Logging off by Caitlin McKenna

Logging Off Caitlin McKenna 

Virtual BookWorm 

ISBN: 1589399188 (from her website) 

In 2095, every facet of society runs perfectly by computers and advanced technology. Citizens like Britannia Stone conduct their lives effortlessly with a genetically embedded barcode linked to Central, the world government. 

But this easy lifestyle, one without economical hardships, crime and disease, comes with a price - the freedom of choice. Now world citizens are beginning to mysteriously disappear. 

John Ettinger, a society inactive and member of the underground group called the Starters, knows the reason why. With the help of Kendall Knowlton, a highly-gifted psychic child, it becomes a race against time as Britannia and John join forces before they are next to disappear. They must stay alive long enough to reach Central's mainframe and destroy the enemy before the enemy destroys all of mankind. 

It is weird to see someone like Caitlin McKenna self publishing a book. With all her movie and TV credits you’d think a publisher would jump on the opportunity to do this book, but she went the independent route. And that’s why I picked up this book in a second hand store while on holiday in Japan. I wasn’t sure if I should fork out the money for this title as I do recognize the name but I loathe Lost. Possibly the worst show in the world (everyone at work raved about it, talked about and discussed possible plot turns/reasons, etc)—but I digress. 

 As far as Syfy goes, this is an excellent book. 

The plot moves fast, the POV is (unfortunately) all over the place—head hopping takes a bit to get used to, though in this book each character is clearly mentioned and it is easy to follow. The ideas are rusty and used before but Caitlin uses it as a backdrop to the plot, not part of it. The ending was stretched out. There were lines where I cringed (these are few and far between), example: She screamed in terror. He cried out in pain. The love interest formed too quickly, but I think Caitlin was going for the “love at first sight” concept. 

The characters are well formed and following their trials were easy. 

 This was a pleasant surprise and I finished it on the plane home. 79%

Gideon by Russel Andrews

Gideon
Russell Andrews
Warner Books
ISBN: 0751528900
©2000 Review of second edition

A struggling writer, Carl Granville, gets the opportunity of a lifetime. An editor offers to publish his books if he writes one special book for her. He has ghost written before and so (naturally) he accepts the project. There are stipulations and at first he finds them weird but gets used to them. He has a very limited time to get the book done. It’s time sensitive.

On the day he accepts, a new girl moved into the apartment above him and he helps her get a large seat into her apartment. They form a relationship.

Harry –one of the stipulations—watches him writing. He never speaks. He is there to ensure Carl works and that Carl copies none of the information handed to him in the form of a diary. He is allowed to make notes only.

He is part way through the book when the editor is killed.
Harry doesn’t show up at his apartment.
Carl’s laptop is stolen.
His new girlfriend is killed.
He is the suspect for both murders.
There is no proof of his assignment, no records.
He flees, determined to find out who is behind this and clear his name. The only person who can help him is his ex, a reporter for a major newspaper.


The book is a good and fast read. The many plots interweave into one hell of a story, though I feel it is a little over-written. Sometimes, there is too much detail and some clues he gets seem to be just plan lucky when they pan out.

I found I didn’t like Carl very much, nor his ex. Harry, I liked.

Overall, the story is good and entertaining. It is a thriller that ranks up there with thrillers of today and well worth the investment.

71%

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum Leisure Books version 2008

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum starts off wonderfully: You think you know about pain? That's a kicker of a first sentence. Yes, this book is based on a true story and that is what makes it all the more horrifying. The book focuses on David and his experiences. The story is told from the POV of David and relayed as he is writing it down, though he has no intention of showing his soon to be third wife. Davi is 41 now and the events that shaped his life happened back in 1958, when Ruth, Donny and Willie meet Meg Loughlin and her sister Susan.

Admitidly I bought this book after seeing the preview for the movie, which I intend to buy, not because I think the book was fantastic but because I would like to see the movie version. The book itself is not so fantastic, it lolls around a lot and has too much inner termoil and it seemed to take a long time to get into the story fully and some things seemed a little unrealistic -- yet it is based on true events, so I guess there are people out there like Ruth, people tilting on the edge on insanity.

Jack Ketchum is an excellent writer and cn weave an awesome story with full back stories and totally engaging. I own another of his books which I enjoyed more: The Lost and have ordered Red for further enjoyment. The Girl Next Door is unfortunatly a let down.

On the front cover, Stephen King says: The Girl Next Door is alive. It does not just promise terror, but actually delivers it. I wonder if we were reading the same book?

On a side note: my wife totally loved the book.

The Lost by Jack Ketchum

The Lost
Jack Ketchum
(c)2001
Leisure Edition 2008
Pages: 394

I've heard a lot about Jack Ketchum (especially recently), even discovered he has a couple of movies out. My only experience reading Jack is in the book Triage with Richard Laymon (the reason I bought the book) and Edward Lee.

The other day I saw a youtube clip on his movie, The Girl Next Door. Now THAT is a movie I want to see, but I like to read the book first. So, I jumped online to goodbooksnz and went hunting and ordered The Girl Next Door and The Lost. My wife read TGND and I read The Lost.

The story starts off nice and hard with a double murder and described in detail. The story then jumps four years and we get to learn all about Ray (the killer) and his friends. Best friend Tim and Jennifer (sex buddy more than anything). I didn't like the skanky ho by the end of the book. Why? Because she was described so real. We all know people like her and Tim and Ray (I do or I did), and what she does to Tim sucks big time.

