The Walking by Bentley Little
- Purchase it here
- Published November 2000 (Signet paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on July 5, 2002
- One of the things that I've discovered about Bentley Little's books are that he seems to have a hard time ending them. The story goes from start to about 90% in an enthralling read that pulls you along. And you enjoy every second of it. And then the ending comes along and all momentum is lost. Sure, it ends fine and makes sense; it just feels that the enthralling pull has kicked you off the train and you're left to walk the remaining mile to the final station. The Walking involves Miles Huerdeen who wants to find out why his father started walking once he died. The mystery gets more complex when he discovers that his father is not the only person to die but continue walking. This was another great book by Little and this time the ending wasn't quite as remote as in previous times. This time it was a little convenient but still thrilling. So instead of having to walk that final mile to the last station, we were dragged by train on one of those handcarts. Whatever the cause of the "bad ending" inflection, I hope that Little works his way through it and discovers those great endings because I really love reading the other 90%.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
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- Published September 1998 (Simon & Schuster paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on April 13, 2006
- This is a weird, eccentric, and very off-base type of novel. At the same time though it is extremely gripping and engrossing. The story is about Frank who lives on an island, has had something horrible happen in his past, sacrifices wasps in order to predict the future, kills his family members for odd but understandable reasons, wishes his insane brother who burns dogs and escaped from an asylum would make it home, and names everything based on the campaigns he launches. The novel kind of sounds like it is all over the place but it really does tie together nicely. I constantly found myself wanting desperately to know what was going to happen next or to have Frank reveal a little more about his past. He accurately calls things as they really are, a sort of bluntness that could be considered humorous. All things which makes this a great book and one highly recommended. You'll need to be ready for some very dark scenes and a tone that doesn't lighten up much at all.
Watchers by Dean Koontz
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- Published April 1988 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on August 12, 1997
- I've heard once that out of all the novels which Koontz has written, this is his favorite. I don't know if it is true or not, but it definitely was well written and is an engrossing story. I enjoyed it very much and being a dog lover, it touched me a little bit more than usual. There is a nice mix of science and, for lack of a better word, humanity which end up fighting against each other. Additionally science shows that it can create humanity while humanity can reciprocate with a lack of feeling. It's obvious that a lot of thought went into this novel and appropriately it pushes the readers to think also. Think about the potential which society has and what we might accomplish. Don't get me wrong; this isn't an analytical book. It is a fun novel that is exciting and thrilling to read. It just contains more than most.
Wet Work by Philip Nutman
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- Published June 1993 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on March 21, 2000
- This is an excellent book that kept me thrilled the entire way. I could barely put it down as I whipped through it in just two days. The premise is taken straight out of Night of the Living Dead, a comet cuts close enough to Earth to cause havoc by allowing the dead to revive and eat the living. In fact, a short story version of Wet Work first appeared in the anthology Book Of The Dead. But the book involves much more than zombies eating flesh. The characters are so realistic that you can recognize any of them as neighbors, friends and family. And they pull you in to their lives, sharing their problems, making you cheer them on while they try to solve their problems. Of course, not all the problems are solved easily; the zombies have to have someone to eat. However you will still find the book riveting and not something to be missed. I know that I need to hunt down more of Nutman's books and enjoy them. Oh yeah, an extra bonus for comic book fans is that many of the characters are named after well known comic book writers and artists. It doesn't detract or add to the story itself but it is fun to find out some comic book favorites are "in" the story.
When the Wind Blows by James Patterson
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- Published 1998 (hardcover edition)
- Finished reading it on December 28, 2002
- This novel wasn't quite what I expected it to be. I've only read one other novel by Patterson, Kiss the Girls, and it was a pretty straightforward murder mystery type novel. Nothing too fantastic or amazing. This one wasn't. The story follows Kit Harrison, an FBI agent allegedly on vacation but really working on a case which he was kicked off; Frances O'Neill, a veterinarian in a small remote-ish village in Colorado, and Max, a flying girl. Yes, a flying girl. Aside from the fantastical beginning, the story follows a relatively simple model that has been seen many times before: man and woman start out opposing each other, they start working for a common goal of fighting an evil organization, man and woman fall in love while simultaneously rescuing those kept down by the ones in power. Nothing really new except for the flying girl which for the first 50 pages I kept waiting for her to turn into a dream. It was kind of disconcerting from my expectations. Once I got past that though the rest of the book was an enjoyable read. Again, nothing too new and innovative but still a good read.
