Review – Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi

A brilliant, churning and feverish chiller, Small Town Horror is is a dark and compelling novel. As a Malfi fan, this is not one to miss. The narrative builds, accelerating, from a dreadful beginning to a terrifying conclusion full of burning secrets and drowning guilt.

Having escaped Kingsport, a small town on the Chesapeake bay, Andrew has found his place in New York. A lawyer with a career on the rise and a pregnant wife nearly at full term. The last thing he expected was a call from an old friend demanding his help. Kingsport is the last place he wants to return to. And his old friends are the last people he ever wants to see. But Dale did call and the implied threat was there; he needed Andrew’s help as his wife has gone missing.

Arriving at his childhood home, empty since the death of his father six years prior, Andrew is confronted by two things; the discombobulating familiarity of the place and the total strangeness of it all. There’s a deathly stink in the house and a squatter who turns out to be another old friend, Meach. An addict who’s lived his life in and out of institutions, Meach’s reunion with Andrew is unsettling. His speech full of dark hallucinations and terrible nightmares. But they aren’t without a basis. There’s something there surrounding Andrew and his former teenage friends, a truth that none of them have ever spoken about since that long ago night twenty years past. Meach is adamant they’ve all felt it, Dale, Eric (now the town sheriff) and Tig who’s taken over her parents bar on the wharf.

As Dale begins to unravel over his wife’s disappearance and Meach’s madness continues, Andrew just wants to escape back to New York and his wife. But something won’t let him truly leave and he’s pulled further and further into a twisted, convoluted mystery of which he is, intrinsically, part of. It’s here that the blend of horror and thriller combine perfectly. Subverting the very small town horror trope and turning it on itself, Small Town Horror plays on the dread of Andrew’s knowledge even as it ramps up the gripping thriller aspects. As the mystery deepens, the supernatural terror grows until the two entwine to produce an explosive conclusion.

It’s brilliantly handled. Deft writing that mixes Andrew’s first person perspective and narratives from the other friends, the story burns at a pace. As each layer is peeled back, more revelations are piled on until the plot explodes. A truly remarkable piece of storytelling, Small Town Horror is exactly what makes a chiller so gripping; dark, captivating and shocking all in equal measure.

It’s unsettling in so many ways, especially the reverse approach it takes to the horror trope at its heart. The dark kernel that each of the friends carry and how it’s affected them is an echo carried across time. But, none more so than Andrew, and it’s his guilt and secrecy, so painfully revealed, that speaks to the human need to worry at an issue until it becomes a comfort; the need to return, to repeat, to keep it close in the hope that it can be controlled only for it to spiral away like a firework unleashed.

Atmospheric and dreadful, compelling and dark, Small Town Horror is a twisting, chilling slice of horror as visceral as it is ghostly.

Review copy

Published by Titan Books

Review – The Remaining: Extinction by D.J. Molles

The final instalment in The Remaining series, Extinction is an epic conclusion to an outstanding story. Drawing numerous threads together whilst leaving room for more, it’s a thrilling and intense book. Unrelenting and violent and truly gripping.

As various factions and enemies begin to put their plans in motion, Captain Lee Harden is, once more, at the forefront. Desperate to fulfil his mission, his determination sees him go places that he never thought he would. Unsure who is friend and who is foe, he’s forced to put his trust in people he barely knows and in a plan with too many moving parts. When an old friend and fellow coordinator for Project Hometown emerges, Harden doesn’t know what to think and the complex political lines get even more convoluted as the acting President continues to make his plays for power.

However, it’s the huge massing horde of infected that is the real, immediate danger. With the forces out of a Fort Bragg and the help of the Marines, Harden has come up with a plan that could work or could be the end of them all. It’s this idea, of extinction, which cuts it’s way across the various narrative arcs. Camp Ryder, the Followers and the infected all seem hell bent on a collision course and how it comes together is unbelievably intense and compelling. With so much happening, and so many lives hanging in the balance, Extinction is a truly breathless piece of writing.

