Almost a perfect ending

For me, this one started off a bit rocky. There was so much going on—so much death and destruction. And it all seemed like it was just another day. I suppose, in light of all that has happened in Proofrock, that could be forgiven. All for all that, SJG’s writing is as sharp as a strait razor. And his knowledge of slashers, and other horror, is downright sick. 

“Nightfall’s always closer than you think.”

Poor Jade. This tale is packed with so much trauma—both real and supernatural—that things almost started to feel like one of THOSE old horror flicks where ALL the various monsters are jammed into one movie. Unlike those particular movies, Jade’s story is not played for laughs. Jones uses just enough humor in Jade’s story to give you a respite from everything he throws at you. The story is raw and relentless and it will ravage you. 

I wish this old brain that lives in my head were so old and addled. I had a hard time remembering all of the everything Jones packed into these three books. No one will ever or could ever write such a bloody lover’s story to the ‘Last Girl.’  I grew up in the 1970s and 80s. At that time I was like a lot of boys my age—obsessed with the slasher. I religiously sequestered myself in those dark places and watched all the senseless slaughter with terror and delight. I was an eager participant, but somewhere along the way I lost my taste for that kind of blood. So I never got to finish any of Jason’s tales. Or Michael Myers’s or Freddy’s. Or of the gruesome Texas family that spawned Leatherface. So, I missed much of the love Jones showered on the genre. It seems he referenced EVERY slasher know, and then some. But I’m sure he missed a few. He had to. People can’t be that perfect. 

That said, this being the final installment of The Indian Lake Trilogy, we get the LAST? of Jade Daniels. We also get Letha’s story, although not in the same way we did in DON’T FEAR THE REAPER, the second book of the trilogy. Jones ties up enough of the story threads so masterfully that I ended up hating to turn the last few pages. I did not want the story to end. And when you get to the last page, don’t skip the acknowledgments. They reveal much of what the author went through as he took us all on this bloody trip to Proofrock. 

The good news is that I am certain that Stephen Graham Jones will deliver something else as only he can tell it. 

 

The Angel of Indian Lake 

by Stephen Graham Jones

Published by S&S/Saga Press

March 26, 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668011669

The Ferryman

I was about 10% into this story before I really got interested, but don't let that scare you off. The setting, Prospéra, was different in many ways from our own world but not enough to pique my interest. At first. It teased me and dangled its originality in my peripheral, and then it came. What a payoff. I won’t say where that occurred. I’ll leave this story to you to take in. Suffice to say, this story comes from the same writer who gave us, The Passage, which was a brilliant take on the end of the world as we know it. A dystopian nightmare populated with the survivors of a scientific catastrophe that almost ended the world. And vampires.

Cronin’s words and imagery in The Ferryman are rich and lush, as are his characters. The world is multi-layered and fraught with mystery. There is a lot to process as this tale slips and slides and pulls the rug out from under you just when you think you are ‘getting it’.

“You know what your problem is?”
“I’m guessing you’re about to tell me.”
“It’s the same problem most people have, actually. You know a lot of things. You believe almost nothing.”

And Cronin's character is right. Believing in something is difficult, especially in today's world probably because the ability to acquire knowledge is remarkably easy. Probably too easy. And I'm no different.  I'm going to take the easy way out and wrap this up by saying if you liked Logan’s Run and 1984, you will be thrilled with this one. And, if not thrilled, certainly chilled.  

The Ferryman

by Justin Cronin

Published by Ballantine Books

May 2, 2023 | 560 Pages | ISBN-13: 9780525619475

I would like to thank the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel.

So Little Time…

I grew up during the height of the Cold War. The USSR was the big boogie man. Communism wanted to destroy our way of life. Then the Wall came down and the Soviet Empire fell. The insidious fear of the ever-present threat was gone. We had PEACE and the promise of a new world. But that didn’t last. The world found itself being forced to deal with threats from the past. Putin claimed Russia for himself and the World finds itself confronted with the brutal invasion of Crimea and Ukraine, Russian oligarchs, and Russian crime. So as an escape where did I turn? Television? Slow Horses on Apple+ and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. Reading? RED LONDON by Alma Katsu. Russia is once again. EVERYWHERE. The stories are engaging. The menace is real. And Putin’s Russia makes for a great villain. 

Lyndsey Duncan is back, and what she is involved in is complicated and a little confusing. Katsu teases us with the story of a Russian war criminal, but we end up getting the story of a Russian oligarch. While I did not find RED LONDON as engaging as Katsu’s first book in the series, RED WIDOW, at times I did lose myself in the story. You won’t lose your breath trying to keep up with a Jason Bourne or a Jack Ryan, but the real-world stakes are just as high. The psychology of manipulation was intriguing, as was the Anglo-American intelligence cooperation but I couldn’t find much to like about Emily, the British wife of the oligarch and Lyndsey’s target. By the end, I did feel a bit sorry for her. This story is rife with secret identities, private contractors, ex-lovers, clandestine meetings, and so much more. Who can Lyndsey trust? This is a different type of spy game. 

