Demon Seed by Dean Koontz

Title:  Demon Seed
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  301
Genre:  Horror
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis: Susan Harris lived in self-imposed seclusion in a mansion featuring numerous automated systems controlled by a state-of-the-art computer. Every comfort was provided and in this often unsafe world of ours, her security was absolute.

But now her security system has been breached, her sanctuary from the outside world violated by an insidious artificial intelligence which has taken control of her house. In the privacy of her own home, and against her will, Susan will experience an inconceivable act of terror. She will become the object of the ultimate computer's consuming obsession: to learn everything there is to know about the flesh...

Review:  This story is told by the artificial intelligence known as Adam Two in his report to his creators who are sitting judgement on his actions.  Adam Two wanted was actually self-aware.  He was missing only one thing.  He wanted to be flesh, not circuits and wiring.  Adam Two had no conscience whatsoever in pursuing his dream.

It is a great premise.  It is, unfortunately, not at all a great story.  It took me forever to get through even though there were some harrowing scenes.  It's just very poorly done.  I understand this book was made into a movie.  I think I'll pass on watching it.

It is a shame to note that in the afterword the author mentions re-writing this story for the version I read.  I assume that is because the original version was worse than this one.  I've found that this author is either really, really great or really awful.  This one was just awful.

Rating:  1.5 / 10

Zombies and Other Unpleasant Things by William Bebb

Title:  Zombies and Other Unpleasant Things
Author:  William Bebb
Pages:  192
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  E-Book, 2013

Synopsis:  This is a collection of short, and some not so short, stories that involve the undead as well as a wide variety of very unpleasant things.

Some of the unpleasant things include mentally deranged psychotic clowns, someone being pushed from a very tall building, a giant six foot tall fluffy pink talking bunny that a man discovers in his kitchen at 2:47 in the morning, an elderly deranged man who believes he's a ninja, a vacation near Albuquerque that ends very tragically, and many other things.

Review:  I picked up this digital book for two reasons:  first, it had the story Southwestern Road Trip which is a sequel to Valley of Death, Zombie Trailer Park by this same author (which I read and enjoyed) and second, I do like scary stories.

Unfortunately, this book was not everything I expected.  The stories were okay.  The sequel kept my interest (mostly).  This author has no editing staff and it's obvious when you're reading sentences that make no sense whatsoever.

Still, it was free on Amazon, it was scary (and gross), and the story The Fall of Bayonne was actually quite good although, as the author says, it's more of a novella than a short story.  I think, perhaps, this author should stick to longer works.  His short stories just aren't really all that good.

Rating:  3.5 / 10

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

Title:  The Great and Secret Show
Author:  Clive Barker
Pages:  550
Genre:  Horror / Fantasy
Publisher:  Harper & Row, 1989
Series:  Book of the Art, Book 1

Synopsis: Clive Barker's bestseller Weaveworld astonished worldwide readers with his visionary range, firmly establishing him as the reigning master of fabulist literature. Now, with The Great and Secret Show he rises to awesome new heights.  Fantasy, horror story, love fable -- in this one unforgettable epic, Clive Barker wields the full power and sweep of his extraordinary talents. "Succinctly put," says Barker, "it's about Hollywood, sex, and Armageddon."

Memory, prophecy and fantasy, the past, the future, and the dreaming moment between are all one country living one immortal day To know that is Wisdom. To use it is the Art.

Armageddon begins with a murder in the Dead Letter Office in Omaha, Nebraska.

A lake that has never existed falls from the clouds over Palomo Grove, California.

Young passion blossoms, as the world withers with war.

The Great and Secret Show has begun on the stage of the world.

And soon, the final curtain must fall.

Review:  This was the longest 550 pages of my life.  The story was good and sometimes even great.  It had scares and thrills and dark fantasy.  It should have breezed by.  However, I've sadly discovered that very little by Clive Barker breezes by.  His writing is so convoluted and goes into so much description, that I find myself reading and re-reading (and re-reading) passages over and over to make sure I understand what I just read.  It's frustrating and exhausting.