Once more it’s the rigorous internal logic which sets the series, and this book, apart. Characters, forced into situations from which there is no turning back, display their true humanity. Where some are given the choice between right and wrong, and the choice of morality, Harden is here to do the things that others won’t. In a world of hard decisions and awful consequences, he is the one prepared to stand firm; to do what is necessary so that others can remain apart. It’s a burden he bears but one he was chosen for; the sheepdog that keeps the wolves at bay be they human or infected.

But it’s not easy. Brutal and unforgiving, Harden is pushed beyond even his own limits as he tries to hold everything together. However, as some follow his lead and do what’s needed, others fall to the wayside in the final reckoning. Because, whilst it is the end, it’s also the beginning again and nothing will ever be the same because of it. Though what is left isn’t devoid of reason; it’s the very thing that makes us human. The ability to recognise what is correct and what is needed despite the excuses and hardships; it’s choosing to do right without exception.

For a six book series, The Remaining losses none of its momentum. Building a narrative that is impossible not to invest in, with characters both good and bad, who are impressively rendered, Extinction brings it all together in a rush of violence and chaos and breathtaking action. Addictive and gripping, dark and violent, it’s one of the best zombie apocalypse stories around.

My copy

Published by Orbit

Review – All Who Wander Are Lost by Gemma Amor

Prefaced with an intriguing author’s note that gives a great insight into the basis of this collection, All Who Wander Are Lost is a rumination on travel, tourists and strange destinations. Danger, monsters and nightmares made real abound in this cleverly crafted book.

Opening with a truly unique story, There’s Something In First Landing State Park contains so many potential readings. Following Melanie, a restless traveller, as she journeys to America on another jaunt, it’s clear she carries the weight of trauma. But, what seems like an innocuous visit turns suddenly with the appearance of a bizarre man spied from Melanie’s hotel window. When she and her friend visit the local swamp of First Landing State Park that first, ignored sighting comes back to bite in awful ways. Playing on ideas of invasive species and the natural instincts to survive, free of motivation, there’s the sense of otherness couched in the story; of people seeking new land and their destructive differences and those unmoored from the things that bind us.

An epistolary story set in 1888, Let Sleeping Gods Lie once again builds to a terrifying close. There to dig and learn about the ancient pharaohs, an archaeologist is on the hunt for a hidden burial ground. The juxtaposition between his very English roots and his sweltering, Egyptian location adds a wonderful quality to the story but it’s what he finds deep in the ground that makes it such a great tale.

Like a fever dream let loose, A Song For Sam sees two brothers tasked with their dead father’s final wish and forced to travel together. Bitter and filled with hatred for Sean, his younger brother, Sam is determined to kill him. The unbridled anger morphs and warps under the aurora of Norwegian skies becoming hallucinatory. Madness and memory intermingles becoming something quite strange but nonetheless brilliant.

Another standout in the collection, The Ancient Ram Inn manages to defy expectations brilliantly. When a group of friends visit a pub, notorious for its haunted grounds, on Halloween the atmosphere curdles as soon as they cross the threshold. Turning the traditional ghost story on its head, it accelerates into the twist quickly and perfectly. Whilst less about travelling as some of the other stories are, it’s take on voyeuristic tourism sets the tone only for it to become a truly nightmarish tale; one of regret and remorse and shameful acceptance.

The final story in the book, Christmas in Antarctica is a gripping mash up of folk lore and eldritch horror. A travel addict, albeit one who can afford to go places, Jen sees an advert for an Antarctic tour in one of her many magazines. When her boyfriend, Ash, offers to help her achieve the dream Christmas trip, the pair set off to find a way to make it happen. From Argentina, they manage to score price reduced tickets aboard a huge ex- hydrographic research ship repurposed for tourists. As the pair embark on what should be weeks of wonderful memories, Jen encounters a strange, almost inhuman figure on her first night. That sighting and the consequential chaos that ensues is terrifyingly captivating. Horrifying violence and creatures beyond comprehension turn the journey into a fight for survival as the story churns up the idea of “careful what you wish for” and chums the icy waters with it.

A fantastic collection, each one peopled with brilliant characters and wild changes, there’s a style, here, that is perfect for short horror stories. Well crafted and gripping, All Who Wander Are Lost is a dark and captivating anthology.

