the meat having rotted off the bones or been picked clean by scavengers. He’d been chopped in half, that much was obvious. Parts of the blade were still imbedded in a rib bone From the base of the ribcage down, he was..well, in the immortal words of Gertude Stein, There was not there, there. Nothing but flapping tissue and shredded tatters of shirt.” Larry needs answers and he finds them in the hands of his wife and lover....a great story concluded expertly
I am certainly glad I read this book as the collection had some thoughtful and great stories that certainly made in impression on what I felt was morally correct.

A story with bite!!

Top Notch! This is everything a short read should be....snappy (little joke!) grabbing the readers attention (another little joke!)but most importantly sheer enjoyment. You know the situation you're trying to bond with your step daughter and suggest to her mum that both of you travel to a log cabin in deepest Alaska where you can stare at the stars (Ursa Major) and get to know eachother over a few days. So there you are snowed in...it's below freezing....you are miles from any town...and big daddy!! Ursa Major comes calling..are you surprised :)" The Great Bear. A flash image of the big dipper zipped through his mind, and he felt the irony of loving seeing Ursa Major in the sky the other night. Now it seemed like that was a million years ago."

I read this short story in one sitting and loved every minute. That wily old bear has got our two heroes trapped in the cabin and he is quite prepared to wait it out as he has already enjoyed his horderves (I'll not disclose that little surprise)Will old Ursa be sitting down to his main couse? or will Dan and Nicole escape his evil claws....read and enjoy! Well done Mr Little not only is this a great concise and cautionary little tale (for the wise) but a brilliant and well executed (no pun intended) conclusion....:)

What could be greater praise for a book than to say that this is probably one of the finest novels ever available on the kindle and it’s thanks to darkfuse that Dark Father was published earlier this year....and what a cracking story it is.

There are three threads running; we have Jimmy Hopewell part time gangster and professional wife beater, one day Kate has had enough and escapes the the torture with her son Billy. Then there is Frank and the wife he loves Cindy with their adorable son Jake. In a medical facility/asylum lives Mack a deeply disturbed patient under the auspices of attending Physicians Doctor Kincaid and Doctor Faber. To delve deeper into the storyline would spoil the surprises that await the reader, all three stories have a thread that will become surprisingly clear as the novel concludes.

The novel in some ways is a mixture of crime and horror, Jimmy Hopewell’s lost (removed!) eye and his increasing ability to visualize the future adds a touch of humour to a somewhat monstrous character. “Jimmy stood there, his hair hanging across his brow, his face all but destroyed. His left eye was a black hole, rimmed with attenuated tissue and dried pulp. There was a large bruise down the left side of his face. His stubble was dark with blood.” However it is through Frank that we understand the real meaning of loss and what one sad demented individual will do to recapture the past. There is a wonderful sad and descriptive passage that illustrates the beautiful writing style of Mr Cooper and the deteriorating mind of Frank.....

“He swiped the brush across Cindy’s lips, creating the perfect smile, and then stood back to admire his work. He frowned; the effect hadn’t been adequately captured. He primed the brush with a fresh slug of paint, and then slapped it across her mouth again, even as Cindy was moaning, trying desperately to compress her lips. Frank took another step back and smiled, satisfied with his work, He repeated the whole procedure on the boy, taking more care this time, almost dabbing on the paint for fear of unnerving his darling Jakey, which would be inexcusable. He applied the emulsion with a kind of detached wonder, granting them both cosmetic smiles that stretched halfway around their face; not a disfiguring scar, but an extension of their elation. Unequivocal proof of their love.....He dipped the brush into the tin and drew an irregular line of red paint across his own mouth. “God, I love you” he said. His family sat across from him, unmoving, wearing smiles as wet and wide as a slashed throat.!

When I was 94% complete I still could not see how the author was going to complete this wonderful story and show the connection of the various threads to the reader...but I need not have worried in the hands of an expert the conclusion is crafted to perfection. If you enjoy dark fiction of the highest quality, with a touch of crime, a dash of humour and a great dollop of emotional heartbreak then I implore you to read this amazing story....I can’t recommend highly enough....so what are you waiting fo:))

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Maybe it's something to do with the fact that I am on hols and as a little surprise my wife decided to invite my mother in  law to stay...you know the scene :( Your favourite seat in front of the telly is now occupied by the MIL, your beers have all disappeared from the fridge ( or cooler if you are reading this over the pond :) and you MIL has a smile on her face, all the cycling that you hope to watch (La Vuelta) has been replaced by English soap...eastenders...coronation street...and then there's the x factor etc...god help us!! Of couse lets not forget feeding time (at the zoo) all your favourite food and the money in your pocket is fast disapearing...so what's a guy to do but disappear to a quiet spot with a novel that he can just step into...disappear into...become part of and just enjoy the story and the ride for the hell of it.

