The summer before 7th grade I read ‘salems Lot. I have always been a strong reader and this wasn’t my first adult book. However this was the first book that absolutely terrified me. I clearly remember sitting in our screened in sun porch, sweltering in the hot July Indiana summer, and shivering as all manner of hell tore the sleepy town of Jurasalem’s Lot to pieces. From that point I was a horror hound and hooked for life. Like all long time Constant Readers I […]
This review has been approved for distribution as conducive to the cause of Light -The Night Watch
Target: Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch. Translated by Andrew Bromfield Profile: Urban Fantasy, Suspense, Horror, The Watches Pentalogy (Read in stereotypical movie preview voiceover) In a world where epic battles between good and evil are a dime a dozen on the Teen Fantasy shelves, one Russian author struggles to bring a sense of subtly and realism to stories about vampires, werewolves and wizards. (End voiceover) And that’s to his credit. Lukyanenko’s vision of a supernatural world where nothing is as it seems sounds trite on paper, but […]
Vampires in Maine
If you grew up in a small town, there are probably a number of fairly inoffensive words that come to mind to describe it—at best, you might say “peaceful”, “prosaic” or “familiar”. If you didn’t like your small town, it was probably “boring”, “insular”, or “depressing.” A lot of small towns I can think of, including the one where I lived some of my childhood, do not inspire strong feelings one way or the other – perhaps above all, they just don’t register as very […]
14 – The Apartment Too Good To Be True
“14” What a great fun book! Couldn’t put it down Our hero, Nate is a slacker SoCal loser dude. Down on his luck, no girlfriend, needs new apartment and – Bam! – he stumbles into the best deal ever on a cool vintage apartment in downtown LA. The Kavach Building. Ok – so, sure there are some rules, strange rules, kind of an odd super…but whatever right? It’s cheap, it’s nice, the power is free! the neighbors are nice. Oh, wait – […]
Time. Traveling. Ghost.
I think this book could be used to start discussions with girls and boys about unacceptable ways to be treated or to treat other people, because this is pretty much a novel-length exploration of how not to look out for your own safety. We skip the prologue from a killer and go straight to Melissa Dryden waking up the house because there are tree limbs knocking on her window and she’s afraid of the Fear Street Prowler. Melissa is rich, lives on Fear Street, and […]
Fatale: A murder/mystery with more murder and more mystery
It is raining. Darkly clad people under umbrellas at the funeral of Dominic Raines. One woman stands out, beautiful and dark. Our protagonist is immediately taken with her as she explains how her grandmother had a fling with the deceased – the godfather to our protagonist. This is the scene where Nicholas Lash meets Josephine. We meet these people just this day because this is the day Nicholas Lash’s life changes; people try to kill him at his Godfather’s house and Josephine appears to save […]