I have another book from this series, but the second one isn't a sequel to the first from what I understand.  It's just another story about The Art.  I can't take another story like this one, so I'm removing that book from my shelf.

I've also got two other very long novels by this same author.  I'm afraid they are coming off my shelf, too.  I just can't bear another two-week-long book that seems more like a work-out than enjoyment.

I love long books.  I'm an avid reader and I hate when books end.  But, somehow, this author always leaves me relieved that the book is done and the hard work over.  The only exception to this rule was Weaveworld, which I adored.  So, I'm finally giving up on his novels.  They just aren't for me.


Rating:  4.5 / 10

False Memory by Dean Koontz

Title:  False Memory
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  627
Genre:  Horror / Thriller
Publisher:  Bantam, 1999
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis: Martie Rhodes is a young wife, a successful video game designer, and a compassionate woman who takes her agoraphobic friend, Susan, to therapy sessions. Susan is so afraid of leaving her apartment that even these trips to the doctor's office become ordeals for both women—but with each trip a deeper emotional bond forms between them.

Then one morning Martie experiences a sudden and inexplicable fear of her own, a fleeting but disquieting terror of...her own shadow. The episode is over so quickly it leaves her shaken but amused. The amusement is short-lived. For as she is about to check her makeup, she realizes that she is terrified to look in the mirror and confront the reflection of her own face.

As the episodes of this traumatic condition— autophobia—build, the lives of Martie and her husband, Dustin, change drastically. Desperate to discover the reasons for his wife's sudden and seemingly inevitable descent into mental chaos, Dusty takes Martie to the renowned therapist who has been treating Susan, and tries to reconstruct the events of recent months in a frantic search for clues. As he comes closer to the shocking truth, Dusty finds himself afflicted with a condition even more bizarre and fearsome than Martie's.

No fan of Dean Koontz or of classic psychological suspense will want to miss this extraordinary novel of the human mind's capacity to torment— and destroy—itself. In False Memory, Dean Koontz has created a novel that will stay in your memory long after the final page is turned— a story not only of gripping fear but also of the power of love and friendship. Once more Koontz reveals why he has, as People put it, the "power to scare the daylights out of us."

Review:  This is a really long book.  Koontz is usually a quick read, but this one took real effort.  In the end, the effort was worth it.  The subject is mind control.  The bad guy is so completely insane that it's amazing he managed to hide his sickness as well as he did, for as long as he did.

I didn't see the ending coming and I do love being surprised!

I loved this story, but once again I managed to pick a book that took far too long to read.  The year's almost over and I'll never finish some of my challenges.  I guess that's why they're called challenges.  They are absolutely challenging me!

Rating:  10 / 10

Stephen King Goes To The Movies

Title:  Stephen King Goes To The Movies
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  627
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  Pocket Books, 2009
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  Stephen King revisits five of his favorite short stories that have been turned into films: The Shawshank Redemption (based on the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption") was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and best actor for Morgan Freeman. 1408 starred John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson and was a huge box office success in 2007. The short story "Children of the Corn" was adapted into the popular Children of the Corn. "The Mangler" was inspired by King's loathing for laundry machines from his own experience working in a laundromat. Hearts in Atlantis (based on "Low Men in Yellow Coats," the first part of the novel Hearts in Atlantis) starred Anthony Hopkins. This collection features new commentary and introductions to all of these stories in a treasure-trove of movie trivia.

Review:  Five great short stories are included in this book:  Children of the Corn, The Mangler, 1408, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and Low Men in Yellow Coats.  Although, the last of these is actually a novella, with a whopping 346 pages.  Only with Stephen King would they list a 300+ page story as 'short'.

I've, at one time or another, read all of these stories.  But, I hadn't ever read this particular collection.  There are forewords to each tale, where the author tells you what he really thought about the film version of each one.  He doesn't pull any punches either.

