Camp Pleasant by Richard Matheson

• Purchase it here
• Published 2001 (hard cover, signed, limited edition)
• Finished reading it on December 31, 2002
• While the copyright on this book is 2001, the story itself seems to be very dated. It read better if I thought of it taking place in the '50s or '60s. Keeping that in mind, the book is pretty enjoyable and a fun read but not quite up to the expectations that I had before reading it. Matt is a young new camp councilor at Camp Pleasant; he quickly finds out that the boss of the camp is a tyrant who enjoys tormenting others. Matt's summer becomes fraught with havoc and problems as he tries to connect with Tony, a hard-luck boy who is at camp on the equivalent of charity. While I found the story rich with real characters, it also suffered due to the dating of the piece. Characters were too naive. Fairly common events for now are almost unspeakable in the book. Yes, they were symptoms of the time period but they also distracted me from the story by reminding me "it happened" a while ago. Overall it's a minor point to the story and one that can be overlooked while enjoying the rest of the book.

Captains Outrageous by Joe R. Lansdale

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• Published January 2003 (Mysterious Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 11, 2003
• It's been a little since the last Hap Collins and Leonard Pine book they are still a twosome that can get into the worst trouble by doing the simplest things. Fortunately we get to enjoy the troubles. And like all the previous stories of these trouble-finders, this one is outrageous, fun and not to be missed. The story picks up shortly after Rumble Tumble where Hap and Leonard rescued the daughter of Hap's girlfriend. This time the adventure grows out of Hap rescuing a girl who is being attacked. From there our luckless heroes go on a cruise and as only they can, end up in deep trouble while in Mexico. Lansdale continues to mature all of his characters and show that life for them does not stay stagnant despite their problems. Weirdness is discovered, lives are changed, and characters grow. In the end, we readers are stuck in a quandary. We hope for the happy ending that the characters deserve but at the same time we hope that Lansdale will continue giving us more adventures of Hap and Leonard.

A Case of Need by Michael Crichton

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• Published July 1969 (Signet Book paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 05, 2004
• Despite this book being slightly dated, I really enjoyed it. The story is about a doctor who starts out trying to help a fellow doctor who was arrested for performing illegal abortions (the book is based before Roe v. Wade) and who ends up solving a mystery. I liked how we followed the doctor around and he kept trying the only things that he knew to try. Sometimes he got lucky and was successful. Other times nothing. Either way though it was extremely realistic as to the actions. Plus to add to the realism, Crichton kept giving us footnotes and even appendixes on various medical terms and practices. It reminded me of the level of technical depth that Tom Clancy gives in his novels. It also gives a pretty good insight into how doctor's think and thus makes the characters even more real. This might be one of Crichton's first books but it still reads quite well years later.

Casket For Sale (Only Used Once) by Jeff Strand

• Purchase it here
• Published March 2005 (Mundania Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 23, 2008
• Not yet reviewed

Cell by Stephen King

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2006 (Scribner hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on May 09, 2006
• It seems like even Stephen King can't avoid the zombie trend. Rather than tying them into the appearance of a comet or whatever from the George Romero school of zombies, King ties them into a signal sent from cell phones. The cell phone connection makes the novel a decent commentary about technology and technophobes and becomes a direct comparison to Romero's consumerism in "Dawn of the Dead." And since a signal emitting from cell phones to create the zombies/monsters is more a sign of intelligence than a random comet, the stories has a slightly more sinister source. This sinister source is never probed too deeply though; instead King focuses on the story to be told and leaves that aspect a mystery. The story focuses on Clayton Riddell who survives The Pulse (as the zombie-creating cell phone signal becomes named) and who travels across states to his son. Oh yeah, and to his estranged wife also. While some look at the story as another end-of-the-world story, akin to The Stand, I see the story as a mirror image of Brian Keene's The Rising. The story has the same premise (dad makes it across states to rescue son from newly formed zombies). Similar events even happen to the protagonists in each story. However, King's story is a cleaner and slightly safer world than the gritty, hard-edged world in The Rising. Is this bad? Not at all. It means that if you like things with an intensity and gruesome streak in them, you should read The Rising. If not, stick with King's novel instead.

The Cellar by Richard Laymon

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• Published 1980 (Headline Book Publishing paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 05, 2004
• Despite it being published a while ago, this is another top notch book by Laymon. I'm not positive but I think that this is the first of his Beast House novels. Here we get the introduction to the house and the murders that were committed there. And of course, a reveal of the beast that committed these murders. We have the usual strong characters, the usual intensely exciting story and the usual no-holds barred story telling. The only negative, and it's the same negative with all his books, is that it is over way too quickly. As usual, I'll continue to buy all his novels that get reprinted here in the states.