If you read an average book of approx 350 pages then it's so easy to dip in and out off,and return to later, pick up the pieces and finish in a reasonable time whilst remembering all the outstanding descriptions and storylines. However with a 900 page book you need to seriously think about putting aside some quality reading time, not just 50 pages but at least 200 pages in a sitting. If you do this then you are richly rewarded often with and outstanding story that you cannot help become involved with. I am pilgrim is acturally about a secret service agent, Pilgrim,  taken out of retirement to find on of the greatest mass terrorists that world has ever known "Saracen" It is Saracen's sole objective to destroy America by the development and release of a deadly virus with no cure. That esssentially is the storyline but due to the length of the novel the reader has time to get to know both terrorist and secret service agent thus producing one of the greatest intelligent reads/thriller in the last year. This book has movie written all over it...and if like me you find yourself with some downtime, or you find yourself with the MIL for company "At my signal unleash hell" then you could do worse than make the acquaintance of Pilgrim and watch as he journeys the world to stop the evil intentions of the evil Saracen...and perhaps then he could help me with the MIL :)

An Evil Mind by Chris Carter

I find Chris Carter one of the greatest thriller/crime writers of the modern age. He has produced in Robert Hunter a first class anti-hero, a detective working on the side of good but with a tragic past, which is revealed as this story progresses.

An unexpected accident causes, a shocking find is made in the boot of a car, and a suspect is immediately detained. Lucien Folter will talk to no one but Hunter, they have a past, and when Detective Hunter arrives a grizzly tale of horrific proportions unfolds with Folter at the centre. This is absolutely spellbinding storytelling and a story that gave new meaning to the word depravity.....I could not put it down and finished in two days...it is that good. The players at the centre are Hunter and Folter, good v evil, but who is leading who? and will the body count ever stop. Hunter is helped in his odyssey by the charismatic and beautiful Detective Taylor and as we race towards a bloody conclusion, in the search for the one hostage who might still be alive, Carter does not cease to surprise and manipulate the reader as once again he proves how his training as a criminal psychologist has helped make him an outstanding author.

Linwood Barclay A Tap on the Window

Don't get me wrong I quite like Linwood Barclay and what he does he does well...ie he looks at an ordinary man's everyday life..yes the sort of life you and I lead and everyday situations and from that shows how one simple mistake or incident can make a life unfold and all the cards come tumbling down....Take A Tap on the Window, Cal Weaver is on his way home and stops to give a lift to a young bedraggled teenage girl...yes you've got it an older man giving a lift to a young girl late at night...what could possibly goes wrong! Well naturally as this is a best seller the girl disappears and you don't have to look very far to find the no 1 suspect...yes Cal your head was right you should not have stopped to give that young girl a lift.

What follows is a story of lies/suspicion/guilt/intrigue done in the very Linwood Barclay way and guaranteed to keep the reader reading and the pages turning...and to an extent it works. The problem with reading lots of Linwood Barclay is that they all follow a similar storyline...ie a simple incident leads to lives unravelling...and so dare I say the word "formulaic" springs to mind.

In essence this is an ok read with some well written good moments take this example...At the start we quickly learn that Cal's son Scott died tragically and recent and Cal travels to the place of his death where he contemplates and tries once again to come to terms with his son's death..."As I always did, I surveyed the scene. Starting at the handicapped spot, rising past the four rows of windows, stopping at the roofline....How long would it have taken? Two seconds? Three? I saw his body falling, plummeting, hitting the pavement. Three seconds seemed about right. Certainly no more than that. What was he thinking on the way down? Was he terrified? Did he realize, once he'd gone off the edge, what he'd actually done? In those two or three seconds, had he wondered whether there was anything he could do so save himself?

So not the best Linwood Barclay (did however love Trust Your Eves) and it's always best to return to an author rather than consume all his writings in one long reading marathon session!

Another cracker from Mr Billingham!

Lets get one thing straight here...I think DI Thorne is a real "prick" of a man. He is self centred, egotistical ,driven,and treats female company in the most despicable manner. Louise his latest partner is ignored by him, he is always working and likes to avoid conversation and her compnay preferring to drink with his mates and refusing to recognize that it is him and him alone that is the constant cause of his relationship breakups. In this latest romp he has the company of a young lady called Anna Carpenter and he actually believes that he could have a relationship with her, that she really likes this super cool egotistical cop this real man old enough to be her father!...well DI Thorne get your act together and recognize that you have faults...lots of them...and if not sorted soon you will be left a sad old man....there I've got that off my chest and it is undoubtly down to the writing talents of Mark Billingham that I can feel such a strong hate for Tom Thorne. This is a first class detective story that starts with the gruesome recalling of an old case that DI Thorne thought was "buried" in the past. There are lots of surprises and a great action story that takes place in both the UK and Spain but the real star is the characterization of DI Tom Thorne this flawed copper with the bloodhound ability to find his man...leaving misery and destruction in his path! Great stuff.....look forward to the next outing!