This book is fiction, but Katsu pulls from her 30-plus career in national security. And while she did her best to portray world events, she, like so many others, couldn't have predicted that the war on Ukraine would still be taking its murderous toll on the country and the people there. It seems with Putin, there is no level to his depravity and with the rest of Russia, they seem too scared to do what is right and put an end to this madness. 

I really tried to get this book read before launch day. It didn’t have anything to do with the book itself, it was how busy I had made my life. I often find that I stretch myself a little thin. I have my own writing and a few illustration projects that would be enough to keep me busy on their own, but I also have a house to paint, then there’s yard work, the pool, and family life. On top of all that, I try to get in at least an hour of reading every day. I reserve the night for TV with my wife. It’s not quite how I had envisioned retirement. 

Red London

by Alma Katsu

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons

March 14, 2023 | 352 Pages | ISBN-13: 978-0593421956

I would like to thank the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel.

There's Nothing to Fear, But…

DON'T FEAR THE REAPER follows in the bloody footsteps of MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW. 4-1/2 stars

I have heard talk that the first book was so darned good. The publisher, like almost everyone who read it, wanted more. Stephen Graham Jones had a killer on his hands that would not die—his book about THE last girl, Jade Daniels. Unlike so many sequels ordered up after a successful stand alone, REAPER shines brighter than the first, and that is a good thing because this book is cold, dark, and brutal. That’s not surprising as this book, like its predecessor, MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW, is an homage to the slasher, particularly of the 1980s-90s, the Crimson Age of Slashers. 

REAPER picks up four years after the first book with an escaped serial killer on the loose. Jade, now fresh out of prison, is back in Proofrock. No longer obsessed with horror movies, she wants normalcy, but that’s not how things work with final girls. The town has been cut off by a blizzard. The serial killer, Dark Mill South, has escaped and has begun killing once again in Proofrock. Or has he? Is he more than human? Is it something else? Something is definitely going on here. The town’s senior class is being picked off in theatrical slasher form. And we are off and running. 

There is a LOT going on in this book. At times, I felt like I was the one lost in a blinding snowstorm—one I couldn’t get out of because I had a hard time putting this book down. The writing of Stephen Graham Jones is intelligent, if not downright nerdy in the way he drills down into the characters. And he brings each of those those characters to life. Flesh and blood. Lots of blood. 

Two down. One left. 

Don't Fear the Reaper

by Stephen Graham Jones

Published by Gallery/Saga Press

February 7, 2023 | 464 Pages | ISBN 9781982186593

I would like to thank the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel.

---

 

On a side note, Jones has written an interesting alternative history in comic book form. A huge comic book fan, EARTHDIVERS, is his first ongoing series. Also on this title are collaborators, artist Davide Gianfelice, colorist Joana Lafuente, and letterer Steve Wands. IDW states: Set in a postapocalyptic near future, Earthdivers follows a small group of Indigenous survivors who time-travel to prevent the creation of America and retroactively save the world from destruction. In each arc, they will target a pivotal point in history, beginning with a mission to kill Christopher Columbus in 1492. Check out this interview at The Nerdist. 

Snap!

I went into this story knowing nothing about JACKAL or its author. The story started a bit slow for me, but the pace intensified as the time ran out. In the end, I was hooked. This was Adams's debut novel. She filled her story with pain, frustration, fear, and rage—a flood of emotions. And they are all expected with a story about an abducted child—one of far too many. I also found the author’s voice to have an undeniable hope in the future. In better things. In a better life. “Nothing good comes from being hateful and hollow.” Words to live by in today’s divisive times.

Snap!

Amidst this pain and loss is a fierceness of determination to get to the truth. And the truth that her protagonist, Liz, is looking for should rip your heart out. The setting is the mostly-white, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but this is an American story. It is one equal parts thriller and whodunit—splashed with horror. While some of that horror is of the paranormal/supernatural variety, be forewarned, much of it, sadly, is all too real. Violence. Racism. Child death. Body Horror. Domestic violence. Gore. Alcohol abuse. Eating disorder. Animal death. Kidnapping. Off-page rape. Off-page violence against children.

JACKAL, by Erin E. Adams
Published by Bantam | Oct 04, 2022
336 Pages | ISBN 978-0593499306

Thank you to #NetGalley, Bantam/Random House Publishing, and the author in exchange for my honest review. I am thrilled to have been able to get a sneak peek. I look forward to whatever is next from Erin E. Adams.

