REVIEW: Thomas S Flowers - The Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Shadow Work Publishing

Publication Date: 13^th May 2016

Pages: 44

MY REVIEW:

A copy of The Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Thomas S Flowers in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Shadow Work Publishing.

Last year I read the first two books in the Subdue Series by Thomas S Flowers. In my opinion, they are two of the finest books I have read in years. It is a series that is exceptional in so many different ways. In case you missed them, there are links to the reviews at the bottom of this one.

The Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein intrigued me purely because it looked totally different to that series so I was very interested to pick it up and give it a go.

This is what I thought.

Zilch is boring. He would be the first to admit that. He leads a boring existence in a boring world with a boring job and a boring house and even a boring car. Zilch likes boring however. It suits him just fine.

His boring life is about to be completely turned upside down after a visit to the doctor’s office. He wasn’t expecting this change to his normal mundane existence.

Discovering a new lease of life, Zilch starts to try things he wouldn’t normally. Why does that clown speak to him though? Why does he think nasty thoughts now? This is incredible.

In terms of a character, Zilch Von Whitstein is one of those people you would avoid because he is so, well, boring. Mundane and humdrum are two words I could use to describe his life. You know what though? I defy you to not like him in this story. He grows and grows on you and you will find yourself liking him more and more and really rooting for him the further into the story you go.

There are a few others in the story but telling you about them takes me into the spoiler direction and I am not going there. Other than to mention the fat burger bar manager, Zilch’s asshole boss and a string of others that annoy him more than he thinks.

The plot? Zilch’s life is boring, he gets sick and things have to change. That is all you are getting. You really need to read this as it unfurls to get the true feeling and effect of the story.

How does this stand up in comparison to the Subdue series? Well quite simply there is no way you could compare the two. This is a completely different style of story. It certainly was not what I was expecting from Mr Flowers. I am, however, absolutely delighted that this is the case.

This is a short story, comes in at around forty-five pages so you will have it read in a short space of time. I predict you will do it in one sitting because you will not want to put it down. Mr Flowers has a knack of totally drawing you into his stories. It feels like you are a very small fish on a very big hook. Each time you come to the end of a chapter it is left perfectly poised to force you to turn the page to see what happens next and thus you are into another chapter and so on and so on.

As with everything else in Thomas Flowers writing, there is an additional underlying topic in this story. Not telling you what it is, but, he has a habit of taking a made up in his head story and putting it into real words on a page and including a subject that a lot of authors may not want to touch but even if they do, cannot do it as effectively as Mr Flowers. I have read his stories before where he dealt with racism and PTSD and they truly brought me to tears. The topic in this one is an underlying health issue that I am sure nearly all of you reading this have been touched by in one form or another.

Let’s face it; this book is a form of entertainment. You are reading it to have some fun or to escape from your own mundane existence to get away from everything. Keeping a level of entertainment, whilst dealing with these taboo subjects can be very cringe worthy, and in very bad taste at times. Thomas Flowers has a distinct ability to handle these subjects with the grace and respect that they deserve while scaring the pants off you and giving you every bit of entertainment you wanted. And more. 

Everything this man writes totally blows me away whether it be a series of novels, all interconnected to give you a story of epic proportions, or a short story like this that will make you laugh, touch your heart and scare the hair off your head. Tension and fear is the name of the game Thomas S Flowers plays.

To summarise: a short horror story that is worth every penny you will spend on it. Just buy it.

General rating:

★★★★★ fantastic!

Horror rating:

★★★★★ in so many different ways!

If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Incredible Zilch Von Whitstein or any other books from Thomas. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Book Synopsis:

Whit had done everything right, but when the world seems against you, can good boys stay good? Whit never drank in excess, never said a bad word to anyone, did his taxes, even called his mom on Sundays, never even had a tattoo...until one night, the night a malicious clown turned everything upside down.

You can read my review of Dwelling (Subdue #1) here.

You can read my review of Emerging (Subdue #2) here.

