I’m not a fan of heavy science fiction in literature. Nor am I a big fan of reading about sports. So if you had ever asked me to read a science fiction book based on a football team in the future, I would have gagged involuntarily and choked on my own vomit. But after reading Scott Sigler’s Infected (our review) I have been following his work. Any author who can write scenes as exquisitely cringe-worthy as the ones contained in that book has gotten my interest. So when The Rookie was finally released I was hesitant to purchase a novel about sports. I’ve only read one book from him – that’s far from a commitment, ya’ know? But then I read the synopsis: “Set in a lethal pro football league 700 years in the future, The Rookie is a story that combines the intense gridiron action of “Any Given Sunday” with the space opera style of “Star Wars” and the criminal underworld of “The Godfather.”  Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed and rival players are assassinated. Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he’ll wind up just another stat in the column marked “killed on the field.” My God, it’s Blood Bowl. I then promptly ordered my signed copy. 

By the way, this is not a review, but rather me spewing my love for a book and why. So if you do not feel like reading a bunch of praise towards a book, then for you let me state that I gave The Rookie 4.5 stars out of 5. It is just good, fun reading if you are a fan of football or not. So if the above synopsis sounded good to you, just go buy or listen to the damn thing as you will not be disappointed. Now, on to slathering on the praise.

Starting with the limited edition book itself. As you can see from the picture, the cover is well designed and very eye-catching – the blood stained, orange jersey of the Krakens, the team you will be following. Included inside is a 15-page color insert with graphical descriptions of the various races you will meet, the team rosters, the GFL schedule as well as a list of the all the Tier Two football teams. This list includes the each team’s logo, colors, home planet, star player and owner. If that wasn’t enough, the book also contains an extremely detailed,  20-page timeline from 1967 to 2682! Top that off with a glossary of terms used in the book and their definitions. In other words, it’s beyond kickass and the amount of time and detail Sigler has put into The Rookie is apparent just flipping through the pages.

The overall story is a familiar one seen in almost all forms of media. The underdog surpassing insurmountable odds in order to achieve a seemingly impossible goal. The outcast becoming accepted. A group of misfits individually flawed, banding together and becoming something extra-ordinary. A tried-but-true formula that is at the heart of The Rookie. It’s every good sports film you have ever watched in the fleshed out universe of Star Wars with all the deep inter-species relations of Star Trek.

The story works on a lot of different levels starting with the main character Quentin Barnes. He’s not a very likable guy. He is an arrogant, ignorant, racist. Sure he was a great quarterback – astounding even. But his personality makes you want to punch him in the face almost every chapter. While that may seem like a negative thing, it is not. Sigler has created a very flawed young man who you sympathize with even if some of his actions towards others piss you off.  But starting off with a personality like this provides a very enjoyable character arc as you not only cheer out loud for each team win, but you also get to enjoy watching a character as he (sometimes) learn that nothing is black-and-white, and that everything he has been taught has been lies. Sure there were moments when I wanted to crawl into the book and smack some sense into Quentin’s thick skull, but it was only because Sigler created a character I wished the best for, despite his flaws. Well that and I wanted the Krakens to friggin’ win!  And make no mistake, if Quentin does not gain acceptance from his multi-species peers they will not respect him which means he will not effectively lead them to victory. This brings in the criminal element of The Rookie because no victory for the Krakens has consequences more dire than any of the players fully realize.

But the portions of The Rookie I enjoyed the most, were the games themselves. The Kraken games where described in such detail that you felt you were right there on the field. Sigler writes these battles with such fervor and detail, you feel like you are one of the players on the front line staring into the eyes of a Ki or a Quyth Warrior. You hear the deafening roar of the crowd, cringe at the cracks of bones being broke as players slam into each other like two trains colliding head-on, and smell the sweat and blood pouring out of the players like open spigots. The plays described in a nail-biting fashion with each game different depending on who the Krakens are playing, but the electricity and excitement are the same with each of them.

When I read any form of science fiction, admittedly I prefer the horror variety. If I can’t have that, just give me some action in the form of aliens, space ships, lasers, robots and explosions. Luckily, Sigler provided all of those but then tricked me in the process. See, before I knew it I was learning about alien races and their cultures, down to their individual planet structures and the different types of grass on the field. I was reading about future tech from things as simple as sewing, showers and football gear, to heavy-hitters like space travel, alien relationships, weaponry, and medical procedures. I was reading about all the stuff that would normally have my eyes rolling in the back of my head, and loving every single word of it. I only want to point that out for people like me who do not prefer science fiction as well as people who do. You are gonna dig this no matter what camp you reside in.

So look, if you are a fan of sports or science fiction, or both, just do yourself a favor and snag you a copy of The Rookie. Or if you don’t have the dough to spend on the limited edition, simply stop by Sigler’s website and listen to it for free. You can thank me later.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Another zombie comic on the horizon from the guys at Terminal Press conceived by Adam Miller and Rich Woodall. Titled ZombieBomb!, this comic is due in January 2010 and will be an anthology of zombie goodness featuring the work of over 50 writers and artists to bring “three to ten pages in length and spotlighting the absolute depths of zombie horror to the offbeat to straight up comedy.” And they are not joking. Shawn McManus (Swamp Thing, Sandman, Fables), Neil Vokes (Marvel / DC), Todd Dezago (Spiderman, Tellos, Perhapanauts), and Craig Rousseau (Captain America, Iron Man, Perhapanauts) are just a few writers and artists who provided their talent to the full color comic. You can get a lot more info from Cinema-Suicide’s Bryan White, who also contributed one of the stories about “three scuzzy pillheads who follow a little old lady home to steal her meds only to find out that her rickety old house contains a very dark secret.” Be sure to join the Facebook Fan Page if you want to show support and to stay up-to-date with the latest ZombieBomb! news. Personally, I never seem to tire of the rotting gut-muncher, so I cannot wait to see how this turns out. Continue on to see some ZombieBomb! artwork.

It’s been a while since we have any book reviews here, so it just seems fitting that the one book I felt like writing anything about happens to be a companion piece to one of my favorite movies – Trick ‘r Treat (our review). But this book goes far past some slick advertisement for the film. It is a big, glossy, beautiful advertisement for the film – with the added bonus of being a nice addition to any of you Halloween lovers out there. Sure the book delves into the making of the movie and detail almost every aspect of Trick ‘r Treat from its inception to its filming, but like the movie, this book also touches on a lot of the traditions associated with Halloween and how they originated. Jack o Lanterns, black cats, trick-or-treating; it’s all discussed in this book. But it doesn’t end there. As an added bonus, the book acts as proverbial trick-or-treat bag stuffed with various treats in the form of comics, masks, stickers, posters, postcards and pumpkin stencils. It is a clever addition that makes Trick ‘r Treat – Tales of Mayhem, Mystery, and Mischief a must-have for fans of the film, as well as fans of Halloween.

Written by John Griffin with artwork and introduction by director Michael Dougherty, Trick ‘r Treat – Tales of Mayhem, Mystery, and Mischief is a companion piece to the film Trick ‘r Treat. When it arrived the other day I was immediately impressed with the fact that the coffee table book was encased in a soft cardboard sleeve. Once I carefully slid the hardcover out from this and did my initial flip-through, I knew I was gonna love this damn thing.

The book is put together sort of like a scrapbook, each page stuffed with information, pictures, artwork, bios, sidebars, storyboards, concept sketches and quotes from people involved with the film. The book is separated into two main parts, the first section is a making-of Trick ‘r Treat bonanza that will answer any question you had about the movie and then some. You learn almost  everything about the film and how it came to be. Detailing the ups and downs in putting this film together and then trying to get it out, as well as all the hard work that went into ensuring Trick ‘r Treat did not miss one detail, no matter how minor.

