Horror
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Witch Bottle by Tom Fletcher – REVIEW
Witch Bottle is a story that will constantly have your guard up. Fear surrounds this small hamlet-like fog clinging to the mountainside. It envelops around you, constricting you, breathing becomes more difficult, your sight becomes hazy, it’s an all-sense assault. This novel surprised me by the sheer force of its raw veracity and its human emotion. It leaves you feeling deeply unsettled with its supernatural element complemented perfectly with the decline of mental health and broken relationships. Cumbria has never felt so unearthly in this modern gothic thriller. Daniel is on his own, after leaving his wife and baby daughter he has moved to Cumbria to become a milkman. He…
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The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley – REVIEW
The Loney was on my shelf for about four or five years and maybe subconsciously something was keeping me from reading it. Perhaps I should have listened to myself. It’s been shelved numerous times as horror, but I didn’t feel any elements of horror to the storyline apart from the atmospheric edge that The Loney held. Was the storyline slow, yes. Was I frustrated with the plot, also yes. Anyone that knows me well knows that struggle with religious storylines and had I known how heavily this story focusses on it I would probably have left well alone. I think possibly my expectations were way too high going into this…
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REVIEW – Maiden by T.C. Parker & Ward Nerdlo
Maiden is like a bullet to the chest. The characterisation and the atmospheric and nightmarish landscape really does want to eat you whole. This is my first discovery of the writing of TC Parker & Ward Nerdlo but I’m going to read both authors’ back catalogue as soon as I can. The raw veracity of the storyline and the strength of the characterisation reminds me both of Barker and King with some Ketchum thrown in for good measure. It’s a writing duo that will leave a lasting impression on the brain. Gritty and dark, Maiden introduces us to characters that are both morally grey and ones that are shaped by…
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REVIEW – Found Shadows by P.T. Hylton
Finding Shadows was a book I had on my TBR for quite some time and I’m now kicking myself for leaving it so long. A story of trying to outrun past trauma’s but as we know you can only keep running for so long. After the kick-ass prologue, I kept turning the pages with such untamed veracity that I had consumed the story within a few hours. You see so many books trending and being shouted about on social media, but Finding Shadows is one of those rare gems, I’ve rarely seen anyone blog about it but every horror lover needs to find time for this compulsive Firestarter. I was…
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REVIEW – The Church of Freyr & Other Dark Tales by Duncan Thompson
The Church of Freyr & Other Dark Tales brings about the return of The Master of Menace, Duncan Thompson. Just like his other works the trip into his imagination is a bumpy one! He warms us up with the triple threat of three short stories before screwing us with the main event. Cage Roberts is a flawed character that is plagued by the wrongdoings of his life. A semi-successful author with two beautiful children. He could have had it all if it weren’t for his unfaithful dalliances with the opposite sex. His ex-wife, Julie tried to overlook them, she even suggested moving away so that Cage could attempt to escape…
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REVIEW: My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
My Heart is a Chainsaw is the latest release from Stephen Graham Jones and it brought me straight out of a reading funk. It’s a story that projected me back to the golden age of horror and opened up a new area in my brain – the area where all evil lurks, the knowledge about different slashers and killers coming to the fray. Jones should be protected, his novels are full of heartache, angst, and gore, I don’t think he can write a bad novel and I’m quite happy to die on that mountain. “Horror’s not a symptom, it’s a love affair.” My Heart is a Chainsaw is a love…
