A Bunch of Book Reviews

I haven't blogged much in the past few months and now I have a lot of books to review. So I'm going to review them in groups rather than a post per book because otherwise I won't get around to reviewing them all.

Slugs by Shaun Hutson

I thought this book about human-eating slugs would be more entertaining than it actually was. The main character - the health inspector, which he is referred to in the novel so much that I don't remember his name - was so dull. The characters were all one-dimensional, boring and I really didn't care if they were eaten alive by slugs or not.  And the explanation behind why slugs suddenly grew teeth and started taking bites out of people made no sense.

Okay, I guess maybe I expected too much from a book about killer slugs. I didn't completely hate it - there are a few good, gory scenes that I enjoyed. If you read it with low expectations then you might like it more than I did.

This was also made into a 1988 film of the same name. I haven't seen it but I think the story might work better as a movie.

Rating: 3/5

Mandibles by Jeff Strand

This is another book about killer insects, this time ants.

I enjoyed Mandibles much more than Slugs. It's funnier, has more interesting characters and the existence of the giant killer ants is explained better and actually makes sense (as much as the thought of insects eating humans can I suppose).

The Kindle edition is available for only $2.99.

Rating: 4/5

Stranglehold by Jack Ketchum

As I've already said before on this blog, Jack Ketchum is my favourite horror author. So when Crossroad Press started releasing some of Ketchum's novels as cheap e-books, I was thrilled and bought a bunch of them for my Kindle - including this one.

Stranglehold reminds me a bit of The Girl Next Door because they both deal with child abuse, only this book isn't quite as gruesome. It's still very disturbing and realistic though. I don't want to give too much away about this book so I'm simply going to say it's amazing and I think all horror fans should read it.

Rating: 5/5

The Nightrunners by Joe R. Lansdale

This book is a lot like the movie Straw Dogs, but with a supernatural twist.
After a woman, Becky, is raped, she goes on a vacation to a cabin with her husband, Montgomery, to help them forget about it. Montgomery feels bad about his inability to protect his wife and claims to be a pacifist to cover up the fact that he's a coward.

The man who raped her is sent to prison and hangs himself. But he was the leader of a gang that is involved with an evil entity called The God of the Razor. It wants death and destruction - and for them to finish what they started and kill Becky.

The Nightrunners is incredible - definitely one of the best horror novels I've ever read. It's suspenseful, has an interesting plot and likable characters. If you haven't already read it, do it now!

This is the first book by horror legend Joe R. Lansdale I've read, but after reading The Nightrunners, I'll definitely be reading more. I bought The Complete Drive-In because I heard it was good, but have yet to read it.

Rating: 5/5

Ghoul by Brian Keene

Like It by Stephen King, Ghoul is a coming-of-age tale where a group of kids battles a monster. The trio of boys in this book make a clubhouse in a cemetery where they come across a ghoul.

I loved everything about this book - I even liked it more than It (which I found to be waaay too long and boring in spots). I highly recommend it to all horror fans.

Ghoul was made into a movie for Chiller which aired April 13 starring Nolan Gould (Luke on Modern Family), but unfortunately I couldn't watch it because Chiller isn't available in Canada. Hopefully it comes out on DVD soon so I can watch it. Has anyone seen it? I'm curious if it was as good as the book.

Rating: 5/5

Suffer the Flesh by Monica J. O'Rourke

I actually hadn't read anything by Monica J. O'Rourke when I interviewed her last year for Women in Horror Recognition Month. In the interview she said "My co-author (Wrath James White) said he approached me to write Poisoning Eros with him after reading Suffer the Flesh because he was shocked a woman had written it. I get that a lot, how people are surprised a woman could write something so extreme. I’ve been told I 'write like a guy.'" That made me want to seek out her work even more. When Suffer the Flesh was released as an e-book for a mere $2.99, I bought and read it immediately.

I can definitely see how others could be surprised that a woman wrote it. Suffer the Flesh is extremely gory and features many rape scenes. It's about an overweight woman (Zoey) who is captured off the street in New York after browsing the self-help/diet section of a bookstore and is taken to a secret research centre where they "help" women lose weight by raping and torturing them. 

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was suspenseful - I couldn't stop reading because I wanted to find out how (or if) Zoey would get out of this situation. I also found Zoey to be a very sympathetic character. I could relate to her weight loss struggles and hoped she would get out of there alive. I recommend this book for people who can handle extreme gore - including sadistic rape.

Rating: 4/5 

Dismember by Daniel Pyle

This is a backwoods novel with a twist. When a young boy is "rescued" by a man who lives in the woods after surviving a car wreck he has no idea that worst is yet to come.

Then the narrative moves forward several years and the boy has become a man not unlike his captor. Now he's looking for a new family to replace his.