Ray likes to fuck and everyone he wants -- he gets with (while Jennifer stands back and waits for him to come back to her. He always does). His mother runs a motel and Ray has the room at the back of the complex. he is assistant manager and one day, Sally Richmond comes to work for them. On her first day he hits on her and is rejected. That pisses him off. Ray has a short temper, but he holds it at bay.

Sally (18) is dating ex-cop Ed Anderson (52), she tells him where she is working and Ed gets his cop friend to pay her a visit and warn her about the assistant manager, Ray. This happens before Ray hits on her. Later he meets her at a parking lot and tries to impress her with a book he's never read but heard college students like it. She doesn't and embarrasses him in public. This infuriates him, he grabs her arm but the place is busy so he lets her go. Thinking he'll get hte bitch later.

Then he meets Katherine. On a date with her, he thinks he's meet the perfect person for him. She gets him to help her steal some free beer, drink in NY and not pay and on their second date, tries grant theift auto, but the car is locked. Ray takes her to the lake where he shot the two girls and they get it on.

Ray is totally into her.

A week later, she dumps him. On the same day, Jennifer shows up and dumps him forever and tells him she's doing Tim.

Ray goes off the deep end.

The Lost is a fantastic story looking closely at friendship, small town life, and the mind of a killer going off the deep end. There were parts I wish I had skipped, these were dreams that seemed unrelated to the story and I don't understand what they were doing there. I didn't find the violence I was led to believe (via critics -- have I not learnt yet? Never listen to critics).

This book is suspense more than horror and I think it is wrong to class it as horror. As an introduction to Jack Ketchum's writing style and skill at weaving complex characters and building a solid, believable, story--it was a good choice.

77%

Crimson by Gord Rollo

Crimson by Gord Rollo
Published by Leisure Fiction
(c)2009, March
326 pages

Crimson is a basic horror story in setting. We have four friends (like Stand by me-sk) and we have an evil (reminds me of It-sk); but that is pretty much where the similarities end.

The book opens with a man walking home after visiting his neighbour with an axe. He walks home, his family already done and gone, bar the baby who is crying. He cleans up the child, feeds it and when the baby is asleep he bakes her and then hangs himself.

Wow! What an opening. We are then introduced to the main characters of the story delivered in an interesting style going from third person to first person telling a tale in third person. This allows him liberty to inject omnipresent views or second person POV.

Building the characters and setting the scene runs at a steady pace. While looking for a clubroom, they discover a buried room and naturally open it and investigate, awaking the evil inside (whom they believe to be Old Man Harrison, the dude who baked his baby).

Angered at having been awakened, the beast tells them there is a price to pay for disturbing his rest. And pay they will.

Then the story jumps several years and pretty much drags on leading to an exciting end.

I'm in two minds about this book. In a way, I like it and in another I found parts of it way too long. Many of the sentences put me off:

David cried out in fear. He cried out in agony.

The book didn't have a lot of show but I think it was written that way. And the story worked in this vein.

72%

You Play, You Pay by B. L. Morgan

You Play, You Pay by B. L. Morgan
StoneGarden Publishing
ISBN: 1-60076-140-2
204 pages
(c) July 2009


I have read all of Bob's work. I have known this talented writer since 2001 (or was it 2000?) and was stoked to get a copy of his latest book: You Play, You Pay, in the post and I devoured it in to sittings (damn job lol).

I have one word for you: Fantastic.

This book is extremely readable and based on the premise of everyone's wish to find a bag filled with money. And Sheriff Hector O'Grady has done just that. He is thinking of his financial future after retiring and he knows that a cops retirement fund is not going to support him and his wife. Even now they are just getting by with two kids to feed and mortgage to pay.

Unfortunately, the money does belong to someone and that someone is a person you don't mess with and three men are sent out to find that money and get it back, regardless of the cost.

It is Hector who pays the greatest cost.

You'll fly through this book as the plot and characters carry forward from one page to the next. It is a short book and I really would have loved to see more.

Bob knows how to tell a tale and he spins the web so thick, one can't escape until the last page.

89%

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
St Martin's Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-38285-8
ISBH-10: 0-312-38285-8
421 pages


This is the first Jonathan Maberry book I have read, though I've known of him a long time. I discovered him over at the Masters of Horror social site. I ordered Patient Zero for two solid reasons.

The first: It sounded like a zombie book, and I like zombies.
The second: It sounded like a zombie book, and I like zombies.

And yes, this is a zombie novel. The story is about Joe ledger, a cop who is recruited into a secret organisation called The Department of Military Science (DMS). They fight terrorists who are trying to release a new virus that turns people into zombies.

Joe is a smart-ass detective and is not interested at first, so Mr. Church has to find some leverage to get Joe to join them and lead a small team into the jaws of hell. They find that leverage in the form of Joe's close friend and shrink: Rudy.

Joe has a team of five and during their first training together, they get called out and attack a warehouse, where zombies are getting ready to feast on children, or infect them and send the blighters home. (That part is not clear.)


The book is told in first person when we read of Joe Ledger, and told in third person with all other characters. I believe Jonathan is far better at third person as I didn't really get into Joe's character, I found him clichéd and in need of an injection of life, a spark of something that was missing through out the book. I liked the terrorist, Gault, more than Joe. This character leapt from the pages.

I also found interest in this book waning as it seemed to take forever to get to the zombies. There was a LOT of explaining going on to entice Joe into the fold and it was told in a boring manner. Personally I didn't think all those details needed to be told. I know it was added to give flair and explain how the zombie virus worked, but for me, nope. I found myself skipping paragraphs and waiting to reach the end of the chapter and many chapters are really short.

When we finally got to the action, the first person POV killed the scene. Some parts were over-explained and others were not.

This book did not do it for me.

57%