Three Books, Three Weeks

Well 2021 has kicked off to a busy start. I finally have my website up and running off sorts. Writing wise I have been working hard on the Berserker sequel and the subscribers FREEBIE story. That story is currently at the editors and will be in your hot little hands soon.

However, I wouldn't be a writer if I wasn't a reader and I did read somewhere that the last ten books you read influence your writing. I don't know how true that is, but I certainly would not knock back the influence of the writers I have read recently.

These books are from quite a different spread across the genre and I enjoyed them all for different reasons. Having a favourite book is like having a favourite child, it doesn't really happen. There are different aspects of each that I like for different reasons. I don't regurgitate the blurbs in my reviews as that is what the books do. These are merely my musings. All the books I read and have read can be found on my Goodreads Author account with links on the main page.

Afterlife: Ghostland 2.0 by Duncan Ralston

FIVE GHOST RATING 👻👻👻👻👻

Now this is the second in a planned trilogy. I finished Ghostland late last year and one thing you can guarantee with Ralston is that you are always going to get your monies worth.

Ralston manages again, to draw together a huge cast of characters and their stories at a heady pace and, makes it look easy. Ben and Lillian are finding their place in this new world where ghosts are a thing, and Ben is an actual ghost... sorry ethereal. Celebratory do-gooders end up doing more harm than good and talented psychics did not foresee their murders. Garrott's plan is moving forward and Duck Falls is about quack it. (Seriously could not help myself)

Ralston is winding us up ready for the explosion of the big finale and he has no scruples about leaving loved ones behind. Usually torn limb from limb. He leaves us with all the cards on the table and salivating to see what he unpacks in 3rd installment. If you can imagine enjoying Ghostbusters minus the cheese, with slatherings of gore and lashings of Sci-Fi I dare say this series might be just what you are looking for. Ralston writes BIG books, but in no way are they padded. His writing is succinct and storylines tight without losing characterisation.

Baba Lenka - Sarah England

3.5 GHOUL RATING 👺👺👺👺

This was my first book of England and it was kind of what I was looking for. Her writing is really good and easy to read. I will more than likely go on to read more of her work. I just felt overall that it didn't feel finished, like it was the first part in a series (correct me if I'm wrong and it is the first part of the series). I like the scope of the story and found the occult practices interesting. Maybe I am just too broken, but I felt it was not as harrowing as it could have been. For me the characters were believable, I would've expected her Father to be a little more outraged at what the Grandfather did to her though. If you are interested in witches and the occult you may well enjoy this as well.

Red Dennis - by Eric Shapiro

5 SKULL RATING 💀💀💀💀💀

Other than following Shapiro on Facebook this is the first work of his I have read and I really enjoyed it.

The style was remniscent of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (which I am only half way through) I'm not certain if its just the style or the theme that carry through here., but that is what it reminded me of.

Shapiro presents a truly claustraphobic mental slide into a white middle class man's descent out of acceptable society. I guess the horror of it lies in the fact of how many Dennis's do we know? Far too many. The grasp for relevance and the realisation that the world is no longer theirs on a platter for the taking. How easy it is to play politics against itself if only you dig a little deeper. I guess it is not so much horror as it is a very aware political/social commentary. I guess in this day and age the line between those is more blurred than ever.

It is probably the horror goon or Hollywood in me that wanted more of a bang at the end, or maybe I just feel a lack of satisfaction in Dennis's demise. I wanted justice, but Shapiro is too much of a realist to give me that. Humans truly are the worst kind of monsters.