The only thing I enjoyed about this novel was the first chapter. The plot is boring and excruciating slow. It took me a whole month to read Dismember and I struggled to finish it. There's no action or suspense. Other than the car accident in the beginning, there are maybe two deaths in the whole book. With a title like Dismember and a cover with a bloody axe, I expected it to have much more gore.

If you're still interested, it's available for Kindle for $3.99, but I recommend skipping this one.

Rating: 2/5

Super Fetus by Adam Pepper

When a fetus realizes its mother's intentions of having an abortion it begins working out so it can stand a chance against the doctor. But when it defeats the doctor its mother takes matters into her own hands....

Super Fetus was the first bizarro book I've read and I enjoyed it a lot. Weird and disturbing yet highly entertaining. At times I would be laughing, then read the next few pages and stop reading in disgust. Well, there were only a few moments in the book that I found gross, but they were very gory/disturbing (just thinking about them now makes me shudder). Recommended for horror fans looking for something different and humorous.

Rating: 4/5

BOOK REVIEW: Pressure by Jeff Strand

When I bought Dweller by Jeff Strand, I also got his first paperback published by Leisure Books, Pressure. I'm glad I did because after reading the amazing Dweller, I wanted to read another Strand novel asap.

Pressure didn't disappoint and was just as engrossing and entertaining as Dweller. It was nominated for Best Novel in the 2006 Bram Stoker Awards, but lost to Lisey's Story by Stephen King.

Kids are often confronted with peer pressure to try "immoral" things like drugs, alcohol or sex. But what if your friend was interested in something a bit more dangerous and depraved? ...Like torturing and murdering a person together?

That's what Alex's demented friend, Darren,wants them to do together. When they first meet at boarding school as kids, Darren is a quiet roommate who doesn't say much to the other boys. But he reveals his true nature to Alex and they part on not-so-great terms. They meet again in college and Darren acts as if they're old pals. Eventually Alex forgives him for the horrors he put him through in boarding school - they were just kids after all. Unfortunately, Darren hasn't changed a bit and wants Alex to take part in his gory hobby.

Pressure is known as Strand's first serious novel, but he still manages to inject some humor into the story. Not as much as with Dweller, as the subject matter in this novel is pretty dark, but I still got a few chuckles from it.

The characters Alex and Darren are well-developed. Alex is the relatable, average guy that you end up caring immensely about and easily empathize with. Darren is a charismatic, intelligent psychopath comparable to a villain like Norman Bates or Hannibal Lecter.

The story is suspenseful and tense, keeping the reader on edge with its fast pace and brutal gore scenes.

Pressure is a disturbing read that will make you think twice about who you trust and I highly recommend it. But I still liked Dweller a little more, so I'm giving Pressure a 4 rating. Check out Dweller too, neither of them will disappoint.

Rating: 4/5

Check out this hilarious video where Jeff Strand explains how Pressure can help serial killers.

BOOK REVIEW: Dweller by Jeff Strand

After reading Dweller by Jeff Strand (author of Pressure) I have decided that I want a monster BFF/pet. I have a cat, but she doesn’t hug me, or say my name, or even communicate with me through our own made-up sign language. She doesn’t like to eat people though, so I suppose that’s a good thing.

The first time Toby Floren sees the monster in the woods, he is only 8-years-old and he flees in terror. Seven years later, at age 15, Toby is an outcast. When he encounters the monster this time, his loneliness leads him to befriend it. Toby names him Owen and ventures into the woods frequently to vent his problems to him and to feed him treats (his favourite is ice cream). To Toby, being best friends with a real-life monster is great, except for Owen’s occasional cravings for more substantial, bloodier, treats….

The plot is like a gory version of Harry and the Hendersons, because this is also a tale of a friendship with a Bigfoot-type creature – albeit a Bigfoot with huge fangs and claws. But there are only a few gory scenes; the focus is on the bond between Toby and Owen. And Strand interchanges the dark, intense scenes with humorous ones. He had me laughing several times while reading.

Instead of the novel taking place over the course of a day, week or month, like most novels, Dweller spans Toby’s entire lifetime. But since it isn’t an epic length (only 292 pages), Strand uses a unique method of writing, where he provides “glimpses” of what happens over the years. Usually just a few paragraphs of a funny or important event and sometimes only a line or snippet of dialogue, making Toby’s life seem like it’s flying by and the pace move quickly.

Any horror fan can relate to the main character, Toby, for his desire to have a monster as a best friend. And although Owen is a monster, and the cause of most of the bloodshed in the novel, he is portrayed as a loveable pet. Strand makes the existence of this creature - and even his friendship with a human - plausible. I became attached to both of these characters throughout the course of the novel and was touched by the bond they share.

Dweller is one of the best novels I’ve read. It manages to be funny, scary, gory, sad, happy and touching at the same time. All horror fans, animal lovers or Harry and the Hendersons fans must read this book – actually I think everyone should read this, regardless of literary preference. But beware: it’s a tearjerker.

Rating: 5/5