horror

Review: Double Barrel Horror: Highway Horror / Motel Madness

~ megs14malloy

Double Barrel Horror: Highway Hunger / Motel MadnessDouble Barrel Horror: Highway Hunger / Motel Madness by Calvin Demmer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars rounded up**

Double Barrel Horror: Highway Hunger / Motel Madness is a pairing of two short-stories penned by the enormously talented, Calvin Demmer.

Earlier this year, these two stories were included in a Horror Anthology, but have since been released on their own for your Spooky Season pleasure!

As you are soaking up all things Halloween, why not grab a super-short, super-intense, super-creepy, short-read.

Perfect for all those readathons y’all know you’re taking part in this month.

Demmer has an uncanny ability to illicit true dread within an extraordinarily short number of pages. I have never seen anyone do it better.

The first story has a modern Lovecraftian vibe, while the second made me desperately want to rewatch Beetlejuice.

Take from that what you will. With all this being said, not only do I recommend this double dose of horror, I also highly recommend you check out his other works.

I absolutely loved both The Sea Was a Fair Master and Dark Celebrations and I think you will too!!!

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Review: Revival by Stephen King

~ megs14malloy

RevivalRevival by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In 1962, while playing in his yard, 6-year old, Jamie Morton, suddenly has a shadow fall upon him. He looks up to find a statuesque man in church garb standing over him.

The man introduces himself as Charles Jacobs, he’s the new reverend, just arrived in town.

Jacobs, the Rev, is young, vibrant and successful at filling pews; breathing life back into the somewhat stale local church.

He also develops strong relationships with a lot of the young people, Jamie included, who actually is a favorite of sorts for Jacobs.

After an unexpected tragedy strikes, Jacobs is prompted to move on. That’s not the last time Jamie will come across him however; not by a long shot.

From there the narrative progresses with a classic coming-of-age feel and ultimately, ends up spanning five decades.

We follow Jamie as he discovers his gift for music, finds first love, moves from home, struggles with addiction and encounters Jacobs again and again.

Jacobs is the shadow that falls over his entire life.

I didn’t come up with that. That’s from the book, but definitely captures Jacobs presence in this story.

I loved the way King built this one up and progressed the narrative. As Jamie begins to realize the depths to which Jacobs has gone with his electrical obsession, and subsequent pursuit of its potential healing powers, the intensity continues to grow and grow and grow.

The interactions between Jamie and Jacobs begin to feel more dangerous every time they meet.

Jacobs electrical work and experiments were so interesting, but most interesting of all to me, were his healings. The revival-tent displays of power. It had a real mad scientist energy that had me more charged than Frankenstein’s monster.

Revival is a stunning example of King’s status as master storyteller.

From beginning to end, I was entranced. There is so much substance to be found within these pages; so many lines I wish I could recall at will. It’s exceptional. I feel like I will carry this story with me for a long time to come.

The ending is horrifying. Emotionally, philosophically, theologically; there’s a lot to unpack.

We’re talking full blown existential crisis upon reading the last 40-or so pages. I would love to read this again and annotate it. I definitely think it is worthy of that care.

Thank you to all my Constant Reader friends who finally pushed me to pick this one up. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

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Review: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

~ megs14malloy

The TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars rounded up**

Okay, I know, I know. This isn’t a perfect book.

Luckily, I am not a critical reader. Therefore a book doesn’t need to be entirely perfect in order for me to love it.

I rate books based upon my reading experience and I absolutely loved my time rereading The Tommyknockers.

This SciFi-Horror novel, first published in 1987, is set in the small town of Haven, Maine.

One day while walking in the woods of her rather large property, local woman, Bobbi Anderson, quite literally stumbles upon a mysterious metal object protruding from the ground.

Unable to understand what she is seeing, Bobbi quickly becomes obsessed with freeing the object.

The longer she’s around it however, the more she begins to notice certain disturbing side effects suffered by both herself and her old dog, Peter.

Regardless of any strange happenings, Bobbi continues to feel the pull of the object in the woods.

Around the time Bobbi has developed this new obsession, her old friend, Jim Gardener, known as Gard, finds himself in the depths of a true alcoholic bender.

On a morning where he is moments from ending it all, Gard experiences an overwhelming feeling that Bobbi is in real danger; he needs to call her.

Unable to get through, he does what anyone would do. He hitchhikes to her house.

