 A few other memorable horror novels that I overlooked in my earlier post about good scary reads:
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Creepy, atmospheric, unsettling fun… What more can you say?
The Ghost Writer by John Harwood. Many people disliked this novel. I was captivated by it, however. A young man finds a series of ghost stories written by his great-grandmother. The stories serve as stories within a story. The ghostly narratives are interwoven with his family history, and the main character sets out to solve the riddle of his past. Similar in many ways to Henry James, this is a classy, gothic read.
Speaking of Henry James, I can’t believe I forgot Turn of the Screw. I first read this in high school for my 10th grade English class. I still get a chill from the finale.
Another favorite of mine is Skull Session by Daniel Hecht. This was advertised as a neurological thriller when it came out, and that is a fit description. Mysterious events, family secrets, and psychological horror. Full disclosure: The main character has Tourette Syndrome – I was drawn to this since I also have TS. The author did a great job portraying the condition.
Clearly some additional works will be occurring to me as time goes on.
 The atmosphere of Messages from the Dead by Sandy DeLuca is what makes this novella a riveting read. First and foremost is the community college and former pediatric hospital for kids with tuberculosis. The corridors lead Donna and the reader into realms of terror. Corners made up entirely of shadows and wisps of smoke, staircases that lead to impossible heights and depths, basements that contain unimaginable instruments of misery. The descriptions are marvelous, and reminded me in many ways of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. It’s not often where a haunted location comes to life, and Ms. DeLuca pulls it off. There are numerous hauntings (I’ll come back to this later) involving children, troubling adults and missing young women. Many are chilling and quite creative. The present day interactions between Donna and her grandmother, a practitioner of the dark arts, are well presented – as are past reminiscences of Donna’s childhood living with her grandmother.
A note about the passages describing the hauntings. I think there are too many of them. While some are nicely done and are illustrative of how ghost stories can be well written, some are also repetitive and lackluster. I felt that some could be left out, with the result being a couple of strong jolts which stand alone instead of being watered down by additional accounts which were vaguely familiar to previous incidents. An unintended consequence of repeated ghostly visits is that the reader is well ahead of Donna in realizing that certain folks are ghosts (more than a few times, I felt like yelling, “Come on, Donna, get with the program! That’s a ghost! How can you be so dense?”) The author also introduces a minor character towards the end that results in an unnecessary subplot (a sexual relationship), the outcome of which doesn’t do much for the story. As result, when the shocking conclusion arrives, it feels rather abrupt relative to the frequent and repeated hauntings that came previously.
Despite these minor flaws, Messages from the Dead is a blast – a real nifty ghost story.
 Too bad I never really kept track of all of the novels I’ve read over the years. Any effort to write a review for my blog or for Goodreads often results in me scratching my head while trying to recall portions of the plot. Imagine me trying to recall the plot details of books read 10-40 years ago.
With this in mind, I thought I’d offer a few short comments about books read in the past and why they stick in my mind. For this discussion, I’ll stick to horror – my favorite genre. Below are novels that I’ve read since I was a kid – you’ll notice they span quite a few decades.
The Other – Thomas Tryon. Some incredibly creepy moments that made my blood run cold… including a shocking development about two-thirds of the way through. It just about blew me away. I was 18 when I read it, and I gobbled up horror fiction ever since.
The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty. This came out the same time as The Other, and if you check the New York Times Best List from that time, you’ll see at some point these two books were numbers 1 (The Exorcist) and 2 (The Other). The Exorcist had brain jarring moments that broke all taboos. I remember sitting on our terrace out back and lightening hit next door, so the thunder was loud and instantaneous. I almost died of a heart attack.
Rosemary’s Baby – Iran Levin. One of the creepiest endings ever.
Burnt Offerings – Robert Marasco. A very original haunted house story, with a decent movie adaptation.
The Search for Joseph Tully – William H. Hallahan. A riveting supernatural investigative story. I still recall the beginning where the sword maker tests the still molten blades on… well, enough.
Dragon Under the Hill – Grodon Honeycomb. Ancient Viking curse, Norse lore, possessed child, Lindisfarne, ancient Scandinavian torture (something about cutting out the lungs…). What more can you ask?
Salem’s Lot and The Shining – Stephen King. Spine chilling moments in both, but most people already know this.
Dark Gods – T.E.D Klein. Four novellas. The first two, Children of the Kingdom and Petey, are outstanding. They are creative and I haven’t read anything like them before or since.
Ghost Story – Peter Straub. There were multiple places where I had goose bumps while reading.
A Good and Happy Child – Justin Evans. I still can’t understand why this isn’t a huge hit among the horror masses. Great characters, intriguing plot twists, creepy moments, and an exorcism scene that I found unnerving. And, an unsettling ending to boot.
There are more, but I was just writing this off the top of my head. When other great horror novels come to me, I will devote space to them in the future. If anyone is interested in a good scary read, and you haven’t checked these out, I strongly recommend them.
 Sow by Tim Curran is a novella depicts the worst kind of nightmare for expectant parents. Most parents-to-be are obsessed about morning sickness, fetal development, prenatal care, and comfort of the expectant mother. Richard and Holly, expecting their first child, are faced with something not covered in any how-to books on pregnancy. Holly becomes possessed by something unfathomable (a demon, a spirit of a witch from the 1600s?), and descends into the inescapable grasp of the monster. Richard, of course, is at his wits end trying to figure out exactly what is going on and what to do about it. Holly, who transforms into an old hag, taunts Richard unmercifully, but that image is nothing compared to the next transformation when the old hag/Holly transforms into a pig-like creature of primal origins - the stuff of pagan ritual. Richard’s efforts to deal with this madness and his fears about what exactly this “sow” is breeding comprise the bulk of the novella.
The novella is very well written (I only noticed two minor continuity errors). Mr. Curran has a strong grasp of his narrative and does not hold back on his description of the impact of this nightmare on Richard and a few other minor characters. Much of the story is pretty disgusting stuff: their bedroom takes on the appearance of a pigsty with rancid conditions, mud and fecal matter are everywhere, maggots and other revolting life forms permeate the story… feelings of revulsion are ever present. The author has Richard do some investigative work in an effort to understand the origins of this haunting, and succeeds in presenting an interesting historical backdrop. Much of the human backdrop is also revolting and dovetails well with the events Richard is experiencing.
The disgusting features of the story are the driving horror components in the work. This makes for unsettling storytelling, and certainly kept me reading to the ultimate conclusion. There were times when I was hoping for a little more than revulsion to propel the story forward, which did happen to some extend towards the end. While revulsion can be a supportive factor in a good horror tale, wallowing in gross-out descriptions (and we’re not talking about blood and guts here, but fetid conditions) carries you only so far. Nonetheless, Sow is a gribbing novella and another good release from Darkfuse.
 The Hole by William Meikle is another blockbuster lead from DarkFuse. The novella is about a series of massive holes that begin swallowing up a small town. Casualties are high, and the survivors are haunted by something terrifying…demons, ghosts, aliens - no one knows for sure. The survivors know one thing: that the situation is likely to kill them and they must find a solution before it does.
This synopsis seems pretty simple, but the narrative is anything but simple. The plot is exciting, the tension is overwhelming, and the story is quite unpredictable. The characters are terrific – nicely drawn and very individual. The story line contains elements of horror and disaster/adventure and Mr. Meikle uses these to their fullest extent. Who lives and who dies is not foreseeable.
One minor criticism is the author’s portrayal of rural townspeople. Everyone uses “ain’t” quite frequently, and many have the habit of using singular pronouns with plural verbs (e.g., he weren’t). The author seemed to be painting with an awfully broad brush to characterize nearly everyone in this manner.
I strongly recommend this novella. The pacing is excellent, the scares are timely, and the story is jaw-dropping fun.
 Full disclosure: I was offered a free copy of this novella for an honest review, although as a Prime member, I was able to download the work for free. Old McDonald is like The Walking Dead, but with farm animals. Bio-Barn Corporation has developed a means for cloning farm animals (cattle, goats, chickens, you name it) and has started selling their products to farms of all sizes across America. This is the answer to food production problems and high risk agriculture. One of the customers is Gene Gibbs, a farmer in an unspecified mid-western state. Something unthinkable happens, however. These cloned animals are “different” and soon turn on humans. It’s like the food chain has suddenly reversed itself in a cruel (for the people anyway) twist of fate. All of these docile animals become carnivores, ripping, tearing and then devouring men, women, and children alike. When Gene’s wife is seriously injured in an attack, Gene and his young farmhand must run for help. So begins the story.
