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Afraid by Jack Kilbourn

Pages: 346 pages
First Published: Apr. 1, 2009
Genre: horror
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

The hunter’s moon, a shade of orange so dark it appeared to be filled with blood, hung fat and low over the mirror surface of Big Lake McDonald.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Library Thing’s Early Review Program.

Reason for Reading: The plot intrigued me.

Summary: A small town in Wisconsin which has so far only needed a sheriff and a drunk tank to keep the peace is going to find itself sorely lacking in defences. A helicopter crashes into the backwoods and unleashes a terrible horror that absolutely no one in town is safe from. It unrelentlessly attacks in the method it knows best: Isolate, terrorize, annihilate. The town is cut off from the rest of civilization but a few find out that the terror does have a purpose and they try, against all odds, to fight back.

Comments: This book is all action. Right from page one to the end terror and horror continue non-stop with lots of blood, gore and page-turning excitement. This is the type of horror that uses science for its basis making the possibility of its reality not entirely beyond reason. The book also plays upon modern society’s fear of terrorism, creating quite a heart thumping reading. The actions of our heroes are a bit over-the-top at times and the characters are two-dimensional with little depth or the ability to capture the reader’s emotion. But in all reality this book doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t. It is simply a non-stop horror story which is worth the ride if you enjoy that sort of thing. This would make a good beach or plane read. I would read another book by the author.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Forest of Hands & Teeth, Book 2

Pages: 407 pages
Ages: 14+
First Published: Mar. 9, 2010
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

Summary: Gabry lives a safe, secure life in a village beside the ocean and behind a Barrier to protect them from the Mudo (zombies). She lives in the lighthouse with her mother who is the lighthouse keeper whose main job is to kill the occasional Mudo who washes ashore each morning. Gabry loves her life and has no wish to ever leave the safety, as from what she has learned in school, the stories her mother has told her and what she can see with her own eyes from the top of the lighthouse the world beyond is anything but safe. But one night a group of her friends bring her along with them as they breach the Barrier and go to the old amusement park. It is there that all there lives will forever change and Gabry will ultimately leave the village never to return.

Comments: I loved this book! Contrary to early reports that Carrie Ryan was writing a parallel novel and the misleading “a companion novel” printed on the front cover of the book this is indeed a direct sequel to the first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The book takes place many years later, with a new generation of teens, in a different village but there are a couple of return characters from book one. It’s difficult to review without giving away anything from either book but the main character, Gabry, in Dead-Tossed Waves is a complete contrast to the first books’ main character, Mary. In fact, I’d say that the two books themselves are contrasts.

Gabry’s village is part of the Protectorate: the group of surviving villages. Gabry’s world is real; she knows what is out there beyond the barrier; she knows how likely it would be to become infected by the Mudo and become one herself. Gabry’s mother has knowledge of the outside world and she helps Gabry feel safe in her village by reinforcing in her how deadly it is out there. This turns Gabry into a scared, weak character that must grow as the book progresses as she is thrown into that world and must deal with the challenges she faces. From one who has read the first book, we can see this is all in contrast to the circumstances and the personal character of that book’s main protagonist, Mary.

I must say I deeply felt for Gabry as a character. Her whole world is turned upside down and it is a pleasure to watch her grow from the reluctant, scared girl to a worthy, decision-making, fighting member of her group. There are some twists which were fun as I did not guess them. In fact from early on, I had figured one thing out in my mind as being so obvious I wished the book would hurry up and reveal it, but when it finally did I was sooo wrong! Ha on me! I love it when that happens! Great book, I loved it just as much as the first one. Lots of zombie action, though not as violent as the first book, but certainly a very dark plot, characters die and characters do bad things. Don’t expect any happy endings for anyone. The next book, which I’m presuming will be the last, trilogy anyone?, should prove to be very intriguing in whether the author gets the characters together for the best and one wonders how it will all finish in the end. Eagerly awaiting the next volume!

