Nailed by Lucy Taylor

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2001 (Onyx paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on February 10, 2004
• This novel has some of the best and most three-dimensional characters that I've encountered in a while. They all had a depth to them that made them extremely real. However at the same time like real people it made them a bit unpredictable. Some of their actions were a bit confusing and didn't make sense until late in the story when more motivation was provided. It didn't take away from the enjoyment of the book but it did make me think "Why are they doing that?" But that also added to the pleasure of the story since you couldn't be sure of what would happen next. The story follows Matt Angstrom, a successful construction business owner, as his past rears its head for a visit. A visit that leaves Matt attacked on all sides and unsure who to trust. A relatively simple explanation but it ends up being quite gripping. As I mentioned above, I very much enjoyed the book and devoured it quite quickly.

Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell

• Purchase it here
• Published May 1998 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 01, 2000
• I wasn't too sure of what to make of this book at first. I had read a few reviews and every one of them raved about the book. And I usually like Campbell's work, so naturally enough my hopes were high to have another thrilling novel. But for about the first third of the novel, not too much was happening. The supernatural parts were few and far between and even then, they were more hints of something than an actual appearance. Plus the mannerisms of the characters were beginning to get to me; the novel is set in England and all of the characters are way too polite to each other. Then things start to change slowly. The ghosts become more brazen and appear more often. Oswald, the father, starts going a bit too crazy; to the point where the reader knows something is going to happen but you're not sure what. Plus the uncomfortableness between Oswald and his daughter, Amy, begins to get a bit scary. Then the last third of the novel has the suspense which you were almost not aware of comes to a head in such a way that it really scares you. At least it did with me; I got goosebumps and gasped out loud a couple of times. The ending comes naturally enough but still startles and invokes fear. So don't pass up the chance to read this novel! On the surface it is a story about a daughter and her failing relationship with her father. Underneath, there is so much more! It will definitely grab you and stay in your mind for days.

Necropolis by Tim Waggoner

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2004 (Five Star Trade paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 2, 2010
• Originally I thought Necropolis was going to be more involved with monsters and creatures. Don't get me wrong; it is. The city of Necropolis was created centuries ago in another dimension so that the vampires, ghouls, demons, shape shifters and others could have a place to live since Earth was being too populated by humans. However, the story is closer to a noir detective story than anything else. Matthew Adrion is a zombie private eye inside Necropolis; he does favors for beings to help pay for the magic spells that keep him from decomposing and falling apart. Adrion finds himself involved in a plot to steal power from the Lords of the city which in turn will destroy the city. Helping him in the mystery is Devon, a half vampire, half human woman. Together they make their way through the city and the mystery in the traditional hard-boiled style. To a degree, it was difficult to read Necropolis and not think of Edward Lee's City Infernal. Both center around a city populated by strange, amazing and horrible beings. But at the same time, both books are significantly different. Lee's approach was to focus on the power discovered in a depressed girl while she travels through an anti-Oz; Waggoner's approach is more Sam Spade in an alternate universe or dimension. When you come down to it, that style matches with Waggoner's short story collection All Too Surreal. Those stories were about a reality that was a bit off; same can be said about Necropolis. It's a style that I enjoy and hope to continue enjoying. Though I haven't seen or heard of any sequels, I know I would snatch up any additional books about the zombie private eye in a heartbeat.

Never Seen by Waking Eyes by Stephen Dedman

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2005 (Infrapress paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 8, 2007
• Dedman hasn't disappointed me with anything that he's written. Each of his novels have been fascinating and enthralling. This collection of short stories continues his trend and keeps me very well satisfied. All told there was probably only two or three stories that I would consider average. All the others were top notch. Other than more stories to enjoy, I wish that Dedman had given us a little more insight or history on each story. He covers it in about a page at the end but a paragraph or so with each story would have been awesome.

  "A Single Shadow" - A teacher in a foreign country contributes to local legends and proves them true.

  "Watch" - A nice little tale involving death and local legends with a Twilight Zone ending that I should have seen coming.

  "What You Wish For" - A man's dreams are satisfied and only one outcome can result.

  "Honest Ghosts" - An author gets more than he bargained for when fans starting writing him.

  "Madly" - The "hook" at the end is very predictable but it doesn't take away from the impact or the strength of the story in the slightest.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

• Purchase it here
• Published November 1998 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 22, 2000
• I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman from all his writing on Sandman, the comic book by DC Comics. Plus I've really liked several of his short stories so I was expecting another good story within this novel. And for the most part I wasn't disappointed. Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew, a man with a bland life and an atrocious fiancee who through a simple act of kindness finds his life turned inside out. He ends up wandering the world of London Below which is inhabited by all sorts of people, beings and creatures. The story follows the simple plot of modern man is pulled in to a strange world, sees strange things and helps the princess regain control. We've all seen or read the same story countless times. But despite that, I think that you'll find this an enjoyable tale as the characters are rich in depth and the mastermind behind the bad guys is not quite who you would suspect. Then again since it does follow a formula, it is also predictable all the way up to and including the end. Overall it's a good story that Gaiman fans will enjoy, that fantasy lovers will consider solid and that others can skip.

'Nids and Other Stories by Ray Garton

• Out of Print here
• Published 2006 (Spiderweb Press hardcover signed and numbered limited edition)
• Finished reading it on August 8, 2007
• This book is a collection of five short stories by Garton. Obviously the biggest is "'Nids". It is also the best in the book. The story was a great read and had me hooked from the start. I barely wanted to put it down each night but I was falling asleep and had no choice. The story involves an explosion at a lab, BioGenTech, and the subsequent discovery of two rather large and extremely dangerous spiders. The idea might be geared more towards a drive-in movie but it still reads great and is highly entertaining. I liked the next two stories also: "Mrs. DiMarco's Corpse" and "Kristina." Both of those stories were quick reads and fun. Not of the same caliber as the title story but still quick fun. The final two stories aren't really worth mentioning. Both were predictable and not that interesting. I felt nothing for the characters nor what was happening. An excellent and enthralling start to the book but the last two stories left me wanting.

Night Cage by Andrew Harper

• Purchase it here
• Published 2009 (Cemetery Dance Publications hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on October 31, 2011
• I think that I might have to change my opinion of Douglas Clegg; he occasionally writes under the pseudonym of Andrew Harper. I used to not like him because his stories kept having flashback within flashback and were a tad confusing. It seems that he has either changed his writing style or I like it more because the last couple of books I read by him were enjoyed. Night Cage follows Trey Campbell who works at Darden State Hospital, a home for the criminally insane and a place with its own secrets. A young man accused of murder and called Doc is brought in and placed under Trey's care; what ends up happening is a revenge tale that is years in the making. Doc was actually conceived at Darden while his mother was placed there; the father is still unknown but someone at the hospital. The suspense builds as the mystery unravels and the mother's scheme comes to fruition. The story culminates in the abandoned ruins of the old hospital before it was remodeled, a place that is very creepy. The novel is one that I enjoyed and would recommend. It's not "an instant classic" but it is a solid story and one that you will enjoy.

Night in the Lonesome October by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2001 (Cemetery Dance Publications hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on September 21, 2003
• Laymon can do no wrong. I've loved every book of his that I've read, and this one is no exception. The story follows Ed Logan as he tries to get over his break up with his girlfriend. Ed takes a late night stroll through town to clear his mind and runs into things both pleasurable and very weird. It's these pleasurable things that make him come back the next night and wander some more but of course he again runs into the weird, even weirder than the previous night. We continue with Ed on his nightly journeys which escalate more and more until the grand finale which fits in with the theme of the rest of the book. While it might not seem like much of a description and like it would not be a very good story, it really is. The characters are a joy to experience as they run around town doing things that seem both fun and dangerous. I just could not help but devour the book until all hours of the night, thinking the whole time "God, there are some major fucking weirdos in this town." Once again, I can not recommend this Laymon book enough. Definitely pick it up and enjoy.

Night Screams edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg

• Purchase it here
• 14 short stories by such authors as Clive Barker, Lawrence Block, David Morrell and Ray Bradbury
• Published January 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 14, 1998
• A very nice collection. The stories inside range from the thrilling to the scary with very few duds of the lot. A couple of them had that "old time" short story feel, yet were also new stories. Overall very enjoyable. Some favorites are below.

  "The Wringer" by F. Paul Wilson - A Repairman Jack story about a job he takes but feels he shouldn't have. And if you don't know who Repairman Jack is, shame on you!!

  "A Season of Change" by Richard T. Chizmar - A revenge story from a semi-reluctant cop.

  "Small Deaths" by Charles de Lint - A story about changes and something that I used to think of as "pivotal life moments."

  "Redemption" by Jack Ketchum - A story both a little too close to home and yet also not quite close enough.

Night Show by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published 1994 (Headline Feature paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 12, 2005
• This is another one of those wonderful books by Laymon where he integrates in multiple storylines, builds up the pressure and then we enjoy it all when it comes to a boil. The stories this time involve a woman looking for revenge on the men who pulled a nasty trick on her, one of those men stalking a special effects expert and a movie being filmed with a hidden romance. Since this is novel was one of Laymon's earlier ones (originally published in the 1980s), the transitions and connections of all the stories is a little rusty. Nothing overly bad but not as smoothly done as his more recent material. Still, it is much better than most books out there and very much an enjoyable read.

Nightkill by F. Paul Wilson and Steven Sprull

• Purchase it here
• Published April 1999 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 03, 2000
• I'm not sure how the collaboration between Wilson and Sprull worked but it turned out an excellent novel. It's actually very reminiscent of Wilson's Repairman Jack stories. It focuses on Jack Nacht, a hit man. Nacht gets double crossed and ends up in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down. Fortunately there's a doctor there who is experimenting on a way to restore the use of limbs to paralyzed persons. Like Wilson's novels, this is another quick read that thrills you every step of the way. Unfortunately the story in general is almost too cliche. It doesn't take away from the enjoyment (the novel is definitely a fun read) but it does come across a little too pact. And the ending was left open ended, so they could very easily write a sequel and continue the story. Overall, it's a good read and Wilson fans should still enjoy it.

Nightmare At 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson

• Purchase it here
• 20 short stories, all by Richard Matheson
• Published originally in January 2002
• Finished reading it on February 27, 2003
• There's not much better of a book to be reading on the plane while on a business trip than this one. The tempting of fate and gremlins is delicious. Unfortunately while Matheson is unquestionably still a master of writing concise horror stories that pack a punch, I will have to admit to being slightly disappointed with this collection of short stories. Most of these stories are classics and should be considered as required reading for any true horror fan but they seemed to lack the punch that I thought they should have. This might have been because I've read many of the stories before starting this collection. Or maybe it was because I just came off of reading two 700+ page books back-to-back and most of these stories were around the 10 page mark and thus a bit too quick. Whatever the reason I just felt like it was a little off. If you are already a fan of Matheson, then definitely read this for such classics as "Prey" and "Nightmare at 20,000 feet". However, if this is your first introduction to Matheson, track down I Am Legend and read that collection also. It has many strong stories that will strike you to the core more than this one. Like always, my favorites of the collection are below.

  "Nightmare at 20,000 feet" - Whether reading the story or watching Shatner or Lithgow, this is an excellent story of being tormented and teased by a creature wanting to wreck havoc.

  "Witch War" - As it sounds, a war is waged using witches.

  "The Distributor" - No explanations provided. Just a straight forward story of a man sowing the seeds of chaos. Undoubtedly a basis for Stephen King's Needful Things.

  "Prey" - Another classic whose title alone invokes images of Karen Black and He Who Kills.

The Nightmare Chronicles by Douglas Clegg

• Purchase it here
• 13 short stories, all by Douglas Clegg
• Published September 1999 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 25, 2001
• I found this kind of a mixed read which is appropriate considering that I have mixed feelings on Clegg as an author. (I like Clegg when his stories/novels are sequential but I have problems when his novels involve a lot of flashbacks. Those novels just don't read as nicely.) This book is a compilation of 13 short stories, all wrapped by a cover story. While I applaud the effort on the wrapper story, I don't think that it added anything at all and could have been avoided. The stories themselves were mostly good, only a few were slow and not interesting. The ones that really stuck out though are listed below.

  "O, Rare and Most Exquisite" - A man recounts his love and what he did for her

  "The Fruit of Her Womb" - A man finds an urn in his house and unravels a mystery

  "The Little Mermaid" - A woman helps a man relive his youth

  "Damned If You Do" - A radio talk show DJ helps a man to deal with death

The Nightmare Factory by Thomas Ligotti

• Purchase it here
• 45 short stories, all by Thomas Ligotti
• Published 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 27, 2002
• I had heard good things about this collection. It received several positive reviews and recommendations from various locations so I was kind of looking forward to it. Unfortunately I could not get in to it at all. The book is about 550 pages and I gave up after about 150. That took me through about thirteen of the stories and I didn't feel anything for any of them. Actually I did start feeling dread for the last seven of the stories: dread of having to read them. I prefer stories that involve more dialogue or which are not so long in their descriptions. Ligotti's stories have very little dialogue. They have lots of flowing descriptions. And while most of the stories were written in the first person, I could mostly care less for that person. So while this might be a wonderful collection of good stories, it is definitely not for me and I won't be hunting down anything else written by Ligotti.

Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King

• Purchase it here
• 23 short stories, all by Stephen King
• Published originally in 1993
• Finished reading it on March 23, 1997
• Although quite bulky in size (816 pages), this is a good collection of King's works to carry around and read. There are many stories in here which will remind you of why you started reading horror in the first place and why you continue reading it. Or at least it did for me. I must admit to being deprived of some of the newness for the stories. There are at least six stories that I know that I read in some previous publications. And although he does not mention it at the notes section in the back of the book, I could swear that I remember a different ending to "Sneakers." I couldn't tell you where I read it, but the ending I remember was not what was printed. Nonetheless, these are good stories. I've mentioned a few of my favorites below.

  "Chattery Teeth" - Revenge is struck upon a hitchhiker by a toy

  "The Moving Finger" - This will make you hesitant to investigate that weird noise in the bathroom

  "Sneakers" - Even after several readings, this one is still a favorite

  "Sorry, Right Number" - Something to make you think and leave you saddened

  "The Ten O'Clock People" - A secret society sees things that others do not

  "The Fifth Quarter" - I'm sort of a sucker for a lone gunman versus the mob type stories

Nightrunners by Joe R. Lansdale

• Purchase it here
• Published March 1989 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 14, 2000
• The blurbs on the cover of this book say that it "has raw power", "The body count's high, but so is the energy level" and it contains "ruthless suspense". All of those are completely true. This is an intense book that starts off fast and doesn't slow down until the end, and even at that point it remains with you like a strong fart after a meal at the local taqueria. A lot of people die in this book and most of the deaths are not pretty. But even scarier than that is the mood which Lansdale sets up. The story itself taps in to enough things that everyone fears and then force feeds that fear a healthy dose of adrenaline. The result is a story that scares you but also grips you, a story that you just can't put down until the book is finished.

NightScape by David Morrell

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2004 (Subterranean Press hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on June 26, 2006
• Another excellent collection of short stories by Morrell. This is going to be a semi-weird statement but I prefer Morrell's short stories to his novels. Maybe it's because his short stories are closer to horror while his novels are more suspense. Maybe it's because the novels by Morrell that I have read are very similar to Robert Ludlum novels and I'm burned out on those type of spy stories. Whatever the reason, I really prefer his short stories. The only negative with this collection is that I had read some of the stories before so there was no surprise to them. The enjoyment was still there but for the most part I knew what was coming. I would have listed more of my favorites below but they were already listed elsewhere and I didn't want to repeat myself.

  "Front Man" - A screenwriter works on getting his screenplays produced despite being rejected for being too old

  "Resurrection" - After years and years, a son saves his father from a debilitating disease.

NightWorld by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published August 1993 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 11, 1995
• This is an awesome book! It grabbed me almost immediately and held on to me throughout the entire novel. There were times when I couldn't put it down no matter how much I knew I had to be up early the next morning. Wilson does a great job of merging characters from his previous novels into this adventure. I immediately recognized characters and events from The Keep, The Touch, and a short story titled "A Day In The Life" which I read in the compilation titled Stalkers. All of those stories are part of Wilson's Adversary Cycle. The story is about the end of the world and the group of people who try to save it. The dynamics of the people work extremely well together. Plus the action and suspense keeps your attention riveted. Once again, F. Paul Wilson demonstrates why he is one of my favorite authors.

99 Coffins by David Wellington

• Purchase it here
• Published December 2007 (Three Rivers Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 1, 2009
• Wellington continues his vampire tales by upping the ante; instead of a small handful of vampires that were in 13 Bullets, we now have 99. But rather than simply telling another tales and making it more gruesome and violent, Wellington focuses on the story. We get to find out more about Laura Caxton and how she is now dealing with being a vampire expert. We get to see more of Agent Arkeley and how he is dealing with being mostly retired. And we get to see how a town panics with the threat of more vampires. It all starts with an archaeology professor who on a local dig finds 100 coffins with vampires in 99 of them. Fortunately their hearts are missing so they are not animated. Unfortunately the 100th coffin was smashed and the vampire that was inside it is missing. Laura Caxton is called in to help and to do what she can. The story is told by intermixing Caxton's point of view and some Civil War documents that explain how and why the coffins were buried years ago. As I was reading the book, the Civil War document part was my biggest concern. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction; most of the time is just doesn't do it for me. Wellington uses it to the story's advantage though because it did nothing but make it better. It came across exactly as intended: here's the secret and mystery behind the problems in the present. I don't really have much more to say other than go out and pick up this book.

999 edited by Al Sarrantonio

• Purchase it here
• 29 stories by such authors as William Peter Blatty, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Eric Van Lustbader, David Morrell and Joyce Carol Oates
• Published 2001 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 11, 2002
• This is a terrific anthology of horror and suspense filled tales; at 666 pages, it is also quite large. I'm not sure if the page length was on purpose or not but it perfectly matches the title which was based on both an upside down 666 and on the year the hardcover was released: 1999. This collection has no theme to tie the stories together other than being great horror stories. And personally I think that this is a welcome change from all the cat, vampire, whatever themes that are out there. Just so many good stories that it makes limiting my favorites to the ones below very difficult.

  "Good Friday" by F. Paul Wilson - A pair of nuns take on a bunch of vampires.

  "Excerpts from the Records of the New Zodiac and the Diaries of Henry Watson Fairfax" by Chet Williamson - A real long title for a humorous story of a man joining a secret organization with more than one purpose.

  "Catfish Gal Blues" by Nancy A. Collins - A small town boy avoiding work discovers a local legend is true.

  "ICU" by Edward Lee - A man wakes up with little memory of the gunfight which landed him there.

  "Rio Grande Gothic" by David Morrell - A policeman investigates the appearance of shoes in the middle of the road.

  "Styx and Bones" by Edward Bryant - A man with women problems wakes up with broken arms.

  "Mad Dog Summer" by Joe R. Lansdale - An excellent short story but skip it and read The Bottoms instead. That is the full-blown, extended book version of this short story.

  "Rehearsals" by Thomas F. Monteleone - A man gets the chance to change his life for the better in a tale straight out of The Twilight Zone.

  "Elsewhere" by William Peter Blatty - While a good story, this one is more noticeable for its length (just over 100 pages) and for being so similar in nature to Richard Matheson's Hell House.

No Sanctuary by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2003 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 07, 2005
• Yet one more thrill-a-minute, can't put down book by Laymon; he again proves that you can't go wrong reading one of his books. This time we follow Rick who is going camping with his girlfriend, Bert. Unfortunately Rick had a bad camping experience when he was a kid (to put it mildly) and this trip is causing him flashbacks. Meanwhile Gillian is also on vacation but her idea of fun is breaking into someone's house and living there for a few days. Her unfortunate luck leads her to picking the wrong house. Together we get a great story that blends the two stories together and gives us intense, scary fun with a healthy dose of sex. I'm glossing over the great characters and dialogue that fits perfectly because that is always present in a Laymon book. In fact, he makes it seem so normal for his books that you forget how other novels will often struggle with the same aspects. Once again, another Laymon novel that you won't want to miss.

Nobody True by James Herbert

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2004 (Pan Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 29, 2006
• This is one of Herbert's novels that is solid, enjoyable but not one I would classify as great. And usually I love Herbert's work. The story is told by James True who was recently killed during an Out Of Body experience. While his spirit wanders the city in a not quite a ghost sense, he must come to grips with what has happened to him in addition to finding out who was behind it. At the same time, his spirit life is involved with finding and stopping a serial killer. I really like the premise of the story but it was kind of a one trick pony. Something that was good for a start but couldn't carry the whole novel. Plus it seemed way too much like the movie Ghost; at one point, Herbert even has his characters make the comparison. This only served to remind me of the similarities rather than the difference. The other thing that kept annoying me was that James True kept mentioning how difficult it was to tell time while out of his body. Fine, a good thing to mention but it seemed to be brought up every twenty pages. Enough already. By half-way through the book, I think the readers have the idea. The other thing that was a bit contrived was the title of the book. It was a play on True being stuck as a spirit / soul (no body True) in addition to a reference of the lies that made up all the character's lives (nobody being true). It works as a title but having the main character's last name be True didn't really work. Overall, I enjoyed the book but would probably recommend other Herbert novels before this one.

Noirotica 2: Pulp Friction edited by Thomas S. Roche

• Purchase it here
• 23 stories by such authors as Bruce Benderson, Jeff Gelb, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and Mason Powell
• Published December 1997 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 01, 2000
• An excellent collection of short stories! As the title of the collection suggests, all of the stories follow two main themes: crime stories a la pulp novels and an erotic slant to them. Some of the stories were chilling in their suspense; others were sizzling in their romance. Either way the vast majority of them were fun, adventurous and not to be missed. I'm now going to have to go back and try to hunt up the first collection of these type of stories, especially since I would expect the same top notch level of quality.

  "Crime Movies" by Brian Hodge - Lustful dreams of movie stars sometimes do come true.

  "The Big Sin" by Jeff Gelb - An evening with an escort turns bad

  "Dick Death, Punk Detective" by Bill Brent - An offbeat tale about waking up next to a corpse.

  "Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun" by Caitlin R. Kiernan - The dreams of a bartender and a whore don't quite come true.

  "The Xenophobic Hitman" by Gary Jonas - A hitman who hates people can't seem to stay from another job.

  "Forgetaboutit" by Thomas S. Roche - A push on the wrong path gets corrected.

Now You See It... by Richard Matheson

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2003 (Tor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 02, 2004
• This turned out to be a mostly enjoyable book with a few things that didn't quite mesh as well as they should have. The story follows Maximillian Delacorte as he confronts his family and friends in an attempt at revenge. The interesting part is that Delacorte is a master magician; the more interesting part is that he has a few screws loose so his revenge is quite inventive and fun. The problem is that some of the magic tricks used aren't half as interesting as the characters make them seem; they left me underimpressed. Additionally he kept apologizing to his invalid father who was sitting in a wheelchair in the room the whole time; the constant apologizing was annoying and distracting. There were a couple of places though that the story reminded me very much of Sleuth or Deathtrap, both excellent movies that I love. The story was taking those kinds of twists and turns. Overall if you can overlook a few mostly minor points, then I think that you'll end up enjoying this book.

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

Last modified on January 15, 2012