Thomas S Flowers was born in Walter Reed Medical Center, Maryland to a military family. He grew up in RAF Chicksands, England and then later Fort Meade, and finally Roanoke, Virginia. Thomas graduated high school in 2000 and on September 11, 2001, joined the U.S. Army. From 2001-2008, Thomas served in the military police corps, with one tour in South Korea and three tours serving in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. While stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, between deployments, Thomas met his wife and following his third and final tour to Iraq, decided to re-join the civilian ranks. Thomas was discharged honorably in February 2008 and moved to Houston, Texas where he found employment and attended night school. In 2014, Thomas graduated with a Bachelor in Arts in History from University of Houston-Clear Lake. Thomas blogs at www.machinemean.org, commenting and reviewing movies, books, shows, and historical content.

Thomas is living a rather simple and quite life with his beautiful wife and amazing daughter, just south of Houston, Texas.

And for more about Thomas, visit his site or find him on social media:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page

Another Brick on the Wall

I have never been a fan of “bikers”: assholes on Harleys. Since the moment I realized motorcycles could be transportation, this bunch of idiots has made motorcycling less fun, more dangerous, and their existence reflects poorly on everyone who rides a motorcycle.

This week, they pushed the limits of my intolerance off of the Monopoly board, "Donald Trump and Bikers Share Affection at Rolling Thunder Rally." Now, in their reflection and in many eyes, all motorcyclists are racist, moronic, fascist, and (still) excessively childish and noisy. What that rally always needs is an Eric Cartman to shout “Hey assholes!” And to remind them that they and 13-year-old girls are the only people that needy for attention.

“Look at all these bikers,” said the Donald. “Do we love the bikers? Yes. We love the bikers.” Just like he loves the uneducated.

“He speaks what’s on his mind and means what he says,” said Tom Christian, one of the unwashed Thunder Blunders. “And that’s what a biker does. That’s the way we are: We say what we think. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, go the other way.” Another description for that would be “tourette syndrome.”

Of course, to actually say what you think you have to first think. None of that going on in this rally. These wannabe-patriots pretend that being racist assholes is something noble, “Just like asking Jane Fonda to show up, it’d be a very, very bad thing,” said one of the douchebags who also wore a button that read, “Hillary for Prison 2016.” Where was this idiot when Trump denigrated John McCain’s service and sacrifice when Trump said, “I like people that weren’t captured, O.K.?”

Trump was disappointed that there weren’t more assholes out to celebrate his bullshit, “I thought this would be like Dr. Martin Luther King, where the people would be lined up from here all the way to the Washington Monument.” Trump, you’re no Dr. King or Bernie Sanders. There is a shitload of idiots out there, but most of them killed themselves riding poorly on incompetent machines without helmets or brains inside their skulls worth protecting.

You want to know why I don’t like Harleys or the gangbangers who ride them? This is it. My father wasted four years of his life fighting Hitler’s gangbangers so we could grow our own. That is a grudge I will never let go of.

GUEST POST: Confessions of my Past, Present and Future #34 - Feind Gottes

Confessions of my Past, Present and Future

by

Feind Gottes

The Past

One night many years ago my mother (she was probably drunk) let my father (he was definitely drunk) have some fun and voila, nine-ish months later out popped a legend! Oh, not that far into the past? My bad. You’re here about these little amazing things called books.

My love of reading came fairly early without me even knowing it because it started with comic books. I didn’t have many but I read them over and over again. On top of that my mother was (and still is) an avid reader of multiple genres so she was always reading something. She never once told me I should read this or that, she just set an example by always having a book in her hand. By the time I was seven or eight years old, I finally followed that example and read my first book, Little Arliss by Fred Gipson. It was basically a short story related to the classic Old Yeller but I remember feeling like I had accomplished something. My love of reading was born and I began devouring book after book.