At the very end, there is a list entitled My 10 Favorite Adaptations.  One of my all-time favorite movies based on his books is noticeably missing, but then again I know some people aren't fond of the mini-series The Stand.  I'm sad to see that Mr. King evidently agrees.  I liked The Stand far better than two or three of the movies he does list.  But, it didn't really matter.  I've seen all of the ones on his list and liked them.  And I've read all of his stories except the most recent couple and loved them.

I hadn't read any of these stories in years.  1408 was probably the one I read most recently before this book.  So, they were like reading something new....but also like visiting old friends.

Rating:  9.5 / 10

Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror edited by Ellen Datlow

Title:  Darkness:  Two Decades of Modern Horror
Author:  Various (Edited by Ellen Datlow)
Pages:  470
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  Tachyon, 2010
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  Compiling the finest in frightening tales, this unique anthology offers a diverse selection of horror culled from the last 25 years. Hand selected from cutting edge authors, each work blends subtle psychology and mischievousness with disturbingly visceral imagery. In the classic "Chattery Teeth," Stephen King provides a tautly drawn account of a traveling salesman who unwisely picks up yet another hitchhiker, while in Peter Straub's eerie "The Juniper Tree," a man whose nostalgia for the movies of his childhood leads to his stolen innocence. Renowned fantasy author George R. R. Martin weaves a sinister yarn about a young woman encountering a neighbor who is overly enamored with her in "The Pear-Shaped Man." Combining acclaimed masters of the macabre, such as Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, and Thomas Ligotti, with bold new talents to the genre including, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King's son, Joe Hill, this distinctive collection of stories will delight and terrify.

Review:  Twenty-five short stories, all published between 1984 and 2005 and written by some of the best-loved authors of our times.  Stephen King, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, and George R. R. Martin, just to name a few.

I wanted to love all of the stories.  I loved a few of them.  I liked a few of them.  The rest?  Well, they just weren't scary.  They were odd and different and interesting, but not scary.  But, fear is subjective and individual, so perhaps the stories I didn't find frightening would frighten someone else.

My favorites were The Power and the Passion by Pat Cadigan and The Pear-Shaped Man by George R. R. Martin.  I'd read the story by Stephen King already and, while I did enjoy it, it's not his best short story.

It was a long book and not a quick read, but I am glad I read it.  I'd give it a higher rating, but some of the stories were just bizarre and gross, but not at all scary.

Rating:  6 / 10

Winter Moon by Dean Koontz

Title:  Winter Moon
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  472
Genre:  Horror / Thriller
Publisher:  Ballantine, 1994
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis: DEEPEST NIGHT, MONTANA. An eerie light proclaims the arrival of a mysterious watcher in the woods. And one solitary man begins a desperate battle against something unknown - and unknowable.

BROAD DAYLIGHT, LOS ANGELES. An ordinary morning erupts in cataclysmic violence. A young family is shattered in a heartbeat.

Fate will lead this family to an isolated Montana ranch, but their sanctuary will become their worst nightmare. For there they will face a chillingly ruthless enemy, from which no one - living or dead - is safe.

Review:  I read this book in just over 24 hours.  I could not stop reading!  It was so good and had such great characters.  I have so many books by this author that I've let just sit on my shelves and I really have no excuse.  He almost never disappoints.

My only complaint is the ending.  It didn't really give an ending.  The creature might still be out there.  Humanity might still be in danger.  Stephen King does the 'leaving you hanging' ending to a horror book far better than this!  The last book by this author that I read, The Taking, tied up too nicely and this one didn't feel like it ended in any real way (which I actually prefer to 'too neat' endings!).  But, that aside, this book is horrific and thrilling and I'm not taking off points for the last few pages of the book!

Rating:  8.5 / 10

Daughter of Regals and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson

Title:  Daughter of Regals and Other Tales
Author:  Stephen R. Donaldson
Pages:  337
Genre:  Fantasy / Science Fiction / Horror
Publisher:  Del Rey, 1984
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  In his first collection of short fiction, the bestselling author of White Gold Wielder presents eight superb stories, including "Gilden-Fire," the famous "outtake" from Illearth War, and two brand new novellas written especially for this edition. Enter a world of mystics and unicorns, angels and kings -- all realized with the same dazzling style and imagination that has made Stephen R. Donaldson a modern master of the fantasy genre.