Review copy

Published by Cemetery Gates

Review – Klova by Karen Langston

An intriguing premise, Klova takes on a complex idea wrapped up in an expansive sci-fi fantasy world. Part thriller, part analytic philosophy it’s a compelling blend.

When Inker Ballard wakes one morning after partaking in a virtual “drug” session, he suddenly finds something amiss. Unable to frame his experiences beyond now, his ability to understand the concept of past has been erased. Nothing has changed with his memories; he still knows his partner is dead but his whole life exists in a now always moving forward. It’s terrifying as he can’t understand other people’s words, let alone ideas. Without the language to express his thoughts, those very concepts have ceased to exist.

He’s not alone. Others have come forward with the same linguistic loss. It’s concerning but not widespread. However, it shouldn’t exist. Klova, as a language, is an artificial construct, created hundreds of years previously and protected by the Order. Ihlo, a novice in the Order, has realised that the corruption in the code has some huge implications. The construct is a closed system that allows comprehension without misappropriation. However, her pleas to her superiors fall on deaf ears until she takes drastic action.

These dual perspectives intersect through other actors and help to form a coherent picture of the world, institutions and society. More importantly, it takes on the challenging idea that language is the means to shape thought; that without words, ideas cannot exist as there is no framework upon which they can be expressed. Philosophically speaking, it’s a fascinating concept that Klova does well to explain. But, it’s the investigation around how and who created the corruption that takes centre stage. Ihlo, Inker and Agent Laine all work towards discovering what has happened, each from a unique angle. It’s not until they work together that the pieces begin to slot together.

A clever conceptualisation of a knotty philosophical problem, with some smart red herrings thrown in the mix, Klova manages to blend thriller and sci-fi to create a great story. Wonderful world building, a devastating ending and a thrilling premise, it’s a unique work of fiction.

Review copy

Published independently by The Book Guild

Review – This Skin Was Once Mine by Eric LaRocca

A collection of four short stories, each concerned with the damage and hurt that humans do to one another, Eric LaRocca has created an intense, prosaic series of horror tales.

Opening with the eponymous This Skin Was Once Mine, the idea of trauma, but more importantly the lasting effect it has, is never more so poetically captured. Soaked into her skin, Jillian’s perspective is saturated in victimhood though she sees herself as a monster. This odd contradiction plays out in a number of ways: her parents and her feelings toward them; her treatment by others. Called back to her childhood home after a twenty year absence, her father’s funeral peels away the past to reveal something quite awful.

Deftly crafted, with little said explicitly until the end, the dread of the story is palpable yet frustratingly out of sight. As Jillian cuts through the obfuscations, she discovers layers of monstrosity right at the heart of her childhood and, thereby, within herself. It’s the disgusting and nasty cycle violence that family abuse creates laid bare in the words of a fairy tale. And, for that, it’s brutal.

Slightly more obscure in its telling, though clear in its meaning, Seedling is, once more, concerned with the death of a parent. Left completely anonymous, the narrator is never really known; a device that works well considering the direction the story takes. The father calls after the passing of the mother and, immediately the character goes to make sure he is alright.

What happens thereafter is a strange, mesmerisingly dark fantasy tale of wounds and hurts and the silences between people that are broken by shared grief. It’s not a complex idea, this notion of being let in to understand another’s suffering but it’s the twist in the story that makes it so much more. Those wounds fester; dark things are born there. In Seedlings it’s the revealing of those grievances, the releasing of them, that is so shocking.

Using an old fashioned quality to the writing, All The Parts Of You That Won’t Easily Burn reads like a classic. Propriety and social accountability permeate the story as Enoch immediately critiques a shopkeeper he has sought out. Looking to gift his husband a chef’s knife to mark a special dinner party they are hosting, Enoch, instead, finds himself beguiled. The shopkeeper, sensing something within Enoch, offers him a deal; the knife for a favour.

He wants to cut him and, though Enoch is initially repulsed, he acquiesces. Revelling in this strange new fetish, Enoch can’t get the man or the sensation out of his head. Obsessed with it, he finds his way back to the shop becoming more deeply embroiled in the activity. A disturbing yet compelling series of events, of opening up strange new associations, and breaking down of socially accepted codes, it’s a story that is as insidious as it is well crafted.

Prickle is hard define. There’s a sense of something more hidden behind the story and yet on the surface it’s two old friends reacquainting. In their seventies, both have past their prime yet their minds seem as sharp and as cruel as ever.

Playing a game to cause slight harm to unaware people, the two men enjoy the strange power they hold over the unsuspecting. But when one of them goes too far, it highlights a madness the other hadn’t seen before. What it says about the rationale and reasonings behind human games isn’t really clear but, for a short story, it’s an unsettling ending to a dark collection.

Swirling with malevolent and dangerous thoughts, This Skin Was Once Mine is a poetically written set of stories. Tinged with an atmosphere of the past and touching on some twisted truths, it’s a strange and gripping group of horror tales.

Review copy

Published by Titan Books

Review – The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

A dark and emotional historical horror, The Reformatory is a thousand injustices that bleed across the page. An astounding work that blends post-colonial literature, civil rights, human monsters and supernatural mysteries into a single, gripping narrative, it’s a book that deserves high praise.

Set in Florida, 1950s, Gracetown is a segregated and insular community. White residents are afforded the American dream of education and justice and prosperity whilst the black community still fear the oppression of a politically privileged elite. Red McCormack is one of those few; a rich and hugely influential farmer, his connections across the town, both black and white, run deep. For the Stephens family, they are bound to him by a history of slavery, their house given to their grandfather upon his freedom. However, that history isn’t far removed and, in all but name, black men, women and children are still treated like slaves.

When McCormack’s son makes inappropriate advances on Gloria Stephens one innocuous morning, her younger, twelve year old brother, defends her. Despite the fact that these children grew up together, the minor scuffle lights a terrible fire. The complex background behind this small event unravels, highlighting the monstrous attitude of a time and place steeped in ethnic hatred, political ignorance and contradictory beliefs. Robbie Stephens, whose father was run out of town for inciting black worker rights, and whose mother recently passed from cancer, suddenly finds himself at the mercy of men who would use him as an example to justify oppression and sufferance.

Sentenced to six months at the Reformatory the true horror of the prevailing political system comes to bear. Offered no representation, Robbie is given over to an institution where corporal punishment and slave labour is the norm. Seen through the perspective of Gloria, a sixteen year old, desperately seeking justice, and Robbie trapped in a place where there is none, the emotional impact and helplessness of their shared plight is palpable. However, intertwined amongst all of these human abuses is a gothic, supernatural element whose effect is equally profound. Ghosts haunt the very soil of Gracetown, reminders of all the grief and grievances that are weaved through the landscape and community of the place. As a metaphor for the terrible past that the black community share, the spilt blood and terrible memories that haunt families, it is a stark reminder that, in certain places, these things are yet to be put to rest.

Weaving Robbie’s story of survival against men who embody the very definition of evil, as he navigates the ghosts that seek peace, alongside Gloria’s battle against a system designed to oppress, The Reformatory is a layered and powerful narrative. Drenched in the history of the American south, of political subjugation, the true horror of men given freedom to act with impunity is a terrifying combination. It’s not hard to comprehend how it is humans who do the real harm whilst ghosts (and memories) direct things in ways that both help and hinder.

A complex and compelling retelling of a terrible history, The Reformatory is a powerful example of what horror can achieve. Dripping with dread and exploding with terrible violence at times, the conflagration of human and supernatural terrors creates an engrossing narrative of huge and important scope. Stunningly crafted and truly meaningful, it’s a exceptional work of fiction.

Review copy

Published by Titan Books

Review – The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn

A bitterly cold, uncompromising horror, The Shudddering is a terrifying creature feature that brings originality to a classic trope. Sharp, self-aware and suffused with dread, it’s a brilliant and fast paced read.

Hoping to bring together his twin sister, Jane, and best friend, Sawyer, for one final snowboarding holiday in the Colorado mountains, Ryan hasn’t told any of them that their father has sold the family hideaway. But, Sawyer brings his new girlfriend and Jane invites her friend Lauren to soften the blow of her broken heart, creating an awkward dynamic. There’s history amongst these friends and all manner of unspoken truths swirling under the surface though most is left unsaid until it’s too late.