A short time later I discovered The Hardy Boys. I think it was in the third grade when I met a schoolmate who had also discovered Frank and Joe Hardy and the challenge to see who could read the most was on! He beat me by a couple of books by the end but we both read over fifty books in the series that year as well as discovering Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators, devouring those as well.

This was the 80’s when Sly and Arnold action flicks were all the rage, especially for a young boy, so my reading naturally followed that path. I began consuming mercenary books like the Phoenix Force, Able Teamand Mack Bolan series among a slew of others that were being churned out at the time and very well may still be, I have no idea. During this time, I found the first book that I could say I loved and was the only book I had ever read more than once for a very long time, Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I was not one of those boys who longs for a dog (we had one plus a cat and various other pets but that’s another story) but something about that book hit home and I truly loved it.

Now we’re to the point in the story where everything changed. I was now eleven with hundreds of books under my belt but they had all been pretty much young reader books below my reading abilities. I needed a challenge so I turned to my mother for the first time for a recommendation. I remember my mother being very patient but also excited to talk about books. I had already developed a love for horror movies so she suggested some guy named Stephen King, maybe you’ve heard of him? I combed through the numerous books she owned by him not wanting to read one of the thinner volumes but something I could barely fit my hands around. My mother stood there telling me a little about each one to help me make my decision until finally I grabbed the one that was calling to me. My mother never once said, “No, not that one.” or, “You’re too young for that.” She never said, but I think she was proud of my choice and that it was “my choice.” I had chosen Stephen King’s The Stand and though it took me some time to finish it, I would never be the same. I couldn’t go back to reading “young adult” after that and it sparked my love of reading even further along with my love of horror.

There are so many great authors and books that influence what and how I write but it all started with Stephen King and The Stand. It wasn’t until years later I would discover my personal favorite, Clive Barker, who has been a huge influence on me.

Outside of horror there are many influential authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank L Baum, Terry Brooks and Michael Crichton who I may not mimic stylistically but whose stories and imagination have opened my mind to infinite possibilities. Another huge influence from an unlikely source for me would be Cormac McCarthy who wrote the play, The Sunset Limited. There are so many lines and ideas I’ve stolen from that play it’s astounding. I have no idea how many books I’ve read in my life but it was after several disappointing books that I finished thinking, “I could do better than that.” I decided it was time I put up or shut up and I began writing.

The Present

Many writers give the advice that if you want to be a great writer you should read, read, read and read some more. I did that for nearly forty years of my life then I began writing. I do not follow that advice, not because it isn’t sound advice or because I think I’m better than everyone. I don’t read much anymore for one simple reason; I pick up on other writers’ syntax extremely easily. I don’t want to sound like my idols, like King or Barker, I want my own voice. However, that really only pertains to novels. I do read tons of short stories. One, because I love the format but also I don’t begin to ape anyone’s style after reading ten or twenty pages by them. Another reason is for what I see in the current literary world, be it in my genre, horror, or others and that is the copycatting of ideas ad nauseam. I love zombies as much as anyone but holy Christ there is a new zombie story published every five seconds. Also how many Twilight, Harry Potter or Hunger Games rip offs need to be published? The amount of cookie cutter writing being done makes me just want to puke. Sorry, had to rant on that for a second.

When I’m not writing, which is rarely, I have been working my way agonizingly slowly through the Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin. A good friend suggested the books to me years ago but I just never began them and in a way I’m glad I didn’t. It’s the show that completely won me over and they stand as the only books I’ve read after seeing a film adaptation and actually enjoyed. If you’re not a fan (For Shame!) there is a ton of history and a ton of characters to keep track of in this series so seeing the show first, in this case, made it easier for me to follow the story. I didn’t have to learn fifty different characters and their histories, I already knew them and it helped tremendously. Also I can read these books because they are like nothing I am interested in writing myself and the syntax of Martin is so dissimilar to my own that aping him isn’t a problem. What I do try to learn from Martin, just like Tolkien, is their amazing ability to create intricate histories for worlds that are similar to, but not our own. Those are things I do want to be able to incorporate into future works. In that regard, Imajicaby Clive Barker is also a world building case study. I do have a future epic planned that will show how well I did or didn’t learn from these masters.