Hoodoo Sea by Rolf Hitzer

Pages: 243
First Published: Jun. 2, 2009
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

White. The room was a sterile, monotonous white.

Reason for Reading: I was asked to participate in the Blog Tour but I had never participated in one before. I decided I would this time as the plot involving the Bermuda Triangle was just too intriguing to pass over. I used to be into the Bermuda Triangle big time when it was all the rage.
Summary: Canadian Wing Commander Scott Reed has been chosen to command NASA’s secret test flight of the first speed of light craft. Accompanying him is a crew of three. Everything goes according to plan until they enter the Hoodoo Sea (otherwise known as The Bermuda Triangle) where they see bright lights and the craft behaves in impossible ways eventually landing them in a meadow. What follows is a terrifying tale of evil and man’s attempts at survival.

Comments: I really enjoyed this book. Right from the beginning I was hooked. The plot was amazing and took me places I hardly expected. A truly, original plot that was exciting to read. I had a sense of where the plot was going as I read but each time, bang!, something totally unexpected would happen making me feel uneasy the throughout whole read.

My only complaint I have with the book is the dialogue which I found to be saturated with idioms (eg. “expect the unexpected”, “I’m done like dinner”, and “if I do say so myself”, which I just now found by simply opening the book and quickly browsing). This did become a tad tedious (to this reader) but can be chalked up to first book syndrome.

It’s hard to pinpoint the genre of Hoodoo Sea. Obviously it is science fiction. But at times I wondered whether it was crossing over to the horror genre as the pure evilness that exists within its pages rightly fit that definition. Oddly, I also found myself wondering whether the book was Christian fiction. There are two strong Christian characters and the feel had me looking up the publisher halfway through to see if this was from a Christian publisher, but no, it wasn’t. A truly fascinating mixture of genres in a top-notch plot that kept me enthralled from beginning to end. Speaking of ends, I absolutely loved the unexpected ending! It leaves me wanting to see what Rolf Hitzer will come up with next. Recommended!

The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein
Zack and Judy Jennings, Book 2

Pages: 322
Ages: 10-14
First Published: Aug. 11, 2009
Genre: children, horror, ghost story
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

There’s this thing about ghosts: Once you’ve seen one, you can basically see them all.

Reason for Reading: The sequel to The Crossroads.

Comments: Zack and his step-mom, a famous children’s book author, are spending the summer at the Hanging Hill Theatre where, for the first time, one of her books is being turned into a musical. The Theatre has been around for well near a century while both the building and the land have quite a chequered past. So it comes to no surprise to Zack when he starts to see the occasional ghost. But when the ghosts start talking of demons and Zack meets ghosts with bloody weapons who can affect things in this world he starts to take notice. Before long he’s racing against time to save the life of a sacrificial child and several others taking part in the play.

This was fabulous! One exciting read that never stops from start to finish. So much better than its predecessor. I had some problems with The Crossroads and the author has not repeated those concerns making The Hanging Hill a phenomenal horror story for the middle grades. The story does have its bloody bits and some gruesome descriptions so I wouldn’t recommend it for the squeamish but nothing is overboard and certainly acceptable for this age group in my (conservative) opinion.

The chapters are very short making it hard to put the book down. The characters are an eccentric lot making for a fun story while Zack and the other couple of main characters are down to earth, likable, characters with real dialogue. I’m recommending this for ages 10-14, though I rarely give an ending age, I feel that teens will find the characters young, even though no age is given this time around, the children are obviously middle graders, and anyone under ten I feel would find the horror parts a bit to much, unless they are used to that sort of thing.

A great read! I was hooked from the beginning and am hoping this is not just a sequel but will continue as a series. I’d love to follow Zack and Judy on another ghostly adventure!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Pages: 310
First Published: Mar. 10, 2009
Genre: YA, post apocalyptic fiction, horror
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

My mother used to tell me about the ocean.

