Review – Darkness on the Edge of Town – Brian Keene
Title: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Author: Brian Keene
Publisher: Leisure Books
Copyright: 2010
Summary:
One morning Robbie and his girlfriend Christy, two potheads heading nowhere in life, wake to discover the town they live in–Walden, VA–has been plunged into darkness. There is no sun or power. Cell phones don’t work. Radio stations are silent–not even static. There is no water, cable, internet, etc. It seems the entire world has been devoured by the living darkness–all but Walden. As society breaks down, Robbie, Christy, and their friends try to deal with the hungry darkness.
Pros:
Brian Keene is a good storyteller. The narrator (Robbie) has a strong voice. The novel (once it picks up *see below*) is a quick, fun read.
Cons:
The novel starts very slowly. I think Keene relied heavily on the narrator’s voice to carry readers into the story. Although the darkness is ever present, it seems to take a while to get to the “horror.” I don’t mind a slow-developing tale, as long as there is some suspense or something happening. The beginning of this lacked the suspense and action I am accustomed to with BK novels.
Could go either way:
It is written in first person (as a diary). While this point of view allows us to get close to the narrator, it keeps us from knowing other characters in any way other than how the narrator perceives them.
Additional notes:
This wasn’t Keene’s strongest work, but it was still enjoyable. In general, I consider Brian Keene a reliable source for horror. Had this been written by someone I hadn’t read before, I may have put it down after the first few chapters. As it stands, I am glad I stuck with it.
In some respects, this reminded me of Lord of the Flies. I don’t know if it was intentional, but one can certainly find a social commentary of the nature of man in his unrefined form in this novel. As society quickly breaks down, we witness the devolution of man back into an animal-like state. It also reminded me of a couple of other works, including a Twilight Zone episode where a town or street is cut off from the rest of the world and the people become paranoid and violent.
Rating: 3 out of 4 haints
Review – Monstrosity – Edward Lee
Title: Monstrosity
Author: Edward Lee
Publisher: Leisure Books
Copyright: 2003
Summary:
After being raped by her CO’s son and dishonorably discharged from the Air Force, Clare Prentiss ends up homeless for more than a year. Then someone handpicks her for the job of the century. She’s made head of security at a cancer research company in Florida, where she gets a great salary, company car, and a house on the beach. Naturally, nothing this good comes without a hitch. Almost as soon as she gets there, creepy things start happening. A crackhead is found raped and brutalized in the surrounding woods. Clare learns the entire security team (three people) mysteriously vanished–opening the job for her.
Pros:
Edward Lee is a great story teller. He manages to keep the suspense up through the entire novel. There is a second story running concurrent with the first. I admit I kept wondering how Lee was going to connect the too. I was surprised. I’ll also say I was surprised by some of the twists Lee threw in.
Cons:
While the ending surprised me, it came more like an “info dump” than an illumination to me as the reader. In that respect, I was a little disappointed. It felt a bit like Lee was getting near the 90,000-word mark and said, “Well, I better wrap this up.”
Could go either way:
This was not Edward Lee’s best work. For those looking for “erotic horror” like Lee’s “Flesh Gothic,” this will
disappoint. This book was good, but not great. Overall, I’m glad I read it. It was worth the money and time invested.
Rating: 3 out of 4 haints
Review – The Reach – Nate Kenyon
Title: The Reach
Author: Nate Kenyon
Publisher: Leisure Books
Copyright: 2009
Summary:
Jess Chambers, a graduate Psychology student, is approached by a professor she admires to help on a strange case involving a ten-year-old girl, Sarah. For the past eight years, Sarah has been in a mental institution, diagnosed as schizophrenic. The professor hopes Jess can visit the girl and connect with her. The more time Jess spends with Sarah, the more she is convinced the girl has been misdiagnosed. But there’s more to this little girl than meets the eye. Strange, paranormal activity seems to follow the child. In fact, that’s the reason she became a ward of the state. Sarah’s grandparents were convinced she was the antichrist. What Jess doesn’t know going into this is that a pharmaceutical company, Helix, is performing experiments on Sarah. And Helix will do whatever they have to in order to protect their investments.