White and Other Tales of Ruin by Tim Lebbon
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- Published December 2002 (Night Shade Books paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on May 16, 2007
- This book is a collection of six novellas, all by Lebbon. The stories are each centered around the disintegration of society and the sources of hope which people find. "White" and "From Bad Flesh" both exist in the same continuity, a world where the devastation is called the Ruin. Hence the title of the book. All of the stories are excellent, extremely well told. The chaos and horror of "Hell" and "Mannequin Man and the Plastic Bitch" was a bit much and could be considered overdone, but at the same time Clive Barker has described worse. I think they stand out because the other stories aren't quite as severe. If all the stories had been equally intense, I wouldn't have noticed.
"White" - A group of people are stuck in a house by never-ending snow and something out in the snow.
"From Bad Flesh" - A man hunts for a cure to a deadly virus while trying to keep his morality.
"Hell" - While trying to escape his feelings and depression over losing his daughter, a father finds his daughter.
"The First Law" - Five survivors of a boat crash land on an island that epitomizes Darwin's law.
"The Origin of Truth" - A family tries to escape the end of the world but discovers the knowledge of humanity.
"Mannequin Man and the Plastic Bitch" - Two artificial beings seek out love.
White House Horrors edited by Martin H. Greenberg
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- 16 short stories by such authors as Max Allan Collins, Edward Lee, Peter Crowther, Tom Piccirilli and Robert Randisi
- Published August 2004 (iBooks paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on January 19, 2006
- I was kind of disappointed by this collection of short stories. None of them were that scary nor overly interesting. I think that had more to do with many of the stories being historical in nature. They weren't history stories but ghost stories focused on historical characters, like President Harry S. Truman or President William Henry Harrison. I've never been big on history though and these stories were close enough to disinterest me from really enjoying them. I was still able to find some favorites but this isn't a book that I would highly recommend.
"Healing The Body Politic" by Brian Hodge - The President is ready to sacrifice himself for the good of the nation.
"Scandal" by Jill M. Morgan - A reporter for a Washington D.C. rag finds a super big story.
"The President's Mind" by Robert J. Randisi - Zombies, voodoo and a precursor to super spy James Bond. All wrapped up with President Lincoln.
"Jack Be Quick" by Graham Masterton - More zombies. This time involving President Kennedy. I wonder if it means anything that the only historical stories that I liked both involved zombies.
Wild Cards - Book 1 of a New Cycle: Card Sharks edited by George R. R. Martin
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- Published March 1993 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on November 13, 1995
- This is actually the first book at a new publisher; there was another 12 novels released by another publisher. This is a pretty good Wild Cards novel. Just in case you've never read a Wild Cards novel, they are science fiction based on the earth where a virus was released back in the '50s. This virus killed 90% of the people infected, 9% of the people got a Joker (deformity with or without some sort of super-power) and 1% got an Ace (a super-power of some sort). This novel focuses on a search for a conspiracy against Jokers, a group that wants to eliminate all Jokers. Rather than several stories that are loosely or not related, this novel follows the recent pattern of a single plot tied together by several inter-related short stories. The novel includes several of my favorite characters: Croyd "Sleeper" Crenson and Jay "Poppinjay" Ackroyd. Several new characters are also introduced and add to the universe nicely. Of course, the story makes more sense by knowing some of the background from the previous novels, but they are not necessary. Especially with the ending which left me saying "Oh fuck" to myself.
Wild Cards - Book 2 of a New Cycle: Marked Cards edited by George R. R. Martin
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- Published March 1994 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on August 17, 1996
- For a description of the Wild Cards world, please see the start of the review for Book 1. This continues the world and focuses on the conspiracy that was uncovered in the last novel. It touches on many of the effects to individuals when Gregg Hartmann goes public with the information. It is very enjoyable and thought provoking. It's amazing that so much happens in a little more than 400 pages. I also liked how we were able to see the effects of a course of action, meaning that Hartmann would go to the newspapers and the story following that would follow from the events sparked by the newspapers. Pretty nicely done. Favorite parts included finding out more about Bagabond, now Suzanne Menotti; the reappearance, although short, of the jumpers; and the changes to Dr. Finn's life. Plus the entire Feeding Frenzy chapter is awesome!!