Review:  There are eight stories in this book, including 5 fantasies, 2 science fiction and 1 horror.  I liked them all, but I think Unworthy of the Angel was my favorite, closely followed by Lady in White, Daughter of Regals and Ser Visal's Tale.

I had already read Gilden-Fire several times as it is part of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series, but I read it again and still enjoyed it.

Mythological Beast and Animal Lover both were dystopian science fiction and horrific in their own ways.  The Conqueror Worm was a very short psychological horror story.

It's been quite a while since I read anything new by this author and I'm happy to say that he remains one of my all-time favorite authors.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Title:  Full Dark, No Stars
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  368
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  Scribner, 2010
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of four intense short stories with retribution as the central theme. Released in the fall of 2010 in hardcover and audiobook formats, Full Dark, No Stars is a powerful read featuring some of Stephen's most graphic and merciless content to date. ~ From StephenKing.com

Review:  Four stories, all of them unforgettable.  The stories included are:  1922, Big Driver, A Good Marriage, and Fair Extension.

I think I loved them all equally, but 1922 was the most gruesome, while A Good Marriage was the most completely believable, while Big Driver scared me the most.  I understand that Big Driver and A Good Marriage have been made into movies, which I'll probably see very soon.  For the most part, I can't watch a movie until I've read the book.  There are exceptions, but this is pretty much the rule.

Mr. King is at his best when writing about things that really are partially mundane and partially horrific.  In this group of stories, he does it again and I couldn't put the book down for just about the entire weekend.

Rating:  9 / 10  

Weaveworld by Clive Barker

Title:  Weaveworld
Author:  Clive Barker
Pages:  584
Genre:  Fantasy / Horror
Publisher:  Poseidon, 1987
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  Here is storytelling on a grand scale — the stuff of which a classic is made. Weaveworld begins with a rug — a wondrous, magnificent rug — into which a world has been woven. It is the world of the Seerkind, a people more ancient than man, who possesses raptures — the power to make magic. In the last century they were hunted down by an unspeakable horror known as the Scourge, and, threatened with annihilation, they worked their strongest raptures to weave themselves and their culture into a rug for safekeeping. Since then, the rug has been guarded by human caretakers.

The last of the caretakers has just died.

Vying for possession of the rug is a spectrum of unforgettable characters: Suzanna, granddaughter of the last caretaker, who feels the pull of the Weaveworld long before she knows the extent of her own powers; Calhoun Mooney, a pigeon-raising clerk who finds the world he's always dreamed of in a fleeting glimpse of the rug; Immacolata, an exiled Seerkind witch intent on destroying her race even if it means calling back the Scourge; and her sidekick, Shadwell, the Salesman, who will sell the Weaveworld to the highest bidder.

In the course of the novel the rug is unwoven, and we travel deep into the glorious raptures of the Weaveworld before we witness the final, cataclysmic struggle for its possession.

Review:  This is the third time I've read this novel.  I borrowed it from the library and read it sometime in the late 1980's and was captured by the dark fantasy and hope that is this story.  I read it again about 8 years ago when I got a very good hardback edition to add to my collection and I still loved it, although not quite as much as I remembered.  I finished it again today and, while it's still one of the best dark fantasy novels out there, I think I've read it for the last time.  Some books just don't work for multiple re-reads and this is one of them, at least for me.

The magic is still there and I still want Weaveworld to be a real place, but I'm going to find a new home for this book.  However, I'm giving it the rating I would have given it the first time around, if I'd been rating books back then.  This story is well worth finding and reading, especially the first time around.

Rating:  9.5 / 10

The Taking by Dean Koontz

Title:  The Taking
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  410
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  Bantam, 2004
Series:  Stand Alone

"Yimaman see noygel, see refacull, see nod a bah, see naytoss, retee fo sellos."

Synopsis:  On the morning that will mark the end of the world they have known, Molly and Neil Sloan awaken to the drumbeat of rain. It has haunted their dreams through the night, and now they find an eerily luminous and golden downpour that drenches their small Californian mountain town.