He finds Bobbi in a state of, shall we say, disrepair.

Bobbi gives Gard, her trusted friend, a run-down of all she has been up to; including showing him the object.

She enlists his help in her mission to free it. Although he has reservations, Gard loves Bobbi in his own way, and ultimately does decide to stick around and help her out.

From there, we meet the town of Haven. The other locals who have begun to feel the effects of the object’s greater exposure.

The fallout seems to be having an effect on the health and wellness of the entire town. Incidentally, it also has a significant effect on anyone passing through.

Written towards the end of the Cold War, at a time when discussions of nuclear weapons, power and nonproliferation evoked a lot of passion amongst people, that influence can be felt here.

The fact that I am using the word fallout, as an apt way to describe what was happening to the citizens of Haven, exemplifies that.

In addition to the social commentary, which I feel King is genuinely good at weaving into his stories, he also incorporates various other elements he seems to enjoy exploring.

There’s author protagonists, both Bobbi and Gard are writers, alcoholism, mental telepathy, revivalist preachers, dolls, rats, bats, creepy kids and a fantastic array of body horror. It really has it all.

Also, as usual, this story is full of witty humor and characters that are so well-developed you feel like you’ve known them your whole life.

As a Maine native, I can tell you this story is full of Mainerism, as well!

Overall, I had such a fun time sinking my teeth into this one again. I had forgotten so much.

Additionally, I picked up so many more connections to the great Kingverse than the first time around; having an additional 20-years to read his stories.

I think this one is underrated. Not just underrated, it gets a solidly bad rap.

However, I humbly disagree. I think if you love King, and love SciFi, you can love this book as well.

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Review: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

~ megs14malloy

The Hollow PlacesThe Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Hollow Places is super WEIRD and extremely well written. I just adore Kingfisher’s style.

I think it’s really hard to nail weird, yet she does it.

The humor and heart she is able to bring to her stories is absolutely top notch.

If you haven’t read anything by Kingfisher yet, this is a great place to start.

Okay, with the low-key fangirling out of the way, let’s get into the story, shall we?

Recently divorced, Kara, known as Carrot by her family and friends, returns to her beloved Uncle Earl’s Museum of Wonders to live, lick her wounds and help him out.

The museum, think smaller version of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, is her Uncle’s pride and joy.

He has spent years curating the various items, including a vast collection of taxidermy, and tends to it all with care and dedication.

Carrot’s favorite piece is an elk head, known as Prince, which her Uncle has now placed in her room above the bed to make her comfortable.

With Carrot around to help, Uncle Earl finally plans to have the knee surgeries he has been in desperate need of.

As he heads off to hospital, Carrot falls into a groove of running the museum on her own. Along with her cat, Beau, it begins to feel like a home.

She even kindles a friendship with the barista at the coffee shop next door, Simon.

After a tourist knocks a hole in the wall of the second floor of the museum, Carrot, definitely lacking the skills to repair such damage, enlists Simon’s help.

As they peer through the hole, Carrot and Simon discover more than they ever could have bargained for. A portal to another world.

As anyone would, they explore.

Narnia from hell. That’s what they find, Narnia from HELL!!!

Let’s call it the Willow World, scenes from which chilled me to the bone.

I refuse to tell you more, you will have to pick this one up and discover for yourself.

Kingfisher’s writing is so much fun. Her characters are hilarious. As frightening as this got, there were still many, many times when I laughed out loud.

One of my favorite things about her writing is how real her characters seem; and how likable. They also don’t magically turn into superheroes who can overcome all obstacles with grace and without breaking a sweat.

Carrot and Simon, although not helpless, were bumbling around trying to figure this out just like you or I would.

I mean, unless you know how to defeat mysterious monsters and close the portal to hell before it swallows your entire town.

Maybe you do, who am I to judge?

In summation, as you can clearly tell, I want you to read this book.

I loved this book and if you are into weird and scary things, I think you will too!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Gallery Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I truly appreciate it.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it didn’t disappoint for a second. I will read ANYTHING Kingfisher writes.

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Review: Misfits by Hunter Shea

~ megs14malloy

MisfitsMisfits by Hunter Shea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

In this gruesome tale, set in 1990s-Milbury, Connecticut, five teens, Mick, Marnie, Vent, Chuck and Heidi, discover some urban legends are very real and very deadly.