Cemetery Dance

• Find it here
• Published bi-monthly by Cemetery Dance Publications
• Here's another magazine that I've recently started subscribing to. The publication company also puts out a good number of books, usually with a limited print run and often of hard to find books. I've gotten several books through them that I couldn't find elsewhere. I highly recommend buying books from them and getting their magazine subscription. You won't be disappointed.

  "The Riders" by Bentley Little - Published in Cemetery Dance #36
  A new prejudice learns from the ways of an old one

  "Catcall" by Steve Vernon - Published in Cemetery Dance #36
  A good ghost story about killing and protecting

  "It's In The Bag" by Thomas F. Monteleone - Published in Cemetery Dance #36
  A normal guy waiting for a plane reacts to an bizarre and deadly situation

  "The Panic Switch" by Jay Bonansinga - Published in Cemetery Dance #39
  A bounty hunter is asked to find a demon that possessed a young boy

  "Badgetree" by Geoff Cooper - Published in Cemetery Dance #39
  A man gives the history of three trees on his land

  "Solitaire" by Kathryn Ptacek - Published in Cemetery Dance #40
  A woman discovers that her husband is cheating, dies and then gets revenge.

  "The Loneliest Night of the Week" by Ed Gorman - Published in Cemetery Dance #43
  Not exactly horror but still a story about a faulty marriage that will chill you.

  "Clarissa" by Hugh B. Cave - Published in Cemetery Dance #43
  An unborn baby helps to find a serial killer.

  "For Sylvia" by David Niall Wilson - Published in Cemetery Dance #46
  Although it could have been proofread a little better, at one point Sylvia is called Shirley sparking confusion on my side, this was a story that was doing great and creeping me out until the end when it wimped out.

  "Bad Weather" by Dominick Cancilla - Published in Cemetery Dance #50
  A quick but gripping story about a man cheating on his wife with his sister-in-law.

  "A Better Place" by Ray Garton - Published in Cemetery Dance #50
  A story about a man with inoperable brain cancer, a desire to do good and a gun.

  "Just Out of Reach" by Gary A. Braunbeck - Published in Cemetery Dance #50
  A man selling his house gets some interesting pictures from the appraiser.

  "Outrage" by Stephen Laws - Published in Cemetery Dance #51
  Easily one of the most intense, painful and scary stories that I've ever read. Better not to say anything and have you read the story without me giving anything away.

Changing of Faces by Tim Lebbon

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2004 (PS Publishing signed and numbered paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 05, 2009
• At only 98 pages, this book qualifies more as a novella than a full length novel. While the book is light in pages, it is not light in story. Jack is a 12-year-old who is trying to survive with his father and a small group of others. While the group has survived the weeks of being attacked by the living dead, they are now facing a new fear of giant, hungry animals. While it sounds a little weird (and it is a bit), it flows with the story. No real explanation is provided as to why it happens; we just get to read about the effects. While it was enjoyable, the story itself was a tad predictable. Not everything but when an action would occur, I was able to guess the next big step that would follow. And then due to its short length, we don't get to spend enough time with the characters to become that much vested in their lives. The book was an enjoyable read but it left me wanting more. Fortunately I have other full length novels by Lebbon that I can turn to and read.

A Chapbook for Burnt-out Priests, Rabbis, and Ministers by Ray Bradbury

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2001 (Cemetery Dance hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on June 05, 2010
• Despite the title, I wasn't too sure of what I would find inside this book. I was thinking various short stories focusing on priests, rabbis and ministers on other planets. Something very science fiction based but also including religions. I was wrong. It was exactly what the title says: a collection of poems, verse, essays, story fragments and more meant to give hope and re-energize religious personnel who are burnt out. Religion generally plays a very small part in my life so I was definitely not part of the target audience. Maybe because of that, I did not enjoy the book. As I started reading through the book, I was hoping for some fables with a moral ending. Similar to Aesop's Fables but by Bradbury instead. Something more interesting than the rambling that it appeared to be. Here too I was met with disappointment. There were a few writing segments that almost reached an interesting point but even these were too closely aligned with a priest's homily for me to stay interested. I'm not sure if the book hits the mark for its target audience but it definitely did not with me. The only good thing for me was that the book was part of a grab bag that had other good items. I'm looking at it as a freebie I didn't like within a bag of stuff I did.