The Devil Takes You Home

Gabino Iglesias hasn’t released a novel since 2018’s Barrio noir, Coyote Songs. This August, this Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author will once again drag you through a horrific nightmare of grief, loss, and desperation. One thing you can count on when reading anything by Iglesias you are in for a weird, wild, and strangely violent ride. I found myself reading this book at odd times and in unusual places just to get in one more page. 

Be advised, he unapologetically sprinkles Spanish throughout the novel. It flows like the blood gushing through and out of this tortured tale of a man agonizing the loss of everything he loved—his daughter and wife, and what little life he managed to piece together in a country that dangles its promises in front of far too many—just out of reach. The Devil Takes You Home is as much a horror as it is a crime novel, but it is also a human story. It is a brutal account of a near-impossible heist. It starts with the horror of a happy family losing a child to cancer—a loss that should not have happened and wouldn’t have if life was fair. 

You don’t know horror until you’ve spent a few hours inside a hospital looking at the fitful sleep of a loved one who is being taken from you. You don’t know desperation until the uselessness of praying hits you.

Cancer is just the beginning. It gets darker. Much.

The protagonist, Mario, is a rich and complicated character. Along for the ride is his junky, friend Brian and a cartel man, Juanca. Mario is willing to go any length to hang onto what little piece of hope he can. As his story unravels, it begs the question, how bad can you be and still be good? How much can you witness? How much can you force yourself to do before you lose what makes you human?

Someone needs to give Iglesias duffel bags full of money so he can write full time and bleed more stories. Let him conjure up more “magic” to transport us to a dangerous world between worlds where magic, blood, and hope live. My hope is he won’t make us wait four more years for his next novel.

The release date for this one is August 2nd, 2022. That date coincidently is the release of Don’t Fear the Reaper. The sequel to Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart Is A Chainsaw. Pre-order both of them NOW from your favorite independent bookstore.

Thank you to the publisher, Mulholland Books, and NetGalley for the review copy. And an added thanks to Gabino Iglesias for keeping me up late and scaring the shit out of me. Again.

THE VIOLENCE by Delilah Dawson

When I had requested The Violence, I had no idea what to expect. I am familiar with the author, Delilah Dawson/Lila Bowen, and have read several other works. I enjoyed everything I read, so it is no surprise that I liked this book, but it is so very different than what I expected. So, what did I expect? Given the state of the world these days and her other books, I expected something more along the line of The Stand or the more recent stories like Survivor Song or The Wanderers. There is a virus, but unlike the aforementioned novels, the whole world hasn’t gone to hell and spiraled into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. 

There’s a passage in the book of a description of men who possess and abuse women. Damn! This book is powerful on so many levels. As I read it, I often thought of the pain relived by so many abused. The Violence proved to be a blessing and a curse. My hope is that the author and all those who have lived through abuse physical and/or mental, are able to escape and heal. Perhaps this book will be a start. 

The book is brilliant. It is expertly crafted. The characters—mostly women— are rich and multi-layered like the story itself. There are certainly horrific scenes in this book, but it is a human story—one of survival and redemption. It should be on everyone’s reading list. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Heart is a Chansaw

by Stephen Graham Jones
Release date: August 31, 2021

If you are into slashers, this latest novel by Stephen Graham Jones is a "must-read." I only gave the book three-and-a-half stars because I have lost my taste for the horror found in slashers. I find slashers to be in the same category as murder mysteries. For years, as an actor, I had fun with friends creating characters that were messed up. Damaged people who had no problem, taking what they wanted to benefit themselves. Sometimes I was the killer. Other times I got murdered. I have many wonderful and terrifying memories of those times that I gave up because of a news story. The interview was with a woman struggling with the loss of a family member who had been murdered. During the interview, she mentioned her own horror at the thought of all those who derived pleasure and entertainment from the murder of others. I had never thought of what I was doing in that light. Similarly, I used to love slashers—especially in the heyday of the 1980s and 90s. And while slashers (and the murderers in the Murder Mysteries that we put on) did ultimately get the justice they deserved, most of the stories were about the inventive way people could be killed. Maybe I am being way too politically correct here, but because of this, I found myself dragging through portions of this novel while in others—captivated by the characters—almost blundering through the pages like a final girl. Plowing through the words of ignored warnings and ultimately blood and guts to get more story.

The book is very well written and loaded with symbolism, but I found myself lost at times with regard to the references to the many slashers in the novel. As with so much of his past work (at least, those books that I have read,) Dr. Jones is incredibly vivid and imaginative in his storytelling. This reader could tell just how much the slasher meant to him. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a more hardcore eighties slasher fan than Stephen Graham Jones, except for protagonist and anti-hero Jade Daniels. 

The fact that this was an homage to the slasher and a sort of love affair with it was evident. While billed as a horror, this one is also a mystery and a crime story in all its pulpy goodness. 

I want to thank NetGalley and Saga Press, an imprint of Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster, for the opportunity of reading the digital ARC.