The friends are misfits, stoners, living on the edge of society, but luckily, they have learned to rely on one another and actually have a super tight-knit group.

One night, Heidi and Marnie decide to head to a local bar that is known to serve minors. They have no idea that one choice will forever change the course of their lives.

They’re just looking to have a few drinks, listen to music, blow off some steam and maybe flirt with some guys. When Marnie sees her ex-boyfriend’s father there, she doesn’t think too much of it.

It’s strange he goes to a place frequented by people so young, but he’s harmless, or so she believes.

When he follows her out to the alley, she quickly realizes how wrong she is. He brutally beats, rapes her and leaves her bleeding out on the ground like a piece of trash.

By the time Heidi discovers her and what has happened, Marnie is barely alive. Heidi manages to get her out of there and to their friends for help.

Marnie refuses to tell authorities, or seek treatment, even though it is clear she is severely injured. The rest of the group agrees to go along with Marnie’s wishes. The last thing they want is for her to have to tell what happened to her if she is not comfortable doing so.

They know who did it. Marnie remembers and told them. She wants him to pay, as does everyone else in the group.

They are sick of taking everyone’s shit. It’s time for some vengeance. Even in her weakened state, Marnie is beyond ready to fight back.

The group hatches a plan to use the Melon Heads, a terrifying local legend, to make the rapist-POS pay. Mick insists he knows of a way to find the group of mutant cannibals, but is it legit?

From there stuff really gets crazy, but truly, this entire book is intense and I’ll say it, gross.

There were so many moments when I literally exclaimed, ewww, while reading. I can’t even tell you how many times.

Gruesome, disgusting descriptions and imagery pepper these pages. It was so fun!

I loved the way Shea formed the entire story around a local legend. Those scary stories we all hear as kids, how many of them are actually real?

There was a lot of action here as well, but some things were tough to read. I would definitely tread with caution if rape, sexual assault, or severe violence on page is triggering for you.

For me, although certain scenes were uncomfortable, they made sense in the overall narrative. It’s gory, fierce, violent as hell; in short, a complete bloody mess.

That’s what we’re here for. If you are looking for a brutal way to enter the spooky season, look no further. Misfits is it!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Flame Tree Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review.

I had such a fun time reading this. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way. Now Melon Heads are a new personal terror. Add them to the list!

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Review: Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

~ megs14malloy

Clown in a CornfieldClown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quinn Maybrook moves to Kettle Springs, Missouri, after her father accepts a position as the town’s General Practitioner.

He didn’t really ask for her opinion on the matter, but due to everything they have been through recently, Quinn is willing to forgive him. She just wants to see her Dad happy again.

And to be honest, Quinn is ready to leave Philadelphia as well. Since her Mom died, it’s just too tough to be there, to deal with everyone’s pitying looks.

When they arrive at their new home, the same home as the previous town doctor, they discover a dilapidated old farmhouse. Quinn can’t say she’s surprised. It’s even pretty much in the middle of a cornfield.

Cue the eerie atmosphere. Does anyone else find cornfields to be hella creepy?

No, just me?

Unpacking in her new room, Quinn gazes out over the expanse of fields surrounding them. She notices an abandoned factory in the distance.

There’s a mural painted on the side. It’s a giant clown face and the pervy skeeve seems to be staring right into her window.

She can’t believe this is her life now. It’s all surreal. This town seems like something straight out of a movie.

Attending school the following day, Quinn begins to get acquainted with the local kids. An over-the-top teacher having a temper tantrum, even kicks her out of his classroom on her first day. It’s a lot to process.

Because of this event, she ends up hanging out with some of the more popular kids in the school. They seem a little wild, but not all bad.

They end up inviting her to a party Founder’s Day weekend. What could go wrong?

Y’all, I had so much fun reading this. Clown in a Cornfield was EVERYTHING I was hoping it would be!

Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. It is the perfect book to read to transition into spooky season. It has all the Fall vibes and I was living for it!!!

Is this a perfect book? No, it’s not, but was it the perfect book for me?

Abso-freakin-lutely!!

Those of you who know me, you know that clowns are my biggest fear. I actually have never read a book with clowns in it.

Not even It.

It’s true. I knew after seeing this around and reading the synopsis, that I wanted to give it a try.

I am so happy I went outside my comfort zone and picked this one up. It truly had everything I love in a Teen Scream, which incidentally is one of my favorite subgenres of Horror.

