The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz

The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 352

Publisher - Flame Tree Press

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Ten writers are selected for a summer-long writing retreat with the most celebrated and reclusive author in the world. Their host is the legendary Roderick Wells. Handsome, enigmatic, and fiendishly talented, Wells promises to teach his pupils about writing, about magic, about the untapped potential that each of them possesses. Most of all, he plans to teach them about the darkness in their hearts.

The writers think they are signing up for a chance at riches and literary prestige. But they are really entering the twisted imagination of a deranged genius, a lethal contest pitting them against one another in a struggle for their sanity and their lives. They have entered into Roderick Wells’s most brilliant and horrible creation...The Dark Game.


My Review

Ten writers are selected (invite only) to go to one of the most successful but recluse authors mansion/private grounds. They are under strict instructions, secrecy to get there, no phones but the prize, one of them will have ultimate success just like one lucky author who won before. Fame, riches, success, the challenges will be grueling, the demands far more than any of them could imagine but it will be worth it right?

Roderick Wells is the man of the moment, older author, been around a long time and keeps away from the world so all of these authors cannot wait to get started. Wells can be rude, abrupt but he is an old man and amazing at his craft. The authors note his older appearance and signs of ailing health but the longer they spend the more they notice changes.

We hear from the individual authors and they show sides of their personalities and motives/hopes for personal gains than what they present infront of the group. They are not the nicest of people and those we do like we hear more about as the book goes on, they all have something in their past and or struggles with their writing.

As one by one authors *drop out* of the competition the others, at least some, start to question their absence/disappearance. The book gets dark quite quickly and horrors come from the pages to terrorize the authors and us readers. We get a story within a story as Well's pushes them to create stories that push their abilities and tap into darker/raw talent. The staff and house have creepy tones and whilst it is a completely different story it gave me an echo of that movie with Vincent Price where they have to stay/survive overnight to win the cash. This is over the summer rather than overnight and instead of a creepy house the things in here are far darker and dangerous. I think this is my 2nd or 3rd book by this author (I even have a wee bookmark of him to go with it) I have another one or two on my tbrm and look forward to reading them. Creepy, dark, shocking and absolutely of the things that go bump in the night although for Janz horror things they don't always wait for the nighttime, 4/5 for me.

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My Hungry Friend by Daniel Barnett

My Hungry Friend by Daniel Barnett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 3 days

Pages - 200

Publisher - Indie/self

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

When Mike Roberts kicks over a homeless woman's cup of change, she whispers a cryptic warning:

"Mind the cracks . . ."

Now the Boston he knows and loves is unraveling around him. But his life is not the only thing at stake. His mother, a once acclaimed writer lost in the late stages of Alzheimer's, depends on him to have a home. And then there's her caretaker, Cassie, who might want something more from Mike than the friendship they've long shared.

As his city balances on a razor's edge, Mike will have to hunt down the daughter of the woman he wronged and uncover their terrible family secret . . . or be plunged into a world of crawling horrors and unspeakable hunger.

A world from which no one has ever returned.


My Review

Meet Mike Roberts, a dentist and has a carer who comes in during the day to look after his mother who has Alzheimer's and Mike looks after her at night. Stressed, living in Boston Mike passes homeless people everyday, this day Mike make's an impulse choice that impacts life as he knows it. One knee jerk reaction brings consequences that will pull down Mike's whole world and bring terror and horror beyond the imagination.

There are a few parts to this story, excluding the horror & weird creatures we have his relationship with his mothers carer and the actual taking care of his mother. Intimate care of cleaning up her accidents at night, safety issues and the pressure of that from a son having to deal with such a change in dynamics from the child to parental role.

The dark in this book is very dark, we have insect like creatures that most folk have some kind of beastie that creep up out, let alone from another world. There is mystery, evil, spookiness and at least one scene with his mother, in particular one part of her anatomy, that made me feel really uncomfortable and creeped out reading. I personally don't think it would have hurt the book to not be in it but artistic license and we don't always get the scenes in the way an author has written or envisioned it being received.

There is a lot of creepy tension and build up to a darkness threatening and changing Mike's world whilst he desperately scrambles to understand what is happening, why and most importantly what he can do to stop it. I think Mike makes so many bad choices and errors but it works in highlighting the reality of humanity, flawed characteristics and how off character would you be if your world was falling apart with a darkness coming in. 3/5 for me this time, I liked the eeriness and tension and look forward to seeing what else this author has to offer.

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The Mist by Stephen King

The Mist by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 176

Publisher - Scribner

Source - Gift from O/H

Blurb from Goodreads

In the wake of a summer storm, terror descends...David Drayton, his son Billy, and their neighbor Brent Norton join dozens of others and head to the local grocery store to replenish supplies following a freak storm. Once there, they become trapped by a strange mist that has enveloped the town. As the confinement takes its toll on their nerves, a religious zealot, Mrs. Carmody, begins to play on their fears to convince them that this is God’s vengeance for their sins. She insists a sacrifice must be made and two groups—those for and those against—are aligned. Clearly, staying in the store may prove fatal, and the Draytons, along with store employee Ollie Weeks, Amanda Dumfries, Irene Reppler, and Dan Miller, attempt to make their escape. But what’s out there may be worse than what they left behind.

This exhilarating novella explores the horror in both the enemy you know—and the one you can only imagine.


My Review

I seen the movie years ago so I knew the story and I think I got this mixed up with another book but still knew the jist. A mist comes and with it some unimaginable horrors, we see a group of survivors trapped within a supermarket. Glass windows, fog covering the sight to outside, pack mentality kicks in and it is only a matter of time before "they" get in.

This is such an atmospheric read, claustrophobic, terrifying, they are stuck indoors, the crowd eventually split over what they feel is right and should be done. When pulled from "civilisation" and their lives at risk sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

The monsters are horrific, the killings brutal, the breakdown of humanity equally as frightening because you can believe it. Tense, gory, King has a way with words and you find yourself turning the lights up and having a look out your window to make sure there is no strange fog coming. My issue with it, as with a few of King's books is how he wraps it up, I also wanted to know definitively what happened to some other aspects but overall I enjoyed it 3.5/5 for me this time. I really need to re watch the movie and I heard there is another version so I need to track that down and maybe re read afterwards.

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Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater

Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 273

Publisher - Organic Apocalypse

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Sometimes spaceships disappear with everyone on board – the Lost Ships. But sometimes they come back, strangely altered, derelict, and rumoured to be full of horrors.

Opal is on a mission. She’s been seeking something her whole life. Something she is willing to die for. And she thinks it might be on a Lost Ship.

Opal has stolen Clarissa, an experimental AI-controlled spaceship, from the military. Together they have tracked down a Lost Ship, in a lonely nebula far from colonised space.

The Lost Ship is falling into the gravity well of a neutron star, and will soon be truly lost … forever. Legends say the ships harbour death, but there’s no time for indecision.

Opal gears up to board it. She’s just one woman, entering an alien and lethal environment. But perhaps with the aid of Clarissa’s intelligence – and an armoured spacesuit – Opal may stand a chance.

Can she face her demons and survive?


My Review

Opal is a woman on a mission, she has stolen a ship and took off looking for one of the Lost Ships, many have gone missing and rumours of horror on those that come back altered, Opal is driven to find one specific ship. With an experimental artifical intelligence (AI) built in, that she calls Clarissa, Opal puts her very life at risk both from the military and what lies waiting in the Lost Ship.

Oooh think Event Horizon with a bit of "Mother" from the Alien movies and that was the overall feel when I first started this book. The AI is a brilliant character add as just one human in space would take a lot of work to make engaging. The story breaks down into a fair few parts, the journey to find the Lost Ship, the understanding and development of the AI as the story unfolds. The bad guys who are chasing her, what lies within the ship awaiting and everything that transpires after.

The action on the ship is creepy and you are left with questions, well I was and sought out the author to find out if there will be another visit to this story. Thankfully there will be as I hate being left with unanswered questions and we are going to get another two books woohoo!

Opal is a fantastic character, complex, a history we learn a bit more about as we read on, she is heroic, loyal, strong and long long overdue in fiction. I loved the AI too and the relationship that formed between the two, the balsy choices and bravery through frightening encounters and life and death situations.

Whilst the build up was slow in the very beginning it created a tense, claustrophic and eerie atmosphere, perfect for space and kept me flying through page after page. Where was it going, could I trust X,Y,Z or rather could Opal, her choices, was that right, what would happen! I love when a book keeps you on your toes and I think sci-fi is such a tough genre as fans can be hyper critical. I thought this was a great opening to new characters and definitely a foundation book, the origins are done now I can't wait for the meat of it all, the where, why, what are they, what is next! 4/5 for me this time, I have read this author before but not this particular genre from them, I very much look forward to the next installment and will be rooting on my fav character(s).

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Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner

Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 401

Publisher - Angry Robot

Blurb from Goodreads

MATT RICHTER MAY BE DEAD, BUT HE'LL STILL CRACK THIS CASE.

Meet Matt Richter. Private Eye. Zombie. His mean streets are the city of the dead, the shadowy realm known as Nekropolis.

This place has always been ruled by the vampire overlords.
Now they're plotting to destroy the city.
... over his dead body.


More pulp than Pulp Fiction, more butt-kicking than Buffy, Nekropolis is the first in a deathly new series.


My Review

An alternate dimension ruled by vampire overlords in order to escape any punishment by humans. Ruled by vampires, inhabited by many mystical creatures, werewolves with a difference, vampires, hybrid creatures such as a piranha type dogs and many more. PI Matthew Richter used to be a cop back on earth, now he is a PI zombie, a zombie with free will and a conscience, an all round good guy. When a vampire Lord's daughter, Devona, hires him to reclaim a stolen powerful artifact the two come together and face many dangers. Devona can't tell her father, her blood brother may be involved, Mike is trying to keep his body from falling apart whilst keeping the foes from killing them before they can get the job done!

I didn't think I was going to like this story, I don't mind one or two creatures in my story but when there are so many different ones and you don't get a how they came to be that irritates me. Anyways, a whole new world for the unnaturals, Mike is a go to kind of guy who helps out everyone on Nekropolis and doesn't seem to have a bad bone in his undead body. Devona and him soon build up a mutual attraction whilst investigating who would want the Dawnstone and why. With much at risk, the investigation turns deadly and time is running out.

I liked we eventually get Mike's back story, I like his character he is such a nice guy and has made many friends in Nekropolis whereas normally with detectives they are a bit dodgy. Devona was a harder character to like, it was as if Waggoner couldn't make up his mind to make her a hardcore strong female character or a shrinking violet which she flipped between pending the situation. It was a good introduction to that world and the characters, I would definitely read more of this series, 3/5 for me this time.

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Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days

Publisher - Harper Torch

Pages - 416

Blurb from Goodreads

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party... and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead... or undead.


My Review

To be honest, I am a bit torn with this review, there are things I liked about this tale and things I didn't. Rachel Morgan is our main character, a runner for a company called Inderland Security (I.S.), a supernatural law enforcement agency. She has been given some pretty rubbish cases to chase up and has had enough. However, no one leave the agency by choice as Rachel will soon learn and spends the tale trying to get herself out of the contract that is put upon her head. With the help of Jenks (a fairy) and Ivy (a living vampire) she goes about tackling the task and needing all she has to stay alive.

The book has a mix of everything, even werewolves however, I think because there is so much breadth there wasn't enough depth. Ivy came across as a really interesting character yet she was in the background a lot. The spells seemed interesting enough but again your left with a lot of questions, did I mention, Rachel is a witch. She seems to be a kick butt kind of girl but has a lot of insecurities and makes some very questionable mistakes and impulse choices. Her whole relationship with Ivy confused me as they are colleagues and friends yet there is so much distrust and questionable dialog between them, in fact some of the dialog itself either annoyed me or made me snigger.

I thought the transformation spells and part of the book covering that was really well done but again, some of the interactions and dialog with the characters didn't flow naturally. That said "Go Turn yourself" or "Do you hear me you sodden sack of camel dung? Tag! You're it!". This is what I mean by being torn, some of it irked me and some made me laugh.

I think had the book had a glossary that may have helped a bit too. We know half the population of humans were wiped out by genetic bioengineering which resulted in a virus. Therefore all the species and creatures came out to live amongst humans however there was a lot of questions left for that too, well I had them anyways. An on the fence 3/5 for me this time, I would certainly read more in the series in the hope of getting the answers, hearing more of Ivy and seeing how the story plays out.

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White Shark by Peter Benchley

White Shark by Peter Benchley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 340

Publisher - St. Martin's Press

Blurb from Goodreads

At a small marine institute off the coast of Connecticut, only marine biologist Simon Chase realizes that a sixteen-foot pregnant Great White is feeding in the area. But even Simon doesn't know that a far deadlier creature is about to come out of the deep and threaten everything he cares for. A creature whose malevolence is unthinkable. Whose need to feed is insatiable. And whose relentless hunt for prey is unstoppable.

Twenty years after his huge bestseller Jaws, the master of the deep has done it again, letting loose a chilling new predator that only he could create. Drawing on his singular knowledge of the sea, science, and history, Peter Benchley masterfully spins a suspense-filled novel that hits you on a primal level, makes your heart pound, and leaves your blood running cold.

White Shark is Peter Benchley at his best. Read it at your own risk.


My Review

I read Jaws years ago and love love love the movie so when I discovered this I had to get a copy. Simon Chase is a marine biologist tracking sixteen foot pregnant great white, he studies her behaviors and travel patterns. A new predator is in the waters, one that was created to perfection and will destroy anything in its path. A creation, perfected by the Germans to use in a war that ended years ago and now this beast has free reign to feed and kill.

The title of the book, I felt was a little misleading, once you have read the tale you may disagree and think it was cleverly and aptly named however thats just a small gripe of mine. The story and kills kick off really quick and your drawn into a tale of horror and fear as a predator we have never encountered is loose and on the hunt in our waters!

Really well done, I would read more by this author, I still feel Jaws will always be my favorite but Benchley creates an eerie spine chilling tale that makes you want to read on and keep your feet out of the water, 3/5 for me this time.

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