No Country for old men...sheer brilliance!

This book was a surprise and a revelation to me in its unexpected brilliance! It was a Saturday morning here in downtown Bristol UK and as was my want I was visiting the local library and browsing the books they were trying to sell...clear the shelves of the used paperbacks making way for the new...when perchance I happened upon No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I offered the librarian one English pound and she gave me change...lots of change...”we just want rid of these old books she said” I returned home happy and content with my purchase, I had seen the movie and hoped the novel would be a good read....I was not disappointed.....This book is a deep dark noir of greed, corruption and the evil that men do. Llewlyn Moss discovers a large amount of money, the result of a drug deal gone wrong, and he selfishly decides that whatever happens...whatever the consequences he will keep this money and make a better life for both him and his girlfriend Carla cause that’s what he believed he could do. “You live to be a hundred, he said, and there wont be another day like this one” Moss however had not reckoned with the intervention of one of the greatest hired assassins in the history of storytelling; Anton Chigurh played brilliantly in the Coen Brothers excellent movie by Javier Bardem

However underneath this story, the real underbelly, and the message that McCarthy is trying to instill into the reader is the moral degradation of the American west. Sheriff Ed Bell is the lawman charged with making sense of all the killings and he together with his uncle Ellis lament the increasing violence in the region and the disrespect of a younger generation against those who fought and died for American values. “These old people I talk to if you could of told em that there would be people on the streets of our Texas towns with green hair and bones in their noses speakin a language they couldn’t even understand, well, they just flat out wouldn’t of believed you.”

It is the southern Texas language of this wonderful book that really shines through and gives such authenticity to the writing. As Moss is trying to evade his would be killer he gives a ride to a hitchhiker and over lunch...”She ate. She looked around. Can I get some coffee ? she said You can get anything you want. You got money. She looked at him. I guess I aint sure what the point is, she said. The point is there aint no point. No, I mean what you said. About knowin where you are. He looked at her. After a while he said: It’s not about knowin where you are. It’s about thinkin you got there without takin anything with you. Your notions about startin over. Or anybody’s. You don’t start over. That’s what it’s about. Ever step you take is forever. You cant make it go away. None of it. You understand what I’m sayin? .....I think so...I know you don’t but let me try it one more time. You think when you wake up in the morning yesterday don’t count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? You life is made out of the days it’s made out of. Nothin else. You might think you could run away and change your name and I don’t know what all. Start over. And then one morning you wake up and look at the ceiling and guess who’s layin there?

There are some wonderful conversations that occurred between Bell and his Uncle Ellis that add such a poignant realism to the story. “What’s your biggest regret in life. The old man looked at him, gauging the question. I don’t know he said. I aint got all that many regrets. I could imagine lots of things you might think would make a man happier. I reckon being able to walk around might be one. You can make up your own list. You might even have one. I thing by the time you’re grown you’re as happy as you’re goin to be. You’ll have good times and bad times, but in the end you’ll be about as happy as you was before. Or as unhappy. I’ve knowed people that just never did get the hang of it”

If I was to tell you that I read this book in one sitting then you may come some way to understand both it’s importance and literary content...with just a little dark noir humour thrown in....

“We got another execution here Sherriff? No, I believe this one’s died of natural causes....Natural causes? Natural to the line of work he’s in.

“I’m like you. I aint sure we’ve seen these people before. Their kind. I don’t know what to do about em even. If you killed em all they’d have to build a annex on to hell”.....

A wonderful story by a literary genius that deserves to be read by all...and then read again!

Brilliant writing from a brilliant author

Ten minutes ago I killed three of my neighbors...Four, if you count the baby. What a start! to a fantastic rollercoaster of a ride the leaves the reader breathless right to the last page. Andy Holland is a horror writer (and we love horror writers!) living single at home from his estranged wife Karen (who he found in an uncompromising position with her boss!) and daughter Samantha. Andy is carrying a lot of heartache there’s just him now, and his good old buddy his faithful dog Norman and one day whilst the faithful pair are out walking they make the horrific discovery of the naked body of a dead child and thereafter things are never the same...”Truth be told, I knew exactly what was bothering Norman. Ever since that fateful morning, I could tell my dog had not been the same. It wasn’t anything I could put a finger on, really, other than a slight tension in the retriever’s haunches, a cautious twitch of his ears every few minutes. Yet I knew he sensed the wrongness that had festered within our neighbourhood these last few days. An ominous feeling lingered on every breeze, like the ozone scent of a storm looming just seconds away. The air around us crackled with a strange, electric quiet. Gone were the low, rattling drone of skateboard wheels atop asphalt and the ticking of playing cards in bicycle spokes and the carefree laughter of children which normally echoed up and down our block......”

