The Snuff Syndicate by Keith Gouveia

The Snuff Syndicate by Keith Gouveia
Beating Windward Press LLC
Paperback 193 pages
Copyright 2012

The back of this book tells us that it is about serial killers and an online forum they use to tell their tales. Sounds awesome, right? But it doesn't come across the way it is billed.

Keith Gouveia has had a brilliant idea (I had a similar thought last year regarding Cthulhu tales). He has written the base of a novella, the spine and ribcage. And he has 8 authors write stories to add arms, legs, and meat. And every single story bar one, are awesome, and I like how Keith uses characters mentioned in the stories as his base tale progresses.

All tales are about serial killers.
All involve murder, gory and unabashed. 
All the tales are linked by Keith Gouveia's story.

I enjoyed the tales but as with every collection (linked or not) there are a few that stand out:
Hackwork, Tipping the odds, Snuffingly Yours, and NSFW kicked major butt.

Keith Gouveia has put together a great collection with a solid base story, that is, in itself, a more than decent addition to the rest.

You won't be disappointed shelling out a few dollars on this.

Meat by Joseph D'Lacey

Meat by Joseph D'Lacey
Bloody Books UK
Paperback: 343 pages


I've read Joseph before and enjoyed his novella (I think it was Kill Crew--don't quote me on that); it was an exciting and tense read, it is reviewed here on this site somewhere.

Meat is the story of a town called Abyrne where meat is the answer to everything. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, everyone eats meat. The innards of the cattle gives power to the city. There are two major powers in the city: Parsons of Welfare (religious group) they have a lot of power and then there is: Magnus who controls the meat. Throw in, John Collins, the leader of a group of vegetarians, and a man nicknamed Ice Pick and a milker who falls in love/lust for one of his cows and you have the ingredients of an explosive novel.

That failed. Sorry. I think D'Lacey tried to put too much into the story, I got lost and there seems to be an awful lot of padding (more than character building), things were not all that clear (cattle don't have palms to my knowledge and I thought perhaps the cattle were actually humans, but that didn't seem to be the case. Things happened for reasons that were not fully explained and just kind of happen out of the blue (build up here would have been nice, especially one part of the storyline). It is a slow moving story that builds up as characters are introduced and the plot moves along.

This book didn't resonate with me. Maybe the message behind the story did not interest me.
From Amazon about the author: Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer, D'Lacey is best known for his shocking eco-horror novel MEAT. The book has been widely translated and prompted Stephen King to say "Joseph D'Lacey rocks!".

And judging by the reviews on Amazon, I obviously didn't get it.
I simply wasn't for me.

37%

The Ritual by Adam Nevill

The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Pan Horror Books
Copyright 2011
Paperback version 418 pages.

(Also a Netflix movie) 

This is my first time reading Adam Nevill. I heard about Apartment 16 awhile back but never got around to ordering a copy. I decided it was time to get a copy when I stumbled onto the Ritual. The story is about four old college friends who meet up once a year for a holiday. This year they decide to go camping. 

The book opens with the four friends on top of some rocks. One has banged up his knee quite well and the other is overweight and unfit for such a trip. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, Hutch and Luke know they have to get proactive and make a decision regarding Dom's knee and Phil's inability to keep up the pace, and Hutch (the leader) decides to take a short cut through a forest. 

Worst decision ever. 

The forest is very old--very, very old. And something is alive in that forest...and it's hungry.

Nevill has written a great tale with characters that jump off the page. I know someone like, Dom, Phil and Hutch. I don't know anyone like Luke but I could connect with him, more than the others. And there's a reason for that.

There were parts of the book that I felt were filler and Luke's anger seemed to come from nowhere, even with his explanation later. There was no hint or leaning toward it, no building frustration and annoyance. So I was a little taken aback by that.

However in saying that it was a great tale that moved at a decent pace, and kept me reading. And isn't that what all writer's want: readers glued to the page.

88%

The Collector by Daniel I. Russell

• 
  
  File Size: 584 KB
• Print Length: 344 pages
• Publisher: Dark Continents Publishing, Inc. (April 24, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007XGVM1A

Note: e-Version passed on free for review. 

First off, I didn't realize this was a series until now (LOL) as I don't make a habit of reading a series until book two or three is out, especially if the series is interlocked like Game of Thrones. But in saying that this was a good first book. It set up the characters in a fun and interesting way, we learn about the three houses in this Cul-de-sac (is that a British or Kiwi word? Nope, it's a French stolen word. It means small dead end street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cul-de-sac) and the people that reside there. We have the usual two hoods, teenagers who think they are the coolest and badest mothers in the world, and they love to score decent weed, rob old ladies and do a spot of breaking and entering. We also have the abused wife, husband has a bad day at work as a high school teacher, comes home and pounds the living daylights out of his wife's body, trying not to go for the face (keyword: trying). Then he takes off somewhere and returns the following evening, feeling much better and apologizing. And finally we have the old lady who lives at the end of the street, who has a thousand books, many on magic and hocus pocus. Her grandson worries about her living out here all by herself, and being very rich, he decides to bring granny home to live with him. 