Wild Cards - Book 3 of a New Cycle: Black Trump edited by George R. R. Martin
- Purchase it here
- Published August 1995 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on July 15, 1999
- Rather than repeat a description of the Wild Cards world, please see the start of the review for Book 1. This novel is the next and final chapter in the Wild Cards series. I'm not sure exactly why it is that it is not continuing but my best guess would have to be a lack of interest, thus a lack of sales. While entertaining and fun, this novel doesn't do as well as others. The focus is a synthesized drug which will kill anyone and everyone infected with the Wild Card virus; it's a purist's method of removing the hated group. Although a perfect method for numerous comparisons to real-life hate crimes, there wasn't as much thinking necessary in this book since it turned out to be mostly action filled. A disappointment really. Then the worst part is at the end when the city of Jerusalem is infected, people are dying and then a vaccine is introduced and suddenly everyone no longer has to worry about the virus. Excuse me, I may not be a doctor but if you are infected with a virus that completely changes your DNA and guarantees to kill you and then you are infected with a lesser strain that does the same thing, it won't matter. You will die anyway! To top it off, they could have avoided this nonsense completely by having a radical group nuke the city to prevent further infection, which they had already planned to do but stopped once they found out that a vaccine was being circulated to the already infected city. In the past, the series had no problem killing large groups of people to fit the story (hell, the wild card virus kills 90% of the people it infects) and no they wimped out in order to save the city. And it was in the final chapter when it wouldn't have made a difference except to the reality that they were trying to keep. If you've read the previous novels, go ahead and read this one also; otherwise don't bother.
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons
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- Published January 2003 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on December 21, 2003
- In case you weren't aware of it, this book is a sequel to Simmons' Summer of Night. While not as scary, this novel is not one to be missed. The story picks up forty-one years later as Dale Stewart moves back into town, trying to find peace and remember the events of that summer in 1960. Do we the readers have to have read the previous book before reading this one? No, but it does help, not that I'm a good example since I don't remember many of the details from the first book. Anyway, the characterizations here are rich and wonderful. And rather than an avert, in-your-face kind of horror this book slowly unveils the creepy things and scares you in subtle ways. Considering that portions of the story are told by the ghost of Duane McBride, the scares would have to sneak up on you. Oh, I also absolutely love the last chapter of the book. It was a fabulous way to end the novel and complete the circle of the two books.
Winter Moon by Dean R. Koontz
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- Published February 1994 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on August 9, 1996
- This is one of the better Koontz books that I've read in a long time. Lately, most of his novels that I've read have followed a definite pattern: woman in peril, guy assists, woman finds inner strength and proves to be stronger than guy, all the while they work together against a corrupt corporation/government agency. Happily the only part of the pattern that carried over was a strong female character. Thus all potential of predicting and second guessing the story was useless. Rather than being entertaining and bland, it turned out to be quite suspenseful. The last hundred or so pages had me jumping at every sound. This is classic Koontz and well worth it.
Wither by J. G. Passarella
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- Published March 2000 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on November 11, 2001
- While not one of the best books that I've read, Wither was still on the good side. It's a enjoyable read. The story focuses on the events occurring in the small town of Windale, Massachusetts. Three witches are being reincarnated and are wrecking havoc in the process. The story was good and most of the characters were portrayed in enough depth as to be believable. However there were a few things that I didn't like. The story jumped around in time at a few spots; one of the main characters was in class in the middle of the day, it then jumps to someone else at night (no problem yet), and then it jumps back to the first character just getting out of class (problem now). Start Spoiler Warning The other thing was with that you find out the witches come out of this hibernation state once every hundred years and that they need a new body every five hundred years, but why? No valid reason is ever given. It's just a convenient plot device that rings as being unauthentic.End Spoiler Warning Despite those two problems though, I found the book enjoyable and fun. It's probably more appropriate as a movie though and not as a book. Curiously the copy that I have says that it will soon be a "major motion picture from Columbia Pictures" but searches on Internet Movie Database come up blank.
Wither's Legacy by John Passarella
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- Published October 2004 (Pocket paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on April 8, 2008
- And finally we come to the last of the Wendy Ward novels. At least for now. Not that I'm really wishing for the end of her story. In fact, each book gets better than the last so I actually look forward to Passarella's next one. However I'm hoping that his next book is on new material and not a continuation of Wendy's life. The story this time is still centered around Wither but this time the focus is on the curse she made as she was dying. The curse was to get revenge against Wendy and was answered by a Wendigo. There is the usual cast of characters from the previous novels and Wendy is dealing with the events from the last book, but things unfold as you would expect them. Passarella has created his pattern and the good story that results from it. The book is still one that I would recommend as one of the better books out there. As I mentioned at the start of the paragraph though, I look forward to his next venture reaching outside of Wendy Ward's life.