Chariot by Charles L. Grant

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2000 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 03, 2001
• This is book three of Grant's Millennium Quartet; the other two were Symphony and In The Mood. And like book two, I didn't really enjoy this book all that much. It wasn't bad but there really wasn't anything in it to really call out and make it good. This time the story follows Trey, a gambler living near Las Vegas who is able to tap in to the ability to talk with machines, rocks, things; Trey then uses this ability to win at the slot machines. Of course, he has a troublesome past and must face horseman number three: Plague. The problem was that there wasn't too much more to the story than that. I felt that it moved too slow, not enough happened and the most interesting thing was a mysterious couple that was never really explained, leaving me with a sense of incompleteness. Now this one did set a lot of things up for the final book so all my questions might be answered there, and from the set up it appears pretty promising. We'll just have to wait and see.

Choice Of Evil by Andrew Vachss

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• Published 1999 (hardback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 27, 2001
• Book 11 of the Burke novels
  Yet one more novel of Burke's life that keeps us turning pages and thrilled. While Andrew Vachss continues to put out excellent book after excellent book, he seems to have begun a trend. This trend is that within the novel itself there is another second story that is told completely through another medium. I don't remember the other book that did this but in this one the story is told by a serial kidnapper/killer who sends the "chapters" via e-mail. It is kind of distracting from the entire novel because most of the activity ends up taking place in the internal story and not within Burke's world. In fact Burke just seems there to tie up the loose ends from the story. Now the story is still thrilling and in fact everything leading up to the beginning of the story is the usual hardcore crime noir material. And I would still highly recommend this because even on a bad day, Vachss is still better than 98% of the stuff out there. But I would like it if the story within a story stuff stopped.

A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2004 (Bantam Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 9, 2009
• All the books that I've read so far of Piccirilli are pretty straight forward with regards to the story and the action that takes place. Events unfold directly and quickly. Until now. With A Choir of Ill Children, Piccirilli follows a style very similar to Tim Lebbon: there's more symbolism, the sequence of events aren't always obvious and things are a tad surreal. None of that is bad though. Piccirilli presents it all in a method that is very much his own and makes it fun to enjoy. Besides, Piccirilli's Southern Gothic is a long way from Lebbon's UK-based novels. Thomas and his conjoined triplet brothers who share a single brain live in a house in the swamp-infested county of Kingdom Come. When a Northern film student comes down to make a documentary of his brothers, Thomas finds himself becoming the focus of several granny witches as a wide range of characters make Thomas's life more and more interesting. I partly want to mention several of the characters but am finding a brief description of them too difficult and not fair to who they are. Some you'll like, others you'll feel sorry for and others will confuse you. The discovery of who they are and the choices they make are what makes this novel great. Piccirilli's writing here is different from his other work such as The Cold Spot and Headstone City but it is still highly recommended.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2002 (Anchor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 15, 2003
• The easiest and quickest way to describe Choke is using a common SAT-type statement. Violence is to Fight Club as sex is to Choke. A lot of similarities can be made between the two books but I didn't really see any of them until I finished it. At first I was just following Victor Mancini as he went through his world of sex addiction, a dying and demented mother, and a job of recreating colonial times for 4th graders. Most of the time my thoughts were how surreal this world was, how strange and whacked out his mother was even when she was healthy, and how demented even Victor himself was. But then meaning is found for his actions. And he's not just doing these things for no reason but in order to feel needed. And his mother is not that crazy because she is trying to show him that he can create his own world and not be forced to accept what others define. And other characters who have been defined are changed and new definitions must be formed. So instead of not knowing where the story is going or even how it will end, the events and characters suddenly take on new depth as a whole new deeper layer is revealed. And we the readers are left thinking how smart the mother was, how what Victor was doing was different but normal. And how brilliant Palahniuk is for being able to turn out another de-constructive world that is engrossing.

City Infernal by Edward Lee

• Purchase it here
• Published April 2002 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 21, 2003
• As the first novel by Lee that I read, I will have to say that he does just as good as all of his short stories. It's something to very much enjoy and seek out. I know that I will be seeking out some of this other books. This one involves Cassie, a goth teenager from DC with a twin sister who committed suicide. In their escape from DC and the tragedy there, Cassie and her father unknowingly move to a house on a Deadpass, a place where the dead can pass between the real world and Hell. Cassie discovers this out at the same time that she realizes that she has unknown powers that allow her to travel to Hell. Wanting forgiveness and understanding from her sister, Cassie joins up with three souls trapped in Hell and visits the city of Hell, an city that evolved at the same speed as humans in the real world. Now that might sound like a lot of co-incidence and maybe too much to take but it really doesn't come across quite that bad in the novel. It all flows and makes sense. But if you are afraid of being overwhelmed, then there is another reason to not read this book: it supplies horror on top of horror, enough to be quite graphic. Considering that they are visiting Hell and all of its methods of tortures, it only makes sense. The only thing that I didn't really like about this book is all the deus ex machina. There were too many incidents of a power or ability being presented just as it was needed. I understand that Lee was setting up many of the rules as to how Hell operates but it came across as too convenient. The real story though is Cassie's growth from an ignored teen through depression and then into acceptance of who she can be. And that is done brilliantly.