This is a delicious story that starts of slow with the horror and the reality of Andy’s situation building to a bloody crescendo and in the end Andy discovers that the good life he thought he had was in reality a myth and those he hoped he could trust disappeared and turned against 
him. 
There were three great characters of note Ronnie “Round Man” Miller proprietor of the 7^th Avenue Stop-N-Shop and two of Andy’s neighbours: Mona Purfield “an obese senior citizen who dyed her hair the brightest orange I have ever seen. When the sun hit it just right, her head looked like it was on fire. She always wore three or four times more make-up than necessary for a woman her age, dressed in flowery muumuus and neon pink flip-flops wherever she went, and spoke in the most nasally, obnoxious voice you can imagine” and Ben Souther who always had a handy quote whenever and wherever he needed it. “Everyone is a moon” Ben Souther said, “and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”So will the killer be discovered?, will Andy ever have the good life again? And will he still be loved and revered by the good people of Poinsettia Lane? Dear readers you are in for a wonderful treat James Newman is one of the greatest living exponents of the the horror genre and this novel is truly brilliant...so read..and enjoy and be thankful for the support and love of good neighbours J

77 Days in September

The kindle...ah the good old kindle all those authors self publishing and hoping to be the next Stephen King...if only...in your dreams Mr Gorham and all those 5 star reviews where have they all come from? If the author had been at school and written this tedious ponderous story his teacher would probably have said....could do better..so what do we have here? There has been an electro magnetic incident and all communication/electrical systems no longer operate and this includes everything from the humble toaster to the micro chip. Nothing functions and our hero Kyle is on a flight home to Montana when the EMT incident occurs resulting in the plane crashing on take off. Our hero, for that he must surely be, decides to walk home to Montana pushing his little cart a mere 1500+ miles to see the beautiful and dutiful Jennifer and his 3 doting kids. In the process he will encounter some not so savoury people and will be tempted by the luscious Rose..eager to bed the first man who appears on the horizon but our hero Kyle although tempted remains faithful to be beautiful Jennifer and continues on his way (writing a touching diary to his loved one in the process...just in case he does not make it) Meanwhile in the good old homestead of Montana Jennifer keeps the fires burning and fights of the advances of a rather sex starved sheriff called Doug...will she succeed? will our hero make it home? and will the world return to normality?...who knows and frankly who cares! What an utterly boring piece of writing, by someone who I presume had read The Road and thought he could write a similar masterpiece!! Well no Mr Gorman this is average in the extreme and possibly you should keep to your day job, I will certainly not be reading any of your future kindle publications and for all those who awarded 5 stars I can only presume you are either friends or family or have a limited reading taste........

When We Fall by Peter Giglio

And so finally after some poor offerings from DarkFuse publishing I read a short novella that is simple slick and brilliant. Ben is in the process of making the short but painful journey from boy to man where those care free days of childhood are left behind and the harsh world of the adult with all the accompanying pain makes itself known. Two of his childhood friends have been tragically killed and he must seek solace in the company of Aubrey who has a dreadful secret that she will not disclose...dear reader...until the end of the story. You will not see or understand what is happening until it is too late, and by then Ben's pain and suffering will continue as he learns to accept what fate has in store for him and how decisions that we take and our taken has a great influence on the direction of our lives.

Severed by Gary Fry

The idea behind this short novella is that the human..yes you and I have two sides to our personality, an emotional side and a moral side. What stops us being out and out bastards! is our moral conscience and if we did not have this conscience then there would be no inner body policeman and all hell would be let loose..." The fundamental division in human life was not between body and soul, but between an emotional and a moral being. And it was the way one governed the other that served as the principal determinant of behavior." Severed is the spreading of a virus amongst the populace that allows our moral side to drift skyward as what could best be described as an organic white cloud, leaving our emotional side as a zombie full of hate and loathing. Can Professor Stephen Hobbs, a man with an almost schizophrenia personality disorder, save the day. Apart from the initial idea this did not really work for me and I found both the writing style of the author and his execution of the storyline somewhat tedious and made this a difficult read to finish.