You will read about the neighborhood they used and how they used it, how the school bus scene was done and the research that went into making the costumes for the children who rode it. You get some insight on just how big of a pain in the ass it was for them to use that number of pumpkins they used in the film, and how they had to constantly battle the Canadian weather. I mean, everything is here and I found it satisfying to learn that some of the things I picked up while watching the movie are detailed fully in the book. The leaves, the cold, the pumpkins, the detail of Mr. Kreeg’s house…all of it is discussed and none of these details were taken lightly.

The special effects in the film are also discussed at great length. From the minor things you may not notice like burning embers rising from a fire, to the more elaborate effects such as the girl’s coming out party and how the Sam and Kreeg meeting was filmed. I have always been a FX lover since my young days with my first issue of Fangoria (issue #007), so I really enjoyed reading how they pulled of some of the practical effects in the film. Especially when they talk about just how hard it was for them to find the right shade of fake blood and how they beat the problem of commercial fake blood not soaking through sheets fast enough.

A lot of info is given on the character of Sam as well. And why not? He is the mascot of the film after all, and the reason why the movie exists in the first place. This mischievous little guy has been on Dougherty’s brain for a long, long time and reading how he started as doodles by a bored student and ended up as a flesh-and-pulp character on the screen was very insightful. All of this info, including the setbacks and hurdles Dougherty had to face, really helps hammer home just how much a labor of love this film was for a fellow Halloween lover to get to this point, and why I feel it is destined to be a future classic because of it.

The second is a more detailed look at the five stories shown in the film, each of them given their own chapter and presented as short stories. Aside from just being good reads, they provide more detail in regards to the characters in the you see in the films. Each story is complimented with their associated photos from the film, artwork, sketches and storyboards to compare how well the artists imagination was transferred to the screen. Throughout all of this, some pages  are dedicated to Halloween and where  some of the things we associate with the holiday originated. Things like like carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and dressing up in costumes. Needless to say, the origins of some current Halloween traditions were not the commercialized, kiddie affair they are today. But even I, a self-confessed Halloween fanatic was unaware of some of the information presented. Kind of funny to think that we could have easily been celebrating Halloween with turnips instead of pumpkins.

Lastly, the extras stuffed inside the book. Spaced throughout the pages, Insight Editions decided to give the reader some pretty cool items. Here is what you can expect to find inside the book:

8-page comic book Season’s Greetings by Miran Kim
A Sam Halloween mask
A Sticker book containing Mr. Wilson’s Hydroflouric Acid and Arsenic labels as well as the Chubby Bear, Hollie-ho and Lhotka’s candy wrappers, some early Sam drawings, and a few body parts
6 post cards featuring original artword by Dougherty
12-page book of costume sketches by the film’s costume designer, Trish Keating
3 pumpkin stencils you can use to carve your Trick ‘r Treat jack-o-lantern
A replica of original the movie poster by Breehn Burns

So trust me when I tell you that this book was well worth the $30. Aside from it being very well constructed, the content is well written and chock full of any and all information you could possibly want on the behind-the-scenes workings of Trick ‘r Treat. Of course the cool goodies don’t hurt, either. I couldn’t have asked for a better Halloween themed book.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Oh, I found this on the book’s Amazon page. Some guy created a quick video showing the insides of the book. I thought about doing the same, as he doesn’t actually show you how some of the goodies come in their own bag of sorts. But screw it, his is just fine.

As Conover County continues to transform into a supernatural sanitarium, the inmates flex their newfound “muscles.” David Atterhull – now able to toss pickup trucks – and his kin begin to claim territory as well as hostages. Wyatt, discovering strange new powers of his own, is confronted by enemies from school; enemies that can now call on unnatural energies. And Alisha continues her crash course in being a witch. It’s an apprenticeship that allies her with Sheriff Morgan, who has reason to believe Conover hasn’t yet seen the worst of this mess.

Just got finished reading issue #2 of Wildstorm’s North 40 and let me tell you that I was not let down at all. If you remember from our review of Issue #1, Now Entering Conover County, the residents of Conover County find themselves unwilling hosts to a monster from another dimension after a couple of idiots unwittingly opened a gateway between our worlds. Though the portal is not completely open, it has opened enough that some dark forces leaked through that have changed some of Conover County’s residents in different ways – some good, some absolutely terrifying. People are experiencing super powers like invincibility and flying, as well as horrendous mutations that change average, God-fearing folk into monsters.

This issue opens with the local trailer park clan, the Atterhulls, taking advantage of one of their own’s new stature. Dave Atterhull  has grown substantially in size and the family are using his new girth to more easily partake in illegal activities. Like breaking and entering using a pickup truck like a baseball bat to open a whole in the wall of an establishment, or kidnapping helpless waitresses for God knows what reason.

Wyatt, a local farmboy misfit who now possess Superman-like abilities and whose father has turned into a living couch potato, has a run-in with some of the bullies who have tormented him his entire life. But there will be no vengeance for Wyatt yet, as the main instigator, Dwyer Martin, has been granted some dark powers of his own.

Sheriff Morgan, one of my favorite comic characters in some time, has his hands full. Aside from handling horrific monsters that are now appearing in his county, he is also constantly getting notes from crows controlled by waitress, Luanne. She can now see through the eyes of small animals and birds and keeps Sheriff Morgan informed of places where he is needed around town. He and Amanda – who is still being taught how to use her powers for the battle that lies ahead by the mysterious, old woman – also make a trip to nearby Lufton, or more specifically, the location Dyan and Robert accidentally opened the portal.  What was once a library is now a large, smoking crater that Sheriff Morgan thinks something recently crawled out of.

And if all of this wasn’t enough going on for one issue, the Manhattan by the Moonlight high school dance is still on. It should be an interesting gathering. Not only because of all the powers that will probably be on display, but because Jenny is showing up in her new dress she got from Rose and Dottie’s. We last saw her as a zombie, stalking after poor Brad, the mayor’s son who was feeding her a load of “you’re the only girl for me” bullshit before the portal was opened. Jenny drowned as a result…sort of…and is now a zombie fixated on loving Brad forever and ever and ever – if he likes it or not.  She will be showing up at the dance, and she is bringing some friends along. Friends she met in the local graveyard.

We get a some new characters in this issue:

Zach “Zeebob” Jacobs – Poor guy is slowly turning into a variety of different insects.

Mackie – Owner of the Howdy Holler. Shot dead by Sheriff Morgan after he had eaten half of one of his customers. Currently lying in the back of his bar.

Dwyer Martin – School bully responsible for some – maybe all – of Wyatt’s torment. Sheriff Morgan refers to him as a pissant. Has the power of telekinesis and may have clearly went insane because of it. Can levitate and move objects at will. Using his powers causes him to have nose bleeds and saps his strength.

Doug – Friend of Dwyer Martin. No known powers, swallowed by Wyatt’s Pa

Darnell Atterhull – One of the Atterhull clan and like Fred Atterhull, just lackeyat this point with no known powers.

Patty Ross – Waitress at the Howdy Holler. Kidnapped by David Atterhull and Co. Freed by Sheriff Morgan with help from Luanne. No known powers at this time

Loved all of this issue. The artwork, characters and writing are done exceptionally well. Aaron Williams pulls out some pretty amusing dialog, I particularly liked Sheriff Morgan’s comment to Amanda about the bloody scythe she is seen carrying around. Fiona Staples also outdoes herself with this issue as well with more than a few memorable panels, including a couple of very impressive full pagers. I especially liked the work on Zach’s plight as well as Sheriff Morgan’s confrontation with David Atterhull that without a word of dialog, displays the badassness of Sheriff Morgan. The necro cliffhanger showing Jenny picking up a few new friends to take to the dance should please most zombie fans.