Aside from Game of Thrones I’m really relishing being a new author who’s been lucky enough to find a publisher as excellent as Dark Chapter Press. Call it sucking up but Jack Rollins (now along with Stuart Keane, David Basnett and Alice J Black) has a fantastic eye for new voices in horror. Being involved in Kill For A Copy and KIDS has enabled me to not only read some new and upcoming talented writers but also get to know some of them. The support among our little horror writer community is really amazing and I can’t wait to read more and see people like Grant Skelton, Mitch Workman, Shaun Hupp, Brian Barr and many, many others succeed. Perhaps with a bestseller or two under my belt (yeah, I’m not holding my breath) someday I can get back to reading more again but for now I want my voice to be my own so this is the way it has to be.

The Future

I can’t predict the future any more than anyone else but there are a few things I do know. One, I have more stories in my head than I could write in a few life times. Two, I have written one novel (unpublished as of yet), have another I need to complete (it’s f’ing sick) and at least four or five more rattling around in my head in need of being written down. Three, I love writing flash fiction and short stories so I have no plans to stop doing that. Four, I have several unpublished novellas that I plan to start self-publishing soon. Five, I have several stories submitted for publication that have yet to be rejected… so maybe. And finally no matter what happens I will never ever stop fucking writing. If I find myself homeless, I’ll be writing. If I find myself starving, I’ll be writing. If I’m diagnosed with fatal anal warts, I’ll be writing. Wait… never mind. Want me to stop writing? Shoot me. Then I’ll rise up from the grave, skin your face wearing it as I rip off your arms, beat you to a pulp with them, let ants finish you off, go bang your mom and then you know what I’ll do? I’ll fucking write about it!

PS Soylent Greenwas a documentary sent back from the future!

You can buy any of Feind’s books here.

Amazon US

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If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy any of the books mentioned in this feature. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews. 

Thanks.

Amazon US

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Feind Gottes is a horror writer with his first published work, Hell Awaits, appearing in Kill For A Copy from Dark Chapter Press. His zombie flash fiction tale, Tamed Brute, can be found in Flashes of Darkness: Halloween Special 2015 and his tale, Known But Not Named, recently won Dark Chapter Press' DreAdvent Calendar contest. Feind recently finished his first novel and will have another short story published in the anthology, KIDS, to be edited by Stuart Keene for Dark Chapter Press due out in March 2016.

Feind is also the editor for ThyDemonsBeScribblin.com, his website dedicated to all things horror & heavy metal. Feind currently resides in Tucson, AZ working non-stop to promote and support independent music, movies and writers like himself.

And for more about Feind, visit his site or find him on social media:

Website – Facebook – Twitter - Goodreads – Amazon Page

REVIEW: Robert E. Dunn - Motorman

Genre: Horror / Sci-Fi

Publisher: Necro Publications

Publication Date: 15^th May 2016

Pages: 105

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Motorman by Robert E. Dunn was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author via Hook of a Book, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Necro Publications.

This is one of those occasions where I get a chance at reviewing a new book coming out after connecting with the author on Facebook and Twitter and discovering he is one of the good guys. Robert E Dunn and I connected a few months ago and I have to say it has been a pleasure getting to know him. We did the cover reveal for Motorman a couple of months back, and what a cover it is.

This of course brings in the normal disclaimer that just because we connect on social media, this does not gain any favours from me when it comes to reviewing.

This is my first experience of reading Mr Dunn. This is what I thought.

Johnny Burris is a mechanic. A very good one by all accounts. After his latest job goes wrong due to a murder in which he was involved, he is on the run.