One night an Earthquake happens, but only in the road and a tiny crack appears. It widens and pulling himself out, the Collector shows with his pet, Montgomery. From this point forward the book becomes kick-ass good. 

The start of the book is a tad slow as the characters are introduced and their stories told but even then the writing is crisp and the reader doesn't get bored with the drama slowly unfolding. But when the Collector makes a showing, looking for the Mana, the book kicks into high gear and you won't be able to shut off your eReader. 

This is the first of Daniel's books I've read and I'll be looking for book 2.

  

4 Stars

The Hidden Valley by Leigh M Lane

The Hidden Valley
Leigh M Lane

• File Size: 357 KB
• Print Length: 310 pages
• Publisher: Cerebral Books (August 2, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008S6KDQY

Leigh sent me an email and asked if I could review her latest book, having read and reviewed her others, I was keen to delve into this tale. It's an interesting experiment: A collection of flash stories grouped together to form a whole. 

As with Leigh's work, she seems to like to experiment with her style but one thing remains constant, her story telling skills are always present. And some of scenes in The Hidden Valley are a tad mind blowing (in a good way), I won't say what they are as this reviewer never gives anything away. I don't want to spoil your surprise. 

So what do we have here? In this tale, Leigh has spun a yarn of a family on the brink (or tipping edge) of destruction. The wife (Carrie) has had an affair, the daughter (Jane) has major demons, the son, John is a stoner and was getting into some major trouble and the husband Grant is losing everything he built yet desperate to keep his family as a whole unit and struggling to find the man he was before his wife's threesome. 

So they pack up everything, including the cat and move from Vegas to a small town on the other side of a fog covered mountain. But there's something in the fog. The cat senses the bad thing and tries to communicate this to the owners. Naturally they can't understand his whining and once at their new house, he takes off. I enjoyed Maxwell's (the cat) adventures the most. 

The book is told from five points of view and I feel all these povs are needed to get the full picture. It is a massive story which a host of sub-characters like the Rock Lady, the pregnant girl, the hippy and people who literally vanish from existence never to be mentioned again--as if they'd never been there. 

Leigh's writing is crisp as always and her characters (apart from the parents) are very well drawn. I'm sure I know John and his stoner buddies and Jane is also a person I may have passed in the street. 

Overall, as a novel of horror, it is excellent. As a collection of flash tales combined to make a whole, not so well done. Flash stories must have a beginning, a middle and an end. Several of these did not have an end. As standalone flash tales, a few fail. BUT as a whole novel, the concept works well. 

4 stars

A Christmas to Remember by Matt Shaw

A Christmas to Remember by Matt Shaw
A choose the story book
Kindle Edition

I haven't read one of these kinds of books for a long time, not since I was in high school. so when I discovered this book on Amazon, I grabbed a copy and was rearing to get into it.

These books have always gotten to me, only once had I reached the proper ending of the countless 'Choose your own adventure' books (as they were called in NZ). This book took three reads to reach the happy ending but there are several dead ends along the way. I think there are only three possible endings in this short book. Hats off to Matt Shaw for compiling such a tale.

One of the links was a tad annoying as it was the panic link, from two completely different sections of the tale. This link went directly from the current scene to him standing in the kitchen. A little confusing when he was in the bedroom with the ex wife.

Ah, the ex-wife. He hates her, her boyfriend and he wants revenge. That's the basis of the plot. The BF is already chopped up and baking in the oven. The ex-wife also comments on how great dinner smells (LOL). The kids are staring at the amount of presents under the tree. There is no star on top of the tree, he is saving that for the ex's head.

The writing style is not really to my taste but Matt does write well and a lot of people will enjoy this book. I enjoyed it, I just like more meat in sentences I read.

Speaking of meat, this book is not for you if you are adverse to horror.

3 out of 5 stars

Cold Skies and other tales of fear by Paul McAvoy

Cold Skies and other tales of fear by Paul McAvoy
PDF Kindled Version


Short story collections are difficult to review for me. Sometimes there are stories that shine and other times there aren't. Short stories are usually a mixed bag. This is one of these collections -- almost. Why almost? As a reviewer and a writer myself I can be highly critical of what I read and the words I use to review. I like to find the best in a book and lay it out for the reader, but I don't hold anything back. I believe a reader should be well informed before a purchase.

In this case, Paul McAvoy has over edited his tales leaving only skeletons of what could be great stories. The opening story is one of the best in this collection but it lacks a decent ending and the tale seems rushed. There are also instances where a gerund should have been used and not the plain verb form. This is constant throughout the entire collection. The word 'dead' is spelt as 'led' which can be off-putting and very confusing. Also floor is used when the character is outside 'I was under the car. I got up off the floor and...'. Many writers do this. It is wrong. (I recently had a Facebook discussion about it.)

All the stories in this collection are great ideas (even read one I had done several years ago -- there are no new ideas only new spins) that would have been great just the delivery--the execution--was wrong. There was no meat and no flow to most of the tales and not much of an ending in several of these. Naturally this is just my opinion, several of these tales were previously published.

The fear in these stories did not resonate with me (except the first).

1 star out of 5.