Tag Archives: horror

The Ravenous

Book Review of The Ravenous, by Amy Lukavics

I won a copy of Amy LukavicsThe Ravenous through Goodreads.

Description:
From the outside, the Cane family looks like they have it all. A successful military father, a loving mother and five beautiful teenage daughters. But on the inside, life isn’t quite so idyllic: the Cane sisters can barely stand each other, their father is always away, and their neglectful mother struggles with addiction and depression. 

When their youngest and most beloved sister, Rose, dies in a tragic accident, Mona Cane and her sisters are devastated. And when she is brought back from the dead, they are relieved. But soon they discover that Rose must eat human flesh to survive, and when their mother abandons them, the sisters will find out just how far they’ll go to keep their family together.

Review:
This wasn’t bad, quite creepy actually, and I appreciated the way Lukavics’ teens weren’t all perfect, stereotypical angels. We had alcoholism and mild drug use and a little sexual diversity. The writing is even pretty good. But it took me forever and a day to finish it. I just never was really invested in it. So, I would read a couple chapters, get bored, pick something else up and then, when I finished that, pick this up for a couple more chapters, before wandering off again. So, not bad, but also not a big winner for me.

Book Review of I Died In A Bed Of Roses, by Kevin Strange

I won a copy of Kevin Strange‘s I Died on a Bed of Roses through Goodreads.

Description:
Cult horror filmmaker Brian Sully has isolated himself to a simple life on the Oregon coast after being publicly shamed by the lead actress of his most recent B-Movie monster flick for sending her pictures of his dick. Brian’s years of isolation have left him on the brink of suicide. But after his best friend and producer books him at a 20th anniversary horror festival honoring their first feature film, Brian Sully’s life is about to change. Is true love real? What if you fell in love with something not quite… Human? Would you pursue it? Would you let anything stop you? Even death? I DIED IN A BED OF ROSES is Kevin Strange’s first ever crack at the paranormal romance genre. But if you’re expecting a mushy love story, well, you don’t know Kevin Strange!

Review:
I’m never entirely sure how to review bizaro fiction, let alone bizaro horror, because it’s, you know, bizarre. This one starts out pretty well, which was a relief. The cover left me fearing it might just turn into male-centric wank fodder. (It doesn’t. It’s very male-centric, but not a wank fest.) I’m afraid it does peter out though, veering off into a rushed, simplistic, deus ex mechana climax and ending. This is maybe not surprising, since the author says in the beginning that the book was written during a weeklong writing retreat and the beginning was birthed more easily than the end. It’s not bad. It’s actually pretty finny at times. But I think this will definitely be a case of finding the right reader for the book.

……Ok, I just want to say wank one more time.

Eli's Town

Book Review of Eli’s Town, by Amy Cross

Eli's townI got Eli’s Town, by Amy Cross, from Amazon as a freebie. It was still free at the time of posting.

Description from Goodreads:
“Someone really should go check on Eli…”

Every year, someone from the Denton family travels to the town of Tulepa, to check on weird old uncle Eli. This time around it’s Holly’s turn to make the journey, but when she arrives she discovers that not only is Eli missing, but the locals appear to be hiding something.

Meanwhile, a strange curse seems to have struck the town. Every day, at exactly noon, one resident drops dead. Is the string of sudden fatalities just a coincidence? If it’s something more sinister, why does no-one seem to be trying to uncover the truth? And what do these deaths have to do with the disappearance of Eli Denton, a strange old man who has barely even left his house in more than a decade?

Eli’s Town is a horror novel about an eccentric but seemingly harmless man who discovers a new way to live, and about his niece’s desperate attempt to uncover the truth before she too succumbs to the town’s mysteries.

Review:
I found this to be a perfectly passable horror-suspense novel, along the lines of M. Night Shyamalan’s film work. It had a similar atmospheric feel. It kept me guessing until fairly far into the book and had a truly creepy antagonist.

I did think the ending felt a little deus ex machina. The boyfriend, Dean, felt especially like a caricature of a pickup artist boyfriend, which I found hard to believe considering how long they were meant to have been together. And I had a little trouble believing no one ran from town before they weren’t able, considering how obviously odd it was. Even raised in isolation, I think people like Tatty would have high-tailed it out of there.

But all in all, it was an enjoyable read. I’d be perfectly willing to pick up another Cross book.