Determined to enjoy it for the last time before he leaves for a life in Switzerland, Ryan gets the group up the slopes. It looks like it’ll be an idyllic weekend. Only Sawyer’s girlfriend, April, becomes jealous, determined to leave during a huge snow storm. It’s a decision that acts as a catalyst for a brutal ending. With a blizzard closing the friends off from the road, miles away, and the house’s Wi-Fi and phones already disconnected, the isolation leaves them vulnerable. After April throws a tantrum and decides to walk out, disappearing, things go from bad to very worse. Lauren and Ryan attempt to find her but what they encounter out in the frozen woods is a nightmare made real.

Building the dread perfectly as one couple argues and another begins their first steps into romance, The Shuddering is classic survivor horror. Smart adults making informed decisions in the face of abject terror, it’s unforgiving. The awareness of its own genre makes the story somehow more effective as the group’s choices are whittled down. And, the things in the woods, are both awful and original in equal measure adding up to a great, gripping read.

Brutal and dreadful, The Shuddering is a captivating and classic horror with an icy bite.

My copy

Published by 47North

Review – Artifical Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver

A near future, sci-fi thriller, Artificial Wisdom creates a terrifying world of climate change, manipulated information and the emergence of A.I. Blending genres, it’s a well thought out look at a grief and truth in a maelstrom of political and ecological chaos.

Tully, a hard nosed investigative journalist lost his wife and unborn child in a devastating catastrophe that struck the Middle East. Millions died as a humid heat wave combined with infrastructure collapse resulted in devastation. When he’s contacted by an anonymous source, ten years later, claiming to know how the deadly event happened, his grief forced him to chase it down. It leads him to confront a former American president, a man now in line to become the first world dictator; a position designed to get humanity out of the climate collapse brutalising the planet. Most countries are ruined and few places are safe. However, a group of new states – floating islands that are havens for the rich and intellectually elite – also have a contender for dictator; an A.I called Solomon.

As Tully and his team seek the truth behind the claims of a genocide caused by untested tech, it leads to the sister of one of his team. The very same woman who created Solomon. But, just as he begins to unpick the incident that killed his wife, the inventor is murdered. Just how those things are linked becomes the thread he has to pull upon.

Whilst the mystery within Artifical Wisdom isn’t hard to guess, it’s the narrative behind it that really has the most impact. A considered look at climate change and those that would deny it, the author really digs into conspiracy theories and how easy it is to propagate misinformation in a world determined by unregulated media. It makes the MC, Tully, and his claims about getting the truth out regardless of consequences, such an interesting prospect. Highlighting ideas around deep fakes, fake news and false information, Artificial Wisdom doesn’t shy away from the current political reality we live within and for that it’s a smart approach to a knotty social issue. Wrapping it up inside the problem of artificial intelligence and what that might mean for humanity allows the novel to explore other, frightening possibilities. Ultimately positing the notion of whether human, emotional intelligence is enough or whether detached, statistical calculation will be the saving grace, Artifical Wisdom ends on a rather worrisome and very political note.

Full of social commentary and unafraid to look at a frightening future, Artifical Wisdom is an intriguing cli-fi thriller.

Review copy

Published by Chainmaker Press

Review – Toxxic by Jane Hennigan

Sequel to the excellent Moths, a hugely successful indie novel that was taken up by Angry Robot Books, Toxxic digs deep into the world ravaged by a terrible disease. Considered, fiercely feminist and distinctly dystopian, it’s a complex tale of a world built on trauma.

Set months after Moths, itself based forty years after the emergence of a poisonous species of moth which affected men, Toxxic continues the narrative in a fascinating way. After the virus decimated the male population, many dying quickly whilst others became violent maniacs, female society has been slowly rebuilt on the ruins of what was left. Institutes for males to live in sterile environments are the only safe place for them and the only way to continue the existence of the human race. But the development (and concealment) of a vaccine has caused huge repercussions with those for and against it. Generations of woman have never been around or known men, and men themselves are very different to the ones that existed before the apocalyptic infection decades ago but there are those that remember. In a world where men are only useful for breeding, kept isolated at a high cost, the society that has emerged is a fascinating one that flips patriarchy on its head.