Clown in a Cornfield features the new girl trope, the final girl trope, kids behaving badly, corrupt town officials, an ominous atmosphere, a huge teen party, biting social commentary, a cleverly positioned ending, and plenty of jumps along the way!

This is just pure fun on the page. It’s a must read for the Fall!!! Don’t miss out, Frendo will be mad if you do.

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Review: The House That Fell From the Sky by Patrick Delaney

~ megs14malloy

The House That Fell From The SkyThe House That Fell From The Sky by Patrick R. Delaney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Scarlett Vantassel is at a crossroads.

At 29-years old, after a recent break-up, she has returned to her hometown, moved in with her father and brother and resumed working at a dead-end job.

Needless to say, for a girl who once dreamed of greatness, things are not going as planned.

Even her popular YouTube channel, has lost its glow for her. Sinister Scarlett’s spark is gone.

On the night that she is set to film her farewell vlog, something truly insane happens, which interrupts her filming.

Just as she starts recording her swan song, there is a grand disturbance in Winterview City, where she lives.

It affects the power and can be felt in the air. Immediately setting off to investigate, Scarlett never does return to filming.

Once the dust settles, the city discovers an enormous gothic mansion has suddenly appeared in the downtown area. No one can explain it. Where did it come from?

The media dubs it, The House that Fell from the Sky.

Eventually a mysterious organization, Crow Corp, is somehow allowed to take ownership of the property.

And as you do, when you gain a creepy gothic mansion, you host a horrifying contest. If someone can survive one night in the house, which is clearly haunted, they win a million dollars.

Also, as you do, you select your contestants via lottery. I mean, it worked for Willy Wonka.

Before you get to all that however, there is a lot of build-up.

We follow Scarlett, her brother, Tommy, his ex-girlfriend, Hannah, and Scarlett’s best friend, Jackson, as they contemplate their lives, their friendships and the secret of the house.

We get the history of their relationships, what has caused them to be strained now and their own personal desires to discover the truth behind The House that Fell from the Sky.

The character with the biggest drive to get into the house is Hannah. She believes the house holds the secret to life after death, and even that she may be able to find her recently deceased mother within the walls.

Coming in at over 500-pages, this novel really leaves no stone unturned.

While I believe it could have been edited down, and certain areas tightened up, I did find the premise behind this extremely intriguing.

If I had my way, I would have had either Tommy or Jackson be the main protagonist and I also would have had the entire friend group be around the age of 21. That’s the age they seemed, although their stated ages were closer to 30.

I also found both Tommy and Jackson more believable heroes than Scarlett, and don’t get me started on Hannah. Frankly, I’m not sure why anyone was friends with her.

Their time in the house was intriguing. It was sort of a Lovecraftian-Overlook Hotel, run by Willy Wonka on acid.

If that doesn’t have you lifting your brows, I don’t know what will!?

One of the aspects I enjoyed the most about the friend’s time in the mansion was the cyclical nature of it. They would experience a bunch of horrifying things, then it was like someone hit a reset button and they would start all over again.

This thought of a never-ending trap makes me extremely agitated; like a hallway that never ends. That really freaks me out.

And while they were stuck, with no sense of time, the events and surroundings were actually continually changing. They continued to face new monsters and challenges while their sanity was pushed to the brink.

Even though I had fun reading these sections, I did feel like it was a bit more fever dream quality than I would have preferred. There was so much, it was almost too much.

With all of this being said, this is a good book and an ambitious debut.

The author, Patrick Delaney, is clearly wildly creative and I know as his career progresses, his material will continue to get stronger and stronger.

I for one, will be along for the journey. Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Oblivion Publishing, as well as the author, Patrick Delaney, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I truly appreciate it!!

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Review: Dark Celebrations by Calvin Demmer

~ megs14malloy

Dark CelebrationsDark Celebrations by Calvin Demmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dark Celebrations includes 12-short stories from one of my favorite Horror authors, Calvin Demmer.

Each of these tales is centered around a particular celebration or holiday around the world, which I felt was such a creative way to structure a short-story collection.

This book absolutely has something for everyone. Moving through, I couldn’t help but think this was a pure monster mash at its finest!

You have everything in here: zombies and vampires and mummies…

No matter what your favorite creature feature, you will find something to sink your teeth into.