City of the Dead by Brian Keene

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2005 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 09, 2006
• You would hardly think that Keene would be able to outdo himself from The Rising but he did. This book is more gruesome, more gripping and more action packed than his previous book. This novel starts off exactly where The Rising ended, so much so that it changes the ending but more on that in a minute. Jim Thurmond is able to get to and rescue his son Danny from the zombies that have taken over the world. They're really demon spirits from Siqqusim who have escaped the Void and are reanimating dead bodies in order to blasphemy God's creations and thus annoy Him but now I'm being technical. Anyway, Jim, Frankie and Martin rescue Danny and continue their journey across New England in an attempt to avoid the zombies. It doesn't take long though before they are rescued from a zombie attack and brought to New York City, a city of millions of dead with one safe building. The characters in this sequel are much less developed and it definitely helps to have read The Rising before starting City of the Dead. Together they are sort of like the movies Alien and Aliens. The first one establishes the characters, shows you the monster and creates the rules that must be followed. The second one takes those items, mixes in a healthy dose of non-stop action and delivers a kick ass story. The whole second half of the book is part of the grand finale; it's that long. Getting back to the earlier aspect of City of the Dead changing the ending of The Rising. The first part leaves you with the clear idea that Jim founded his son dead or zombified and forced to kill him. Obviously since I mentioned that Danny was rescued, that did not happen. I went back and checked and Keene did not break with the actual ending he had written; maybe the spirit of what he wrote but that also assumes a cynical view on the part of the readers and not a positive, hopeful one. I would have given him some minus points for that but the ending of City of the Dead is so powerful and depressing yet hopeful that he earns back anything I would have taken. And this ending is spelled out rather than left to the reader's imagination.

The Cleanup by Sean Doolittle

• Purchase it here
• Published November 2006 (Dell Book paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 13, 2011
• Doolittle has written another awesome novel that is full of rich characters and complicated events out of simple situations. He is really good at capturing the chaos that can arise out of a small start. In this case Officer Matthew Worth is finishing up a divorce and working probationary duty at a local supermarket. Worth's flirtations with Gwen, the checkout clerk at the supermarket, complicate his life when she turns to him for help with her dead boyfriend. Like a lie that must be defended with another lie, Worth's decisions on how to help lead him into first bad and then worse situations. When things finally come to a boil, Worth finally makes some good but painful decisions. Doolittle has brought us a suspenseful novel about decisions and consequences as portrayed by someone who knows better but who forgets to act better. That was one of the things that I both liked and disliked. Worth made decisions that were questionable, to say the least, and which made me wonder. But then Worth would even admit to himself that he didn't know why he did things which made him more human in my eyes. Who among us has not made some decision that we look back at and wonder why we were so stupid? I just hope that for all of us that it did not involve a dead body. In case I was not obvious enough, highly recommended.

Clickers by J.F. Gonzalez and Mark Williams

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2008 (Delirium Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 25, 2010
• I've been slowing adding Gonzalez to my must read list and this book has cemented him there. Not so much because this was a deep or super scary book but because it was pure fun and nostalgia done right: entertaining, engaging and not too cheesy. Clickers follows Rick Sychek, a horror author who moves to Phillipsport, Maine for some peace and quiet before he starts his next novel; a move the reader just knows is not going to end well. After some time to get to know our characters, the town quickly becomes overrun by giant crab-like creatures that have monstrous razor claws and an acidic stinger to liquefy their prey before eating it. After miscellaneous deaths and fighting off the monsters, the townsfolk realize the "clickers" are really running away from another even more horrible creature called "the dark ones." Yes, the story sounds like an updated version of numerous creature feature movies but that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of reading it. The gore and thrills and deaths you expect are all there, but so are characters real enough to care about what happens to them. We do get a chance to learn about the characters and feel their pain. It's even made worse when they realize the clickers are simply running from a worse creature and the deaths aren't personal. It's one story that you will definitely enjoy reading. When you finish and want more, there are two sequels you can hunt down to continue the adventures.

