The Haunting of Highdown Hall is the first in the 'Psychic Surveys' series - and a great start it is too!
The story revolves around Ruby Davies, who owns the Psychic Surveys business with her assistants/associates Theo, Ness and Corinna. They are based in the South of England, covering Brighton, Lewes and the surrounding area. The purpose of the business is helping spirits/ghosts pass 'into the light'.
It seems there are quite a few hauntings in this area which helps the reader get used to the way the team works. Their way involves the use of communication (with the ghost) and the cleansing of the site with crystals, smudge sticks and the likes - no religion or exorcism here.
The main haunting here though revolves around the titular Highdown Hall and the ghost of Cynthia Hart, the biggest movie star of her day who died in the 1950's but refuses to move on. The present owner of Highdown Hall wants her gone and is prepared to ruin the reputation of Ruby and Psychic Surveys if they fail.
There really is something for everyone here- a ghost story first and foremost, it is also a mystery (what is stopping Cynthia moving on and who is the other figure she is so scared of?) and, from very early on, a romance angle when Ruby meets Cash, a website developer. Watching their relationship grow with the story is actually quite pleasant reading - it just feels natural, not cloying and sickly. Add to this the humour and 'awww' factor of Jed the ghost dog (hope he comes back for book 2) and you really do have a winning combination.
Romance and mystery with a proper English ghost story at it's heart 5/5 stars
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Monday, 5 May 2014
Rom Zom Com - a review
I'll be honest, I was starting to believe the zombie genre had been done to death. What it was really missing was a different angle, something to make things fun again.....and then this little gem from Knightwatch Press dropped into my inbox. Things are looking up.
What we have here is a collection of 12 stories that add a new section to the genre - the ROMantic ZOMbie COMedy. It starts with Generation Z - where Wes is made an offer but can anything (or anyone!) convince him to 'sign on the dotted line'?
I'm not going to go through every story - that'd be unfair to you, the reader, I don;t want to spoil things for you, but I will mention a couple of my favourites, namely 'The Ardent Dead', featuring a different take on zombies (they don't want to eat your brains they want to hump them out) and the question of what would you do for a loved one that's been turned, and Family Life, which is exactly what it says - a tale of undead family life...with a twist.
Basically, what you have here is everything you would expect from a RomCom - but with added zombies. Really, you can't go wrong.
Great fun - 4/5 stars
What we have here is a collection of 12 stories that add a new section to the genre - the ROMantic ZOMbie COMedy. It starts with Generation Z - where Wes is made an offer but can anything (or anyone!) convince him to 'sign on the dotted line'?
I'm not going to go through every story - that'd be unfair to you, the reader, I don;t want to spoil things for you, but I will mention a couple of my favourites, namely 'The Ardent Dead', featuring a different take on zombies (they don't want to eat your brains they want to hump them out) and the question of what would you do for a loved one that's been turned, and Family Life, which is exactly what it says - a tale of undead family life...with a twist.
Basically, what you have here is everything you would expect from a RomCom - but with added zombies. Really, you can't go wrong.
Great fun - 4/5 stars
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Who Is Tom Ditto? by Danny Wallace (a review)
Tom Adoyo, a breakfast radio news and weather reporter comes home to find a note from his girlfriend. It reads;
Tom,
I have not left you. But I am gone.
Please just carry on as normal.
Love always
Hayley
And so begins a tale that is quite wonderful in its' quirkiness. Tom, as you would expect tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. Where is Hayley?, Is she coming back? Is she still his girlfriend?
It seems her friends, and colleagues were aware she was going somewhere but no-one is able to tell Tom what is going on. His search leads him to a group of people with a slightly odd but fun hobby, but will they lead to Hayley and answers. And who is the girl that seems to be following him
This is a funny and clever novel of love, loss and finding yourself. It is very hard to say much about the principle idea of the 'group' but if you keep in mind the fact that Danny Wallace, the author, is the same man that;
a) Started a cult by accident (Join Me)
b) Started his own country (How To Start Your Own Country)
and c) Said YES for a year (Yes Man)
you can expect that it is an off the wall idea that will become more believable as the story goes on.
I really recommend this book to one and all (and if you see it in the airport book shop as you fly out on your summer hols this would make an excellent beach/poolside book).
Read it before it is made into a film (as it surely will be) to really appreciate Wallace's gift as a storyteller
5/5 stars
Tom,
I have not left you. But I am gone.
Please just carry on as normal.
Love always
Hayley
And so begins a tale that is quite wonderful in its' quirkiness. Tom, as you would expect tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. Where is Hayley?, Is she coming back? Is she still his girlfriend?
