Nightmare by Stephen Leather

This is a new kind of review: One of my first green screen attempts. 
this is a review of a favourite series I read. So far there are seven books, I am waiting for the eighth. 

Edited using Corel Video Studio v12 (looking for newer software that won't break the bank. I'm not into hardcore videoing) 
Recorded on a JVC camcorder.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Yet again another massive book. Amy appears at the beginning for a very short time and then disappears for several hundred pages and Cronin takes us to our favorite heroes from the previous book. This tale is better than the first and is more bloodthirsty than the first as well.

In this book The Twelve have evolved and they have a vision for the future. The extinction of Man is no longer in the cards. And it is up to our heroes to vanquish them. Meanwhile Amy is undergoing a change of her own.

The ending sucks in this book. After 588 pages I felt kind of cheated. All in all, this is a good long tale and a world easy to get sucked into. Let's see what book three brings.

68%  

Fallen Angel by John Ling

Fallen Angel by John Ling
Kia Kaha Press NZ
Kindle version

I got a copy of this thanks to the author, John Ling. This novella is a prequel and sidequel to his novel, The Blasphemer (which was excellent). This tale involves Kendra Shaw, recently returned from fighting in Baghdad and she is struggling to adjust to normal life. Feeling she has finally gotten kind of a grip on the situation she sees her ex-lover walking along the street. She left him 10 years ago to serve her country. She wants to run up to him but decides to let things be. Then she notices three black ops hovering nearby. Affiliation unknown. Intentions unknown. So she follows and the results are a rip roaring spin through Auckland, a lot of gunshots and a plot fit to today's world.

John Ling again succeeds in driving a thrilling tale at breakneck speed. One quibble (but not a biggie as it is only used twice) is the word "that" being used following Roger i.e. "Roger that." Having worked for airport security at the Airport and trained by an ex-army officer, he informed us 'newbies' to never use that after roger. "Copy that" is perfectly fine. 

Pick this up at Amazon, you won't be disappointed. Then get The Blasphemer (review here).

4 out of 5 stars

Alice in Deadland by Mainak Dhar

Alice in Deadland
Mainak Dhar
(self published?)
224 pages


I bought this on a whim, seeing that it was a #1 bestseller as a Kindle read and the title grabbed my attention, Alice in Deadland. I bought the paperback (reading on the phone can be quite tiresome sometimes).

Alice is interesting and the story pays slight homage to the original. It is a zombie book and interesting as hell. Alice is a 15 year old girl with blond hair in India. She lives in the deadland where those that want to live free and away from Zeus (the military trying to take control of India with masterminds in China and other 1% wealthy of the world) and survive on their own. 

The story starts off at a quick pace and using the woes of international incidents these days makes a plausible reason for the end of days and the escape from infected cities. There is a new unexpected twist with zombies and a zombie queen (a woman infected but only partly turned).

Alice is tough throughout the book but when she becomes the leader of 2000 people she starts having doubts, but she pulls through. The change of a tough 15 year old girls into the fighting machine she becomes is staged step by step though hardcore action. There were parts where I turned the pages so fast, I'm surprised the book didn't catch fire.

4 out of 5 stars
 

Midnight by Stephen Leather

Midnight
Stephen Leather
473 Pages Paperback edition
Published by Hodder


Stephen Leather hooked me with Nightfall, the first of the Nightingale supernatural thrillers. And book 2: The Search for his sister did not disappoint. We faced a known demon from Hell, there were many references to Nightfall (so read that book first) and we discovered a baby eating Satanist and two new kick-arse demons. Awesome.

In this book Nightingale must make a deal with a demon called Proserpine where each question answered she will send one killer after him. He gets the answer for three questions. We don't know what these questions are until much later. After finding his sister and tricking two high ranking demons and two serial killers, the third killer almost gets him. But there's a twist (of course).

I am confused by Jenny's character in this book. In the first it is hinted that they'd get together and she seems like a decent enough assistant and there's a lot of comedy between them, but she comes across often pissed off in this book, especially with Nightingale's sister (considering who she is) and when we reach the conclusion she bitching about the deal that was brokered.

One complaint I have for this book is the dinner party and shooting the next day. I understand why it was added as it casts a weary eye on a few characters, but still, were so many pages needed or were they filler? I did like Nightingale's talk with God.



4 out of 5 stars
  

The Dreaming Field by Ron Savage

The Dreaming Field
(c)2013 Ron Savage
Published by DarkFuse
319 pages
Review based on paperback version.


This is my first venture into DarkFuse books and I discovered Ron Savages' The Dreaming Field, a very interesting tale of good and evil. Two boys from very different backgrounds are given gifts from different angels. The tale spans about 30 years, as one child rises in government and the other as an artist. At times, the angels appear to the boys as they grow up, bar one that loses track of time and the child grows up alone and near crazy. his parents try to help but his gift is like a curse.

It was a fast read of a book that seems to take on a lot more than it's size can handle and in doing so makes the ending kind of abrupt and hard to follow. There are some well executed ideas in this book, and you won't be asking for a refund. However a longer book would have built up the lives of the main charters a tad more fully, naturally extended the ending.

This is a horror novel but more along the lines of soft horror, tho there are a few scenes of (my words): "Neat-oh", and for the price, you get your money's worth.Be warned, the story does jump around a lot and i got lost a couple of times at the beginning, then you adjust to the jumping and the characters flesh out a lot more.

3 out of 5

Nightfall by Stephen Leather

Nightfall by Stephen Leather
Hodder and Stoughton
Uncorrcted Proof copy
369 pages

I got this book working at a bookstore in Wellington. It was supplied from a publisher looking to intrigue book sellers to order many copies (I guess). I never got around to reading it until last week (3 years after it was handed to me to read and review lol). Stephen Leather has 3 more books in this series available now. For me, this is good news. 

Let me explain: Nightfall was a good book. It is also a horror novel. It involves demons, devils, Satanists and an ex police negotiator. Jack Nightingale is hearing people tell him he is going to hell. Then he discovers he was adopted at birth and has a sister somewhere and that both of their souls were sold before they were born.

It is an excellent read. The story moved along at a good pace and we have characters we expect to encounter in such a novel. How awesome is that? Very.

I ripped through this book in a week (I'm a slow reader) and other fans to supernatural novels will find everything they expect and more. Nightfall is the first in a series. The second book is Midnight and a third and fourth are available. I have ordered Midnight.

If you like deals with a devil and a man trying to find answers and only encounters the recently dead, then you will like this book. The ending was predictable and that's alright, because the rest of the novel was great.  

4 out of 5 stars from me.