North 40 has quickly become one of my most anticipated comics. The characters are all easily recognizable and so far, their dialog and actions fit their personalities. Staples has the ability to draw the normal as well as the horrific and do both equally well. I’m telling you, if you are not checking out this comic, and are a fan of horror or the Lovecraft mythos, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: North 40 #1 – Now Entering Conover County (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: The Last Resort Part One – Two Goats (dreamindemon.com)

Somewhere in Midwestern America was a place called Conover County. When the old book was opened, and the runes therein used in haste and ignorance, a place of farms, simple folk, and small-town dreams became a den of monsters and nightmare. North 40 is the story of those who survived and came to confront an even greater evil on the horizon – one that wouldn’t just consume their flesh, but their souls as well. That’s the official description of Wildstorm’s first issue of their new horror comic, North 40. A six issue series detailing what happens when a county full of rednecks, trailer parks and farm boys are visited by evil forces from another dimension.

Always on the lookout for horror comics, I had read some good stuff about this particular title. I was a bit hesitant at first, mostly because Wildstorm, an imprint of DC comics, is also responsible for the latest A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre comics. All of which I enjoyed on some levels, but overall I never really warmed up to them. But they may have something here that I can get into.

After inadvertently opening a portal to another dimension, a very nasty and very evil entity is trying to take advantage of it. It wants to get through to our world bad. But the opening is not big enough for it to make a grand entrance, but big enough for some dark powers to get through and effect every resident of Conover County.

When the portal was opened, the entire county blacked out and wakes up the next morning to some crazy shit. Some have been transformed into monsters, while others are given new, dark powers, abilities or appendages. Some use their abilities to do some terrible. terrible things – sometimes beyond their control – and others use them for good. Seeing as this is only planned to be a 6 issue series, they waste no time introducing the initial characters, doing most of it within two pages.

Dyan – Jaded Goth chick responsible for the portal being opened after reading passages from The Book.

Robert – Acquaintance of Dyan’s and the one who brought The Book to her to impress her.

David – Part of the Atterhull clan and constant trouble for the Conover police department. After the blackout, grows in size and strength. A redneck version of The Hulk.

Sheriff Morgan – Older, no nonsense law enforcement officer. A man of few words, fair, calculating and takes recent events in stride; continuing to do his job as if this shit happens every day. No known powers revealed, but my favorite character in the comic.

Luanne - A young waitress at the local diner. After blackout, she is able to “see” through the eyes of crows.
Miss Sparks – Owner or manager of diner. Christian woman who is showing no particular changes after the blackout

Jenny – Local girl who is dating the mayor’s son. After the blackout, she falls into a creek and drowns. But she doesn’t let her death stop her from getting the man she loves.

Brad – The mayor’s son. No known powers after the blackout aside from the fact that he now has a homicidal, zombie girlfriend – if he likes it or not.

Wyatt – Local boy whose is picked on by his peers. Loyal to his father who he supplies with beer, cigarettes and porn. After blackout, he is seemingly indestructable and can fly.

Wyatt’s Pa - Aside from his penchant for porn, beer and cigs, Pa is now a real-life couch potato with the ability to transform the earth and swallow people whole.

Amanda – A key figure in that she is given all the information on what is happening, and has become an apprentice of the “forgotten arts” in order to do battle with what is coming.

Old Woman – Only seen in shadow, the old woman is The Voice who talks to and mentors Amanda, teaching her to use her powers.

The Atterhulls – Trailer park clan. Fred and David shown, Suzie heard. At this point, aside from David, the effects of the blackout on the brood are unknown.

Aaron Williams’ (PS238, The Nodwick Chronicles) writing is pretty good, the dialog fitting the individuals personalities along with a Uncle Jesse style persona who narrates the comic. There are a couple memorable moments in North 40 (the zombie stalker, the unfortunate person who ate their family members) that have me anticipating what horrific things he has planned next.  But none of this would matter much if paired up with some crappy art, and thankfully that is not the case here. I loved Fiona Staples (Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor) artwork. She draws the characters in an athletic, lean style creating human characters that are easy to distinguish from one another while also constructing some pretty memorable monsters that mesh well within the environment.

So horror fans, if you have been looking for some new comics to check out, keep your eyes out on this one. It’s Heroes meets Evil Dead II, My Name is Earl written by H.P. Lovecraft. Either way, for me, it’s looks like some damn good horror and I cannot wait to read the second issue.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

It seems my luck has run out. After a highly improbable run of exemplary books, I finally returned to earth with a decidedly mundane selection. Christopher Fowler’s The Victoria Vanishes is a pedestrian exercise in crime fiction that tends to focus more on the drama inside the “Peculiar Crimes Unit” than it does the actual case it purports to solve. The thing is – once Fowler gets around to the actual meat of the book, his story is a rather good one. A killer is on the loose, and he is dispatching his victims in crowded pubs. He is targeting lonely, middle aged women, and administering death at the end of a syringe. If not for the good work of the pathologist, the very existence of a crime would have gone unnoticed. A check of other deaths reveals the work of a serial killer, and our heroes are on the case.  

Fowler has created a team of unorthodox crime sleuths detached from the mainstream crime fighting apparatus. Despite the energy expended in making the soap opera come to life, the results fall short of the mark. Regrettably, all he managed is a group of caricatures devoid of substance. The main protagonist, Senior Detective Arthur Bryant, the heart of the unit, is set up as an eccentric genius. But the evidence of his profound intellect is notably absent. His partner is never fully developed, and is relegated to the role of “fixer” with the brass. Fowler’s supporting characters are wooden and predictable, and in one unfortunate case, utterly ludicrous: an experienced investigator enters a dark basement with no back-up, believing the perpetrator to be present, and falls victim to the prey. Unorthodox? Perhaps. Stupid? Assuredly. Believable? Not on your life!

The Victoria Vanishes is the sixth in a series. Perhaps it would have been more enjoyable to me if I had read the previous mysteries, but it doesn’t excuse the lack of craftsmanship that would have made this read a fine stand-alone novel. With the exception of a fairly good first chapter that sets the hook, the reader finds himself wandering through several chapters of events in the characters’ lives, obviously designed to bring dedicated followers up to date. A clumsy introduction chapter is offered that lacks imagination, and covers the cast far too quickly. For me, just picking up the book, the beginning chapters are irritating and tedious. Fowler makes the mistake of giving too many details about characters that the reader hasn’t come to care about, in a manner that lacks subtlety and finesse – a classic mistake of the grind-’em-out author.

Toward the end of the book, even the well oiled wheels of the plot seem to come off. We are thrust into a conspiracy in which the Ministry of Defense is involved, and yet the inestimable resources of that institution are never brought to bear. The ministry’s use of unreliable operatives with little to no supervision defies cognizance, as does the ease of the team’s success in turning them. We are led to believe that a black ops exercise is allowed to be penetrated by a couple of geezers, generating no official backlash or meat-fisted suppression. Suspension of belief only goes so far.

