The Leaping by Tom Fletcher

The Leaping by Tom Fletcher
Published by: Quercus
439 pages (c) 2010
Review based on UK edition

I first heard about this book on a Facebook group, British Horror Novels. I heard it was about werewolves (a favourite of mine. My first novel was about werewolves--more lycanthropy of the mind than changing...until the end) and I was keen to try a British werewolf story as opposed to the US band I’ve been enjoying.

The leaping is an engrossing book, but I wouldn’t really class it as horror, though it does have all the lovely trappings of a horror novel: a Lord of Hell, werewolves, people attacked and eaten, blood, guts, intestines, a sinister game, ghosts and a violin. It also has: strong characters, drama, friendship, loss, heartbreak and torment.

The book is told in first person by two characters: Jack and Francis (although the book is opened by Erin, for reasons I can’t understand). They are friends that share a house with three others; Graham (your typical hardcore partier, Erin and Taylor (who become a couple). They all work in a call centre and hate their job and supervisor, a sicko by the name of Kenny (kudos on creating this character, he came off very well).

Francis is a complex character who worries about everything, mainly cancer and all the ways of catching it. His father has cancer of the throat and that compounds his fears. He has it, he is sure of that fact and he worries about his flatmates. Jack is your normal everyday guy with a fascination about the history or truth behind lore. Then he meets Jennifer. She is everything he’s wanted in a person. But unfortunately for him, she doesn’t believe in belonging to anyone or having one mate for life. She comes across as a new-age/hippy chick who believes in free love.

It takes a long time for the story to really get going. A very long time, like over 200 pages. But the build up and small hints really enhance the characters and give them a life and a reason for the actions performed. Graham needed a better send off (there wasn’t one, he was just dead). Think of Graham as the hunter with the axe in Little Red Riding Hood.

There are many characters in this book but it is fairly easy to keep track of them. I think only having two characters tell the story works wonders and keeps the reader interested. The many threads in this story is what keeps it going, but the main theme is the party that is thrown for Jack at Fell House—deep in the mountains. It is here that the story kicks into third gear. It’s the time of the Leaping. Werewolves abound. Jennifer kidnapped. Francis is bitten. Graham grabs the axe. The lord of Hell is here with his violin. The time is upon them. The night is long.

82%

 

Horns by Joe Hill

Horns by Joe Hill 

Hardcover: 384 pages 

Publisher: William Morrow; First edition. edition (February 16, 2010) 

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 0061147958 ISBN-13: 978-0061147951 

  Review based on US version ordered from Amazon. 

Ig is a tortured man. The only girl he has loved just dumped him. That night she is raped and murdered and everyone thinks he did it. And the only proof that could save him was destroyed in a fire. One year later, Ig is still suffering the loss of his teenage love. He’s moved in with the town skank, they don’t love each other—but what the hell. 

 Last night he went out on the piss and got totally slammed. He wakes up the next morning with no memory of what happened and a pair of horns on his head. The horns are awesome and horrifying at the same time and they have a special power of people who see them (which is everyone), people can’t help but tell him their deepest, darkest thoughts: what they think of him and what they want to do. 

 Some of the things he learns are deeply disturbing. 

I won’t mention them in this review, but they are good. As is part one of this book. It starts off at a fair clip, letting us get to know characters through interaction and Ig’s thoughts. They story is moving at a good clip and I can barely put it down. 

Then part on ends—suddenly—and we are thrust into Ig’a childhood. Bloody hell, talk about a screeching halt. Massive back story follows. Then we get back to the horned Ig. Excitement resumes but not with the same power as before. 

Throughout the story there are massive flashbacks that need decent section breaks or italics or something as I got lost a couple of times and found it very easy to put the book down. I kept hearing this was a revenge story, but not really. To me it come across as a thinly disguised love drama story. Nothing more. Nothing less. 49%. The movie was just as bad. 

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%