Horror
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REVIEW: The Marsh House by Zoë Somerville
The Marsh House seeps in atmospheric brilliance. It has the uncanny ability to remind you just how boring your life is. The novel tackles relationship breakdowns from multiple angles. A mother and daughter. A house in the country. Creepy diary entries. Personally, living in a cold, damp property in the middle of winter is a dead cert no for me but the protagonist had a story to unfold. It’s December 1963 and Malorie escapes to the country with her daughter, Franny. Her life is changing far quicker than she could have ever anticipated. Her relationship with Franny’s father, Tony has broken down. Partly due to his multiple infidelities and Malorie’s…
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REVIEW: We All Scream for Ice Cream by Lou Yardley
If you are planning on grabbing some Ice Cream to eat during this recent pleasant weather…maybe think twice. Lou Yardley is known for bringing the gore to her stories and We All Scream for Ice Cream is no different. I love ice cream of all different flavours, strawberry, raspberry, salted caramel, I love them all. I, however, do not like Ice cream cones that attack children and tear them limb from limb. It’s a story that will have me side-eyeing Ice cream vans from now until eternity. It’s a fine line between an innocent ice cream seller to psychopathic octopus like monster that wants to end you. Katelyn and her…
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REVIEW: Malevolent Nevers by Tom Rimer
Malevolent Nevers packs a serious punch, cracked jaw, fractured skull, split orbital bone, bruised, battered, and beaten. The story feels like an old friend, an old friend who likes to live life on the edge, a friend that you can never tell if they want to help or hinder…a friend that has you walking across glass. A sense of familiarity, this is the kind of book you want to curl up with in front of a roaring fire and a nip of whisky. Pick up this book for its kick-ass cover and stay for the characterisation and penetrating gothic atmosphere. Malevolent Nevers starts from the ground up. You feel the…
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REVIEW: Jimmy the Freak by Charles Colyott & Mark Steensland
Jimmy the Freak is a story that makes you appreciate great characterisation. The relationship dynamics between Jimmy and Mike made my heart warm. Mike has essentially taken on the role of carer and isn’t too above himself to admit that it was more than he anticipated. The authors have created two of my favourite fictional characters of all time. An unlikely friendship. A freakish psychic ability. An obsession for pizza. A will to protect. I haven’t read another story like this in which disability is at the forefront and tackled with a sense of tact and love. I fell deeply for this raw storyline. Jimmy was dropped on his head…
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The Possession (The Anomaly Files #2) by Micheal Rutger
The Possession is a story that is best enjoyed whilst surrounded by a fuck ton of people. Just make sure you know those people well, make sure their personalities don’t change at the drop of a hat. This was a story that reminded me of a mash-up of Inception and The Twilight zone. The people that we love and cherish are like home to us, we see safety in their eyes, a warm hug after a bad day is sometimes all we need to feel better. Tragedy has struck a small town in the middle of the woods after a teenage girl has gone missing. There’s no sign of her…
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The Long Walk by Stephen King – REVIEW
In my crazy attempt to read all of Stephen King’s back catalogue, I chose The Long Walk at random. Written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman you can instantly recognise King’s cutthroat style. The story has no build-up other than for a few pages, you are instantly catapulted into this dystopian America, you have no reference to why The Long Walk takes place or how the boys ended up there. It’s a story that has a mental and physical assault upon you. Your legs feel like they will cramp up the further along you read. Never has a story pulled me in so quickly and left me with so many more…