The one bright spot of the book was an in depth discussion of public houses in Britain. It is evident that Fowler did a decent amount of research on English pubs (an arduous endeavor and great sacrifice I am sure), and the results of his scholarship provide a welcome addition to the story. Besides that, I found this effort to be juvenile and amateurish – more the stuff of a cheap late night thriller than bona-fide mystery novel. I recommend it as a time waster to be turned to only in the absence of more worthwhile activities, like doing dishes or washing socks.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

It seems I have been blessed of late. I have happened upon one of those most improbable streaks in which every book I have picked up has been worthwhile. I have just read one of the strangest and thoroughly entertaining novels I have come across in a long, long time. Death with Interruptions is the first work of Jose’ Saramago that I have had the pleasure to read, but I assure you it will not be the last. Perhaps I have an unrecognized, latent affinity for novels produced in Latin countries. It could be that only the very best are being translated into english. Whatever the reason, as this is the second Latin writer to hit it square out of the park,  they are batting one thousand with this reviewer. This book addresses, in a narrative style, a situation that makes one question the nature of death, life, society at large and our place in it. Without being obvious or profane, the author leads us to question our basic moral assumptions. But outside of the lofty ramifications of this read, it is first and foremost a most engaging and entertaining story.

The book starts with the simple line,”The following day, no one died.” I was hooked. As I read on, it became clear that this was not like any book I had read before. The first paragraph runs on for two pages. The is no punctuation, besides commas, and capitalization is practically non-existent. Saramago makes liberal use of run-on, complex sentences, and the lack of conventional cues as to the change of speakers in the dialogue presents additional difficulties. All of these things conspire to create a very difficult book to begin reading. I can hear the reader exclaiming, “Wait! I thought you said this was a good book? It sounds like more work than it’s worth to me!” Trust me when I promise that it is worth every ounce of brain grease. Perhaps Saramago uses this style to cull the shallow. Maybe he is borderline illiterate; (An opinion quickly dispelled by both his vocabulary and usage). I have the opinion that it is a very clever device to insure that the reader pays close attention right from the start. Once the rhythm of the book is found, and the appropriate mental adjustments made, the reader is introduced to a perceptive, witty, irreverent, and magically entertaining story.

The premise of the book is that death (note the small ‘d’) has stopped claiming people within the borders of a small kingdom. What at first blush could be seen as a wonderful miracle is quickly shown to be what it truly is – a major disaster. People continue to age, of course. People continue to become mangled in horrible accidents. They just don’t die. And soon, the number of still living, completely non-functional human beings begins to stack up. Saramago uses this condition to examine some of our most fundamental institutions and their underlying morals and philosophies. The insurance, mortuary, and medical professions are studied in their reactions to the problems presented. The religious and governmental institutions are highlighted in their attempts to cope. A discussion is fostered within the book that promotes a true inquiry within the reader as to what “life” actually is, and what moral foundations are affected when our contemporary view on the subject is made absurd.

One of my favorite topics of this book is how organized crime fills a need to dispose of some of the living corpses. It turns out that once someone that should be dead crosses the borders of the small kingdom, normality returns, and they die. The moral conditions of the country prevent the sanctioned pilgrimage to the borders, so the mob steps in to provide a service that cannot otherwise be met. Reading about the interactions between the government and the crime bosses is illuminating, highly entertaining, fare.

After seven months, death returns, but with a twist. As I feel I had already given too much away, I will simply say that the final chapters of the book are the best. Due to the unusual format and style of this book, my accustomed superficial critiques on literary craftsmanship  are rendered meaningless and irrelevant. Mr. Saramago breaks every rule of grammar, proceeds with little character development, and winds up producing a singular work of art. This book transcends my humble judgments, and leaves me powerless to do anything less than accept and appreciate. I will say that this is not a book that I could consume in a single sitting. My mind did tire, and my concentration waned. Once refreshed, however, I couldn’t wait to dive back in and completely immerse myself in Saramago’s prose.

I give five stars and two enthusiastic thumbs up for this work. I recommend it to all readers; especially those interested in the moral and philosophical fabric of our society. But if you are not moved to ponder a single point in this profound and penetrating manuscript, you will no doubt be moved by the beautiful and very human fable Jose’ Saramago serves up for our grateful edification.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Dead City – Shootout At The Big Z Corral (dreamindemon.com)

I don’t know about anyone else, but I fear that the horror genre may be dead. I settled in to read Dead City, by Joe McKinney. I was expecting cheese of the good variety. The cover of the paperback showed faces in the gloom, and a tagline straight from a horror flick: “They won’t stay dead.”

The Short Review: At least there are zombies.

The Long Review: Five hurricanes have swept the Gulf States. Riots have broken out in the afflicted areas. Remember Rita and Katrina? Yeah. Something like that, but more of it. Evacuees have been flown from Houston to San Antonio. Unbeknownst to everyone, some evacuees are hosts to a deadly virus, turning them into mindless revenants bent on devouring human flesh. Zombies, if you will. The novel is written first-person, from the point of view of Officer Eddie Hudson of the San Antonio PD. This book doesn’t fool around, because right in the first chapter, the shit starts happening. It starts with a call reporting a few people being drunk. He and another officer go to check it out and… it’s zombies.

His buddy gets killed, and backup arrives. But not nearly enough backup, because a few zombies turns into hella zombies. Hudson knows what they are. He’s seen zombie movies. And when another cop buddy, Carlos, shows up with a badly-bitten arm, Hudson shoots him.

No, just kidding. Hudson drags Carlos along, sometimes literally, for several chapters. They have adventures, mostly shooting zombies. They shoot zombies at a school, and zombies at a firehouse. Hudson, no longer able to ignore what he already knows, finally does the kind thing for Carlos. Hudson picks up another traveling buddy, Marcus. They shoot more zombies. What keeps Hudson going is the thought of his wife and son. He has no idea if they’re alive or not, as all communications in the area have gone down.

Joe McKinney’s style isn’t bad, alternating between gritty and sensitive, but I did find myself laughing at inappropriate moments, due to some wooden matter-of-factness in the narrative. The line “As he was talking I watched a man pull a woman’s leg off her body with his teeth and start to eat on the thigh” sent me into giggles. And I busted up again a few pages later, when the science teacher/computer geek/zombie enthusiast stand-in drove off and left our hero stranded in Zombieville.

The characters didn’t really “pop” for me, and in a character-driven work of fiction, it’s the mark of carelessness or the mark of a first novel. Each character seemed to be disposable, and I had a pretty hard time caring who lived and who died. Interesting fact: Joe McKinney, according to his website, is a homicide detective with the San Antonio PD. I bet if this novel had been written as a series of police reports, it would have kicked ass. It may not have been my thing, but it was definitely interesting, and not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: City of the Dead – Land Of The Dead Meets Deadworld (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: The Alchemyst The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: Jailbait Zombie – An Emo-Erotica Free Vampire Tale! (dreamindemon.com)

I know I am going to love a book that starts with “The girl screamed once, only once…”. Ian Rankin uses this line to great effect as he sets the scene for a brutal murder in the first chapter of this hard-boiled who-done-it, Exit Music. In classic style, we tag along with Detective Inspector John Rebus and his loyal partner, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke, as they begin a new investigation from the beginning; the blood is still warm and the crime scene is fresh. What first appears as a mugging gone horribly bad is quickly complicated when the identity of the victim is learned. He is a Russian poet who is highly critical of his motherland and the changes occurring there. In an era when Russian reporters and dissidents seem to have a higher mortality rate than a front line soldier, the victim’s connections suddenly open the doors to international intrigue and political implications. When a second murder is discovered, the victim being a material witness in the case, the heat is turned up, and it brings all the creeps out of the woodwork.

DI Rebus practices his trade in the growing city of Edinburgh. Rankin uses the intimate knowledge of his home to create a vivid and realistic atmosphere. He shines his light into all of the dirty corners of modern life in urban Scotland; from the hand-to-mouth tenements and flophouses to the privileged circles of bankers and politicos. Greed, perversion, violence, and corruption are shown to thrive at every level, and it takes a gifted detective indeed to chart the waters.