Pros:
I absolutely loved this book. In the past year, I’ve read at least a dozen novels in the horror genre and many outside. This is, by far, the best novel I’ve read in a long time. Kenyon has a great ear for dialogue and a fantastic way of bringing characters to life. Also, a large smattering of technical terms lends to the credibility of this story. The pace was perfect, the prose wonderful, and the plot great. It was definitely worth the money I spent on the book and the time I invested reading it.
Cons:
There was only one thing I did not like in this book. Often times, Kenyon flopped from past to present tense when describing locations. This was usually a paragraph or two at the beginning of a chapter. I suspect this was done as a technical device to give immediacy to the start of the chapter that it would feel it lacked in the past tense. Since I am not a fan of present tense writing, it sucked me out of the story and I found myself changing it to the past tense to enjoy it better. That, though, really is a minor issue.
Could go either way:
This was not a problem for me because the suspense and plot were there, but this is not a scare-your-socks-off book. It never pretends to be, either. For the most part, the horror is subtle. Those who like their horror served with lots of sex, violence, and blood will not find it here. I would still encourage those people to pick up this novel and give it a read.
Rating: 4 out of 4 haints
Review – Soultaker – Bryan Smith
Title: Soultaker
Author: Bryan Smith
Publisher: Leisure Books
Copyright: 2009
Summary:
Jake McAllister, an AA member author of horror fiction, returns to his hometown of Rockville to try to help his younger brother, Trey. It seems Trey’s new girlfriend, Myra, is a bad influence. What Jake doesn’t know is that she is evil incarnate. Myra has the men of town acting as her slaves while the women worship her–literally. There’s death and gore everywhere when Myra’s evil plan starts coming together.
Pros:
This is a good story. Bryan Smith revived an old mythology and modernized it. The prose is good and the characters are believable. It was definitely worth the money I spent on the book and the time I invested reading it.
Cons:
I don’t have any cons to mention. All I can say is, while it was a good book, it was not a great book. Unfortunately, I cannot express what makes the difference. If I were friends with Mr. Smith and he asked my opinion, I don’t know that I would have any constructive commentary other than the epilogue was a tad predictable.
Rating: 3 out of 4 haints
Review – They Hunger – Scott Nicholson
Title: They Hunger
Author: Scott Nicholson
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Copyright: 2007
Summary:
An FBI duo, an abortion clinic bomber (Ace Goodal) and his companion, and six white water rafters are in the Appalachian Mountains along the Unegama River. An explosion unearths some monsters that come after the different groups.
Pros:
Scott Nicholson is definitely a talented writer. This is the first book I’ve read of his, but he is a true word-smith most of the time, with some great prose. I enjoyed many of his metaphors, similes, and descriptions.
Cons:
Despite how well Nicholson cobbled the sentences together, I couldn’t get into the novel. Let me rephrase that. The first two hundred and something pages were an extremely slow read. For me, the book didn’t start to get interesting until I was about 2/3 of the way through it.
Most of the characters were unidimensional. Take Ace Goodal for example. I have never seen a character quite like him. He is an anti-abortionist, racist, woman-beating, rapist, murderous, religious zealot without a single redeeming quality. In some respects, as I read the novel and scenes with Ace in them, I kept thinking NOW or Atheists-&-Abortionists-R-Us created the character for a propaganda poster.
Beyond that, there wasn’t much of a character arc for the people. I’m a fan of stories and believe novels should have plot and character arcs. Only one character–Ace’s abused companion–has any type of growth or change. Everyone else remains a cardboard cut out.
Along those lines, there were a couple of things that simply didn’t make sense for the characters. The one that comes to mind is a woman who is interested in one character (even sleeps with him) and apparently detests another. Before long, she’s screwing the man she can’t stand without any explanation of how they ended up humping.
And there were a couple of other things that didn’t make sense near the end. I actually went back and reread a chapter because I thought I missed something.
Could go either way:
This was something that bothered me, but it may not bug others as much. I felt cheated by a couple of Nicholson’s descriptions. His constant repeating of the phrase (or something similar to) “it was the monster under the bed” when in one character’s point-of-view, became annoying. I found myself setting the book down and mumbling (I actually did this) “I get it. It was the monster under the bed.” The same holds true for another description about “the thing in her belly” (or something like that referring to Ace’s pregnant girlfriend). I began to wonder if the publisher had asked Nicholson to add a few words to lengthen the novel.
