Book Review · Crime Fiction · Horror · Mystery / Suspense · Short Story Collection / Single Author · Supernatural Thriller

The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron

Laird Barron writes weird. Barron is a good writer, but the stories contained in his collection, The Imago Sequence  and Other Stories, are sometimes hard to figure. You’ll need a dictionary, good map skills, and a working knowledge of mythology, world religions, philosophy, horror fiction, and crime pulps to make heads or tails of these… Continue reading The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron

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Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

Is corn scary? It is a rather bizarre plant. It grows tall and fast and has vaguely human qualities, like corn-silk hair and ears. I never really thought corn was scary, until I read Stephen King‘s Children of the Corn as a teenager. King made corn creepy. But before King conjured the Children of the… Continue reading Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

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The Twelve by Justin Cronin

The Twelve is a well-written action thriller, a good, solid novel. But it doesn’t hold a candle to The Passage, the first book in author Justin Cronin’s post-apocalyptic vampire series. The Twelve suffers from the same “middle child syndrome” that plagues so may “Book 2s” in a trilogy series. It’s neither a beginning, nor an… Continue reading The Twelve by Justin Cronin

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Horns by Joe Hill

Every single one of us has got the devil inside, and nobody knows it better than Ignatius Parrish the narrator of Joe Hill’s novel Horns. Ig wakes after a night of sorrowful drinking to find he’s grown horns on top of his head. Worse yet, the horns bring out the worst in everyone Ig encounters.… Continue reading Horns by Joe Hill

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Short Stories: The Mystery and Men’s Magazines by Richard Laymon

These stories are a throwback to a simpler time; a time when people drove around in faux wood panel station wagons, wore bell bottoms, and read fiction magazines for entertainment. That’s right. People used to read. Fiction. For fun! In magazines! The first Richard Laymon story I ever encountered was “The Champion” published in an… Continue reading Short Stories: The Mystery and Men’s Magazines by Richard Laymon

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The Woman by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee

Remember the fine young cannibals? Not the band that sang, “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Good Thing.” The band of cannibals that ate tourists along the coast of Maine in Jack Ketchum‘s classic novels, Off Season and Offspring. (Know by fans as Ketchum’s Dead River Series.) The Woman is back in all her feral glory, and authors Ketchum and… Continue reading The Woman by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee

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The Devil of Echo Lake by Douglas Wynne

I love rock n’ roll horror. It’s an under appreciated subgenre rich with untold stories. There isn’t enough quality musical fiction out there. Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box is an obvious exception. Anne Rice’s Vampire Lestat fronted a rock band in The Queen of the Damned, as did the pre-emo bloodsucker of S.P. Somtow’s Vampire… Continue reading The Devil of Echo Lake by Douglas Wynne

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Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Stephen King brings these things upon himself. It isn’t fair to compare his latest novel, Doctor Sleep, with his landmark work, The Shining. But comparisons are inevitable — Doctor Sleep is a sequel to The Shining. Critics will rightfully say, “Doctor Sleep is okay, but it isn’t as good as The Shining.” But how could… Continue reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

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The Passage by Justin Cronin

Justin Cronin’s The Passage is an impressive work. The first book in a planned trilogy, The Passage reads like a series of short novels and novellas stitched together, creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. There are shades of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises here. The Passage is a long, sprawling,… Continue reading The Passage by Justin Cronin

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The Cellar by Richard Laymon

Some people dismiss the late Richard Laymon as a hack horror writer. Those people should go fuck themselves. An originator of the early splatterpunk movement, Richard Laymon was an unsung artist who made the job of “novelist” look easy with his literary virtuosity and prolific output. But, like Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Laymon got no respect. He… Continue reading The Cellar by Richard Laymon