Demmer’s writing is hella dark and quirky. The way he can set a tone and pack a punch within such a short number of pages just astounds me.

And, good news, after you pick up this stellar collection, you can then dive into The Sea Was a Fair Master, my favorite collection of 2018.

Basically, you have a lot of good reading ahead of you!

Thank you so much to the author, Calvin Demmer, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. If you know me, you know this has in no way swayed my review.

Demmer is so fire. That’s all there is too it. I look forward to picking up anything he writes!

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Review: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

~ megs14malloy

Mexican GothicMexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

When Neomi Taboada’s father asks her to go check on her recently married cousin, Catalina, she really doesn’t want to. Why her? She’s got so much going on in the city.

Catalina currently resides at a remote manor home, known as High Place, with her husband, Virgil’s, family.

As posh as that sounds, according to Catalina’s desperate letters, the home is a desolate wasteland where she is currently very unwell, or else is in incredible danger.

Neomi’s father urges her to go and check on Catalina’s health and living conditions. When urging doesn’t work, he bribes her.

Neomi wants nothing more than to attend University, so that’s exactly the carrot he dangles in front of her.

Before you know it, Neomi is packing her bag and heading to High Place.

Once there, Neomi immediately feels at odds with Virgil’s stuffy, overly proper family. She is a modern, society-girl, who is used to having her own way, or at least being able to have a conversation over dinner.

In addition to the regimented, claustrophobic feel of the house itself, Neomi begins feeling spooked out by her surroundings and dreaming frightening things. Something is definitely going on here.

Her interactions with Virgil and his family get more disturbing as the days go by, until Neomi doesn’t fear just for Catalina’s well-being, but also her own.

Y’all, I was highly anticipating this novel. I have really enjoyed previous works from Moreno-Garcia and the gothic vibes of this are totally my jam.

While there is no denying that Moreno-Garcia’s writing is lush and captivating, something about the pace of this was off for me.

The premise is super intriguing, the atmosphere was top notch, but for me, the characters were not as well developed as I would of liked. I feel like I should have been attached to Neomi, but I just wasn’t.

The horror elements were interesting. I found the ideas behind that aspect intriguing for sure.

There were also scenes that legit grossed me out. I may even have gagged once or twice. I am telling you, Uncle Howard. The descriptions. I had to take a shower after.

Overall, this is a good book, bordering on really good for me. I think if this pace wasn’t so variant from lull to extreme intensity, I could have enjoyed it more.

I hope that Moreno-Garcia continues in this lane though. This gothic horror is fantastic for her writing style. I’m on board for anything else she writes, believe that.

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Review: Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

~ megs14malloy

Night of the MannequinsNight of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Delightfully brutal and mentally horrific.

Jumping into this Stephen Graham Jones novella, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

To be honest, I never even read the synopsis. I see his name and immediately pick books up. It’s a compulsion.

Night of the Mannequins follows Sawyer and his group of childhood friends when a prank goes horribly wrong.

Disguising a discarded mall mannequin as a patron at the local movie theater seemed like the perfect way to get back at the stuffy assistant manager, who happened to recently punish the friend group for sneaking into a movie unpaid.

What starts off as a fairly innocent prank, however, turns more deadly than this group of teens could have ever imagined and it seems Sawyer is the only one with a plan to limit the destruction.

First, let me just swoon for a bit over how much I love SGJ’s writing. I promise not to let it go on for too long.

The style is edgy AF, yet feels like classic horror all the same. I love the humor and witty dialogue that he is able to bring to such dark tales.

Also, his books always go there, all the way to the deepest, darkest crevices of the human mind. It’s weird. It’s powerful. It’s freaking disturbing.

With this being said, I was really into this novella, loving everything about it until about the 70% mark.

Then I started feeling lost. While I understand the ending, some of the choices of events leading up to the ending didn’t seem to fit. It made the ending seem a little abrupt and disjointed for me.

Overall though, this novella is fantastic. You cannot deny the level of creativity it takes to write a story like this.

One that leads you in one direction, flips that on its head and then smacks you in the face with a healthy dose of depressing reality.

Sawyer is a very special protagonist. One whose inner thoughts will stick with me for a while.

I would highly recommend this to any horror fan or any person who just enjoys a bizarre tale.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review.

I was really looking forward to more SGJ and this did NOT disappoint!

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