It seems her friends, and colleagues were aware she was going somewhere but no-one is able to tell Tom what is going on. His search leads him to a group of people with a slightly odd but fun hobby, but will they lead to Hayley and answers. And who is the girl that seems to be following him
This is a funny and clever novel of love, loss and finding yourself. It is very hard to say much about the principle idea of the 'group' but if you keep in mind the fact that Danny Wallace, the author, is the same man that;
a) Started a cult by accident (Join Me)
b) Started his own country (How To Start Your Own Country)
and c) Said YES for a year (Yes Man)
you can expect that it is an off the wall idea that will become more believable as the story goes on.
I really recommend this book to one and all (and if you see it in the airport book shop as you fly out on your summer hols this would make an excellent beach/poolside book).
Read it before it is made into a film (as it surely will be) to really appreciate Wallace's gift as a storyteller
5/5 stars
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Yoshiko and the Gift of Charms by Julia Suzuki (a review)
Several months ago I received a message on Twitter asking if I would consider reviewing a YA/ Middle Grade novel featuring dragons as the main characters. I considered this for all of 2 minutes and (thankfully!) said yes . The result of this conversation was an envelope popping through the letterbox a week or so later with this gem of a book in it.
So, the story - In the Land of Dragor, over the mountains live 7 Dragon Clans. The great war is over and the dragons are separated from mankind. In her cave the dragon Kiara lays a 'strange egg'. The strangeness of the egg is that it is multi-coloured not the usual 1 colour egg.
From the off-set it is clear that Yoshiko is different. As you would expect from this kind of story, when Yoshiko goes to Fire School to learn the craft of being a dragon he finds both friends and enemies. He is not the most confident of dragons and at times is bullied by others. Again though, as you would expect, Yoshiko has a secret destiny which may lead to him becoming a great dragon.
This book stands a lot of comparison with the likes of Harry Potter (Fire School is more or less Dragon Hogwarts) but it is also its' own story. Younger people will love Yoshiko and I think older people will too. I see this as the sort of story parents will read to kids and then carry on reading for themselves once the littlies are asleep.
I also have to say the book itself is a really well produced thing. There are certain books it is a pleasure to own and I have to say this is one of them
4/5 stars (with an extra star for the physical book itself)
So, the story - In the Land of Dragor, over the mountains live 7 Dragon Clans. The great war is over and the dragons are separated from mankind. In her cave the dragon Kiara lays a 'strange egg'. The strangeness of the egg is that it is multi-coloured not the usual 1 colour egg.
From the off-set it is clear that Yoshiko is different. As you would expect from this kind of story, when Yoshiko goes to Fire School to learn the craft of being a dragon he finds both friends and enemies. He is not the most confident of dragons and at times is bullied by others. Again though, as you would expect, Yoshiko has a secret destiny which may lead to him becoming a great dragon.
This book stands a lot of comparison with the likes of Harry Potter (Fire School is more or less Dragon Hogwarts) but it is also its' own story. Younger people will love Yoshiko and I think older people will too. I see this as the sort of story parents will read to kids and then carry on reading for themselves once the littlies are asleep.
I also have to say the book itself is a really well produced thing. There are certain books it is a pleasure to own and I have to say this is one of them
4/5 stars (with an extra star for the physical book itself)
The Carbon Trail by Catriona King (a review)
A man finds himself in a shower, in a bathroom. There is a lot of blood. It is not his, but he has no idea of who's it is......or who he, himself is!!!
The man, it turns out, is Jeff Mitchell, a research scientist working with a new form of carbon. He has a wife, a child (neither of whom he knows) and very little clue as to what is happening or why.
All through the story bits of information are drip fed through as Mitchell finds bits of his memory coming back but, and here's the catch, some of the memories that are coming back to him don't seem to be his! Add to mix the fact that he has been under surveillance for 9 months, his boss wants to make deals to sell his research to foreign powers and Mitchell himself is (was) planning to double cross his boss and give the research elsewhere and you have yourself a fantastic read that may well keep you reading well into the dark hours of the night.
I found this to be a really clever story, lots of twists and turns and even when things start to come together it is not obvious how things are going to end.
Catriona King is the author of the Marc Craig/ Belfast Murder Squad series and The Carbon Trail sees her move to new characters and a new setting (New York). As with the Marc Craig books the characters are well developed, the kind you can actually care about. This is a big, ballsy thriller that brought to mind the works of Dean Koontz and Michael Crichton. With this book Catriona King has really upped her game (and the bar was set at a very high level to start with)
4.5/5 stars
The man, it turns out, is Jeff Mitchell, a research scientist working with a new form of carbon. He has a wife, a child (neither of whom he knows) and very little clue as to what is happening or why.
All through the story bits of information are drip fed through as Mitchell finds bits of his memory coming back but, and here's the catch, some of the memories that are coming back to him don't seem to be his! Add to mix the fact that he has been under surveillance for 9 months, his boss wants to make deals to sell his research to foreign powers and Mitchell himself is (was) planning to double cross his boss and give the research elsewhere and you have yourself a fantastic read that may well keep you reading well into the dark hours of the night.