Cold Blue Midnight by Ed Gorman

• Purchase it here
• Published August 1998 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 29, 2001
• This was definitely a thrill ride of a novel. And one that I greatly enjoyed, even more so considering that most of the books I've been reading lately have been slow and tedious. The novel follows Jill Coffey, a photographer and ex-wife to Peter Tapley who was a rich millionaire that liked murdering women. Jill's life take the proverbial turn for the worse when Peter Tapley's mother tries to get revenge on Jill because it was Jill's fault that Peter became a murderer. Yea, the logic there is twisted but then so is the mother. And for that matter, so are many of the characters. Gorman does a superb job of showing us just how twisted most of the characters are; they are very much alive and able to be pictured in your mind. The only negative that I found with the novel was that one of the detectives was allowed to investigate a case in which he had a personal involvement. Having worked at a police department before and from countless tv shows and movies, I know that this would definitely not happen. A minor point though that does not take away from the novel. Definitely one that I would recommend.

Cold In July by Joe R. Lansdale

• Purchase it here
• Published July 1995 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 14, 1999
• While this is a pretty thin novel, it still packs a hell of a punch in addition to a lot of surprises. It starts off with a simple premise of a Richard Dane shooting and killing a burglar who breaks in to his home. But then it keeps adding one more step after step, until the whole thing cumulates in to an ending very unlike what you would expect. And rather than seeming weird or totally outrageous, the entire story is quite plausible. I found myself identifying with the Dane throughout most of the story and realizing that I probably would be making the same decisions. Kind of scary considering everything that happens in it. Don't pass this up; it may be a quick read but it is quite thrilling.

The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli

• Purchase it here
• Published May 2008 (Bantam Dell paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 28, 2008
• Before this book Piccirilli was still on my "heard a lot of good but not sure I'll follow him quite yet" list. Now though, he's on my must follow list of authors. This story is intense, hard hitting and not something to be missed. Orphaned at a young age, Chase is raised by his grandfather Jonah to be a getaway driver and live a life of crime. Chase has no problem with this until one day when Jonah kills someone in their crew. Chase then goes solo and lives his own life until one day when he needs his grandfather's abilities. The story involves the search for how a person fits into life, love, revenge, facing the past and then to make it fun, cops and robbers. The book is next to impossible to put down; you just want to keep reading and reading. All the characters are engaging and very easy to picture. And while the plot is a bit predictable, all of the elements that are built around it are not. Trust me and pick this book up and read it. You won't be sorry.

Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker

• Purchase it here
• Published November 2002 (HarperTorch paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 25, 2003
• This book left me disappointed in two different ways. The first was that there was not quite enough expose in the story. I remember when it was just being released and announced there was a buzz that the book was going to cause an upheaval in Hollywood because of the way some people were portrayed. Plus one interview had Barker mentioning that he had to specifically remove someone's name to avoid a lawsuit. Well, what was included in the book was hardly worth mentioning; sure, it could have been taken the wrong way but it was a case of the buzz being more news worthy than the real story was. The second thing that disappointed me and is more integral to the story was that I was under-impressed by the book. The book wasn't bad nor uninteresting. It just didn't hold my attention as much as I hoped. It was good just not riveting. The story probably could have ended 100 or so pages before it did, if you read the book, you know where I mean. And then there's the whole section on the death of the dog which was more touching than most of the rest of the book. While I understand that it was probably very cathartic for Barker to write, it didn't seem to fit into the overall story that well. None of this is big enough to avoid the book but just stuff to keep in mind so your hopes don't get raised too much.

The Collection by Bentley Little

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2002 (Signet paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 14, 2003
• As the title proudly proclaims, this book is a collection of short stories by Bentley Little, in this case 32 short stories. Considering that these stories are squished into 449 pages, it guarantees that no one story is going to be that long. In fact, at times it was like reading the short stories by Andrew Vachss: wham, bam, done, next. Ah, but were any of the stories good and/or worthwhile? Amazingly I found almost all the stories were really good. I'm not trying to put down Little by saying "amazingly"; it's just that normally in a collection like this I would expect to find 10-15% really good, 50-60% of decent and the rest would be stinkers. This is practically a best of collection because I found 90% of the stories to be really good and the rest to be decent. No stinkers at all! The only thing I found wrong with the book was a printing issue. Rather than the title of the book, the pages should have had the title of the short story. It makes it much easier to flip around and find the stories again. If you like short stories, this is the book to get! And if you like Little, this is a must have! Unfortunately my wife who does like Little hates short stories and will be missing out. Below are some exceptional favorites.