Comments: Mary’s world is very small and quite simple. Her village is large enough to roam around in and grow crops but it is completely enclosed by heavy-duty wire fencing. Her world is run by the Sisterhood who guide their laws and lives through religion and the Guardians who take orders from the Sisterhood and guard the village with force. Day to day life is quaint and simple but on the other side of the fencing are the Unconsecrated and one bite from them will turn you into one yourself, so you must never get too close to the fence ….

This was a fabulous book! Initially it reminds me of the society portrayed in the movie The Village, while not exactly the same their are many parallels. Mary is a wonderful character. She has a mother who has told her stories, carried down through the generations of women in her family, of the world before and Mary especially dreams of the mysterious place called the ocean. The stories have given Mary something to hold onto and a passion not to accept her world as it is. She is a powerful, strong character. Another thing I especially like is that once we find out the reason for the apocalypse at the end of the book I found the reason so plausible that it really was scary, unlike so many books of today which use the controversial “global warming” theme that I must take with a grain of salt. The book is very well-written, the plot tense and the individual outcomes along the way not always happy. In fact, there are many quite shockingly intense scenes. The zombies are fantastic, I mean who doesn’t love a great zombie book!

There are intense relationships: mother/daughter, husband/wife, friends, and blossoming new found love all in a world in which one may die at any moment. The author has shown the deepness of these relationships with a deft sweep of her pen. The one thing that bothered me about the book was that near the beginning Mary blatantly (and for no reason) states, out of the blue, that she does not believe in God. Then later on in the book she tells us the moment she stopped believing in God. This felt as if it was important and yet the subject was never voiced again. No other character’s belief or non-belief was mentioned and other than making me feel sorry for Mary, it made me wonder why the author stopped short of making her point. However….

Highly recommended! I’ve never given two books a tie as favourite book of the month but this time I just can’t not say this was my favourite although I’ve already said so of another book. I hate to compare to the Twilight books as this book is in a league so much higher than those but I think teachers/librarians should use the comparison to promote this book as it will appeal to the same teen audience, as well as the boys. One could call this a horror book, and it is, but it goes so much deeper into relationships between people, that anyone who can stand the gore that comes with zombies is going to be itching for next year’s (2010) parallel novel. Read this book!

Nicola

The Glister by John Burnside

Pages: 228
First Published: March 10, 2009
Genre: horror, thriller
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

In the beginning, John Morrison is working in his garden.

Comments: Innertown, located somewhere on the coast of Britain, has been more like a ghost town since the chemical plant closed down years ago. Since them most people who worked there have either died or are very sick with undetermined illnesses. The plant and the surrounding acres have been shut down and closed off, left to the elements and time. Of course kids being kids, there are some who still like to hang out and wander around the old plant. This is the setting for a sudden disappearance of a local boy, there one minute, gone the next. Now over the years, every so often a boy will disappear, one this year, then one two years later, then one the next year and so on. The local police find no traces, the boys are just old enough, and family circumstances just bad enough for them to say this is a dead end town for these kids, they’ve had enough, they’ve packed up and gone off to face the world on their own. Some believe that line, others don’t.

Each chapter of the book is narrated by a different voice and thus the story is told from many points of view. Some characters only share their view occasionally while others, such as the main character, a local boy called Leonard, come to the front more often. From reading the blurbs and book summary I had presumed this would be a horror story but it is no ordinary horror book, instead I found it much more like what I would call a crime thriller. I found it very engrossing and read the book within a 24 hour period always coming back to it after having had to put it down for some reason or other. A page turner with wonderful characterization especially considering the short number of pages. I was really caught up in the story and found some of the scenes as the case started to unravel quite unnerving. My problem is with the ending, well with the last page exactly. As I was reading along and the case had been solved to the reader’s satisfaction, I came to the last page and came upon a scene which made me exclaim a great big “HUH???” I have no idea why it ended the way it did or what it’s supposed to mean. Remove that last page and I would have enjoyed the book for a higher rating but the ending left me so confuddled, I’m at a loss to say how I feel about the rest of the book now. Read the book and you’ll enjoy a good thriller but do yourself a favour and skip the last page or maybe come back to it and read it a week later.