As hours pass they hear news of extreme weather phenomena across the globe. An obscuring fog turns once familiar streets into a ghostly labyrinth. By evening, the town has lost all communication with the outside world. First TV and radio go dead, then the Internet and phone lines. The young couple gathers together with some neighbors, sensing a threat they cannot identify or even imagine. The night brings strange noises, and mysterious lights drift among the trees. The rain diminishes with the dawn but a moody grey-purple twilight prevails. Within the misty gloom the small band will encounter something that reveals in a terrifying instant what is happening to the world -- something that is hunting them with ruthless efficiency. Epic in scope, searingly intimate and immediate in its perspective, The Taking is a story of a strangely changed and changing world as apocalypse comes to Main Street.

Review:  I was so sure I knew what was happening in Black Lake, California, and all over the world.  I thought this was another scary story about aliens taking over the planet.  I was wrong, in a way.  This story was far more and far scarier than I expected.

Every time I turned a page, a new horror, even worse than the last, was waiting for me.  But somehow, there was hope and faith and I didn't understand why, when everything was going so very badly.  By the end, I understood....but I wasn't especially comforted because it left me asking, 'what if...?'.

This story was so scary and original that I'd give it a higher rating, but the end was just a little disappointing.  That said, if ever a book should have a theme song, this one should.  It kept the lyrics to It's the End of the World as We Know It by REM rattling around inside my head even after the story was done.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

One Second After by William R. Forstchen

Title:  One Second After
Author:  William R. Forstchen
Pages:  511
Genre:  Dystopian Thriller / Horror
Publisher:  TOR, 2009
Series:  John Matherson, Book 1

"...Suppose the old America, so wonderful, the country we so loved, suppose at four fifty P.M. eighteen days ago, it died.  It died from complacency, from blindness, from not being willing to face the harsh realities of the world.  Died from smug self-centeredness.  Suppose America died that day."

Synopsis:  New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real...a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages...A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP).  A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.

Months before publication, One Second After has already been cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read, a book already being discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at a weapon and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. It is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. In the tradition of On the Beach, Fail Safe and Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future...and our end.

"Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light..."

Review:  This book contains a Foreword by Newt Gingrich and an Afterword by Captain Bill Sanders, U.S. Navy.  Both of these writings made me realize that this novel is not really fiction.  It's a story about group of fictional characters set against the backdrop of what will happen to America if we are ever struck by an EMP weapon.  It is classified as a thriller and it is certainly that.  It is also horrific.

The novel opens just before the EMP hits and every chapter is entitled with the number of days it's been since.  I was shocked by how quickly everything just fell to pieces.  By Day 18, it was scary, but surely help would come soon.  By Day 63, things were becoming so grim that I wasn't sure I'd be able to stand reading the rest of the book if it got much worse.  By Day 365, I knew I could not and would not survive if we were attacked by this weapon in real life tomorrow.

This is one of the most important and most heartbreaking novels I've ever read.  Everyone should read it.  It should be required reading in school.  It's just that important for all of us to know what can and probably will happen.  We need to be prepared.  I wish I could say that we need to be better prepared, but the sad fact is....we aren't prepared at all.

Rating:  10 / 10

Mulengro by Charles de Lint

Title:  Mulengro
Author:  Charles de Lint
Pages:  400
Genre:  Horror / Thriller
Publisher:  Tom Doherty, 2003
Series:  Stand Alone

"Bater. So be it."

Synopsis:  A tale of magic and murder.  The increasingly bizarre murders have baffled the police - but each death is somehow connected with the city's elusive Gypsy community. The police are searching for a human killer, but the Romany know better. They know the name of the darkness that hunts them down, one by one: Mulengro.

"Wind just played a couple of riffs from the Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations' -- what do you think of that?" - Zach

Review:  This is a dark and twisty tale of magic and evil.  Many of the main characters are Gypsies.  This book makes it clear that the Rom (Gypsies) still exist today and it helps the reader understand their culture a little better.  It's also an incredible tale that forces you to question your own beliefs on the occult and magic and the afterlife.