  "Estoppel" - A man discovers the power of speech

  "The Washingtonians" - A fun look at a secret government society who must keep George Washington's secret

  "Bob" - Brandon finds himself taking an unexpected job

  "Confessions of a Corporate Man" - Moving up the corporate ladder is more difficult and deadly than you thought

  "Maya's Mother" - A noir detective story about a mother's revenge

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2005 (Hard Case paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 27, 2005
• This is King's first book written since his announced retirement. I will admit that when I first heard him announce his retirement, I scoffed. As if someone who was so prolific a writer would be able to turn off the flow of ideas and stop writing. And when I heard the announcement for this book, it just proved my point. Since then though I've read an article that talked about his retirement being more along the lines of not committing to any books and being able to essentially write at leisure instead of to a deadline. When I heard that, retirement made more sense and was something more palatable with my image of King. That said, how's this first leisure book? It's not his best work but it is an incredibly quick read. While a mystery novel, it's more about the characters, their investigation and how their student reacts to the lesson being taught. In other words, the final solution is not present. The two reporters relating the story even mention this at the beginning as they discuss their unsolved mystery. Of course, I was thinking that their reporter-in-training would somehow solve it. Instead about half way through, I realized that the book was too small and the story happening too fast for anything to be solved except in some sort of unbelievable duex es machina that would ring completely false. Did this make the ending of the novel and the unsolved puzzle any easier? No, but as the characters point out, life itself doesn't have clean endings most of the time. Besides the true ending of the novel is there; it's in the final decision that the young reporter makes.

Come Out Tonight by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published 1999 (Headline Book Publishing paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 19, 2006
• And once again we get an excellent novel by Laymon. This one involves a young girl who starts to worry after her boyfriend who went out for some condoms hasn't returned in over 30 minutes. Being the start of a horror novel, you know nothing good has happened to him. Being the start of a Laymon novel, you know that its going to involve some weirdo with a bent perspective on life who will have his way with her sexually and then the strangeness will really start. This time around it's a much more straight forward "left for dead but still alive and coming back for revenge before he hurts her family" type of thing. In the end it turns out to be an excellent read and a very enjoyable book for all of us.

Complicity by Iain Banks

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2002 (Scribner Paperback Fiction paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 24, 2008
• Banks has written another excellent novel; the story is incredibly strong and at times pretty dark. In this case, Cameron Colley is a journalist trying to break a big story that he has been working on for a while. His leads take him on a slow path to what could be a juicy story. Meanwhile a serial killer is killing people in a poetic method best suited for the way they lived their lives. The two threads entwine as all the evidence from the killings point to Cameron who also begins to wonder if he might have been involved. While not quite as eccentric and darkly off-beat as The Wasp Factory, the story is definitely intense and enthralling. There is a lot happening at times and it's easy to be led to believe one thing while something else occurs. Banks does a master job at mixing the elements and keeping you engaged. With this book being the quality it is, I'm now adding Banks to my list of authors to follow. Time to go buy all his books that I missed and catch up on some good reading.

Congo by Michael Crichton

• Purchase it here
• Published 1980 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 20, 1997
• I had seen the movie before I read the book and the two are extremely different. The movie was passable but barely; the book is very enjoyable and well done. There are a lot of similarities (obviously) but there is much more evidence that the book was well researched and thought through. There also is no corny super laser attack on the apes at the end. I admit that in the book it was a little more of a let down but it was also more realistic. The story is also told in such a manner and with enough references to other tomes that it appears to be a real event. Meaning that Crichton is just putting on paper what happened in a real expedition back in 1980. Maybe it really is based on an actual event; I don't know. But there is a large bibliography in the book for me to use and look up and find out the truth.

The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene

• Purchase it here
• Published May 2006 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 23, 2007
• This is the perfect book to read during the winter when the weather is dreary and rainy. It gives an extra sense of potential or power to the events in the book. The story starts off kind of simple: for some reason it starts raining everywhere at once and has been doing so for over forty days. Most of civilization as we know it has been destroyed under floods as the water level across the globe has risen. Then it gets a little crazier as giant worms, sirens and a giant squid/kraken creature appear along with people who worship them. Up until the monsters started appearing, I was thinking of it as sort of a mother nature gets revenge or global warming beware type of novel. Once the monsters arrived, it become more of a Lovecraft story; one of the characters even pointed this out. As I've pointed out before, I'm not crazy about Lovecraft but all told I still really liked the book; it was almost two novellas combined into one as two different sets of characters tell their own story before combining together into a single adventure. I would like to see more of the world, especially from earlier in their reality. We join in somewhere around day thirty or so. It would be great to see things in the first seven days or so. Fortunately Keene has a collection coming out to cover exactly this. Due out in July 2008 from Delirium Books, Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From The End of the Earth is a collection of short stories based in the same world. It is also one more book that will be on my "to buy" list.