He ends up hiding out in a small town where no one knows him. He manages to get a job as a mechanic again. He tries to keep himself to himself but cannot help but be charmed by two sisters. Their daddy is a strange type of doctor that notices Johnny’s good hands and wants him to take over his work when he is gone. Work not on cars, but creating monsters from severely injured humans.

Johnny has a choice to make. Put his hands to good use or start running again.

This is a story that I cannot give you too much detail on it for fear of spoiling it for you. In terms of our characters, Johnny is the main man. He seems to be a decent sort of a fella. Not too smart but not the dumbest around and he certainly has a flare for working with his hands. He has found himself in his current situation more by bad luck than anything else. He really just wants to disappear and work on cars. The two women he is torn between, Emma and Bella are sisters. Not your normal sisters though. They are dedicated to the work of their daddy, a weird doctor with even weirder methods of looking after his patients.

The plot is really in two parts. You have Johnny on the run and trying to make a life where no one knows him then you have the surreal world he has entered where the doctor and the sisters live a secret life involving keeping people alive at all costs.

Surreal is the main word that stuck in my mind both while reading this one and for a few hours after I had finished it. Robert Dunn has created a strange town with even stranger inhabitants living an even stranger again life. Trying to describe the atmosphere that this book exudes is not easy. It’s sort of like Frankenstein meets Westworld.

There are a few elements within the story that still have me wondering what they were about. There is a constant reference to a blue light and blue gunge but you never really find out where this has come from or who introduced it. I don’t know if there are plans to expand on this novella any but a bit more of an explanation about that would be good.

The one thing that really blew my mind was the idea behind the doctor’s creations. What Mr Dunn has done in this part of the book is create something that is both mesmerising but horrific at the same time. Again I cannot give you details for fear of spoiling the book for you but when you read it you will totally understand. As I mentioned before it is like a modern day Frankenstein utilising todays modern technology and the images this presents to you are fascinating and creepy as hell. The final couple of chapters of this story are exceptional for having you on the edge of your seat with your jaw hanging open wondering just what the hell is going on.

This is a fairly quick read being a novella. I would love to see it expanded on and either further novellas using the same main story line or a full novel. I think the idea behind the story has a lot of mileage left in it and could make a wonderfully gruesome story. Robert Dunn certainly has the imagination and the writing skills to pull it off.

To summarise: a story that is hard to pin down to a specific genre. A bit of sci-fi with a bit of horror with a bit of stuff that is impossible to categorise. A quick read that has some of the best imaginative writing I have read for a while. Puts a new perspective on how much people love their cars!

General rating:

★★★★ enjoyable first read of Mr Dunn

Horror rating:

★★★★ scary weird.

If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy Motorman or any other books from Robert. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Book Synopsis:

Running from a night of humiliation and murder, Johnny Burris leaves the city and his junkyard home, fleeing into the Ozarks countryside. While on the road, mysterious streaks of blue light in the night sky drive him into a forgotten bit of nowhere lost in the hills. Johnny thinks he’s found home and good work in an odd little gas station from another time.

Johnny quickly gets pulled into a world where the cars aren’t the only things all chromed out and everything seems touched with the energy of the flying blue streaks that led Johnny there.

Enticed and torn between two sisters, one an outcast for her normality, the other a beautiful monster, Johnny becomes the pawn of their father. The old man is both the town’s mechanic and its Doctor. He’s looking for a replacement and Johnny Burris is the man with just the right skills.

When Johnny learns the truth behind the doctor’s plans, he runs, taking one of the “normal” sisters with him. But the town, and the girl, turn out to be even more than he imagined. And his whole world comes down to just one choice, live as a monster, making monsters or die like a man. If he chooses to die, who will he take with him?

Robert Dunn (1960) was an Army brat born in Alabama and finally settled in Nixa, Missouri. A graduate of Drury College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications/Film he also earned a second major in Philosophy with a minor in Religion and carried an emphasis in Theatre. This course of study left him qualified only to be a televangelist.

An award winning film/video producer and writer, he has written scripts for or directed every kind of production from local 30-second television commercial spots to documentary productions and travelogues.