Janfri Yayal, a Gypsy who has possibly strayed too far away from his people, knows that it will ultimately be up to him to defeat Mulengro.  Ola Faher, a Gypsy witch, will try to help him face the evil.  And two disbelieving police officers, Patrick Briggs and Will Sandler, are drawn in while investigating the murders.  Will and his partner will soon come to believe, whether they want to or not.

My favorite character though, hands down, was Zach Acheson, who calls himself Dr. Rainbow.  He's a 60s hippy living in the 80s and he is such a wonderful, refreshing character.  He is, like, full of good vibes and is the brightest light in the whole book.

Between vividly described deaths, vengeful ghosts, packs of wild dogs and Mulengro himself, this is a very dark, disturbing read.  If you love good, scary stories, give this one a try.  But leave a light on.

Rating:  9.5 / 10

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

Title:  The Thief of Always
Author:  Clive Barker
Pages:  267
Genre:  Juvenile Horror
Publisher:  Harper, 1992
Series:  Stand Alone

But Harvey knew that face better than any on earth. It was the first face he'd ever loved. It was his mother.

Synopsis: Mr. Hood's Holiday House has stood for a thousand years, welcoming countless children into its embrace. It is a place of miracles, a blissful rounds of treats and seasons, where every childhood whim may be satisfied...

There is a price to be paid, of course, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by Mr. Hood's wonders, does not stop to consider the consequences. It is only when the House shows it's darker face -- when Harvey discovers the pitiful creatures that dwell in its shadows -- that he comes to doubt Mr. Hood's philanthropy.

The House and its mysterious architect are not about to release their captive without a battle, however. Mr. Hood has ambitions for his new guest, for Harvey's soul burns brighter than any soul he has encountered in a thousand years...

Review:  I almost hesitate to call this book juvenile.  But the main character, Harvey, is 10.  There are scary parts that might not be appropriate for very young readers though.  Either way, this was a good tale, with plenty of horror.  It also had a moral at the end:  Don't wish your time away...it goes fast enough.

It just wasn't what I was expecting.  This author wrote one of my favorite odd, off-the-wall fantasy novels, Weaveworld, and I keep reading more of his works and being a little disappointed.  I guess I'm hoping to find another one as magical.  This one wasn't it.

Rating:  5.5 / 10

Revival by Stephen King

Title:  Revival
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  405
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  Scribner, 2014
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life. In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of 13, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

Review:  At first, I thought this was going to be a story about small town America and the way things were back in the '60's.  I didn't think it was really going to be a horror novel.  I was right on the first thought and very wrong on the second.  The horror built up slowly, inexorably.  By the last 100 or so pages, it was right around the corner, waiting.  Even though I knew it was coming, the horror left me breathless.  I had to stop for a moment to gather up my courage to continue.

This book has real magic in some places.  The description of life in a small town in Maine in 1962 had so many great references, things you think you've forgotten but haven't.  Nobody does nostalgia better than this author.

And, only Stephen King can draw you in, make you a part of the terror and leave you feeling as frightened as the main character.  And then, just when you think it's done, you find out that the monster isn't vanquished at all.....and that it never will be.  It's just waiting in the wings for another go.

This is one of the best stand-alone novels by Mr. King, right up there with such classics as The Stand.

Rating:  10 / 10

Ticktock by Dean Koontz

Title:  Ticktock
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  338
Genre:  Supernatural Horror / Thriller / Comedy
Publisher:  Ballantine, 1996
Series:  Stand Alone

"At this point, no one alive is capable of grasping the enormous dimensions of my confusion."

Synopsis: Tommy Phan is a 30-year-old Vietnamese-American detective novelist living in Southern California, and a chaser of the American Dream. He drives home his brand-new Corvette one day to discover a strange doll on his doorstep. It's rather like a rag doll, but is covered entirely with white cloth, having no face or hair or clothes, little more than a doll blank. Where the eyes should be, there are two crossed stitches of black thread. Five sets of crossed black stitches mark the mouth, and another pair form an X over the heart.