Conspiracies by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2000 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on February 13, 2003
• This novel sort of fits into two places. First, it's a Repairman Jack novel and second, it seamlessly into the Adversary Cycle while also standing on its own. In case you didn't know, Repairman Jack is sort of a fix-it man for those difficult problem requiring a law breaking solution. For example, if your sister is getting beaten by her husband on a regular basis, then you hire Repairman Jack to put the guy in the hospital so your sister can escape and get help. His main case in this book is to find a missing wife. As the investigation begins, Jack attends a convention that was to star the missing wife as a keynote speaker. The catch? The convention is SESOUP, the Society for the Exposure of Secret Organizations and Unacknowledged Phenomena. Pure X-Files stuff. The Lone Gunmen would feel right at home. Strange things start happening like packages materializing out of thin air in Jack's hotel room and the strangeness takes a big twist. The story is actually a very nice weaving of key elements from the beginning of the Adversary Cycle (the villain is the same and key creatures are brought back again) and it also serves as a premonition of events to come from the end. A nice fit into the established continuity without breaking or stretching to disbelief any rules. If you are a fan of Wilson's previous works or a conspiracy buff (minor or major), then you should give the book a try. You'll highly enjoy it.

Cover by Jack Ketchum

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2009 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 15, 2011
• One common factor to all of the Ketchum books that I've read is that they are intense. Some of them dealt with sensitive topics and were almost too intense to read. Some of them have intense situations that grip you for a long time. And then some have intense characters which can be extremely real. With regards to Cover, it is the characters, specifically Vietnam veteran Lee Moravian. Since returning to the states, Lee has had problems adjusting to society. So many problems that he has separated himself from it and lives in the forest on some local mountains, growing marijuana for his few necessary supplies. After a few years of this existence, his wife leaves him. Lee might have been fine except for an unlucky group of campers who stumble upon his plants and disturb Lee's sanctuary. Still dealing with the flashbacks and remnants of war, Lee wages war against his new "enemies." Unfortunately for me, the novel wasn't quite as good as many of Ketchum's other novels. While the character Lee was great and very real, the other characters weren't quite interesting enough. I'm not sure if they were unrealistic or annoying or both but there was something that stopped me from connecting to them. And the one that I did like the most was the first one to die. The book is more mainstream than other Ketchum books so people might find that appealing. Personally I would recommend Red as an excellent starting point for Ketchum; that's his story that hooked me for good.

Crawlers by John Shirley

• Purchase it here
• Published November 2003 (Ballantine Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 17, 2005
• I really liked this novel. It's Invasion of the Body Snatchers mixed with high technology and a healthy dose of end of world. The remaining element is an ensemble cast which leaves you never quite sure who is going to live and who is going to die, which is exactly the way I like it. The story itself is about a government experiment involving nanotechnology, self-replicating robots and intelligent systems. The obvious happens and the experiment escapes to infect a small town. What develops from there is a story that includes several insights on humans being taken over by technology. Sometimes Shirley is more than a little obvious about it, using a hammer to nail home the point. But he is much better when he's subtle: you're reading along, enjoying the action when suddenly you realize that there is an underlying theme being carried through the scene. While widely recognized for his novel Demons, this one is more interesting and fun to follow, and thus more entertaining.

Created By by Richard Christian Matheson

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1993 (hardback edition)
• Finished reading it on February 25, 2001
• Matheson does a superb job of pulling readers in to the world of Alan White, a writer in Hollywood who comes up with a huge money making series. The story brings in the world of screenplays and TV series with each chapter name: "character motivation", "backstory", "flashback". Plus the entire story is hard hitting and a fast read. Very enjoyable! The plot almost mimics Stephen King's The Dark Half but also varies enough so that it is not a bore. Plus the final result is nothing at all like King's story. Now there were a few parts that stretched the imagination, mostly the amount of stuff that was allowed on network TV. Granted more and more has gotten by the FCC and the censors but they still wouldn't have allowed as much as what is done here. A minor point maybe but still something to acknowledge. Overall everything was excellent and this is not a book to miss!

Creed by James Herbert

• Published 1991 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 23, 1998
• An excellent novel. Very fast paced and edge of the seat throughout the entire thing. It centers around a cynical paparazzo named Joe Creed who accidently takes a picture of a demon. Creed is then slowly pulled often kicking and screaming into this netherworld for unknown reasons, at least unknown until the end. The characters are extremely interesting and very visible as real people and not two dimensional players in a script. Some elements are predictable but not with the same twist as what you really though. Also the plot and the action keeps varying between the real and the unreal, so as a reader you are not entirely sure of what to believe. But you do know that whatever is happening is some pretty scary stuff and something that you are glad to not be an active member of. A definite recommendation if you want to be scared!