Author Andrew Saxsma has written a deviously fun novella – which actually appears to be the first in a series. The story is wonderfully told, the pacing is perfect, and the plot is gripping. Granted, the plot is ridiculous, but I didn’t care – I was wrapped up in the world and I was able to suspend disbelief. There are some genuinely creepy and gruesome moments. There is a section where hundreds of cattle attack Gene in his truck which is quite unsettling (I kept thinking, who would have thought you could make cows horrifying?). Needless to say, I think Andrew Saxsma is quite a gifted storyteller.
There are some flaws that the author may want to address in this and future efforts. For instance, he missed occasional misspellings, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies in emotion and logic. There are frequent shifts in point of view – often with each paragraph and sometimes within paragraphs. I found the shifting to be confusing and unnecessary – sticking with one character would have been sufficient and more effective. Nonetheless, the story itself is quite good, and I wouldn’t want any of these things to deter someone from reading Old McDonald and missing out on a rip-roaring yarn.
 While my favorite fiction genre is horror, I am fond of mystery, suspense, and thrillers. I began my read of The Dazzling Darkness by Paula Cappa expecting a horror novel. But it started off as a gripping mystery, and I remember thinking this is a pleasant surprise as I was riveted to the story of a missing five year old boy named Henry. His parents Antonia and Adam, along with older sister Laurie, are frantic after he disappears walking home from school (just behind his sister who is perplexed because he was just right behind her). As time passes, anxiety turns to panic and terror as the boy does not come home. The police are called and soon the entire community is galvanized to search for the missing child.
The tension that comes with the territory in a story about an abducted child suddenly turns eerie when the family begins seeing strange people in the vicinity of their home and hearing the giggles and whisperings of Henry – who remains frustratingly out of sight. The atmosphere is influenced by the presence of a cemetery close to their home, both of which, by the way, are surrounded by woods. The caretaker of the cemetery, who lives on the grounds, is creepy Elias Hatch who has a friendship with a Catholic priest whose best intentions do not seem as straightforward as he wants everyone to believe. When it becomes clear that the strange people roaming the cemetery are ghosts, the mystery turns to horror as the supernatural elements rev the story into high gear.
Before the novel concludes, the reader is treated to secret underground passageways below the cemetery, crystal skulls that generate impossibly strong electromagnetic waves that leave traces of the skull long after it is removed from a location, rituals for raising the dead, more ghosts than you can count, discussions of transcendentalism, secret Vatican organizations, police procedural investigations, the poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the One True Cross, and heaven knows what else I am forgetting.
This summary may seem like a confusing mess of genres, but amazingly it is not. The story is wildly fascinating, and all of the plot lines dovetail nicely together. The conclusion, in which everything comes together, blew me away – I mean, I was really stunned.
The setting was very captivating. The home, woods, and cemetery were characters in their own right. Ms. Cappa described them so clearly that I could “see” the paths through the woods, the damp grounds of the cemetery and the dripping grave markers. The characters of Antonia and Adam were very well drawn. The anguish they display as they await the news of their son is portrayed vividly. Elias is fascinating when he is “on stage”, and even Henry, in his absence, seems astoundingly real.
If I have any criticism it would be the portrayal of the detective investigating the case – which is unfortunate because his point of view takes up at least one-fourth of the novel. My understanding of police investigations is based solely on what I have read and learned in novels and on TV shows like CSI New York and Law and Order. All by way of saying, my take on this might be incorrect, but here goes. The detective seemed to be reacting to events as they happened instead of investigating. Also, professional boundaries seem to be lacking in his decision making. He includes the parents in various aspect of the investigation, including interviews and access to crime scenes. I kept wondering if his behavior would destroy evidence or harm the legal case against a suspect. As result, his character just didn’t ring true to me and his behavior distracting.