He brings it into the house. That night, he hears an odd little popping sound and looks up to see the crossed stitches over the doll's heart breaking apart. When he picks up the doll, he feels something pulsing in its chest. Another thread unravels to reveal a reptilian green eye --and not a doll's eye, because it blinks.  Tommy Phan pursues the thing as it scrambles away into his house -- and then is pursued by it as it evolves from a terrifying and vicious minikin into a hulking and formidable opponent bent on killing him.

Review:  Well, this book was quite a mix.  It was funny and scary and thrilling and full of magic (and mentions aliens, too!).  The scary parts were really scary.  The funny parts were laugh-out-loud funny.  The magic was a little odd but the explanation towards the end satisfied me.

My only complaint is this book took me five days to finish.  Five days.  There was so much going on and so much of it was completely beyond my understanding that I kept re-reading passages to be sure I hadn't missed something.  By the end, I knew what I didn't know at the start, but by then it had already taken me five days.

Still, I loved the characters.  Tommy and his girlfriend Deliverance and her dog, Scootie, were great.  The secondary characters included various family members and they were fun as well.  The demon inside the doll was not fun.  He was the reason I didn't read this book too close to bedtime.  Here there be nightmares.

Rating:  6.5 / 10

Witch Hill by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Title:  Witch Hill
Author:  Marion Zimmer Bradley
Pages:  188
Genre:  Horror / Thriller
Publisher:  TOR, 1990
Series:  Claire Moffatt, Book 3

Synopsis:  This little-known classic by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley is a wonderful treat for readers feeling the loss of this marvelous author. Part of Bradley's beloved "Light" series, Witch Hill is a sensuous story of witchcraft, demonic possession, and true love. — Sara Latimer's last relative has died. Heartbroken and feeling totally alone, Sara moves to the family home she had just inherited, Witch Hill, only to find that she is shunned by most of her neighbors.

Finally Matthew Hay, one of her only allies, explains that Sara's aunt was a powerful, evil witch and that the townspeople fear that Sara is following in her footsteps. Matthew and his ladylove, Tabitha, are also witches, and they too believe that Sara has her aunt's powers-and that she is ready to be possessed by her aunt's waiting spirit.

Sara crumbles under the steady onslaught of Matthew and Tabitha's evil. For a time, her love for Brian Standish keeps her sane, but at last Sara is lost in a maelstrom of dark power and sex magick.  As a Champion of Light, Colin MacLaren cannot allow Sara to be destroyed by Matthew Hay. Even at the risk of his own soul, he will save Sara.

Review:  I really have nothing good to say about this book.  It reads like a Gothic romance twisted together with a mishmash of nightmarish horror.  The very few more standard mystery / thriller portions of the book are so overshadowed by the rest of the book that they are barely noticeable.  Add to that a half-dozen scenes of mostly drug-crazed, brutal sex and the book became very quickly almost more than I could stand to read.  But, I forced my way through it and came to the dismal, disappointing end, where everything tied up too neatly, with true love and sunshine on the horizon.

I disliked this book so thoroughly that I am not going to be reading any more of this author's work for a while.  Since I own almost a dozen more of Ms. Bradley's books (and know of a dozen more I'd hoped to get in the future), I certainly hope this is the very worst of the entire lot.  Otherwise, I'm in for an even worse letdown in the future.

Rating:  0.5 / 10

The Inheritor by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Title:  The Inheritor
Author:  Marion Zimmer Bradley
Pages:  414
Genre:  Thriller / Horror
Publisher:  Severn House, 1984
Series:  Claire Moffatt, Book 2

Synopsis:  Leslie Barnes has just bought her first home, overlooking San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. It seems the perfect place for Leslie and her sister, a brilliant young musician....but as soon as they move in, a plague of dark events begins, unsettling both women. To her horror, Leslie realizes that she is living in a vortex of magical power. She must become the guardian of that power and protect it from those who seek to use it for evil. Trained as a psychologist, Leslie is in over her head when dealing with the occult -- until she meets Claire Moffatt, a charming medium, and Claire's mentor, Colin MacLaren, world-famous psychic investigator. Together they stand against evil and enable Leslie to claim her full inheritance.