Westlake Soul, emotional writing of the highest order

Westlake Soul dwells in a permanent vegetable state following a surfing accident and he is now lives (if you can call it living) back home with his family. Although he cannot communicate, through his mind and his thoughts we travel with Westlake as he spends what remaining time he has in the presence of those he loves and who in turn love him....there are so many poignant moments in what undoubtedly is a memoir of a young man who constantly asks....what if? Nadia, the girl he was with, on that fateful morning cannot bear the pain and suffering and so there is one final visit....

" Those two words again: if only. She put her ipod and headphones back into her beach bag and stood up. The soles of her sneakers squeaked on the floor as she walked toward the door. One final look over her shoulder, the last wedge of snow sliding from her roof. I lay among my tubes and lines like a torn parachute. My cardiac monitor chirped. The door closed softly behind her." The family decision is taken to stop intravenously feeding Weslake and to grant him release from this living death, and so they gather around his bed in one final show of strength and love...

"This is going to be a night with Westlake," Dad said, parking my chair in the middle of the room before taking a seat next to Mom. They clasped each other's hands and that was nice to see. "A night for Westlake. We don't know how long we're going to have-" And here he stopped and his face stiffened and Mom rubbed his back. "We don't know how long Westlake has got, so we're doing this tonight, as a family, united in our love for him, and with a wish that our beautiful son and brother finds everything he wants in the next life."

There is a location at the midway point where Westlake uses the analogy of a plane crash to describe the situation he finds himself in…..

“ It wasn’t this fabricated news scene, or the thought of the crash itself- of dying- that unsettled me…but rather the thought of the time it would take for the plane to slam down to earth. Three minutes- or however long- of knowing you are about to die, of hearing the screams of the people around you, complete strangers, who know the same. A different timbre of scream. Harrowing. Pushed out on the final breaths. That’s what unsettled me. The time. And that’s what I’m experiencing now. My plane has lost all four engines and I’m nosediving toward my doom. I used to think that three minutes was a terrifying long time to know that you’re about to die, but it’s nothing – positively heaven- compared to one whole week. Or two”……..

Amidst all this pain there are some lighter moments of humour…Yvette is Westake’s permanent help/nurse and quite often displays bruises from yet another impromptu beating from her boyfriend Wayne. “I’ve told you very little about Wayne, but I’m willing to bet you’ve a fairly accurate picture of him in you head. The kind of guy who has Kimbo Slice wallpaper on his cell phone, and who thinks The Expendables should have won ten Academy Awards.”….

I truly love this story it is a story of sadness, a story about human nature and the bonds of family and love, and a story that ultimately can only have one ending…..but travel with us, travel with Westlake as he rides the big wave and sets out to meet his destiny and embrace his maker….

Dark and twisted tale from Kealan Patrick Burke

Kealan Patrick Burke has that rare ability only few good authors have and that is the ability to shock and surprise an unexpected reader. Jack and Jill is not an easy read and the complete antithesis of the rather bland and simple title. Gillian has been abused as a child by her father and this story is her quest for answers and salvation....to this end she decides to visit her father in the hope that by facing that which has gone before she may find some peace in her present life with her husband Chris and her children Jenny and Sam. The writing and the tension when the father and daughter meet is unbearable and for me KPB has described better than any author I know, the hatred and indeed twisted love that still exists, and the open wounds that will never heal. If this was not enough there are some shocking revelations...."He touches me, Mummy" and with those four words Gillian's nightmare has returned. When husband Chris seeks forgiveness "I've done something I'm not proud of, honey" the readers is taken on a last roller coaster ride to a conclusion that is brutal and sudden in its execution. This is brilliant writing from a true master of his art, a dark and twisted tale that will leave you breathless for more.

Thor by Wayne Smith

Thor"oughly enjoyed this wonderful tale that takes place through the eyes of Thor the family Alsatian. It is warm, tender and at times will make you smile with a story that can be read by child or adult alike. Thor is the family protector and he looks after mum, dad, Teddy, Brett and Debbie until one day this peaceful existence is shattered when Uncle Ted comes to live with them. Ted is recovering from a personal tragedy and he has a secret that will test the strength and will of Thor to the limit. The story is told with such warmth and indeed humour as the mysteries of the world and everyday occurrences are described through the eyes of Thor...."When Thor was young, the phone had been a bottomless source of mystery. Of all the strange things the Pack did, talking to the phone was the strangest. Sometimes the phone chirped, and they went for it like it was the last piece of meat in the world. Sometimes they picked it up unbidden, poked it a few times and waited. In any case they talked and listened to it as if it were another person"

There is a lovely scene of the family on the way to the seaside for a fun packed day and Thor resting his head on the car window "More important things occupied this mind, like the thrill of hanging his head out of the window at sixty miles an hour, and the distant smell of brine that was already finding it's way to his nostrils and making him squirm in anticipation". But horror lies underneath this warmth and soon Thor will be called upon to protect the family when an unspeakable evil comes to visit..."It was utterly mad. Their eyes met, and Thor froze. The Thing's eyes were neither canine nor human, but resembled both. It looked straight into Thor's eyes, and Thor looked back as he would never do as a human. It's eyes seemed to beckon to Thor. They bore an invitation to join the Bad Thing in its wildness, in its freedom, in its madness. To enjoy the taste of blood and the smell of death, to revel in the power each of them possessed in such abundance - the power to kill"

To me this story shows the very close and loving relationship between man, and dog and what both will do to protect and secure that love..it's wonderful in its simplicity and brilliant in its execution. I would however once again ask those responsible for the kindle edition to pay more attention to "grammar"...."Thor lay of the floor a few feet from the table"...should surely read "Thor lay on the floor a few feet from the table".....or..."The best way protect the Pack" should read "The best way to protect the Pack" Why let simple grammatical errors ruin an otherwise wonderful story.

Silent Voices by Gary McMahon stunning study of horror and decay...

At the heart of Gary McMahon's second outing to The Grove is the stinking underbelly of working class citizens etching out a living in the harsh and unforgiving landscape commonly known as The Concrete Grove. We meet again Simon Ridley, Brendan Cole and Marty Rivers who have never been able to escape an incident that occurred some 20 years ago and in this forced reunion they hope to do the business and rectify that which has gone before. What the author achieves here is creating a picture of the harsh realities and life style of those who have nothing and have no hope of ever having anything, and the premise that we are moulded by our childhood we can never escape from that and it makes us the person we have become today. Our 3 heroes have battled to achieve some meaning in their lives with limited success and as we learn they share a common bond of brutal upbringings....

"But it was too late for Marty to do anything but continue his assault. He kept punching, his fists aching, his fingers crunching, and could do nothing but wait until his terrible rage was spent. Anger drove him on, fueling his body and inuring it to the pain in his hands. He was once again the child whose father had beaten him for no other reason that to toughen him up, who grew into a teenager who burnt and lacerated his own body so that nobody would ever cause him pain or beat him in a stand-up fight."....and later "It's not so much that his father hits him, but more about the way the bastard treats Marty's mother. He knows that his father beats her at least once every two weeks - sometimes more often, if he's been drinking a lot. He rarely leaves marks, but there was that time last summer when they had to tell everyone that his mother had fallen down the stairs. She had two black eyes and her top lip was split and swollen. The skin around her jaw was red and tender to the touch."

"A hundred yards along Grove Crescent was the Arcade. The row of shops had always been here, ever since Simon could remember. The retail outlets renting the premises had changed, of course, but these were minor adaptions to the demands of the economy rather than any kind of improvement in consumer choice. The people round here did not want quality goods they wanted cheap and cheerful products that would do for the time being. These days, the shops were tenanted by a DVD rental outlet, a pizza and kebab takeaway service, Grove Grub (which was the only constant factor in the Arcade, having been there since Simon was a boy), a flower shop, a betting shop, a butchers-and-grocers, a small hardware store, a hairdressers with a solarium place in the flat above, and a grimy newsagent with faded advertisement for chocolate bars and comics in the chicken-wire-covered windows. More local kids in sports apparel hung around on the steps outside, mums stood smoking and chatting over prams, shady-looking men ducked in and out of the betting shop doorway, clutching or dropping onto the pavement creased slips of paper."

These are very powerful descriptive passages that add substance to "Silent Voices" and blend beautifully with the drabness and living hell of life in The Grove itself and the horror contained therein. The story leads us effortlessly through the present lives of Simon, Brendon, and Marty as they prepare to meet their nemesis for a final and frightening confrontation at the centre of The Grove.....The Needle..."The boys cross the road, walk along Grove Street and step into the Roundpath, the narrow walk-around circling the Needle.  The large building hovers above them, as if cast adrift from its concrete foundations. It seems to totter and sway and as they approach the place they feel a sense of dislocation, as if they have ruptured something, broken through an invisible wall....."

I began to wonder could Gary McMahon maintain this frightening pace, this unputdownable read, until the end..... until the last page.....I need not have worried, in the hands of a professional author anything can happen and most surely will. All I will say is that the ending when it occurs is totally unexpected and clever in it's execution, leaving the way open nicely for the final installment of this wonderful trilogy. Highly Recommended.

Janus Legacy medical thriller with ethical overtones!