We learn very quickly that DI Rebus is only days from retirement, and that this will be his last hurrah. So, along with a masterfully executed crime novel, we are treated to a portrait of a man dealing with an impending life change. Mr. Rankin gives us an unflinching look at the underlying pressures and drives facing a man who’s life work is nearly ended. I reject the use of the word “done”, because it is clear from the earliest moments of this book that Rebus feels he is leaving many tasks unfinished. The biggest, the failure to take down a known organized crime boss, is becoming an obsession for him. It is provident, then, when threads of the case start leading back to his wily nemesis. Throw in a Russian ex-patriot tycoon, the Russian Consulate, the largest bank in Scotland, and the leader of Scotland’s powerful Nationalist opposition party, and this case mushrooms into an apparently impenetrable cloud. Motives abound, but the hard evidence doesn’t. And just as it looks like things can’t get any tougher, Rebus’ superiors look like they will bow to the political pressure from above and quash the investigation before it gets a foothold.

This is my first exposure to Ian Rankin, and I found the world he has built around his chief protagonist to be layered and deep. The relationships described in the text are warm and comfortable, with the easy familiarity of characters long established. Mr. Rankin’s skill is evident in that we are able to pick up on the undercurrents of the personal dramas without having them spelled out. Brilliantly nuanced, and incredibly realistic, the reader feels like he has just joined the team. I derived great pleasure from learning about these characters at a natural pace, and never was reminded that I was reading a work of fiction.

One of the best things about this book is that Rankin presents his characters as human. There are no supermen here. Each member of his cast is burdened by doubts and insecurities. Rebus himself, known as a cantankerous pursuer of truth and right, has his own tale of misconduct, and his own demons that hound him. Further, there is no rosy, fairy tale future proposed for a man that has sacrificed everything to do the job he loves. The unsettling question is posed often – What does a man who has made his career his life do when the time for working is over? And true to life, there is no easy or simple answer given. The bleakness of Rebus’ future is set out in terms that are haunting, compelling, and above all, convincingly real.

This is usually the place in a review that I start to list the things I didn’t like about a work. On this occasion, however, I am delighted to say that I found nothing lacking in this story, except that at 421 pages, it was too damned short. Of course, I have that complaint about every well crafted book I read, and it’s said that the entertainer’s creed is “always leave them wanting more.” Well, I do! The good news is that Mr. Rankin has produced a number of stories featuring this wonderful cast, so I will be well provisioned as I await his next release.

I heartily recommend this book to all crime enthusiasts.You will not find a better read in the old-school, Noir tradition than Ian Rankin’s Exit Music.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The first issue of The Last Resort, the new horror comic put out by IDW Publishing, finally hit the stands and I couldn’t wait to finally check it out. It is described as a “zombie epic that pays homage to 1970s exploitation films and disaster movies like Airport and Towering Inferno. In an entertaining and darkly over-the-top celebration of gore and sex, The Last Resort transforms a Caribbean paradise into a biological wasteland populated with homicidal flesh-eating vacationers!” and after reading the first issue in the limited series, I am already hooked. So let’s take a small break from some of this real horror depressing the shit out of me and take a look at some fun horror. But before going further, be warned their are some possible NSFW images in the form of drawn tits and a bit of gore.

The Last Resort - Both Cover Variants

Also let me reveal that I am not a giant fan of comics as much as I am a fan of horror. That means that I like horror in any form or flavor it comes in, whether that is film, books or comic book. So in the future, if I decide I like a comic enough to sit down and type out something about it, you can be sure the comic will be horror based and is coming from the point of view of someone who loves the horror genre rather than someone who is knowledgeable or a fan of comics or the comic industry. So with that being said, here is a little bit of info I was able to gather about the creators behind this comic and how it came to be.

The Last Resort is from Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, the creative writers responsible for Jonah Hex, Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters, Power Girl and the Deadspace: Deadfall animated feature.  Jimmy Palmiotti told CBR that the inspiration for The Last Resort came from “all those Irwin Allen disaster films from the 1970s where we spend time getting to know a cast of characters, put them in an usually dangerous situation, then watch them either step up and become heroes or unwind and become another part of the disaster.” He further explained that they also wanted to tell a “contemporary horror story that Hollywood forgot how to do. That is, character development, horrible language, plenty of sex and violence and make it all fun.”

And with the first issue of The Last Resort, they succeed on all of it. There is gore, there is sex, there is nudity and foul language – but most of all, the issue was indeed fun. With Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner providing the cover art, and newcomer Giancarlo Caracuzzo (who they found on Facebook) handling the illustrations, the story starts off with a bang as a mysterious, sickly man washes up on the beach of an island resort. Thinking that he is in need of medical attention, a lifeguard proceeds to give him CPR. The following images detail this meeting and the results from it.

So there ya’ go. For me, the bait was set in the premise of the comic alone, but the hook became firmly planted in my cheek at this point. The story then picks up a day later and focuses on a series of characters and snippets of their backgrounds, as they all make their way to the airport to board the same passenger plane. Some of these people include an elderly woman and her son, a movie star, a nymphomaniac, a lesbian couple and a contest winner. When the plane finds itself in a major storm that threatens to plummet them into the ocean, they make an emergency landing at the airport of the island we witnessed play host to an unwanted visitor. Once stopped, the issue ends with a cliffhanger as the plane’s occupants are greeted with the worst Welcome Wagon ever.

This first issue spends the majority of its time setting up the characters, which I didn’t mind one bit, but for those of you who just want to get to the tits and flesh-eating – Palmiotti promises that beginning with the second issue, shit gets crazy really quick. Personally, I didn’t care as the character setup was done extremely well and handled really quick. There is only so much they can do in the number of pages they have, and I thought they did an exceptional job. With the story, dialog and great artwork, I was on board through the entire comic. Caracuzzo’s illustration’s are crazy, btw (check out his website for more), and his style is perfect for what the writers had in mind. Even with the daylight style of horror, the gore is detailed, and the voluptuous women are painstakingly detailed right down to their nipple rings. The dialog is for adults and some of the scenes are definitely not for the kiddies – and I’m not talking just about the violence. Jokes about pubic hair in the back of throats and attempts at entry into the Mile High Club are present, so for some of you lenient adults out there like myself – be warned – this could easily be a young boy’s masturbation material…God knows I have jacked off to worse.

I am excited about this series when I first heard about it, and thankfully it lived up to my personal expectations. My only complaint being that I now have to wait for the second issue. It’s good, fun horror people, so go grab yourself a copy. With any luck, the rest of the installments will remain as strong as Two Goats, and we can possibly see a sequel after the 5 issue series concludes.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

6-Page Preview | CBR Interview | IDW Publishing

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Geek Beat: Jimmy Palmiotti and I Head to ‘The Last Resort’ (cinematical.com)
• ‘Jonah Hex’ Writer Justin Gray Calls Meeting With Josh Brolin ‘Surreal’ (splashpage.mtv.com)
• Review: The Signal – Good Indie Horror Out Of Atlanta (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: The Deadly Spawn – An Enjoyable, B-Movie Treat. (dreamindemon.com)

Alan Banks and D.I. Annie Cabbot are investigating a fire that consumed two barges in the Yorkshire canal. Investigators find two charred bodies among the ruins, and are also able to determine the fire as having been deliberately set. Two nights later, another fire consumes a remote trailer and claims another life. The fires seem related, so Banks and Cabbot begin their investigation, trying to connect the dots that may link them while also trying to figure out why they are being set in the first place. The answer to that question will aid them in pinpointing the culprit and bring them to justice, possibly stopping them before any further lives are lost.