SPOILER:
I’m not sure how much of a spoiler this is, but the creatures released from underground are supposed to be vampires. Unfortunately, we are never told how they ended up being trapped underground nor how they managed to survive–presumably for centuries–without feeding. Nicholson’s description of the vampires in interesting and could have made for a much more exciting read.
Special Note:
This probably sounds like an extremely harsh review, so I want to add a note. I did enjoy the book. I don’t think it was worth the money I spent on it, but I do think it was worth the time invested. Nicholson has a great voice. I just found myself disappointed by what could have been a fantastic story. I will definitely search out other works by Nicholson and try those.
Rating: 3 out of 4 haints
Review – Flesh Gothic – Edward Lee
Title: Flesh Gothic
Author: Edward Lee
Publisher: Leisure Books
Copyright: 2005
Summary:
After porn mogul Reginald Hildreth and a couple dozen people die in a bloody orgy at his mansion, his widow hires a team of psychics and an on-the-wagon newspaper man to find out what happened. She’s convinced that Reginald is not only alive, but has something sinister planned for the future.
Pros:
Edward Lee has a great voice. I loved his descriptions most of the time. The flow of his prose and the high energy of the storyline make it a difficult book to put down.
Lee did a wonderful job with the characters as well.
Cons:
There were only a couple of instances where I found myself losing the suspension of disbelief. At one point in the novel, there is a string of “saidisms” running for roughly two pages. I found myself trying to anticipate what the next one would be. When I got past them, I couldn’t help but go back and reread them.
The only other thing that yanked me from the story was a technical error. At some point, a character pulls a wallet from his pocket and sets it down. I don’t remember why. But shortly after walking away from his wallet and entering another room, he reaches into his pocket and retrieves his wallet. I had to go back and reread that passage, because I thought I missed something.
Could Go Either Way:
Some people will love this, others will hate it, so I set it here. There are a good deal of erotic, sexual scenes in the book. With Hildreth’s mansion being the place they made the pornos, it’s to be expected. Also, there are some gory scenes. Fans of splatter punk may wish there were more. People who prefer their horror a little less bloody may find it overbearing. I didn’t find either of them lacking or over the top. It was a good balance for me.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4 haints
Review – Darkness, Tell Us – Richard Laymon
I don’t have a rubric in mind, but I thought I would start posting about books I read in the horror genre. I’ll start with the one I just finished.
Title: Darkness, Tell Us
Author: Richard Laymon
Publisher: Leisure Books
For the most part, I enjoyed this novel. It wasn’t a thrill a second or a “can’t-sleep-tonight” novel, but it was good.
Storyline:
When six college students play with a ouija board at their professor’s house, the spirit of the board, Butler, promises to lead them to a treasure if they will go to a place called Calamity Peak in the mountains. They steal the board and head out. When the professor discovers the kids stole her board, she and her lover set out after them. She’s seen firsthand how dangerous the board can be and fears Butler is leading them to their deaths.
Pros:
It’s a quick and engaging read. The sex scenes are often steamy and detailed. (Though that can be a drawback for those not interested in borderline erotica). There are plenty of plot twists and suspense.
Cons:
Some of the dialogue is flat and dated. There are phrases like “Eat shit and die” and “eat my shorts.” For me, these broke the suspension of disbelief because they made me think about the last time I heard these things…somewhere in the Eighties. Also, one of the main characters–while in college–appears to be not only a virgin, but a complete putz. In one scene, he almost prematurely looses it when touching a nipple. This pulled me from the story and made me think about my college days. I couldn’t imagine any male in college who hadn’t already touched at least one breast in his life. After reading the book, I discovered it was first published in 1991. So, that helps to explain these things–sort of. I was in college in ’91 and–while I didn’t know any virgins (other than a couple of girls claiming they were saving themselves for marriage)–I’m sure there were some 21 year-old guys who hadn’t had any. It just seems more unbelievable today.
SPOILER ALERT–
Also, I was a bit disappointed by the climax and end. It was good, mind you, but lacking. I felt cheated because I was led to believe there was a supernatural protagonist and there wasn’t. That thing going bump in the night was nothing to fear…kind of like an It-was-all-a-dream-ending leaves one feeling cheated.
Knowing what I know now, would I pick it up and read it? Yes.
Score: 3 out of 4 haints