Wither's Rain by John Passarella
- Purchase it here
- Published February 2003 (Pocket Star paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on April 3, 2008
- This sequel to Wither surpasses the original by being a better and stronger book. The things that annoyed me with the first are not here. Plus the story seems to have come out of Passarella's head in a much cleaner style. After a brief start on the same night as Wither's death, the bulk of the novel picks up seven months later. The witch Wither has returned and is trying to create a new coven and get her revenge on Wendy Ward. Meanwhile Ward is getting help from a friend and learning more about her powers. There are a few times where events seem a tad too convenient but they are also quickly explained and make sense. As the climax of the novel builds and explodes there are many events which I did not see coming and for which I was glad. The novel didn't try following the normal trend and make an overly easy, happy ending. Overall, I found the novel enjoyable and would really recommend it to anyone who liked the first book. Others I would merely recommend it.
The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon
- Purchase it here
- Published August 2008 (Cemetery Dance restored and uncut hardcover edition)
- Finished reading it on June 1, 2010
- While not as complex as some of his latter books, The Woods Are Dark is still an extremely strong novel with a rawness to it that makes for excellent reading. I found out afterwards that the edition I read was actually a reissue of Laymon's second horror novel. The only difference that makes is the previously mentioned rawness that permeates the novel. The action starts from the first page and comes at you fast and heavy. Three groups of people are attacked by the cannibalistic forest-dwelling family called the Krulls. For centuries, the local town has provided them waylaid travelers as food and breeding mates. The three groups (hikers, a vacationing family and a local) deal with the attacks differently and try to survive as best they can. This is where Laymon is his best. His characters are reduced to their base core, surviving on instincts and reverting to carnal and violent desires. The book is savage and violent and not something that portrays humans in their best light. But hey, maybe this is the best when you find yourself attacked by cannibalistic humanoid forest dwellers.
Writer of the Purple Rage by Joe R. Lansdale
- Purchase it here
- Published originally in 1997
- Finished reading it on December 22, 1999
- This is a fun collection of some of Lansdale's short stories. Actually it is a little more than just that since it includes a non-fiction article and a couple of stories that have not been reprinted in years. Additionally one of my favorite things was that there were some story notes included which provide details on how and when each of the stories were created. I enjoy reading about the behind-the-scenes stuff like this. If you are a Lansdale fan, then this collection is a must! And if not, then still give it a try. The stories are all fast reads and all quite entertaining. But for additional mini-reviews, see my favorites here:
"Steppin' Out, Summer, '68" - I laughed out loud at the stupidity and bad luck befalling the three main characters
"Bubba Ho-Tep" - Elvis Presley and J.F.K. fight a mummy and find life again
"Man With Two Lives" - A man changes himself and becomes reborn without regrets
"The Diaper or The Adventure of The Little Rounder" - A baby becomes a genius and then loses it, all within an afternoon
"Incident On And Off A Mountain Road" - A simple car accident becomes more complex and then twisted
"Godzilla's Twelve Step Program" - Godzilla tries to beat his city destroying addiction
The Wyrm by Stephen Laws
- Purchase it here
- Published April 2004 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on January 30, 2007
- The story for this book contains many of the typical and expected elements of so many horror novels. Small town. Ancient evil woken by modern man. Isolated protagonist who helps save the day. Nasty local recruited by evil force to prepare for the grand arrival. From that perspective, you could easily see and figure out where the story was going. However, it did not take away from any of the enjoyment of the story in my mind. In fact, I burned through reading this book in a can-barely-put-it-down state of mind. It might have been because the characters were easy to see and identify with. Or it might have been the fun of watching evil take over as you knew it would. Whatever it was, the result was the same: pure thrill of enjoyment. There was one point in the middle of the book as the characters discuss the evil and what a wyrm is that I got scared. They kept comparing it to a vampire and while there are similarities to a vampire, the two aren't the same. And even if Laws wanted to morph the legend into a more vampire creature, it wouldn't have fit the story. The mystique and intrigue provided by this creature would have belittled to just another vampire. Fortunately that did not happen and the story continued along its thrilling path.
Send comments or your opinions on these books to mike@kazba.com.