Playing With Fire is the 14th book in Peter Robinson’s Inspector Alan Banks series of novels but it is not necessary to have read any of the previous books before starting this one. A lot of the personality traits of the re-occurring characters are present, although fans of the eccentric Banks will notice he is a little angrier than usual in this novel. As Inspector Banks and Detective Cabbot investigate the murders, they must also work to keep their relationship a personal one as they have just recently ended their romantic one. This is compounded by the fact that Banks is not fond of Cabbot’s new boyfriend, a man who becomes a viable source of information about the art world their investigation leads them to.

The investigation begins with the victims and in this case they are Tom McMahon, the recluse artist with no friends or family; Roland Gardiner, the failed business man with some interesting items in his fire-proof safe; and Tina Aspern, the sexually abused teenager and heroine addict. As the pair slowly unravel the backgrounds of these victims, their focus continues to shift to new suspects with new motives. These suspects initially include the young girls boyfriend who was absent during the fire, a man accused of abusing her, and someone living in a light keepers house. As in any detective novel, the more the investigation proceeds, the more clues are uncovered and new suspects brought to light. Each one possibly leading them closer to the persons responsible, or merely red herrings directing them into dead ends. The problem is that for some of the suspects it is pretty obvious they are not the true killer – their threads never blending into the story’s tapestry well enough for the reader to truly believe that they are responsible for the crimes.

The forensic aspects of this police procedural are very graphic. The descriptions of burned bodies, the damage caused by a shotgun blast and vivid descriptions of two autopsies keeping what could have otherwise been a “cozy” firmly rooted in the “soft-boiled” genre of crime novels. Most readers of this type of material may be a tad disappointed in how quickly the mystery unravels, the identity of the arsonist becoming painfully obvious very early on. Others may not like the plotting that relies on quiet drama and characterizations over action. Sadly, I was in the latter category. Playing With Fire never truly captured my imagination. The unremarkable plot, characters whose personal lives are more tangled than the crimes they are investigating and constant references to unfamiliar British slang made it a struggle to keep my attention focused long enough to finish reading it. Not recommended reading for anyone wanting a suspenseful and captivating way to pass the time.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Moriarty (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: Mind Scrambler (dreamindemon.com)

The dead are walking the Earth and wiping out every living thing they can get their rotting fingers on. But these are not your shambling, herd-like zombie made popular in film, nor are they the newer running zombie full o’ rage – both of whose actions are dictated by an unexplainable need to feed on human flesh. These zombies talk, they drive, they shoot guns, they think, plan and organize – and humans are not the only species effected. These zombies are demons who enter the body of the recently deceased and are amassing an undead army under the leadership of Ob, a powerful demon hell-bent on destroying Earth. His motives are quite simple. He enjoys making God cry. Ob, along with his brethren, have a massive chip on their shoulder over being banished to the Void. Now that they are free they are gonna settle the score by destroying all of God’s creations, starting with Earth. They will not rest until they storm the Gates of Heaven itself, and Ob is able to drag God off his thrown by his beard. Because of cosmic rules as old as time itself, there isn’t a goddamn thing God can do to stop it.

City of the Dead is the sequel book in Brian Keene’s zombie series. It picks up after the events of The Rising, the survivors of that book having traveled across five states of zombies to reach New York. While there, they find refuge in the Ramsey Towers, a skyscraper created and owned by the bazillonaire, Darren Ramsey. Within the building, a large group of survivors have found refuge, creating their own town of sorts, while the zombies continue to grow in numbers and congregate around the building. A seemingly impenetrable fortress, the survivors think they are safe from the constant attacks by the undead outside, unaware of an army of corpses working their way to their location. Led by Ob, their mission, aside from killing any living thing they come across, is to gain entry into the building and wipe out the last remnants of humanity.

So that’s the setup in this particular zombie tale. If you have not read the first book in the series, there is no need. A quick recap is done, rehashing the final moments of the The Rising. If you are a zombie fan like I am, you may get a kick out of some of the things Keene has done. Although comparison will undoubtedly be made between this book and Romero’s Land of the Dead – and rightfully so. Both detail communities living in a seemingly impenetrable fortress being run by a man with a severe Messiah complex. Both stories also have a horde of zombies being led by a more intellignet zombie.

What City of the Dead does differently than other zombie tales is what causes someone to become a zombie in the first place. Since the zombies are really just demons controlling corpses, there are some disturbing moments when they interact with the living as they absorb the memories stored in the brains of the bodies they inhabit. For example, a dead wife will become re-animated and the demon inside will communicate with the terrified husband, trying to kill him while taunting him about the unknown affair his wife was having with the neighbor. Those interactions happen frequently and are pretty cool. If the zombies come across a truck with no keys they would like to use in their armory? They simply find a demon who has inhabited a person once with the knowledge of hotwiring.

Demons don’t have a choice as to what warm-blooded mammal they inhabit, they must wait in a queue waiting for one to die before being plucked from the Void and into their new host. Since they have no choice as to what they will be placed into, they can find themselves in the corpse of a human, a rat, a bird, a Rhino, etc. This brings on an entirely new take on zombies as human survivors In City not only have to watch out for zombies patrolling the neighborhood in Humvees, they also have to watch out for flocks of zombie birds swooping down to pluck out their eyeballs or a rolling mass of squealing zombie rats cleaning the flesh off of their bones. All of this happenes, and in all its glory detail.

While the cause of people returning from the grave still retains a bit of the horror associated with zombies, especially being eaten by one, I prefer the old school zombie that had no explanation at all. It’s a lot more horrific to think that the rotting corpse shambling right outside your door is actually a dead loved one trying to eat you – not a demon. Or the fear of coming back as a zombie. The terrifying thought that you would be cursed to roam the Earth forever in search of flesh until you turn to dust and maybe, just maybe, a small part of you would realize what was happening the entire time. But with City of the Dead, neither of these are the case. The zombies are merely demons using corpses like cars, and a living human can rest easy knowing that they could simply kill themselves as they are not coming back.

But this story is about the ones who don’t take the easiest way out. This is about a group of people who decide to live and fight while being subjected to horrors never before seen by human eyes. They choose to remain pawns in a cosmic, eons-old battle between good and evil. And to that effect, City of Dead is pretty good. There are some tense moments throughout the book including an attic siege, a chase through an empty parking garage and numerous encounters in the Ramsey Towers after the shit has hit the fan and the survivors are running for their lives. There are also a lot of gory details in the book for you gorehounds. Descriptions of humans being eaten, juicy zombie damage in detail, animal attacks and even necrophilia. In City of the Dead, a captured zombie restrained in a fashion that keeps it from killing you is more than willing to let you fuck it as the act is an abomination in the eyes of God – which in turn pleases demons immensely.

My only problems with the book came from non-deliveries with set ups orchestrated by Keene. We learn what the zombies are and why they are here with hints at how they can be destroyed. Keene even touches on why the zombies must eat flesh even though they cannot absorb it the way a human body absorbs food (especially if a zombie has no stomach) but the answer is the same in both casess and it is as disatisfying as someone uttering “you gotta have faith” when asked a tough question about their religion. The feeling of being a donkey led by a dangling carrot are present throughout the final chapters as multiple rays of hope Keene throws at the survivors, rays that detail how the characters may be able to escape the zombie onslaught and even beat them, that never fully materialize.

This, along with the conclusion, made it seem as if Keene was writing as he went in the later portion of the book, bringing up questions he was unable to answer -even though he attempts to -  and creating scenarios with no real idea how they would end. Add in Keene’s use of a deus ex machina in the form of a dead friend who talks to one of the survivors in a dream, explaining everything to them (and the reader) and this zombie yarn ended up stumbling on its own guts in the last half. But if you are zombie lover like myself, then by all means check out City of the Dead although I do recommend reading The Rising first, although it is not necessary.