This book surprised me, having read The Genesis Code and thoroughly enjoyed I expected to find similar satisfaction in this latest offering from Lisa von Biela. It's not a bad book but the subject matter ( the illegal harvesting/use of human parts) has been done much better in the past. Two good examples being the somewhat dated Coma by Robin Cook and the more recent Harvest by Tess Gerritsen. The storyline in The Janus Legacy is different from these two predecessors but the central issue of transplant and the associated ethics remains. The story revolves around Jeremy Magnusson, crohn's disease sufferer, and the vast wealth he inherits from his father Ivan on his unexpected death. However as part of his inheritance Jeremy must endeavor to continue with his father's experiments into this dreaded disease even though he may dispute the methods used, and perhaps by continuing his fathers work he may find a cure. Although Jeremy has my sympathy most of the supporting characters were bland and tedious in the extreme: his ex partner Amanda decides to leave the pompous Rick and return to Jeremy, Tim ( very dim!) and Glen ( self absorbed egotist) two supporting surgeons at the SomaGene institute and the rather pathetic figure of "The Subject" who drifted somewhere between a human existence and the great beyond....This book would probably have worked much better as a novella as I found myself wishing for the end to happen and Jeremy's fate, whatever that may be to please happen soon....before I drifted off to sleep zzzzzz....

Fun but in no way outstanding.....

This was a fun read, not an outstanding read, and certainly a happening that was more suited to "novella" than story. Charlie and her baby Hayley have been car kidnapped by the somewhat deranged Simone. So we travel with them on a short journey and nervously await what outcome Simone has in store for the unfortunate two. There is a incident just after the midway point that I question just where the author was going.....A state trooper stops the car and perhaps this is the chance that Charlie has been waiting for?..just before the state trooper leaves the following happens..." The baby uttered a few fussy cries and Charlie, through  sense of maternal instinct, scooped the baby out of Simone's arms to soothe her. Simone caught off guard, relinquished the baby with a small gape of the mouth and a half word that might have been "hey"....Instantly, she felt a surge of relief that Haley was safely away from traffic. She felt fairly certain that Simone wouldn't do anything to create a scene or arouse suspicion. For that moment, she and the baby were safe.".......So why did she not alert the polieman? He was closeby and Simone would never shoot them in front of the state trooper? This was the ideal moment to escape...this was the opportunity and Simone for the present had the gun hidden in her pocket. Yes it was not a perfect situation but the best that Charlie could hope for. Instead the threesome continue their journey and a more unlikely ending (in my opinion) occurs. I am sure that the author has her reasons for introducing this "escape route" and then refusing to acknowledge and use it? As I said at the start of this short review...a fun read but in no way outstanding.

Magnificent Midnight Rain by James Newman

Where do I begin to talk about a book that I thought was magnificent and that brought with it such colourful and personal memories of childhood. For a short time I rode with Kyle Mackey on this trusty bike "Burner" (mum and dad would not allow him a dog) and I felt his pain as the world of a young 12 year old boy collapsed and all his dearest and trusted friends betrayed him...where does a young mind go when trust and truth no longer exist?
One day in August of 77 Kyle Mackey witnessed an event that changed his life forever, the murder of Cassie Rourke and how was he to respond when the perpetrator of that murder was non other than the respected Sheriff Burt Baker. "Later, as I lay in the darkness not daring to close my eyes, I heard the high-pitched warble of a police siren peaking and fading somewhere across town. I wondered if it was him. Out there, doing his thing, roaming my town under the guise of upholding the law.

Kyle's brother Dan has gone to university, his mum drinks to forget the sad death of his father and the only person Kyle feels happy to confide in is deputy Sheriff Mike Linder "Linder was a big man but he possessed one of the kindest, gentlest faces I ever saw. His bright blue eyes seemed to sparkle with kindness.....That was the thing I like most about Mike Linder. He always spoke to me as if I were his equal, not just another dumb kid." However very soon as the story takes a shocking twist, Kyle finds himself adrift with no where to turn and no one to help in his quest for justice and as we ride with him on the back of "Burner" through the streets of Midnight we hold our breath in hope and anticipation that the murderer will be brought to account for his wicked deed.

I think for a "coming of age" story to be successful the tone of the book and the believability of the lead character must be beyond reproach. I totally believed in Kyle, I wept with him when events and situations seemed to be spiraling out of control, and I rode with him as he raced around town in his attempt to enlist support and uncover the evidence that would see Burt Baker entrapped and strangled by his own lies. This book is  a great achievement by the author James Newman. He has succeeded in writing a story of the highest quality, a story that will overwhelm you, a story that will make you smile, and a conclusion that will encourage you to applaud the resilience of young Kyle Mackey resident of Midnight North Carolina......