A writer of blognovels and contributor to various fiction websites his work has also included the book length prose poem, Uncle Sam, the collection of short stories, Motorman and Other Stories and novel, Behind the Darkness.

Mr. Dunn now resides in Kansas City where he continues to write genre fiction and experiment with mixed media art projects using hand drawn and painted elements combined through digital paint and compositing.

And for more about Robert, visit his site or find him on social media:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page

REVIEW: Angela Marsons - Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone #4)

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 20^th May 2016

Pages: 366

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone #4) by Angela Marsons from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

Every April, you can be guaranteed that I will down tools and all books I am currently reading and pick up the new John Connolly instalment of Charlie Parker. I never thought a series of books would captivate me enough for that to happen again, but nowadays every time I get the nod that there is a new Angela Marsons book on the go, I just have to get it. Book four in the wonderful Kim Stone series is just out. I downed everything else and went straight for it. I couldn’t wait. This series is just fantastic.

Although it is book four, you can read them all as stand-alone books. Yes, you do get to know some of the characters as the series progresses but they are all individual stories so I urge you to pick them all up. You can read my previous reviews on the blog and links are provided at the bottom for you.

So, book four. Any good?

Kim Stone and her team are in between their many cases. They are sent to a top secret research facility called Westerley. It’s a body farm, using bodies in experiments to help with details on decomposition in varying conditions.

Whilst there, a body turns up that is not one of the customers. Kim and her team just happen to be on scene so there is no time like the present for them to add another to the list.

This case will bring up secrets from the past. Secrets that many people wish to keep to themselves. If they hadn’t, the case may have been a lot easier for Kim Stone.

Without giving anything away about the previous books, our characters have largely remained the same. The leader of the gang is obviously Kim Stone. A young woman totally driven by her dedication to her job and the drive to solve every case that lands on her desk. Still dealing with a troubled past, she seems to be getting better at it but still doesn’t let to many people in. The three remaining members on her team are the same. Her wonderful sidekick, Bryant is a very capable number two. Again dedicated to his job, he possesses a wicked, dry sense of humour and is the only one who can get away with certain things with his boss. Dawson is the young reckless one. He is getting better but still has a way to go. He knows how to rub Kim up the wrong way but also knows how to get round her again. Stacey is the brains of the outfit. She doesn’t get out of the office much but without her computer and research skills, the operations would fall to pieces.

One other character that carries over is Tracy Frost, the mouthy, pushy reporter from the local paper. She still doesn’t see eye to eye with Kim and vice versa. Her part in this story is much bigger than any that have come before.

The plot is what has now become a typical Angela Marsons plot. There isn’t really one. Well there is but you won’t figure it out until very near the end of the book and if you do figure it out early, you are lying. Basically bodies are turning up. Killed in a specific way, Kim and her team need to find out the connections and fit all of the pieces of the puzzles together to make sure another body doesn’t turn up. When it looks like someone they know has gone missing and may possibly be the next victim, everyone steps it up a gear to figure out who the killer is and try and stop them in time.

So what makes this series any different to any other crime series you may have read in this past ten years? To be honest I don’t know. Well I do but it seems too simple an answer. Well it is a simple answer and I know it to be true. Angela Marsons is quite possibly the greatest writer of British gritty crime thrillers that I have ever read. A bold statement I hear you say. I know it is, and I stand by every word of it, and I also make predictions that in the next few years’ people will be watching this lady on the teevee, being interviewed about her latest new series starting soon and people will sit back and go, ahhhhhh that’s that girl Nev Murray was talking about all those years ago.

Her writing is sublime. It’s clever. It’s devious. It’s fast paced. It’s emotional. It’s scary in some ways. It’s heart wrenching. It’s tense. It’s uplifting. It’s gripping. Most of all, it’s entertaining. I could make this review into a three-thousand-word essay by getting my thesaurus out and just listing every single superlative I can find to tell you just how wonderful this lady’s writing is but there is really only one way to see for yourself. Go buy it. Go buy them all. If you do and you don’t enjoy them, I will eat a hat of your choice. Hell, I’ll eat my own liver. I am that confident that if you are a lover of crime books that you will not be able to resist these ones.