I found this to be a really clever story, lots of twists and turns and even when things start to come together it is not obvious how things are going to end.
Catriona King is the author of the Marc Craig/ Belfast Murder Squad series and The Carbon Trail sees her move to new characters and a new setting (New York). As with the Marc Craig books the characters are well developed, the kind you can actually care about. This is a big, ballsy thriller that brought to mind the works of Dean Koontz and Michael Crichton. With this book Catriona King has really upped her game (and the bar was set at a very high level to start with)
4.5/5 stars
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Stuck On You by Jasper Bark (a review)
This short novella starts with a bang (well two really) and doesn't really stop till the last page.
Here's the back story, Ricardo is travelling from Arizona to New Mexico to buy artisan gifts for his girlfriend to sell back home. Now, Ricardo is a bit of a ladies man so when he meets Consuela, a young Mexican who needs to get back over the border to America, there is only one way this is going to end. The rub here is that Consuela is smuggling something in her stomach that they have to get to the buyer.
On the journey they flirt until they have no option but to pull up and 'do the deed'. Unfortunately while they do they are struck by lightning, which kills Consuela and leaves Ricardo stuck inside her, as her muscles have contracted in death. Will Ricardo be able to survive long enough to be rescued (and how will he explain This to his girlfriend?). What was Consuela smuggling in her stomach?
This is both an erotic and disturbing little tale, but trust me, it's a bloody good read. Good horror isn't meant to be comfortable and Jasper Bark does a good job of making the reader as uncomfortable as possible.
4.5/5 stars
Here's the back story, Ricardo is travelling from Arizona to New Mexico to buy artisan gifts for his girlfriend to sell back home. Now, Ricardo is a bit of a ladies man so when he meets Consuela, a young Mexican who needs to get back over the border to America, there is only one way this is going to end. The rub here is that Consuela is smuggling something in her stomach that they have to get to the buyer.
On the journey they flirt until they have no option but to pull up and 'do the deed'. Unfortunately while they do they are struck by lightning, which kills Consuela and leaves Ricardo stuck inside her, as her muscles have contracted in death. Will Ricardo be able to survive long enough to be rescued (and how will he explain This to his girlfriend?). What was Consuela smuggling in her stomach?
This is both an erotic and disturbing little tale, but trust me, it's a bloody good read. Good horror isn't meant to be comfortable and Jasper Bark does a good job of making the reader as uncomfortable as possible.
4.5/5 stars
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Moribund Tales by Erik Hofstatter (a review)
A bit of a mixed bag this one. It's a collection of short stories (9 over about 50 pages).
The collection starts off well with INTERNAL ABDUCTION, a slightly predictable but still enjoyable "body horror" tale. This is followed by LAST STRAW OF HUMANITY, a "creature in the cellar" story that didn't finish as I thought it might.
For me, the best of these stories were TEARS OF REPENTANCE, a historical tale of love and vengeance, and INFANTS FINGERS (more vengeance with added deception). INFANTS FINGERS is the only tale in this book that isn't told in the first person, and, in my opinion, is better for it.
The last two stories, ON THE EDGE OF THE MARSH and AFFECTIONATE CADAVER, both left me feeling a bit short changed, but not in such a bad way. I just wanted more from the story. "MARSH" had an interesting set up that ended without answering all my questions - the story had real potential and I would very much like to see an expanded version. This felt very much like a sample chapter.
AFFECTIONATE CADAVER, again, could do with being longer. The story is horrible (in a good way - one of those that makes you uncomfortable, as a good horror story should!). And the main character is a truly vile person. A cracking end to the book.
All being said and done, this is a decent little collection of stories at just the right kind of length for a coffee break. I will be looking out for more from this author.
3.5/5 stars
The collection starts off well with INTERNAL ABDUCTION, a slightly predictable but still enjoyable "body horror" tale. This is followed by LAST STRAW OF HUMANITY, a "creature in the cellar" story that didn't finish as I thought it might.
For me, the best of these stories were TEARS OF REPENTANCE, a historical tale of love and vengeance, and INFANTS FINGERS (more vengeance with added deception). INFANTS FINGERS is the only tale in this book that isn't told in the first person, and, in my opinion, is better for it.
The last two stories, ON THE EDGE OF THE MARSH and AFFECTIONATE CADAVER, both left me feeling a bit short changed, but not in such a bad way. I just wanted more from the story. "MARSH" had an interesting set up that ended without answering all my questions - the story had real potential and I would very much like to see an expanded version. This felt very much like a sample chapter.
AFFECTIONATE CADAVER, again, could do with being longer. The story is horrible (in a good way - one of those that makes you uncomfortable, as a good horror story should!). And the main character is a truly vile person. A cracking end to the book.
All being said and done, this is a decent little collection of stories at just the right kind of length for a coffee break. I will be looking out for more from this author.
3.5/5 stars
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