The Dazzling Darkness is not a traditional horror story full of shock and gore. Despite everything going on, it is a “quiet novel. I do not mean boring, far from it. I couldn't put the book down. Rather, the intensity comes from wondering what in the hell is going on as the author throws one curve after another. The novel is beautifully written and quite surprising in many ways. Highly recommended.
 I’ll be honest up front… I am biased towards psychologists writing horror novels (since I am one and trying to make contributions to the genre). I’m not sure how many there are, but running into one gave me quite a thrill. I wasn’t aware of the background of author Gary Fry when I started reading Conjure House. When I read his bio at the end of the novel, I was pleasantly surprised to read he had his PhD in psychology. I should have known based on some of the passages in the novel.
I struggled with how to write this review because while there are a number of positives about the novel, there were a couple of things that drove me crazy (sorry, bad choice of words).
First, the positives… The plot to this novel is downright bizarre. There are basic conventions to haunted house stories that everyone has done to death, but you won’t find them in this book. There are creepy ghosts, evil monsters, unsettling hints of torture, and aberrant images presented within Conjure House story line that I haven’t seen before and a climactic series of events that I didn’t see coming. Dr. Fry also mixes in a little psychology, with one clever description of a haunted house consistent with levels of human consciousness. That is, the upper level of the house is devoted to abstract and higher order thinking – complete with instruments of science and investigation, ground levels of the house are associated with creative aspects of personality (art and music), and the basement is the site for the baser instincts of human nature (the unconscious levels), a site for torture – which is hidden behind a false wall and out of sight (repressed?). The entire narrative has a feel of audacity, and I mean that in a positive sense. There is no hedging – the author displayed real boldness.
The negatives though had to do with structure and pacing. Every single character is catching glimpses of these strange creatures out of the corner of their eyes. Yet, they attribute these things to moving shrubbery or the wind or something natural. While this is fine in the early stages of the novel, this pattern continues to the end – and gets very repetitive. I recognize that part of this is meant to indicate how the things move or appear, but still. Many of the characters even obtain objective evidence of the creatures’ existence, and still they blow off sightings as if it is the wind. This happens even to the point of placing a child in jeopardy, and still these people have blinders on…
A pet peeve of mine is when characters have information that would help solve the problem but don’t share that with others for no other reason than to keep the plot moving. That happens a lot here (and talking about the odd goings on would be quite normal under the circumstances – but no one mentions anything). All somebody has to say is, “Hey, is it me or have you seen these things with their thumbs missing?” If that happened, the problem could have been dealt with before turning into a crisis.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling.
By the way, I did notice one typo which presented some unintended humor. Anthony, the main character, is trying to cross the street and has to stop in the middle of a traffic circle to let cars pass. He notices a block of stone with strange symbols. The sentence reads… “It was set on grass at the heart of the roundabout, and after peeing in diminishing light, he was able to examine, for the first time with adult eyes, the curious shape carved into its face.” I may have missed something earlier about his inability to find a bathroom, but I think Anthony is meant to be “peering”.
Despite the flaws I’ve mentioned, there is a tremendous amount to enjoy in this novel. I especially liked the interactions between Anthony and the town historian. I often find the painstaking investigations or interviews conducted by characters to find out information as exciting as action scenes (if not more so). Weird, I know. Finally, the creatures and other strange entities that Dr. Fry has created and populated within his novel are worth the price of admission. Even with my relatively minor reservations, I would strongly recommend the novel.
 I often hear the comment that for horror fiction to really work – that is, grab and hold a reader to the end of the book, the reader has to suspend disbelief. The job of creating a story that makes suspending disbelief possible falls to the author, of course. Let’s face it, horror fiction frequently involves plots that are often ridiculous, and authors must make them “work” for the reader.
When I read horror (which is, well, a good part of the time), I find that continuity of character within this context makes the story believable. Plots that are constructed well are necessary, of course, but the characters need to be grounded in a natural and human way. The emotional and behavioral reactions of the main characters must remain inherently true to themselves. There has to be a baseline level of character depth that sets the stage for the character action later in the book. The emotional responses need to be consistent and logical given their personalities. When this doesn’t happen, we can’t trust the characters, and quite frankly we can’t trust the author to lead us honestly through frequently bizarre twists of plot development.
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