Split between perspectives, from Tony, a man chosen to take part in the vaccine programme, his foster carer Evie and an unnamed activist set against men’s freedoms, Toxxic creates an engrossing narrative. Those against allowing men back into society remember not only the way things were before the infection, but the terrible and devastating violence the diseased wrought on women. Tony, born and raised in a closed environment, and conditioned to obey and behave, offers an intriguing insight into the institutionally conditioned, the vastness of the world he’s never known but, importantly, a male perspective that isn’t violent and sexualised. Evie’s story is vastly different. A woman of the new world caught in a broken marriage with a wife she’s drifted apart from, her insights show a society that is fractured and complex and struggling to emerge from the past.

Set against a fascinating piece of post apocalyptic world building, the knotty issues of male violence and trauma run up against liberal ideas of freedom and equality. The social commentary on women’s fears is intrinsically woven into this story and powerfully articulated. The ordeal of the apocalyptic infection is similarly considered and it’s depth of thought is another powerful reminder of the physical and mental scars that violence leaves upon a person. Giving weight to the different reactions the catalyst of the vaccine creates, the complex responses woven throughout the narrative are captivating. In a world where men are not safe, one built on the wounds of the past, a dark but profound story emerges.

A brilliant piece of “what-if” science fiction that tackles some hugely important social concerns, Toxxic is a dark and fascinating novel. Wonderfully crafted characters, it’s the interplay of perspectives, the harrowing pasts and the strangeness of the future, that paints such a powerful picture. Clever, complex and captivating.

Review copy

Published by Angry Robot Books

Review – Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Deciding to finish this collection, I read the last two stories back to back. If the title doesn’t give you enough of a clue, these stories are dark, gripping and unapologetic, making for a great set of novellas.

Fair Extension, the shortest of the four collected here, is a mean spirited tale of jealousy and hidden feelings. Suffering late stage cancer, Dan Streeter who seemingly is a morally upstanding husband and father meets a stranger on a quiet road at the edge of town. That man offers him a deal, an extension on his life. He thinks the man is insane, especially when it’s revealed that for the deal to be complete, Streeter must choose someone he hates to transfer his pain upon.

It’s this point that’s so important and so hard to swallow. Choosing his best friend against whom he’s harboured all manner of ill will since childhood, reveals something awful. That friend relied on Streeter to help him through school, stole Streeter’s girlfriend who he married and ended up coasting into a massively successful business. The deep seated resentment Streeter feels pours out, much to the strangers glee. Weeks later, the man’s cancer is gone but his friend’s life begins to deteriorate in truly terrible ways, classically narrated in King’s inimitable style.

Less complex than other stories it still retains that central kernel; a pivotal moment that changes everything and the consequences thereof. But, the darkness here is of much different quality and is more brutal for it.

The last story, A Good Marriage, is truly intense and deeply unsettling. An unassuming and pleasant girl, Darcy, meets a young man and together they build a life full of marriage’s little quirks and compromises but also joys and love. A nice house, two beautiful children – now grown – and a routine that includes Bob, her husband, going on frequent trips to trade for rare coins, his passion. An accountant, a little soft in the middle, he’s a man of careful routine.

It’s whilst he’s away on one of those trips that Darcy makes a discovery. A bondage magazine hidden amongst old catalogues in a box kept in the garage. A box that was left out. A box that Darcy tripped over looking for batteries. That first uncovering peels back the veneer on Darcy’s quiet but happy life. It’s the consequences, once again, that have such profound ramifications; the implications of which pierce through the story and make it so harsh. Realising her husband, the person she loves so deeply and has shared her whole adult life with, is something completely other is brutally portrayed.

A fascinating look into the notion that you never truly know another, that there’s always another side to the looking glass, A Good Marriage is a terrifying moral dilemma and a visceral tale. Yet, once again, like Big Driver, though the evil is vanquished the required action leaves it’s mark; another irrevocable change.

Dark, personal stories cleverly crafted and reaching into the depths of human psyches, Full Dark, No Stars is an immensely captivating collection.

My copy

Published by Hodder & Stoughton