The series introduces some interesting topics of discussion in a genre that has seen just about everything and does have some interesting takes on the existing zombie lore – even if a lot of it was done before in the original independent comic series, Deadworld. But I like my zombies when they are just re-animated corpses with no agenda aside from eating you, the reasons for them being that way vague and not compeltely understood.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• My next Leisure novel (briankeene.com)
• Zombie Holocaust (briankeene.com)
• Review: Scarpetta – Bored To Tears (dreamindemon.com)

Donna and her 12-year-old daughter are on the run from her psychotic ex-husband who was recently released from prison. He had always vowed to track them down and kill them both if he ever got out, and they have no doubt he plans on keeping his word. The pair end up making an unexpected stop in the small coastal town of Malcasa Point, Pop 400. A town with a macabre tourist attraction – an old, Victorian house called Beast House. The house has been the scene of multiple murders over the years in which occupants of the house, both invited and uninvited, have met violent, grisly ends at the hands of some sort of beast. Some believe it is simply a man gone mad, others believe that it is an unexplainable monster normally only seen in nightmares. But one thing they all agree on – something lurks in that house at night, looking for the next victim to shred to pieces with its razor-sharp claws. But Donna and Sandy are about to find out the horrifying truth behind the legend after meeting two other of the town’s recent visitors, two men with scores to settle with the thing that lurks within the Beast House.

The Cellar is book one in a four part Beast House series and also the first published novel by Richard Laymon. Most readers of horror are quite familiar with Laymon – his name usually being among the authors populating their list of favorite horror authors. Before his death in 2001, he had sixty short stories and over thirty novels under his belt. I have read a few of his books over the years, and while I have liked them all well enough, I decided it was time to go check out The Cellar as it has always been describe as a “genre buster” and one of the novels that threw some readers for a loop because of its content. So, 29 years after it was first published, I can honestly say that yeah – had I read this in 1980 when it first came out, I would have been pretty shocked.

The Cellar starts off great with the introduction of Donna and Sandy along with her hideous ex-husband, Roy. Since most of  The Cellar is fairly predictable, at least in the beginning, you knew that eventually Donna was going to have a confrontation with Roy eventually – and for reasons I will get into in a bit – you knew it would probably be nasty. Coinciding with these character intros, the beginning of the book also sets up Beast House. Laymon describes a couple violent murders written with a touch of dread and a good dose of tension, putting you in the house with the victims and a witness to their fate. Detailing unsuspecting individuals walking in an old, dark house while a laughing monster watched them from the shadows, waiting to pounce. Overall, it is quite creepy.

But it isn’t the monster in the house that is the most disturbing part of Beast House. Oh no. The most disturbing character in The Cellar is quite human. Sort of. As I mentioned earlier, the reason why you knew that the inevitable meeting between Donna and Roy was going to be nasty is because Roy is a sociopath. A murdering, raping, pedophile sociopath and Laymon has no issues describing his deeds, all of his deeds, in chilling detail. A lot of his abuse is directed towards a little girl named Joni. If you are able to stomach it, you will read as Roy repeatedly abuses and rapes her. This goes on through the entire novel as Joni is Roy’s unwilling companion as he hunts down Donna and Sandy. This fact, along with the murders he commits, lets you know that if things go his way, Donna and Sandy were in for a nightmare much worse than anything currently residing in Beast House.

Pretty decent setup, huh? A woman being chased down by her crazy ex-husband, a monster lurking in an old house making meat pies out of anyone dumb enough to stumble around the dark hallways after sundown. For the most part, it is. Especially in the first 3/4 of the book that are like seeing trains on a collision course with each other. It’s written in a way where it isn’t too hard to turn your brain off to some of the absurdities (multiple murders – including a cop – and officials have yet to tear Beast House to the ground looking for clues but instead allow it to stay open for tours?), but some of the other glarinf probelms are a bit tough to ignore.

It’s no big shocker that Laymon has a book with the “dumb female” predominatley featured, as it is a common theme in some of his novels, but I still had a hard time liking Donna. While it never mentions how the hell Donna married, and then had a kid with a psychopath – we do see that she is not a very good mother and makes absolutely horrendous decisions in regards to men. She practically falls in love with a man named Judgment (no shit) who she first sees in the towns cafe. He has been hired by a Beast House survivor to find out what is doing the killing, and is in town to enter Beast House at night and then kill whatever he finds. Like a soaked sponge being squeezed, Donna’s loins leak into her pants whenever she is around him, falling in love so quickly and recklessly that she leaves her daughter alone (or with a stranger) for lengthy periods of time – even though her ex is after them both – just to fuck him in an adjoining hotel room. It kind it made it hard for me to feel bad for her situation, although it did succeed in making me feel even worse for Sandy’s.

Another problem I had with The Cellar was with Roy. Sure I felt disgusted while reading what Roy was doing to the little girl he had kidnapped, but I held on to the hope that at the very least, Laymon was going to make sure that Roy got what he deserved in the end. Like a lot of the book, portions of the outcome are easy to predict and before the finale even arrives, you can pretty much guess what Laymon has in store for Roy. But Laymon let me down severely with how it is handled. Others who have read the book may disagree with me but compared to the things Roy did throughout the book, coupled with what we know the monster is capable of, I was not real satisfied with what happens with him.

To top all of this off, the final chapters of  The Cellar spiral out of control. As the secret is revealed and the final confrontations begin, all of the groundwork that had been set up fairly well in the beginning, crumble into almost unbelievable absurdity. Granted, I am reading this book almost 30 years after it was written, before what is now cliche was even considered as such, but those last moments in The Cellar where a bit of a letdown for me. Even with the disturbing moments in place, watching what could have been a pretty good conclusion become marred by idiotic decisions made by everyone involved was a tad frustrating. But somehow Laymon pulls the story out of it’s deadly tailspin at the very last second with an unsettling , two-paged epilogue that is either loved or hated by its readers. I did not expect it and found it to be just twisted enough for my liking, having me thinking of the implications long after I put  The Cellar down.

Laymon fans who may not have not read this will  know what to expect. His humor peeks through at times and his style of extreme horror, sex, and violence are stamped on the story throughout. For the others out there who have never read a Laymon novel and want to pick one up, The Cellar may not be the best place to introduce yourself to his work, but it’s as good as place as any, I suppose, but be forewarned – there is a lot of rape in this tale. In the end, The Cellar did not have me clamoring to read the next book in the series (The Beast House), but make no mistake – I will be reading it eventually.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Red April (dreamindemon.com)
• The Monster of Florence (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: Scarpetta – Bored To Tears (dreamindemon.com)

The United States has been invaded by an enemy and no one even knows it. But when they finally realize what has happened, it may be too late to do a damn thing about it. The problem is that this invader is a microscopic parasite. All across the United States, average people are turning into raving lunatics suffering from extreme paranoia and committing horrendous acts of violence against friends and family – even themselves – after becoming a host. Now a small group of investigators must try to determine what this parasite is, what it does and where it came from. Is it natural, having  been dormant for thousands of years? An advanced biological weapon? The only link shared with the infected, aside from their acts of violence, are their  insane rantings about “triangles” that coincide with the symbols later found on their bodies. Meanwhile, an infected man marked with seven of these triangles, attempts to cure himself before he also does something horrifying – more horrifying than anything anyone could have possibly imagined.