Creepers by David Morrell

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2006 (CDS Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 02, 2008
• I absolutely love Morrell's short stories. I find them quickly gripping and enthralling and can't put them down. His novels are generally good but not quite as engrossing. The novel Creepers does not fit that mold. I found it extremely compelling from the very start. The term creepers refers to people who enter abandoned buildings and explore the past by looking at what was left behind. They consider themselves urban explorers. In this novel, five characters explore an abandoned hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The feel and mystery of an empty building with many stories still inside of it is conveyed. Before long the five of them run into big trouble, more trouble than they expected from a decrepit hotel. And then as they finally start to get a handle on one set of problems, another set of new problems appear. While all the characters filled out their roles nicely and were enjoyable to follow, there were a few points where the story seemed a bit choppy. It later was explained as the characters' motivations were revealed but it almost came across and too convenient. Almost. This was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend. I know that I'm looking forward to reading the sequel: Scavenger.

Crisscross by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published May 2006 (Tor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 16, 2007
• I've been hoping for events to move closer to Nightworld and they are quickly getting there. Judging from Gia's pregnancy each book is roughly six to eight weeks later. And based on the prediction in either this book or last, we're only a year away. So another six books and we should be moving past the confrontation. All of this makes me want to read Nightworld once more and see again what will occur. For those of you new to Repairman Jack (chances are you are not if you are reading this), this is probably very confusing. I kind of wonder at times how the books read to newbies. The events in each are probably easy to pick up but there is also tons of back history from the numerous and previous Repairman Jack books which the newbies are missing out on. Plus the whole foreshadowing from the Adversary Cycle. The events were definitely a lot more prevalent in this book as Herta (the latest woman with a dog) acts directly by hiring Jack to find someone within the Dormentalist church. Usually the women with a dog (there has been five of them so far) acts indirectly and doesn't give out much information other than a teaser. Gateways was the first where this trend was broken. Events and craziness proceed at their usual pace for Jack and he ends up fixing things in his usual manner. The real exciting stuff though is how much closer all the Otherness is becoming.

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2007 (William Morrow hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on July 12, 2009
• This is an excellent novel. It pulled me in from the very beginning and kept me entertained the whole time. Every thing about it was done very well. Solid characters that you can picture. Interesting events to keep the story rolling. A conclusion that made sense. And it kept an off-beat sense of humor going through the entire book. Michael McGill is a private detective. But not just a normal private detective. He is a shit magnet. He has one weird thing after another happen to him. This can be seen within the first five pages where is wakes up naked in his office after spending the night there and has moments to get dressed before being hired by the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States. And things get stranger and stranger from that point on. Things like ostrich love orgies and salt water injections and other borderline gross things. I found the book pure fun to read and very much enjoyed it. About the only thing I would hold against it was that some of the middle went from one location with weird events to another location with weird events to another. Kind of like in a chase movie where the person keeps going from one point to another to flush out the movie. This almost seemed like the case in Crooked Little Vein. I didn't notice it though until afterwards so I guess it almost doesn't count. I already collect several of Ellis' comics. I now look forward to more of his books.

Cuts by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2008 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 1, 2010
• I always enjoy reading a Laymon book. You know that he is going to deliver a well written book involving violence and sex. You also know that the characters are going to be real. Often times a Laymon book is the perfect solution between short story collections. Cuts is a reprint of the same novel from a decade ago. The story though is mostly set in 1975. While no bell bottoms were mentioned, it does have the feel of being set in the 70s: more smoking than usual, pregnant women drinking alcohol, overly friendly neighbors. Things where nowadays, you know that no one is opening that door regardless of the character being in a horror novel or not. Anyway, the story is split into two pieces. One follows Janet Arthur as she dumps her boyfriend for wanting her to abort their unborn child. There are a plethora of characters who are introduced and who then quickly demonstrate their personal flaws. You can see the characters circling each other as if at a fight; you know that a blowup is going to occur. And then there is the second piece: Albert Prince. Albert goes on a killing spree and makes his way from Illinois to Los Angeles, killing and raping women on the way. Any character introduced in Albert's story is almost definitely fodder for his killing. The two stories meet up as you know that they are going to but not with as much of an impact as I expected. I thought Albert would have had a bigger impact on some of the guys from Janet's story. I very easily could have seen another one to two hundred pages added on to the book. The additional pages would have formed a smoother merger between the stories than what we had. They did seem a tad squished together. The book is similar to the movie "From Dusk til Dawn": two halves that could probably have done well by themselves but which were put together. Either way though, it's a good book.

Send comments or your opinions on these books to mike@kazba.com.

Last modified on March 17, 2012