For once in a review, at this point I am stumped. I really don’t know what else to say to convince you to go out and buy these books.

I was asked a while back that if I was going to a deserted island and could one series of books with me, which would it be. I said then the Charlie Parker books by John Connolly. I still stand by that but I would bloody well sneak these little babies along with me as well!

To summarise: don’t be stupid – just buy it.

Highest possible recommendation.

General rating:

★★★★★ perfect.

Thriller rating:

★★★★★ perfect.

If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy Play Dead or any other books from Angela. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

You can read my review of Silent Scream (D.I. Kim Stone #1) here.

You can read my review of Evil Games (D.I. Kim Stone #2) here.

You can read my review of Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3) here.

Book Synopsis:

The dead don’t tell secrets… unless you listen.

The girl’s smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess.

Westerley research facility is not for the faint-hearted. A ‘body farm’ investigating human decomposition, its inhabitants are corpses in various states of decay. But when Detective Kim Stone and her team discover the fresh body of a young woman, it seems a killer has discovered the perfect cover to bury their crime.

Then a second girl is attacked and left for dead, her body drugged and mouth filled with soil. It’s clear to Stone and the team that a serial killer is at work – but just how many bodies will they uncover? And who is next?

As local reporter, Tracy Frost, disappears, the stakes are raised. The past seems to hold the key to the killer’s secrets – but can Kim uncover the truth before a twisted, damaged mind claims another victim …?

The latest utterly addictive thriller from the No.1 bestseller Angela Marsons.

Angela Marsons is the author of Amazon #1 Bestseller SILENT SCREAM.

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their bouncy Labrador and a swearing parrot.

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read "Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people's".

After years of writing relationship based stories (My Name Is and The Middle Child) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

She is signed to Bookouture.com in an 8 book deal.

And for more about Angela, visit her site or find her on social media:

Website - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Amazon Page

REVIEW: Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason - Mayan Blue

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Sinister Grin Press

Publication Date: 25^th May 2016

Pages: 278

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Mayan Blue, by Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason, was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Sinister Grin Press, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

I do enjoy getting ARCS from Sinister Grin Press. This one has been on my radar from before it was even written. Michelle and Melissa are twin sisters also known as The Sisters of Slaughter and I have been friends with them in the social media world for over a year now. I have been eagerly awaiting this, their first novel, with baited breath. Two girls who are an absolute pleasure to know, I have read a couple of short stories of theirs and couldn’t wait for this to come out.

So was the wait worth it?

Professor Lipton is searching through caves in a remote part of Georgia. He really believes that he can find a secret. A secret that will prove his theory that the Mayan’s made it this far north. Maybe the secret he is after should stay hidden.

Wes, Alissa, Kelly, Dennis and Tyler are on their way to meet up with Professor Lipton. They all have their own reasons for going on this expedition. Some legitimate and some foolish. Regardless of their reasons, like Professor Lipton, they may regret even having an interest in the Georgian Mayan’s.

Characters in this tale are as you see in the synopsis. I won’t give you a lot of detail on them because to be honest this is the type of story that you can never be sure if anyone is going to make it off page one alive. Professor Lipton seems to be the stereotypical, slightly mad archaeologist, who is convinced he knows where the find of the century is. Wes is his understudy. Totally mesmerised by his hero, Lipton, he is as keen as mustard to meet up with the professor and go hunting. Alissa is keen as well. Keen on Wes. To be fair though she is probably the only other one there for serious reasons. Kelly invited herself. Probably because she was bored. Dennis and Tyler tagged along for the extra credit and also because Kelly was going. They both have the same intent where Kelly is concerned.

The plot? It’s an old horror cliché. Ancient history dictates that something ancient be found and quite possibly it will unleash something evil into the world. But – the difference with this one is it isn’t the old old cliché of the evil being something the Catholic Church has been battling against and keeping secret for centuries. No my friends. It’s the Mayans. In Georgia! Surely not? Well there you go then. Horror needs uniqueness and these girls have pulled that part out of the bag.

This does make it fresh to the extent that we aren’t dealing with the aged alcoholic priest, and the Vatican sending in the heavies to stop all attempts at retrieving the ancient artefacts. It takes a slightly different direction in the evil that will be unleashed. At first I was a bit worried that it was too much like an Indiana Jones adventure type story rather than horror, but to be honest, I never seen Harrison Ford have to deal with some of the things that these people had to run from. And run they did.

The characters themselves felt a little bit flat to me at times. It almost showed that some of them were only there for the ride. You could say this is very effective writing but to me at times I think they could have been beefed up a bit more. Given a bit more oomph.

The plot itself was fairly simple and uncomplicated but this was tremendously enhanced by the array of evil characters and monsters and beasts that were involved. The girls really hit the nail on the head in giving you a sense of being in a different world. The colour aspects and the descriptive text about the world and the beasts and even the vegetation gave you a very true sense of being somewhere other than on planet Earth. I think the best way I can describe this is that visually, I imagined this world to be not unlike the landscape we saw in Avatar. Beautiful in one light but scary as hell in another.

This is a horror novel with a lot of adventure in it but I wanted more scares. I wanted more jump out of my seat moments. I wanted more nearly peeing myself moments. I wanted more reading with one eye closed moments.

It certainly has the blood and the guts that horror books should have. In fact, it has this in abundance. Some of the injuries that are inflicted on some of the characters are horrific and did have my skin crawling and tested the gag reflex.

It just didn’t scare me enough.

I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to write a book with someone else. Now given the fact these girls are twins, I would suspect it may be easier than some collaborations but that is one thing that I didn’t notice until I had finished. It flowed extremely well. I defy anyone reading this to be able to pinpoint when the writer changes. It is seamless in that respect.

To summarise: a horrific adventure bringing together some ancient evils and fantastical worlds to keep your blood pumping from start to finish. Could have been a bit scarier for me but these girls have proved with this that they have an eye for the details and a definite knack for completely removing you from your boring mundane life and transporting you to a completely different world. Bravo sisters!

General rating:

★★★.5 excellent for a debut novel with a difference.

Horror rating:

★★★.5 I wanted more scares.

If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy Mayan Blue or any other books from Michelle and Melissa. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Book Synopsis:

Xibalba, home of torture and sacrifice, is the kingdom of the lord of death. He stalked the night in the guise of a putrefied corpse, with the head of an owl and adorned with a necklace of disembodied eyes that hung from nerve cords. He commanded legions of shape-shifting creatures, spectral shamans, and corpses hungry for the flesh of the living. The Mayans feared him and his realm of horror. He sat atop his pyramid temple surrounded by his demon kings and demanded sacrifices of blood and beating hearts as tribute to him and his ghostly world.

These legends, along with those that lived in fear of them, have been dead and gone for centuries. Yet now, a doorway has been opened in Georgia. A group of college students seek their missing professor, a man who has secretly uncovered the answer to one of history’s greatest mysteries. However, what they find is more than the evidence of a hidden civilization. It’s also a gateway to a world of living nightmares.

Melissa Lason and Michelle Garza have been writing together since they were little girls. Dubbed The Sisters of Slaughter by the editors of Fireside Press. They are constantly working together on new stories in the horror and dark fantasy genres. Their work has been included in FRESH MEAT published by Sinister Grin Press, WISHFUL THINKING by Fireside Press, WIDOWMAKERS a benefit anthology of dark fiction. Their novel MAYAN BLUE is being released May 25, 2016 by Sinister Grin Press

And for more about the sisters, you can find them on social media:

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