Ugly as sin by James Newman

There is a point towards the end of this great story, an occurrence in the narrative which totally amazed me and I can honestly say I had no idea this would happen...until it happened....and if I was to make this known to you dear reader then the surprise and everything that went before would be meaningless......Nick Bullman aka "The Widowmaker" is on a mission of redemption, a quest to discover maybe something deep within himself and in the process make amends to his daughter Melissa for all the long years of neglect and hardship that his non involvement inflicted upon her. In the process Nick discovers that he has a granddaughter Sophie and this big bull of a man must now use all his resources and cunning to rescue her from the hand of kidnappers. Nick bears the scars of a brutal attack and his face has been destroyed in the process, he will never work as "The Widowmaker" again and the discovery of his daughter and hopefully the reunification with his granddaughter will now finally give him some form of peace. This is a superb story part crime part noir with a wonderful list of characters including Mellisa's estranged (now dead) partner Eddie Whiteside, the evil "Daddy", and Leon, The Widowmaker's greatest fan, and newly acquired partner...."Suddenly, Leon erupted with a shrill noise that was part lunatic giggle, part whooping redneck cheer. "Pinch me. cause I gotta be dreamin. The Widowmaker is sitting in my kitchen!".....Nick said "you know those days are long gone, right? I'm not the Widowmaker anymore." "You'll always be Maker to me, man. The greatest grappler who ever lived!"  Mr Newman has produced a well written novel with an unusual hero in the form of  Nick Bullman and in the final scenes when confronted with his daughters kidnappers the Widowmaker expertly concludes and brings together the themes of the story when he states..."You people are the monsters here," said Nick. "You're the ugly ones.".....

Cradle Lake by Ronald Malfi

At the heart of this excellent story is a dilemma. The great spiritual one bequeathed and entrusted to us the world as we know it, and invited us to treat with respect and not to destroy this wonderful gift. The greed and distructful nature of man is forever present and proceeds to demolish that which was given in trust.

Alan Hammerstun and his wife Heather have moved from downtown Manhattan to a quiet suburb in the state of Carolina. Heather has recently suffered two horrific miscarriages, is clinically depressed, and has attempted to end her own life on two occasions. Alan, deeply in love with his wife, is hopeful that this new start will rejuvenate their relationship. What follows is a deeply moving, thought provoking story that invokes elements of horror, spiritualism, and human greed creating a tight and compulsive read challenging the readers intelligence from the opening scenes.

There is a wonderful list of characters; Hank Gerski, Don Probst and Gary Jones neighbours with a secret to keep aided and abetted by the somewhat unlikeable Sheriff Hearn Landry. In addition there is the murderous intentions of Owen Moreland and the spiritualistic presence of "George Young Calf Ribs" At the centre of this unfolding drama is Cradle Lake...cold and inviting, invigorating yet destructive in the extreme...."You have no concept of what the lake is capable of. There's a power here, a certain strength. And it's not just in the lake but in the land itself. All around us"

Hank Gerski warns Alan of the dangers of Cradle Lake explaining that the healing process of the water contains evil intentions and is best left alone. An incident happens when young Cory Morris is in a serious collision with a car and rather than request the assistance of an ambulance Cory is lifted and carried to Cradle Lake. where he is miraculously healed. All the residents wish to keep the rest of the world ignorant of the Lake's healing powers but Alan realizes there is a way that he can use the power of Cradle Lake to strengthen his resolve and more importantly bring back life to his beautiful Heather....but a price will have to be paid.

Owen Moreland butchered his wife Sophie  "put the barrel of a pump-action Winchester to the center of Sophie's forehead and spread her brains along the front hallway of their home" before inserting a toe in his shotgun and very efficiently ending his own life. On visiting the scene of this atrocity Alan sees the words "Devil's Stone" painted on the walls and his curiosity into the origin of these words leads him on a journey where he meets the spiritual "George Young Calf Ribs" and begins to discover and understand the true meaning and horror of Cradle Lake and now appreciates the impact this will have on his life unless he adheres to and obeys the advice and warnings from "George Young Calf Ribs"...."It has become a bad place. His tone was simple, matter-of-fact. It no longer hides and offers rejuvenation to those worthy enough to find it. Now it calls to whoever is careless enough to seek it out. That is its revenge on the ones who have soured its waters and poisoned its land"...."Leave that house immediately" he told him. "Burn it to the ground so no one else can live there after you. Do it before it's too late."

This is not a happy book but a thoughtful, sad and intelligent read of one mans journey to find some closure and redemption and to put an end to the sadness that permeates his life. It is amazingly poetic in it's language and visionary in the story that it tells. It is a book that should be read by all, an astounding achievement by Ronald Malfi it comes from me to you with the highest recommendation.