Book Review: They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon

A MASS MURDER.A DISAPPEARANCE.A CEMETERY RANSACKED.

It looked like another ordinary day in Los AngelesThen night came….Evil as old as the centuries has descended upon the City of Angels—it comes as a kiss from the terrifying but seductive immortals. Slowly at first, then by the legions, the ravenous undead choke Los Angeles with bloodthirsty determination—and the hordes of monstrous victims steadily mount each night.High above glitter city a deadly contest begins. In the decaying castle of a long-dead screen idol, the few remaining human survivors prepare to face the Prince of Evil and his satanic disciples. Whilst the very forces of nature are called into play, isolating the city from the rest of the world and leaving it at the mercy of the blood-hungry vultures of the night….

THEY THIRST

Theirs is a lust that can never be satisfied…

Another excellent tale from Robert R. McCammon.

In this tale of dread, McCammon introduces us to an L.A. that has been infested with some nasty, blood-thirsty vampires.

As with most of McCammon’s works I found the plot believable and well thought out. His characters were penned well and the element of horror was presented well throughout the entire novel.

I was chilled and thrilled aplenty with this book.

This was a page turner for me and I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of vampire stories.

Book Review: Dead City: A Dead World Novel by Joe McKinney

Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history. Thousands are dead or dying—but the worst is only beginning. Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life—with an insatiable hunger for human flesh…

Within hours, the plague has spread all over Texas. San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds his city overrun by a voracious army of the living dead. Along with a small group of survivors, Eddie must fight off the savage horde in a race to save his family…

If you’re looking for a predictable story that leads you step-by-step to an anti-climatic ending then look no further.

When I pick up a book I have a few expectations:

1. A horror novel should have some elements of horror.  This book failed to leave me feeling scared, unsettled or horrified in any way shape or form.
2. A book should be entertaining and leave me with some form of satisfaction that I had spent some time reading it.  This book made me wish for the 3 hours back that I had invested in it.
3. The author will make the safe and simple assumption that I am smarter than your average rock and be able to follow a few twists and turns.  This novel was put into drive and plowed straight ahead from predictable moment to predictable moment.

The author insisted on driving me around San Antonio street by street and turn by turn.  I mean really?  Do I need to know that he turned left on such and such and then right on such and such before he turned his car around to try a different street?

The zombies in this novel were nothing more than a nuisance and the main character was never in any real jeopardy from them.  Every time the hero seams to be facing certain death someone pops out of the wood work to help him out.

I can not recommend this book to anyone except for maybe those of you out there that have an incessant need to read bad zombie apocalypse novels no matter what the cost.

Book Review: Carved in Bone: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass

Renowned anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death at the Body Farm. Now he’s being called upon to help solve a baffling puzzle in a remote mountain community. The mummified corpse of a young woman dead for thirty years has been discovered in a cave, the body bizarrely preserved and transformed by the environment’s unique chemistry. But Brockton’s investigation is threatening to open old wounds among an insular people who won’t forget or forgive. And a long-buried secret prematurely exposed could inflame Brockton’s own guilt–and the dangerous hostility of bitter enemies determined to see him fail . . . by any means necessary.

This was my first foray into the genre of forensic science and I have to admit that I was quite pleased with my choice.

Jefferson Bass used a first person narrative to drive this story forward with a nice spattering of humor delivered by some very real and believable characters.

The science in this book was delivered in such a manner as to make the book interesting without the need for a secret decoder ring.  I now know more about human skeletons and the decomposition of bodies than I ever thought possible.

I will definitely be making my way through the rest of this series and would recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting book from the genre of Forensic Science.

Book Review: The Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth’s last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets . . . Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station . . . And Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan’s gifts. But the ancient force behind earth’s devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself. . . .

Have you ever been reading a book that you just couldn’t put down? You’d cling to it while your eyes turned to lead and your head started to bob as sleep slowly wrapped itself around you?

This was one of those books!

With this book Robert McCammon has crafted a beautiful post-apocalyptic horror novel with a nice balance of good-vs-evil.

The characters were well thought out and believable to the point where I could empathize with each and everyone of them.

This is a must read that I have read a few times and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a horrifying masterpiece!

Book Review: World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War by Max Brooks

Max Brooks travels across the United States and around the world interviewing survivors of the Zombie Wars and shareing their devastating stories about the horrors that humankind faced at the hands of the zombies.

 

This book was exactly as the title advertised: An Oral history of the Zombie War.

This is a brilliant example from an author who asked “What if”.  The story was so believable that I had to ask if there had been a zombie apocalypse that I hadn’t known about.

 

I found myself unable to put this book down. I devoured this book in a matter of days and was only disappointed by the knowledge that there was nothing else left for me to read!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a believable tale about how the world would actually deal with a zombie apocalypse. This book should be on everyones must read list.

Book Review: Countdown By Jonathan Maberry

A prequel to Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series.

Time is too short!

I found this to be a disappointing, mediocre, short story that failed in it’s attempts to hook me into wanting to read any more from this series or by this author.

Reading the dialogue was almost as pleasant as chewing on tin-foil and I found that I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything but boredom and indifference towards the main character.

The plot was the only redeemable aspect of this short work of fiction.

A new kind of global terror in the form of a Zombie outbreak…cool concept…poor delivery.

I may re-visit this series again after reading other works that seam more worth my time.

I can not recommend this book except to those of you who may be fans of zombie apocalypse fiction.

Book Review: Black Sun Rising: Book 1 of the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman

The Coldfire trilogy tells a story of discovery and battle against evil on a planet where a force of nature exists that is capable of reshaping the world in response to psychic stimulus. This terrifying force, much like magic, has the power to prey upon the human mind, drawing forth a person’s worst nightmare images or most treasured dreams and indiscriminately giving them life. This is the story of two men: one, a warrior priest ready to sacrifice anything and everything for the cause of humanity’s progress; the other, a sorcerer who has survived for countless centuries by a total submission to evil. They are absolute enemies who must unite to conquer an evil greater than anything their world has ever known.

The first book in The Coldfire Trilogy.

I have been struggling with whether to give this book 2 stars or three. I would have liked to give it 2.5 as there were some really good things in this book while at the same time I found that there were parts of this book that were merely OK.

Damien Kilcannon Vryce is a Warrior Priest who sets out on a journey to right some wrongs in a magically receptive world where your darkest thoughts can take physical form.

For the most part I found this book was written well and the magic system was creative and fresh.

The world was beautifully crafted and I was given just enough detail to spark my imagination.

Some of the characters in this book were well thought out and believable.

There were parts of this book that dragged but I found that I’d get to a point in the story that made the plodding well worth it.

Where does one start with the characters in this novel? There were a few characters who were brilliantly crafted while others were nothing more than shadowy figures who I couldn’t like or care about at all.

It was almost as if the author had written the character’s on a sliding scale where one character was written as a 10 and others were written as a 5 or lower.

My biggest complaint with this book? Stop with all the whining about the moral conflict (you are a priest…he is a demon..we get it already!).