The Pack: Winter Kill by Mike Oliveri

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2009 (Evileye Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 9, 2012
• unreviewed

Pact of the Fathers by Ramsey Campbell

• Purchase it here
• Published December 1993 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 23, 2004
• This novel started off pretty strong but then lost much of its power about halfway through. It starts with Daniella, a young woman in college, who quickly loses her father in a car accident that's not quite suspicious. During the natural events that follow, she discovers her father was part of a secret society, one that she keeps investigating to uncover what and why. And this is about the point that I started losing interest. The story didn't really take any new approaches to the secret society idea and followed the standard formula. Each new discovery that Daniella makes and each person that she can't trust is not really a surprise to us. After all we knew about the secret society before even starting the book; hell, it's in the title. And the final resolution continues in the same mediocrity of not being new or different and even worse the ending at times is just plain stupid at points. The actions taken for the big reveal left me shaking my head and just disappointed. You should look elsewhere for a good Ramsey Campbell book because this one didn't meet my criteria.

Pain Management by Andrew Vachss

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2002 (Vintage Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 10, 2004
• Book 13 of the Burke novels
  As the story picks up, we find Burke is still in Portland after recovering from an assassination attempt against him, i.e. DEAD AND GONE. He's now recovered and beginning to get back into the game Burke style. This means finding a runaway girl for a wealthy father, but it also means that something is not quite right with the story of the missing girl. Vachss does an excellent job of showing Burke lost in this new city and having to slowly build his rep back up. At the same time, he shows us how lost Burke is without his family. It's another biting chapter in Burke's life and we definitely get to enjoy it. Vachss is still at the top of his game and turning out hard hitting novels.

The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman

• Purchase it here
• Published December 2010 (Cemetery Dance Publications hardcover signed, numbered and limited to 750 copies edition)
• Finished reading it on December 31, 2011
• With only a few novels written so far, it's no surprise that I hadn't read any of them. However I have read and enjoyed several of his short stories: "Something to be Said for the Waiting" in SHIVERS IV and "Answering the Call" in FROM THE BORDERLANDS. THE PAINTED DARKNESS was a novel that I received both as a freebie in electronic form and as part of the Cemetery Dance book club. And I'm very glad that I did. I found the book extremely enjoyable. The story follows Henry during two important parts of his life: his youth or "The Birth of the Artist" and the present. Both parts follow the same pattern of establishing the scene and then quickly jumping into the action and building the suspense. To that end, they were both engrossing and very engaging; I was very much sucked into the story and found myself not aware of my surroundings. This is always a great sign when the rest of the world disappears in favor of the story being read. The story was maybe a little light on characters but considering that it comes in at 165 pages, it was a bit tight to add too many character without detracting from the core story. Everyone and everything involved fit perfectly without padding to just add length. I encourage you to get a copy of the book and read it; you won't regret it.

Panacea by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published May 2017 (Tor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 15, 2019
• Book #1 of The ICE Sequence
  I'm glad to have Wilson writing more suspense novels that are solid enjoyment. Kind of a silly statement since the vast majority of his work falls into that bucket. In my case, it was exactly what I needed and I'm very happy with the book. Laura Fanning is a medical examiner who finds a weird connection between two corpses she has examined. Both bodies are in perfect condition other than being dead. She soon finds herself pulled into a search by a terminally ill billionaire to find the legendary panacea which will cure all ails. She is joined on her quest by Rick Hayden, an ex-Navy Seal who was also hired by the billionaire. Going into this book, I knew that there were two more sequels in the The ICE Sequence books, so I wasn't exactly sure how it would end. And up to about two-thirds of the way through, I thought it was going to be a massive cliffhanger. Instead Wilson does his usual talented job and closes the novel up in a clean, respectable manner. Similar to the Repairman Jack series, you can tell further adventures are coming. However, at least at this point, there is no massive evil entity trying to destroy the world as there was in Repairman Jack. PANACEA is a Done In One. The continued continuity will be coming, I'm sure. There were a couple minor things that I wasn't crazy about in this novel. There were a couple characters that were too good to be true; they had all the right answers at the right time and guided our heroes along their quest. Yes, they were both explained later in the book but it still struck me as too convenient at the time. The story was a tad too formulaic also. Heroes travel to foreign country, defeat some trap and/or bad guys, find a clue that has them travel to yet another foreign country and do it all again. It was fine and worked but one more country would have been it! An excellent start for a new series by Wilson. I look forward to the future novels.

Paradise by Koji Suzuki

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2006 (Vertical, Inc paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 10, 2007
• While an enjoyable read, PARADISE wasn't something that I would call overly great. The book is broken down into three sections, each following two lovers as they move through time to reunite. "Legend" sets the scene as a prehistoric Mongolian tribe spawns the lovers and sets their path in motion. "Paradise" picks up their spirits now in the 18th century on a desert island. And in the 1990s, "The Desert" finally has the two lovers reconnect after further turmoil. Considering the time shift between the chapters, the story is more about the spirits and drive than the lovers themselves. This makes the big story more along the lines of similarly themed short stories rather than a single cohesive novel. As such, it's interesting but not great. The characters are real but each story left me feeling incomplete with the endings and/or beginnings.

The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum

• Purchase it here
• Published February 1983 (Bantam Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on February 28, 1985
• unreviewed

The Passage by Justin Cronin

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2010 (Ballantine Books ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on June 21, 2019
• Book #1 of The Passage Trilogy
  This is the second book in just a couple months which has delivered a gut punch in the last few pages. While it's nice to be surprised and reminded that I'm reading Horror and not Happy Ending, it's also sad to see characters with which I'm emotionally engaged suddenly suffer. Another surprise from this book was that I didn't expect the bulk of the novel to be set in such an apocalyptic future. I knew the book was about vampires and the end of the world but didn't realize that it was the vampire apocalypse. That tone shift occurred about a fourth of the way into the book, the same point as the time jump forward. I'll try to be good and not give away any spoilers but I can't promise it. The story starts and focuses on Amy. Amy's mom tries to do her best but unfortunately her mom is too young and lacks the ability to do provide too much. Amy is abandoned at a convent in Memphis. She is not there long before FBI agent Brad Wolgast picks her up for some military-financed biomedical experiments. The experiments go awry, people die, and the story flash forwards 93 years. The story then focuses on Peter Jaxon who lives in a small community which uses high-watt lights to fend off the virals. On an expedition to recharge the batteries, Peter discovers and is followed by a mute girl who ends up changing the life of everyone in the community. Similar to a lot of the reviews I've seen, I loved the first part of the novel: everything before the time jump. The characters were rich and easy to follow. I could picture everyone in my head pretty easily. After the time jump, the story was great: complex, full, engaging. However, the characters were problematic to me. I had constant problems with knowing roughly how old any of them were; everyone seemed to be young-ish but then there would be a passage describing how one character had been around for a while and I would be confused. Then I also had problems remembering who all the characters were. There were 3-4 that I could remember but then everyone else was a blur. The story helped at that point because it basically killed everyone except for a dozen. Then I was really getting to know those characters and thought I knew where the story was going to end when the gut punch happened. Characters that I was emotionally attached to died. It's possible that THE TWELVE, book #2 of The Passage Trilogy, will prove things to be not that bad. To be honest though, I'm not sure I want that; I would rather the story keep true to the emotional punch than go back on it. Cronin has created a complex world with a lot of details. The story goes in directions that you don't expect. As with life, some of those changes are enjoyable and some of them are not. I'm happy I read the book. If my To Be Read stack wasn't so large, I would buy the sequels in a heartbeat. Instead I'll probably wait for a sale and then pick them up.

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2004 (Berkley Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 12, 2005
• At first I had some problems getting into this novel, but after I got over my cold and was able to concentrate for more than five minutes without things going all fuzzy, I found the novel much more enjoyable. The story of Cayce Pollard and her exploration of footage along with her ability to know what will resonate with today's society made much more sense. In fact, like all of Gibson's novels, this one quickly became a joy to read and something that is both "here and now" while also part of the future. I love his science fiction because of that reason: it's not something so far out there that you have to suspend belief in lots of things. Usually you can imagine his worlds happening in five years or less. Anyway, back to PATTERN RECOGNITION. I would definitely recommend it. You are not going to go wrong with his story and style and characterization. Pick it up and enjoy! I guarantee it.

Pay The Ghost by Tim Lebbon

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2015 (Dreaming in Fire Press ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on November 5, 2021
• unreviewed

Paycheck and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2003 (Citadel paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 23, 2013
• I know that this is going to be sacrilegious but I did not enjoy this collection very much. Most of the stories were not interesting or easily predictable. It was very easy to know what was going to happen. Plus the stories were also very heavy-handed in their themes: anti-war, anti-government and anti-corporation. When it comes down to it, the theme is not as important to me as the story that is being told. I'm fine with anti-war stories so long as I am interested in the story unfolding. In this case though, the theme is so in the reader's face that it is impossible to ignore. Not necessarily a problem so long as the story could carry it. Unfortunately that was not the case here. And as I mentioned, easily predictable which means no mystery as it unfolds. I was really hoping to like the collection since so many movies are based on Dick's ideas. I've listed the few stories that I did like below but otherwise I can't in good conscience recommend this collection. It was difficult for me to finish reading the book.

  "Roog" - A dog protects his house from the Roog.

  "Expendable" - A man is caught in an insect war.

Peaceable Kingdom by Jack Ketchum

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2003 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 30, 2005
• I am still highly enjoying the bulk of stuff done by Ketchum. I'm so glad that I discovered him and made him one of my favorite authors. Sometimes collections of short stories like this don't read quite as well as an author's novels. In this case, it is not true, but considering that several of Ketchum's novels clock in at between 200-300 pages, they almost fall into the novella realm instead of novel. There's no official cutoff on the difference but I've always thought of 300 pages as that magic mark. Under 300 is a novella. Over 300 is a novel. Anyway, PEACEABLE KINGDOM contains 32 short stories by Ketchum. I found the bulk of the stories to be very enjoyable with only a select few leaving me disappointed. And in my mind, that makes the collection a recommendation. As always, you'll find my favorites below.

  "The Haunt" - A New Orleans bar takes an enterprising approach to their ghost.

  "Sundays" - A single squirrel changes a hunter.

  "The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard" - Events transpire to show that fate does have a fickle hand.

  "Megan's Law" - An overly cautious father has two many facets.

  "The Great San Diego Sleazy Bimbo Massacre" - A fun tale of murder, greed and stupidity.

  "The Work" - Atrocities aren't limited to just bodily damage.

The Pet by Charles L. Grant

• Purchase it here
• Published May 1987 (Tor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 1, 1990
• unreviewed

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

• Purchase it here
• Published 1989 (Yearling Book paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 28, 2022
• unreviewed

PetSematary by Stephen King

• Purchase it here
• Published November 1984 (Signet paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 1, 1987
• unreviewed

Phantoms by Dean R. Koontz

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1983 (Berkley Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 31, 1986
• unreviewed

Plague Zone by David Wellington

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2012 (Amazon Digital Services ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on February 21, 2018
• I really enjoy Wellington's writing and his books. His earlier books (MONSTER ISLAND and the other Monster books) were delivered as part of a regular blog. A chapter a week type of thing. It kept the chapters pretty short and centered on one piece of action. PLAGUE ZONE keeps that same pattern of short chapters focused on a small piece of the story. For me, it made it hard to stop: five chapters of "Just one more chapter." For this story, Wellington goes back to zombies but a different zombie than the Monster books. Tim Kempfer was on a business trip to Chicago when the outbreak of Russian Flu first hit the U.S., specifically Tim's hometown of Seattle. The early news reports and videos that came out showed not just his hometown but his neighborhood. In fact, it showed Tim's neighbor attacking Tim's wife and son. With that, Tim started his mission to get back. As I mentioned earlier, the short chapters make it very easy to become absorbed into the story. In reality though, it's the characters that drive that absorption, that fascination with what are they going to experience next. Is that drive going to lead to success? Does success matter if Tim loses his humanity in the process? These type of questions about decisions made and motivations make the story interesting. There were a couple of events near the end that I didn't like and seemed like easy outs by Wellington. But then another five pages later, I looked back and thought "Oh, that didn't turn out like I thought it would." and I realized it wasn't an easy out. In all, a solidly entertaining book and one that makes me look forward to reading more of his books.

Poe's Children: The New Horror edited by Peter Straub

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2009 (Anchor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 16, 2020
• This book raised a difficult question for me. When do you give up on reading an anthology? I believe that I've been reading this book for over a year. I would pick it up, read a story or part of a story, dislike that story, and put the book down. I would want to give up and mark it as Did Not Finish (DNF) but then I would think that just because I disliked one story didn't mean that I would dislike another. So I would try again and do the same process of wanting to give up but not doing so. Some of the stories were too poetic and focused on the moon; at the same time, those stories had no substance, no hook, no story. Some were just boring. Most did not grab my interest. I did find five stories I liked enough to mention below but even two of those were reprints that I read elsewhere. That was another thing that frustrated me. For a book with a subtitle of "The New Horror", most of the stories were copyrighted in 2002 or earlier. As early as 1984 and 1990. Even granting time to pull the stories together and compile the book, that is not very "new" horror (for the original copyright of 2008). So as you can tell, I can't really recommend the book.

  "Cleopatra Brimstone" by Elizabeth Hand - An attractive entomologist deals with life, a job in London, some men, and her love of butterflies.

  "The Sadness of Detail" by Jonathan Carroll - A woman's drawings help her to accept life and to save the world.

  "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" by Stephen King - The story of a writer who goes mad and the editor who helps him. Told by the same, no-longer-mad editor.

  "20th Century Ghost" by Joe Hill - A woman's ghost haunts a movie theater.

  "October in the Chair" by Neil Gaiman - October tells the story of Runt and Dearly: a young boy and a ghost.

Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter

• Purchase it here
• Published December 1993 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 28, 1999
• I might be a bit late in discovering Stephen Hunter but discover him I have. And now I am hooked! POINT OF IMPACT is an excellent story involving snipers, war, a secret organization, the FBI and a massive conspiracy. The secret agency slyly recruits an ex-Marine who is also a world class sniper to help prevent an assassination from occurring. Instead the ex-Marine is framed for the attempt, starting a manhunt. Everything comes together in the tradition of Ludlum and with just as many thrills and twists and turns. Except with this novel I was able to see some but not all of the clues. At times I knew what to expect although not exactly, so the thrill was still there. If you are a fan of action, suspense and intrigue, then definitely don't miss this thriller!

The Poker Club by Ed Gorman

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2000 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 06, 2003
• While this was a good novel, it didn't pack as much of a punch for me and it could have. Not because of the novel itself but because I read the short story "Out There In The Darkness" which was the basis for this book. The short story is roughly forty pages and covers the same plot and the same twist at the ending. The book is 393 pages with much more characterizations, more events and a more satisfying but not as spooky ending. Bill, Curtis, Neil and Aaron are four friends that get together once a week to play poker. Their game is interrupted by an attempted burglary which goes awry as the friends accidentally kill one of the burglars. Due to a vigilante streak where they were going to torture the burglar, they all decide to not call the cops. Unfortunately this gets used against them by the burglar's partner who is now out for revenge. Other than an occasional mumble on my part of "Just call the cops already.", I didn't have any problems with the book. I kind of wish that I hadn't read the short story so that I could enjoy the novel more, but then I would have wished the same about the novel so that I could have enjoyed the short story. Either way I would recommend reading the book.

The Policy by Bentley Little

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2003 (Signet paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 23, 2004
• Little is great at tapping into the frustration, anger and yes, even fear that we all feel towards certain parts of life that we just sort of accept. THE ASSOCIATION dealt with homeowner's associations. THE STORE dealt with the corporate take over of small mom and pop stores. And now we have THE POLICY to deal with our despisement of insurance companies. The story follows Hunt Jackson as he resettles in his home town of Tucson. He quickly settles in, finds a job, makes new friends of old friends, and starts to have problems with his insurance. Like usual, Little takes things farther than you would ever find in real life but that is part of the fear, that there really isn't that much to stop insurance companies from doing some of the stuff detailed here. Things follow through nicely and come to a much nicer and cleaner ending than I thought was going to occur. If you're not already a fan, reading this novel will put you well along the path to becoming one.

Portent by James Herbert

• Published January 2011 (Anchor Books edition)
• Finished reading it on June 09, 1999
• One of the things that I like most about Herbert's books is that you never know what to expect in them. He has no problem with leaving the story with a depressing end or killing main characters or even, as is the case with PORTENT, destroying major cities around the world with (un)natural disasters. A thinly disguised save-the-environment book, it is none-the-less extremely entertaining. Disasters strike the world while the root of the solution is buried within a pair of twins who literally are the next generation. The pace of the story and action slowly build the entire time to a non-stop page-turning conclusion that kept me up late. My only regret in the whole story is that the main antagonist is not developed enough; more time could have been spent on her to make her scarier.

Portents edited by Al Sarrantonio

• Published October 2009 (Flying Fox Publishers hardcover signed, numbered and limited to 1,000 copies edition)
• Finished reading it on March 22, 2024
• I don't know what it is but I've been taking forever to get through short story collections. It does not matter if the anthology is an interesting topic, a single author, or random choices by an editor. I can't seem to get into them. I try for a story a week but that doesn't week to work very well. Airplane rides are about the best so far to get me through them. Oh, it also doesn't seem to matter if the stories are good or not. I have several favorites from this collection but it still took me longer than I would have liked. Here's to hoping for me trips.

  "Anwari" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - A baby doll, an ex-girlfriend, and maybe a genie.

  "Dead Hit" by Neal Barrett, Jr. - An unexpected assassin takes a job.

  "Miss Dowdy" by Elizabeth Massie - A witch is discovered by a young girl.

  "Forced Entry" by Kealan Patrick Burke - A woman has unexpected visitors. The ending leaves a punch.

  "The Casual Progression of Homesickness" by Tom Piccirilli - A man's world unravels. Piccirilli's stories always grabs your heart and won't let go. This one is no exception.

Portrait of the Psychopath as a Young Woman by Edward Lee and Elizabeth Steffen

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2003 (Necro Publications paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 23, 2006
• This is a hardcore novel. Extremely brutal. There are enough torture scenes in this novel to give you at least one thing to cringe about. If you're like me, you'll find several. The new uses for power tools was one. The red pepper was another. If you get squeamish easily, pass on this book. Kathleen Shade is a regular columnist for a feminist magazine when she starts getting stories from a serial killer. Not so much stories as descriptions of the torture inflicted on her victims. There are also glimpses into her childhood which is more depressing than the pain experienced by the men she kills. Detective Spence is the police officer assigned to investigate the killing spree but he can't quite find the connection between killer and columnist and is left a step behind as the victims pile up. While a good read, Lee has done better. The torture is over the top at times and we don't usually find out too much about the victims. This leaves us not feeling much for them one way or another when they are killed. And there are even victims that we cheer the killer on with their torture. Without feeling for the victims, the book becomes more about the killer and those with who she chooses to communicate. We get a good view of these characters but for me, the feelings as to what might happen to them wasn't there. The novel is still kick ass and not one I would pass up but Lee has done better.

Positive by David Wellington

• Purchase it here
• Published December 2015 (Harper Voyager paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 7, 2021
• unreviewed

The Pram by Joe Hill

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2023 (Amazon Original Stories ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on December 3, 2023
• unreviewed

Predators edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1994 (Roc Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 23, 1997
• unreviewed

The Presence by John Saul

• Purchase it here
• Published August 1997 (hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on August 29, 1999
• Saul has written another solid book. Unfortunately I can't seem to get in to his stories much anymore. Maybe it is because he follows too much of a pattern. Maybe it is because I'm bored of the pattern. Maybe my tastes have just changed away from him. Whatever it is, I just wasn't pulled in to the story this time. It was interesting but only in an abstract sort of way. The characters didn't seem real to me despite the amount of individuality they were given. The only surprise that I found in the whole thing was that he went for the happy ending rather than killing one of his main characters like he usually does. But even that seemed like a wimp out to me. I haven't written him off quite yet like I have Koontz but I might just migrate away due to entropy.

Pressure by Jeff Strand

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2006 (Earthling Publications hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on August 17, 2008
• This book is a departure from Strand's normal horror / comedy novels. And I loved it! As he points out in his afterword, the story is pretty straight forward. Not very complex. But it is well worth his straight line approach. The story is about a relationship between two guys: Alex, a good natured boy dealing with a hard life, and Darren, an introverted boy with psychotic tendencies. As they both age, mature and grow older, their two lives intersect at key points. From a mutilated dog through kidnapping and beyond, Darren is constantly making Alex's life harder. Applying pressure to become and do things Alex does not want to do. While there might not be the extra material to flush out the story, there does not need to be. Everything focuses on Darren and Alex and what they do. From that point, every works perfectly. The characters are complex and engaging. While dealing with crazy situations, everything that occurs makes total sense. Their actions are what one would expect. It makes the book extremely enjoyable and well worth it.

Primitive by J.F. Gonzalez

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2009 (Darkside Digital ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on March 20, 2024
• unreviewed

Private Eye Action as you like it... by Joe R. Lansdale and Lewis Shiner

• Purchase it here
• Published July 1998 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 01, 2001
• This book is a collection of some of the earlier works of both Lansdale and Shiner. Specifically it is some of their first works published. As the title suggests, they involve private eye stories; in Lansdale's case they center around Raymond Slater while in Shiner's case they revolve around Daniel Sloane. And then ending the book is a couple of stories where the two authors teamed up and wrote stories about John Talbot. So how were the stories? Fun and entertaining but not overly impressive. They are well done and very likable but I found them more interesting from a "looking back" point of view. Knowing at least Lansdale's current style and writing, it's fun to look back on some of his early stuff and see how he's evolved. Then helping out in that view is the author's notes that complement the book. They give additional history and a point of view to enjoy the creation of the stories. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this collection for everyone, I would recommend it to fans of Lansdale or Shiner.

Psycho II by Robert Bloch

• Purchase it here
• Published September 1982 (Warner Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 1, 1985
• unreviewed

Punish the Sinners by John Saul

• Purchase it here
• Published August 1978 (Dell paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 31, 1981
• unreviewed

Pus Junkies by Shane McKenzie

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2014 (Eraserhead Press ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on May 24, 2015
• This is one book that I was glad to read as an ebook. The reason being that the cover kind of grossed me out and I was glad to not have to see it whenever I picked up the book. However, I'm also a little bummed because McKenzie deserves a ton of appreciation for his book and more people should see and read it. Kip is a high schooler with a severe case of acne. He's taking medicine and topicals for it but nothing works. It's so bad that the kids at school call him Toad. Then one day he discovers that the pus in his zits contain a powerful narcotic that drives everyone who tastes it crazy and euphoric. Kip becomes the ultimate drug dealer of his own acne pus. Sure, the idea is bizarre and gross but that is what makes the novel so brave. All the characters are three dimensional and engaging. The events in the story unfold naturally; well, narcotic acne pus isn't really natural so maybe that should be the story unfolds logically instead. I wish that Jade (one of girls in the story) was a bit more likable but she also played her part in the story perfectly. The only part of the book that I wish was different was the Epilogue. It carried the story further but undid a bit of what happened before and made the ending even more tragic. I can't figure out if I dislike the additional tragedy or the dead person who was brought back more. In the end it doesn't matter because the story hooked me and entertained me. I look forward to reading more books by McKenzie.

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

Last modified on January 23, 2020