Review:  This book dealt with everything from fake mediums to human sacrifice.  It had moments of terror but it also had a great deal of psycho-babble in it.  I realize that the main character, Leslie, is a psychologist, but it seemed that everything had to be explained with very detailed reasoning that you might expect to find in a psychology course.

This book is set in the early 1970's, just like the last one, but still seems like it's the 1950's.  I know that women were treated differently not all that long ago, but certainly not to this degree in the early 1970's.  Or at least I would hope not.  Either way, it just is very old-fashioned feeling, especially the interactions between men and women.

There's one book left in this series and it's short.  I haven't hated the first two and liked this one a little better than the last.  It's unfortunate though that I knew fairly early on who was responsible for all the dark events happening to Leslie.  I really want to try to finish this series.  It's been sitting on my shelves far too long for me to give up on them now.  This is not one of the better works by this author.  I am reminding myself that Ms. Bradley is really at her best with historical novels and this isn't one of those.

Rating:  5 / 10

Dark Satanic by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Title:  Dark Satanic
Author:  Marion Zimmer Bradley
Pages:  218
Genre:  Horror / Thriller / Fantasy
Publisher:  Tom Doherty Associates, 1972
Series:  Claire Moffatt, Book 1

Synopsis:  Jamie Melford is about to publish a book on witchcraft, one that reveals long-hidden occult secrets.  Someone very powerful wants that book destroyed -- and Jamie Melford with it.

Review:  Jamie and Barbara Melford have their lives turned upside down by a book about witchcraft.  Either someone is trying to kill them or trying to make them lose their minds....or both.

Barbara is lucky enough to meet Claire Moffatt and Colin MacLaren.  These two are part of a larger group that fights against the use of the dark arts.  Between the three of them, they have to find a way to save Jamie's life.

I know this book is set in the early 1970's, but some of the story is quite dated.  The interactions between the men and the women come across more as something from the 1950's, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the book.

This book is a mixture of several genres.  It has some truly horrific moments, is a thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat quite a few times, and because of the subject matter is a bit of urban fantasy.  Unfortunately, I already knew who two of the witches were long before the ending.  It didn't really take away from the story, but I wish I'd been more surprised.

Rating:  4.5 / 10

The Door to December by Dean Koontz

Title:  The Door to December
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  510
Genre:  Horror / Thriller
Publisher:  Signet, 1994
Series:  Stand Alone

"It's like...the window to yesterday."

Synopsis:  Little Melanie had been kidnapped when she was only three.  She was nine when she was found wandering the L.A. streets, with blank eyes.  What had become of her in all those years of darkness...and what was the terrible secret, clutching at her soul, that she dared not even whisper?

Her loving mother and the police desperately hunted for the answer.  they needed Melanie to get to the bottom of the most savage scene of carnage the city had ever seen.  And they would do anything to save her from whatever dreadful force or thing had invaded her young life.  But first they would have to save themselves from a rising tide of terror....and from an icy evil howling through.......THE DOOR TO DECEMBER.

Review:  This was a fast paced, horror-filled trip, taking you to the depths of what humans will do to one another to get what they want.  It forces you to ask yourself -- do you believe in psychic abilities and if you do, do you really know what powers you are tapping into?

Melanie's mother Laura, who hasn't seen her daughter in 6 years, is desperate to know what her ex-husband has done to their child.  He was a research scientist who was obsessed with the occult.  It becomes increasingly obvious as the novel proceeds that he used his young daughter as the subject of a long and painful experiment.

But now, all the people who were directly involved in the experiment are being killed brutally.  It seems no one, including Melanie, is safe from the nameless presence that came from beyond the door.

I think this is my favorite of the books that this author has written.  He's written quite a few good books (and some not-so-good ones too), but this one is just impossible to put down and so scary.  I loved it!

Rating:  9 / 10