This is not the first time there has been a story about humans becoming infected with parasites who use our bodies for some other, bigger purpose. The story has been told in books and movies for ages and hopefully it will continue as it is a pretty good start for any good horror. Whether it’s some alien face-fucking an egg into your body that will hatch into something nastier later, to some Burpee Seeds From Hell that absorb and then clones you, having your body taken over and controlled by something else is a terrifying prospect. Having something make you watch as it uses your body to betray you, making you kill your friends, your child – and you completely powerless to stop it. It’s all quite horrific. Luckily, Scott Sigler does not completely regurgitate the same old story and is able to draw on the premise with just enough new bits, and told in such a thrilling way, that you will fly through each page to see what happens next with the characters.

There are not a lot of them to keep up with in Infected, nor did there need to be. Using three main characters, three different perspectives of the overall story is told. Dew Phillips, a no-nonsense, abrasive man normally hired by the United States government to help with the jobs they would like to keep unseen by the American public. The dirty work. Currently a member of a small group of people in the newly formed Project Tangram, he is in charge of finding these infected citizens and attempt to contain them, preferably alive, so that they can be studied and hopefully provide the key needed to unlock the secrets behind the triangles. With him you get the birds eye view of the carnage brought on by people infected. He is the one on the ground, kicking in doors and staring into the insane eyes of an infected person before they light themselves on fire, or stepping over the bloated corpses of their victims.

The studies would be lead by Margaret Montaya, originally from the CDC. Using what little materials they have collected from the remains of an infected, Margaret’s team are initially fascinated with what they initially discover about the parasite. This eventually leads to horror when they begin figuring out exactly what these infected are capable of and what their ultimate purpose is. This is the CSI portion of the book, where forensics are detailed as the corpses of recently infected are dissected, the invading parasite studied. From her point-of-view, you get the tech and the tension as her and her team try to get a handle on what they are dealing with.

Lastly, there is Perry Dawsey. Poor, poor Perry Dawsey. A one-time, rising football star once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Perry now finds himself working a technical support gig after a career-ending knee injury seven years ago. He has always dealt with severe anger issues now compounded by the shitty hand life has dealt him, including an extremely abusive father who, from beyond the grave, still controls almost every aspect of Perry’s life. To top everything off, Perry becomes one of the unfortunate people who become infected. He is also the focal point of the book.

Most of what happens with Perry happens inside his small apartment. The terrifying, gag-inducing plight of a man fueled by the ghost of an abusive  father, who will not just let these parasites take over his body without a fight. In doing so, he suffers more than any other character I have read about in some time. The torture, insanity and pain ol’ Perry goes through – most by his own hand – is unbelievable. Using forks, the searing rings of a stove burner, to a nice, big pair of chicken scissors – what Perry does to try to separate himself from his new friends, and the great way Scott relays the details, will make you wince and possibly even trigger your gag reflex.

If you have ever been the victim of a  fat, infected boil that needed lancing, or a gigantic zit ripe for popping, then you may also be familiar with the absolute disgust that can be triggered if you attempt any type of home remedy. Take whatever sights and sounds that accompanied watching the thick, warm mixture ooze out, or splatting against your mirror with a squishing sound, then multiply that by 1000 and add pain so severe it could literally drive you insane – THEN you may get an idea of what Perry endures.

Scott shifts the story back-and-forth between these individuals in such a way that you are never bored with any of them, and never left disappointed when the story leaves one character for another. In the case of Perry Dawson and his plight, the breaks away from his apartment were usually accompanied with a sigh of relief. All of this leading to the conclusion of the bigger picture, a reveal that is quite horrific, with the purpose of the parasites discovered and realizing the scope of the threat they pose. All of this setting up the next two novels in the Infected series that I absolutely cannot wait to dive into.

I hate to admit that I am just now discovering Scott Sigler, as he is pretty well-known for using today’s web technology to help get his material out to the masses. Most of his work can be heard for free on his website via periodical podcasts. Scott also has a pretty active Twitter account for those of you (like me) who use it. But in a way my late start is a good thing. Like being turned on to a band you never listened to before I don’t have to wait for new material. I have a backlog of his stuff to check out as well as the sequel to Infected titled Contagious.  So if you have been lame like me, and yet to jump on the Sigler bandwagon, I urge you to do so as for me it has gotten off to a pretty thrilling start.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Monster of Florence (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: Scarpetta – Bored To Tears (dreamindemon.com)
• Review: The Girl She Used To Be (dreamindemon.com)

I think I have found a new crime fighting hero. Chris Grabenstein’s new John Ceepak novel, Mind Scrambler, the fifth in the series, rocked my world. The story revolves around two Sea Haven detectives who are on administrative leave  in Atlantic City. While there, Danny Boyle, Ceepak’s partner and the voice of the narrative, runs into a ex-girlfriend and makes an appointment to meet her. It is a rendezvous she will never make. Danny’s old flame is currently the nanny for a family of performing Magicians currently headlining at a major casino. She is found, after the show, in what appears to be an S&M sex scene gone bad, the victim of over-zealous asphyxiophilia.(Google it or ask your teenager.) With the Atlantic City PD overwhelmed with crime, and the potential media storm and bad publicity, Bolye and Ceepak are deputized to help with the case. As the clues mount, along with the bodies, it becomes crystal clear there is a lot going on behind the scenes, and uncovering the secrets this family of prestidigitators want to keep will not be easy.

Grabenstein lets us peek behind the curtains of one of the oldest shticks in entertainment – the Magic Act.  It’s an atmosphere of professional deception, where truth is obscured by illusion. We also get a unfiltered view of the real lifestyle of the supporting cast that makes a high-end Casino Act possible; the seedy, unwashed reality of hardscrabble show-biz. The characters introduced in this episode are vivacious and interesting, if not a shade one-dimensional. We follow as the investigation takes us from the high rollers suite to the side street massage parlour, hitting all the stops in between. All the while we are granted keen, and often hilarious, observations about the world and its patent unfairness and absurdity.

One of the things that makes this book work for me, is the duality of the main characters. John Ceepak is an ex-Marine Officer, that still holds strictly to the West Point Code. His intolerance for the wrong-doings of others is surpassed only by those in himself. Danny Boyle, on the other hand, is a much less chaste individual that, while still being respectable, is not unaccustomed to the occasional fling or the temptations of a good beer. Boyle is also the junior detective in this duo, and it is through his eyes, those of the “average guy”, that we get to see the operation and genius of Ceepak.

Another thing it has going for it is that Grabenstein resists the urge to make allusions to previous adventures in prior books. This novel stands on it’s own, to the extent that I didn’t realize it was part of series until after I had finished. It is very much a book you can just pick up without needing to be privy to all of the past exploits. The quirks that make up the character of John Ceepak are subtly worked into the flow of the text, allowing us a full picture of the man without being obvious. I will have to say that my favorite part off the book is its voice. It is informal and loose, with lots of humor to keep things light. The pace is lively and Grabenstein never lets action lag.

The book does have some flaws. As I alluded to earlier, the supporting characters in this book are pretty one dimensional. And though the plot does take some unexpected turns, and leaves lingering doubt as to the identity of the perpetrator, it is to a large extent transparent. There are too many fortuitous happenings for my taste, easing the path for our intrepid investigators. Those things being said, it was, none-the-less, a pleasure filled read. I was taken back to my younger days reading my father’s who-done-it paperback serials, and all the joy that I remembered from that time was delivered here. I can’t wait to get to Grabenstein’s previous adventures starring these two, while anxiously awaiting his next release.

This book is recommended to all fans of the who-done-it genre, from Colombo to Matt Helm. A typical “guy” book, my wife is halfway through and is thoroughly enjoying it as well. It was one that I simply could not put down.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars