The Backwoods by Edward Lee

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• Published October 2005 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 10, 2006
• It might not seem like it to first time Edward Lee readers but Backwoods is a much more subdued novel than most of the stuff that Lee writes. It has large quantities of sex. It has violent scenes that make you cringe. And it combines the two into different rape scenes by obviously despicable characters. However the majority of the acts are subtle and not quite as in your face as other Lee novels. The story follows Patricia White who comes back home to the backwoods of Virginia after her sister Judy's husband is murdered. While her deceased husband was a slime ball, Judy is still taking his death hard. Hard enough that she doesn't notice many of the strange things that are happening in town and within the crab processing plant that she owns. Essentially an evil real estate developer is trying to buy some land from Judy so he can build condos. However Judy won't sell because it would leave homeless "The Squatters", an uneducated but friendly group of superstitious people who live for free on her land and work cheap in her crab processing plan. Evil real estate developer decides killing The Squatters is the right way to drive them off the land meanwhile The Squatters strike back using supernatural means. The supernatural aspect is very much underplayed and almost an afterthought at times. A larger focus is placed on how evil some people can be and the creative ways to kill people. While a little predictable and populated by flat characters, the book is still enjoyable and a good read. There are a few points where you wonder if people can really be that stupid but that happens in real life too so I didn't question it.

Bad Chili by Joe R. Lansdale

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• Published September 1997 (hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on October 19, 1999
• Yet another excellent novel in the Hap and Leonard series, or whatever you want to call it. This time Lansdale has started a lot more of tying the older novels in with this one. One of the continuing characters from Mucho Mojo plays a big part in the story. Additionally a character from outside the Hap/Leonard series makes an appearance: Jim Bob Luke from Savage Season. But don't worry, he fits right in to the rest of the novel and is a perfect addition. The story follows in the same manner as his others and as life does: one thing leads to another and before you know it you're in a mess of trouble and almost shooting someone. Any true fan of suspense and thrills should not miss this one! Just be prepared to lose sleep as you'll end up finding yourself finishing it at 1am because you just couldn't put it down.

Bad Karma by Andrew Harper (Douglas Clegg's pseudonym)

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• Published February 1998 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 29, 2001
• This turned out to be a pretty good book. In fact, it was a very enjoyable read. The story is about Dr. Trey Campbell who is a psychiatrist for the criminally insane. While he is on vacation, one of his patients escapes and comes after him for his love. The story proceeds along at a good pace and keeps you interested in what happens. The gore / horror is a bit over the top but it is also infrequent so it's not that really that bad at all. Overall I would have to recommend this novel as a good read. The book is also being made into a movie starring Patsy Kensit; I think that it is going direct to video but I'll be hunting it down.

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

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• Published 1998 (hardback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 24, 2000
• I knew that there was a reason that I loved reading Stephen King's novels and this is just one more example of that reason. It's a thrilling and scary story which pulls you in to it and makes you care for the characters. As a result you also get scared with the characters. The story is about a writer who is helped by his wife's ghost to uncover a mystery that she left behind. Sure, it can be boiled down to one sentence but Star Wars is about a farm boy who saves the galaxy. There is so much more involved in the story (although also true for Star Wars I'm back to talking about King's novel). The characters are defined and come alive in everything that they do. Maybe it also helps that King also does a lot of comparisons with real world authors: the main character's books are stuck in not quite the top ten since that is reserved for Grisham, Koontz and Clancy. Plus the main character's writing has him compared to "V.C. Andrews with a dick." Plus in typical King fashion, the story is based out of a small town in Maine which includes its own ghosts in addition to the writer's wife's ghost. I would whole heartedly recommend this novel but knowing how people tend to either love Stephen King, hate him or read him because he's on the best seller list, I don't think that my recommendation would have any sort of affect on you picking up the book. :-)

The Barrens and Others by F. Paul Wilson

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• Published December 2000 (Forge Book paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 25, 2005
• This is a collection of short stories by Wilson. More specifically it is a collection of short stories from 1987 to 1989. It's not clear if Wilson stopped writing short stories then or if he is saving the later stories for another collection. Hopefully option two because this is a wonderful collection of many must-read stories. Even though I read a chunk of these stories previously, it was a pleasure to read them once again. One of the things that I love which Wilson does here is to connect the stories with author notes, telling what was happening then and where some of the stories came from. And as would be expected, these stories have nothing really in common other than the time period written. (And of course that they were written by Wilson.) My favorites of the bunch are listed below.

  "Feelings" - A typical but lovable horror story, complete with Twilight Zone ending

  "A Day In The Life" - A Repairman Jack story. How can you not love it?

  "The Tenth Toe" - A fun back story for Doc Holliday

  "Definitive Therapy" - An excellent Joker story to fit the Batman mythos

  "Pelts" - Fur gets its revenge

Beam Me Up, Scotty by James Doohan with Peter David

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• Published December 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 10, 2001
• I don't read very many biographies, auto or not. They just don't interest me that much. Being a Star Trek fan, I couldn't resist buying this one when I perchanced upon a book signing with Doohan. And it actually turned out to be a very good read. Of course, it gives the life and times of James Doohan, Star Trek's "Scotty". Some highlights include his storming the beach at Normandy, his various parts in plays pre-Star Trek, his take on most of the episodes and his thoughts on the relationships with his co-stars. Probably the best thing about the book is how it reads; it kept striking me as if I was sitting down with my grandfather and he was telling me some of the interesting stuff that occurred in his life. It was kind of nice, especially since both my grandfathers died while I was still young. It also felt like that because the text flows all over the place; it is just like a conversation where you suddenly find yourself talking about something completely different and you're not sure how the subject changed.

Bedbugs by Rick Hautala

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• Published March 2003 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 25, 2006
• I wasn't as good as I should have been and am reviewing this book quite a bit after I finished it. As a result, there might be some favorite stories that I missed. However in scanning the stories, there were many that I quickly remembered and four that I do recall as being very good. All of which says that this is a good collection of short stories and should not be passed up.

  "The Back of My Hands" - An artist tries to capture the talent of a fellow artist.

  "Tunnels" - A typical deal with the devil type of story in a setting that is not typical.

  "Crying Wolf" - A story dedicated to and in the style of Richard Laymon.

  "A Little Bit of Divine Justice" - As the title implies, the protagonist gets a little bit of what is deserved.

Berserk by Tim Lebbon

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• Published January 2006 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 12, 2007
• With this book, Lebbon has officially added himself to my list of authors to follow. Face left me with some doubts but Berserk erased all of them. It's an extremely strong and crisp book with excellent characters. Tom Roberts and his wife Jo never really got over the death of their son. He died in a friendly fire incident during a training but something in the story never rang true with Tom. So when he hears a clue that his son might be elsewhere, he has to follow it. The chase for the truth changes Tom's life forever as he discovers Natasha, a little girl buried in a field for ten years but still alive. As a berserker, she has extra abilities that let her survive. Unfortunately an ex-army officer still wants her dead and does what he can to stop Roberts. The story has layers to it so rather than being only a hunt and kill story, there are details to make it become real and enthralling. It did make me think of the movie "Near Dark". While not connected nor similar in story, there is an element in both that you generally don't find in most horror novels / movies. I'm not going to spoil the story by saying what but if you read the book, you'll know.

Best of Cemetery Dance, Vol. 1 edited by Richard Chizmar

• 30 short stories by such authors as Stephen King, Bentley Little, Lucy Taylor, Richard Christian Matheson, Nancy Holder and Ramsey Campbell
• Published November 2000 (Roc Book paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 30, 2003
• I did this one a little backwards since I read Volume 2 before I read Volume 1 (just the order that I found them in the store) but it really doesn't matter. This collection of short stories is really great no matter what order you read it in. Chizmar once again does a wonderful job of collecting some very enjoyable stories into one location and letting them be enjoyed by many. He's one editor that I could almost always recommend whatever work that he's been in charge of. I know that is true of everything that I've seen by him. My absolute favorites of this collection are listed below.

  "Haceldama" by Gary A. Braunbeck - A reason why mass murders and serial killers aren't all bad.

  "Mobius" by Richard Christian Matheson - A line of questioning takes an unexpected turn.

  "Roadkill" by Tom Elliott - A grisly discovering is made while performing a grisly job.

  "Rustle" by Peter Crowther - A murderer comes up with a fantastical reason behind the killings he is accused of.

  "The Rabbit" by Jack Pavey - A fun tale that is predictable to a point and then it continues on.

Best of Cemetery Dance, Vol. 2 edited by Richard Chizmar

• Purchase it here
• 28 short stories by such authors as Joe R. Lansdale, Nancy Collins, Poppy Z. Brite, Richard Laymon and William F. Nolan
• Published January 2001 (Roc Book paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 15, 2002
• This is one of those collections that when it says "best of" it means it. The stories collected here are wonderful. There were very few of them that I didn't like. They all made an impression one way or another and they definitely warranted being put in this collection. As a compilation from the Cemetery Dance magazine, there really is no central theme uniting all the stories, but I've never really thought that you had to have one. Just collect a bunch of really good stories together, call it something and release it. And that is exactly what Chizmar has done here. The only thing that I thought was weird and didn't quite fit was the last story, or more accurately interview. It's an interview of Dean Koontz from a few years back. While slightly dated (he hypes the then-unreleased movie Phantoms as well as Mr. Murder, Intensity, and Survivor), it does contain some interesting points and definitely gives a better idea of who Koontz is. It just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the stories. Although I hate to limit my favorites to just a few, I've picked some and listed them below.

  "Tyrannosauras" by Norman Partridge - A woman seeks out vengeance against her child abducting ex-husband.

  "Desert Pickup" by Richard Laymon - The circle is completed for a hitch-hiker in the desert and the woman who picks him up.

  "With The Wound Still Wet" by Wayne Allen Sallee - An author and a photographer just do their jobs.

  "Almost Never" by Edward Lee - Two thugs try to repay the mob by kidnapping a little girl.

  "The Winds Within" by Ronald Kelly - A murder at an apartment building has a grisly origin.

  "Animal Rites" by Jay. R. Bonansinga - A clever twist to an otherwise normal killing.

  "Easy's Last Stand" by Nancy A. Collins - Workers at a phone sex operation prove that they are survivors.

Best of Weird Tales edited by John Gregory Betancourt

• Purchase it here
• 27 short stories by such authors as F. Paul Wilson, Brian Lumley, Nancy Springer, Ian Watson, David Schow, John Brunner, Morgan Llywelyn, Gene Wolfe
• Published December 1995 (hardback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 23, 1997
• This is a pretty enjoyable collection of short stories. All of the stories were originally published in Weird Tales magazine during one of its many incarnations. Some of the stories are horrorish, some science-fiction, others plain weird. But all together they make up a wide collection of entertaining stories by some of the best writers past and present. There are way too many gems in here to name them all but my favorites include...

  "Midnight Mass" by F. Paul Wilson - A priest regains his faith with some help from a rabbi.

  "Snickerdoodles" by Nancy Springer - A teenage witch comes into his own.

  "Stalin's Teardrops" by Ian Watson - An unmapped land is found within Russia.

  "Night Bloomer" by David J. Schow - Revenge is taken with the help of small little seed.

  "The Pronounced Effect" by John Brunner - A mysterious stranger helps out at a convention.

  "Princess" by Morgan Llywelyn - The retelling of an old fairy tale.

  "The Other Dead Man" by Gene Wolfe - A ghost space ship haunts the planets.

Beware by Richard Laymon

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• Published July 1985 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 14, 2002
• There are a few authors which I can't stop myself from finishing their books within a day or two from starting them. Richard Laymon is one of those authors. His books, and Beware is another that fits the pattern, are so exciting and engrossing that I can't put it down despite the late hour. Plus it is just a quick read. I look forward to reaching one of Laymon's book in my "to read" stack. This novel involves Lacey Allen, a newspaper reporter in a small town who happens upon a series of attacks and murder in a local market. When the attacker takes a special liking to Lacey and follows her home, her life is quickly turned upside down. First she's taken hostage in her own home and tormented by the attacker who has gain mystical powers. (I won't relieve what or how so as to no spoil the surprise.) Then she escapes, finds help with an author of action books, is followed again by the attacker, and suffice to say there is more adventures and excitement culminating in a spectacular and frightening conclusion. The only thing that I had a problem with in the book was the appearance of Scott, the action book author, and Dukane, Scott's friend. Their appearance was a little too convenient of a plot device. It wasn't that bad of an event but it was a bit too nice of an event to happen. Other than that which is very easy to overlook there were no issues. I would very highly recommend the book to everyone. Well, some of the descriptions are kind of intense so if you don't like sex or violence, skip it. But everyone else shouldn't miss it.

Big Rock Beat by Greg Kihn

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• Published November 2000 (Tor paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 1, 2003
• Since Big Rock Beat is a sequel to Kihn's Horror Show and since I absolutely devoured Horror Show, I would love to say that this one was equally good. Unfortunately I can't. Big Rock Beat just doesn't come across anywhere as strong. It's a fine book by itself but not as good as his previous. The novel once again follows Landis Woodley, this time as he shoots a beach bunny, rock and roll movie. It also follows Beau Young, Landis's nephew who goes to LA for a visit and ends up becoming a star. The story is fun and off-beat and does a good job of entertaining the readers as the rock and roll movie unfolds. And I had nothing against the events or what happens in the book. I think it was just the characters that seemed off. None of them except for Beau seemed as rich or three-dimensional as in Horror Show. It's probably wrong of me to keep comparing the two because on its own Big Rock Beat does do a good job and is fun. I think that I was just a bit disappointed that it wasn't of the same excellent quality as the first novel.

Birthday by Koji Suzuki

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• Published May 2006 (Vertical paperback Advance Proof edition)
• Finished reading it on September 4, 2007
• I was disappointed by this book. It wasn't that the writing was poor because it wasn't. It was that I felt there should have been more. And not more as in "I loved the book and want more!" but instead "Jeez, that story was missing a lot of info. I wish I had more to go on." The book is three short stories and in my case at least, three different stories than what was displayed on the back cover. The back cover promised "Coffin in the Sky" and "Happy Birthday," neither of which were in the book. This might have been because it was an Advance Proof edition though. Leaving that aside, the first story was "Lemon Heart" by Koji Suzuki and focused on an actor's love for his fellow actress Sadako. Having only seen the American version of The Ring and The Ring 2, I don't remember seeing the character Sadako so the promised tie-in to the Ring trilogy meant nothing to me. Instead based solely on the story, it was interesting but felt incomplete. Maybe if I had read the Ring books, I would feel more but if that is a requirement, then the story is already lacking. The second story was "The Crimson Labyrinth" by Yusuke Kishi; instead of a short story, it was an excerpt of the first three chapters from the book. This is why I hate reading novel excerpts. As a short story, it is lacking two big things: character development and a real ending, both of which would be present in the full novel. Sure, there is enough of a teaser there to interest me in the full story but if I were to buy the book, then I would end up repeating myself because I would have to reread those pages again. In my mind, novel excerpts are a lose-lose situation for the reader. The final story was "Adrift" by Suzuki again. It was a passable short story but not overly interesting. A ghost ship is found by the crew of a fishing boat; during the rescue of the ship, the ghost strikes again. Nice premise and plot but as the story progressed, it seemed to be handed to the readers instead of discovered. And the ending was projected from a mile away. So overall, I would recommend passing on this book.

Black Butterflies: A Flock on The Dark Side by John Shirley

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• Published May 1997 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 20, 2000
• This collection of short stories by Shirley is a bit on the weird side. Luckily most of those stories are separated from the just spooky stories by a clear classification of "This World" and "That World". Which ever world you are in though, I'm not sure of how I would judge the stories. Some of them I really liked, and those you will find below. Others I just thought were interesting, a sort of scientific, detached interesting. Those stories were ones that I didn't really get pulled in to. However I wouldn't call them bad, just not as involving. I would recommend that you try to find this book and then before buying it, read a story or two. Then decide. Or just check it out of your local library, if they have a copy.

  "Barbara" - A victim in life takes control.

  "What Would You Do For Love?" - Finding love isn't always easy.

  "Delia and the Dinner Party" - Delia watches the true faces of people at a party.

  "Flaming Telepaths" - A TV minister versus the patrons of a rock and roll club.

  "Aftertaste" - How the un-dead can improve the life of your average coke addict.

Black Evening by David Morrell

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• Published February 2000 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 06, 2003
• This is an excellent collection of short stories by Morrell. Almost every story in there is fantastic just by itself. Combine it with a bunch of equally good stories and brief biographical moments between and this becomes a collection that is a must read. I was also kind of amazed because I hadn't remembered reading anything by Morrell before but there were several short stories in other collections that I read and enjoyed previously. Plus there is one story in Black Evening that I could have sworn was written by Stephen King; I was just remembering it wrong though. My only negative on the whole book is that rather than the pages being titled with the author's name and the short story title, they have the book title. So a couple of times when looking ahead or back in the book, it is hard to tell which story starts or ends where. Minor nitpick though. My favorites are below.

  "The Partnership" - One of the few stories where Morrell uses a lot of humor. A hitman weasels his way in to a company and being a partner.

  "The Typewriter" - A favorite every time I read it. A wanna-be writer discovers a typewriter that helps him reach his fame, but only for a little while.

  "The Storm" - A family traveling across states is hit by a storm that doesn't seem to end. This is the one that I thought Stephen King wrote. I must have gotten Thinner and "The Storm" entwined in my memory; easy to do considering the subject material of both.

  "Mumbo Jumbo" - Another story that I read years ago and didn't realize was written by Morrell. A football team's winning streak seems tied into an idol.

  "Dead Image" - A famous actor of the past is recreated in a youth of today.

Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub

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• Published September 2002 (Ballantine paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 05, 2003
• At first I wasn't too sure of what to think about this book. Both King and Straub have really impressed me in the past but the beginning of this novel was a bit distancing and slow. However, like a car shifting up in the gears, once it got to roughly page 60 things started picking up. And it kept getting better and better from there. While I do kind of wish that I had re-read The Talisman, the precursor to this book, it wasn't necessary. Everything was nicely spelled out here. In fact, it probably would be better to be up on your Dark Tower knowledge and have read the first section of Hearts In Atlantis. Not necessary but some of my previously unanswered questions have now been addressed. As for the story itself, I would say excellent. It contains all the beautiful prose, setting and build up that Straub does so well combined just right with all the realism, extra little details and payoff that King does so well. And opposed to some people's beliefs, both King and Straub keep getting better with time, turning out material that is more and more enjoyable.

Black Leather by Elizabeth Engstrom

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• Published April 2003 (Triple Tree Publishing paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 27, 2006
• I always like Engstrom's novels because they seem more psychological analysis of interesting people than a story. We still get an exciting story in the process but her characters are always so real. You might question why they are doing something but it's the same way you question why your neighbor continues to let his dog take a crap on your lawn. Some people are like you and others don't make sense. Fortunately those that don't make sense have great stories and that is what Engstrom tells. Black Leather follows two sisters (one powerful and successful, the other going through life troubles), the estranged husband who has feelings for both, and a murder. It's partial mystery since we're not sure which sister committed the crime and further mystery since we're not sure who the husband will pick nor what will happen but it is full enjoyment and not something that should be missed.

Black Leather Required by David J. Schow

• Purchase it here
• Published originally in 1994
• Finished reading it on December 31, 1998
• This is an excellent collection of hard hitting stories! Schow does a fabulous job at pulling together some of the nastiest images and weaving them together in to stories that make you think, make you wonder, make you scared. They also make you glad that you are at home reading them rather than living in the stories with the characters who more often than not meet a grisly death. Some of my favorites are below.

  "A Week In The Unlife" - A vampire story without any vampires.

  "Pitt Night at the Lewistone Boneyard" - Absolutely the BEST story about getting a second chance at a last good bye.

  "Last Call for the Sons of Shock" - Where all the old Universal monsters are now.

  "Bad Guy Hats" - Death comes hunting for death and life.

  "Sand Sculpture" - A second chance at a last good bye which was never meant to be.

Black Light by Stephen Hunter

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• Published May 1997 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 02, 1999
• While not really a trilogy, Black Light is the third book of a series, sort of. It actually ties together two previous novels (Dirty White Boys and Point of Impact) by weaving their characters together and fleshing out their history. The story ties everything together nicely and at the same time carries its own points across. Unfortunately I don't think that this novel was quite as good as the previous two. It still rocks and very enjoyable but it lacks quite the punch and power of the others. The suspense seemed subdued. Maybe it was because of the investigative nature which the characters had to have to dig up the information. Whatever it was, it wasn't quite as powerful. Also there was a "surprise" revealed to one of the characters at the end that was really not much of a surprise. Anyone should be able to see it coming a mile away. No, you don't have to read the other novels to enjoy this one, but they will help by giving you more background. Plus as I mentioned, those were better stories than this one. Oh, and in case you didn't know and I didn't, the title is derived from infrared technology which is sometimes (at least here) called black light.

Black Lightning by John Saul

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• Published July 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 28, 1998
• John Saul was beginning to get into another pattern. His early novels centered on wronged children coming back from the dead and getting revenge. He then switched to agencies performing some sort of medical experimentation and it occurring in some small town. I'm not sure if Black Lightning is a new pattern or just a break in style before the next novel, but it doesn't follow any pattern Saul has done previously. True, it does involve someone who is "experimenting" upon others, but I considered that more indicative of the person's mind-set rather than the experimenting from earlier novels. Here, the experimenter is really a serial killer who after being executed appears to come back to terrorize the reporter who pushed for the death penalty for this killer. The entire story is very well done, drawing the reader to ask did the killer really come back? Did they accidentally kill an innocent person? And you don't really find out until the end. Plus no small towns; most of this story is set in Saul's sometime home of Seattle.

Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul

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• Published February 1998 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 04, 2000
• Ok, I'll admit that I cheated and waited until the compilation of the serial novels got reprinted instead of buying one book each month for six months. My reading habits are such that one book is easier to attack than six separate but connected books. The story is about a town that is overlooked by an insane asylum that is in the midst of being converted to a shopping mall. However as construction ends due to problems at the bank, a series of gifts are given to the towns people, each gift bringing with it disaster. Each of the six books that were part of the serial novel included the giving of a gift to a towns person and the ramifications of that gift. Let me now state that I only kind of enjoyed this story. It wasn't bad but at the same time I didn't think of it as being overly good. Each of the six books got repetitive and predictable. The mystery of who was doing all the evil was relatively easy to guess and by the time I got to the last book, I knew for sure who it was. The characters weren't developed as much as they should have been but that was because more attention was spent on what was happening in each monthly book rather than on who it was happening to. Now maybe the whole story would have been better if I would have read it like I was supposed to: one book a month for six months. I could see how that might improve the story rather than all at one go. Also I was pleased that this story didn't follow Saul's previous pattern for his novels. And I did enjoy reading about what was going on and how things were occurring. So overall I wouldn't necessarily give this a high rating. Read it if you get a chance but if you don't, don't worry about it.

The Blind Mirror by Christopher Pike

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2004 (Tor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 25, 2008
• I'm kind of torn on what to think of this book. At times it was really good and very enjoyable. While not totally original, the story was well done and moves along at a good pace. The characters are complex. And it had a vaguely off-kilter mood throughout the book to keep you on your toes. On the other hand, there were definitely things I didn't like. The story just didn't make sense at points and was almost too convenient at times. The motivations of characters was unclear until the end when things made more sense. And people were making and doing stupid things. None of that was enough to make me frustrated with the book or want to stop reading it. But at the same time, it kept me from being pulled completely into the events. And while I was surprised at the end and I can look back and see how nicely everything was pointed to lead to it, I'm not sure that I liked the ending. I suppose since I can still remember it and think about it, that's a good thing. Overall though I think that I'm going to have to push on this recommendation: not encourage but not discourage either.

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2002 (HarperTorch paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 31, 2006
• I was glad to pick up the first of Slaughter's continuing story based in a small town in Grant County, GA. After mistakenly reading Kisscut first, I knew there was some good back story to the characters that I would enjoy. And I definitely did enjoy it. The story itself was extremely suspenseful and interesting. I was able to figure out the mystery maybe five pages before Slaughter revealed the answer and that was only after she dropped the huge monster clue that no one should miss. Adding to the sense of dread was knowing from Kisscut some of the events that would be happening, namely Lena's rape. It was something that I knew was going to happen and that probably made the actual event worse. On the other end of the spectrum, I also knew that Sara and Jeffrey would end up together by the end so that was no surprise. All in all though, an extremely good book and one that I devoured. I've been reading too many short stories lately with only a screen play to break the tradition. This was my first novel after five short story collections. Wow, didn't realize it was that many. I was definitely in the mood for lengthy character development and something lasting more than 30 pages.

Blood Games by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published November 2003 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 10, 2004
• I can never get tired of reading Laymon's books. They are exciting, scary, sexy, thrilling and almost impossible to put down not matter the hour or where you are. This one I started and got about halfway through while out clothes shopping with my wife. She loves it because I'm patient and will wait while she tries on one outfit after another; I love it because I get to read a big chunk of a book. Rather than his usual straight through with the story, this time Laymon varied it slightly and had chapters that would flashback to tell about the main characters. The story itself is about five young women who meet one week every year and do something exciting picked and planned by one member. This year they end up at the Totem Pole Lodge, a haunted hotel that was the site of a mass murder. And of course as is normal with Laymon's book, things evolve from there with a strange and yet familiar cast of characters except for that one weird fuck that always seems to create problems in his novels. Obviously not the same weirdo but there's always one that adds all the excitement. Overall, I wouldn't classify this as one of Laymon's best but it is still an awesome book and should not be skipped. You'll regret it if you do.

Blood On Their Hands edited by Lawrence Block

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2004 (Berkley Prime Crime paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 24, 2006
• This might not be totally fair to Lawrence Block but I'm writing this review more than a year after finishing the book. This means that I don't really remember any of the stories and can't really choose out any that are favorites. I remember enjoying the book and not thinking that it was bad but I couldn't tell you how good it was. The fact that I can't remember it that well at least says that it wasn't super great and easily memorable. However, I do know that I finished the book and wasn't hating it. So if you want a solid book that is a mystery on how good it actually is, go for this collection. As a horror fan, there had to be some good reviews and write ups to get me to buy a book of mysteries so chances are that you'll be happy with reading it too.

Blossom by Andrew Vachss

• Purchase it here
• Published 1988 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 4, 1996
• Book 5 of the Burke novels
  Once again Vachss has written an extremely intriguing, exciting and intense novel centered around Burke. For those of you who have not heard of Burke, the protagonist in many of Vachss' novels, he has been called a vigilante, an anti-hero, and a detective, amongst other things. I prefer to think of him as a person who walks the line and crosses it many times while he tries to improve the world in spite of the hardships he's suffered. There are a lot of sides to him and he defies being pigeon-holed. Anyway, this novel takes him off his home streets of New York and throws him in to middle America. He's still the same but is forced to do everything differently since he is not familiar with the area. It's another good read which should not be missed.

Blue Belle by Andrew Vachss

• Purchase it here
• Published July 1991 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 20, 1997
• Book 3 of the Burke novels
  I actually started reading most of Vachss' books about Burke in the wrong order. They follow sequentially and build upon everything that has happened previously. However, that subtracts nothing from the impact the story still brings. It might even increase the impact since I already know a bit about the character. Reading the full story on Belle and Mortay has left me extremely satisfied. I had the bare outline of the story known previously and now I have all the details filled in and, of course, know the characters better. Along the way, I enjoyed an excellent story that affected me much more than I thought it would.

Body Rides by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published March 2004 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 19, 2005
• While I love Laymon's works, I enjoy them a bit more when there is a touch of the supernatural in the story. Many of his novels end up involving some maniac and people thrust into a weird situation with that maniac. For example, a group of people go camping and end up being chased by some killer in the woods. Fewer but better in quality are those where something supernatural is involved with the maniac. That is the case with Body Rides. The supernatural element here is a necklace that can grant a person the ability to hop into someone else's body and experience what they feel and see and think. It's the ultimate voyeur aspect because it is more than just watching; it's participating also but without being there. While there is a killer who helps move things along, he's not quite the random element that he is in other novels. Plus there are a lot of events occurring that you would expect of someone given this new power of jumping into someone's body. Rides with strangers and friends. Exactly what you would try if given the ability yourself. While most Laymon are don't skip books, this one really is a don't skip book.

A Bomb Built In Hell by Andrew Vachss

• Available for free here
• Published September 2000 (on-line edition)
• Finished reading it on October 01, 2000
• This is actually one of the first books written by Vachss. When he tried to have it published back in 1973, it was considered "too hot to publish". Luckily times have changed enough to let it be seen here. And after reading the story, it is easy to see why it was considered too hot. The main character is Wesley, an early version of the cold-blooded killer Wesley that is part of many of the Burke novels. This Wesley is even more cold-blooded than the one in the Burke novels. Readers get to follow Wesley as he learns while in prison and applies those rules to life. No one is safe as he will throws a fragmentation grenade in to a crowd to avoid being followed by the cops or he blows up a building to distract his get-a-away after an assassination. These and other scenes, including the grand finale at an affluent school, are the reasons for not publishing it earlier. Once again I will have to strongly recommend this novel by Vachss. He is still an amazing writer in the simplicity, intensity, and sheer impact that his novels will have on you. And if you are already a fan of his, then this is one is a must! And considering that it is free, it makes it doubly a must!

The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2007 (Warner Vision Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 11, 2007
• I wasn't quite expecting to pick up and read this book as fast as I did, but I found myself on a business trip with nothing to read on the plane ride. The gift shop had all the usual twenty books by King, twenty books by Koontz, twenty books by Patterson... plus a small smattering of other best selling authors. And there was Preston's and Child's The Book of the Dead. Figuring it was fate, I picked up the book. While not quite as good as Dance of Death, it is was still very good. The story picks up a short time after the previous novel. Now that Diogenes's cover has been blown to the readers, his actions are seen as a precursor to bigger events. We know something big will happen; the question becomes what. As the plans slowly unfurl, we also discover what happened between Diogenes and Aloysius to spawn such bitter blood. By the end, things are tied up nicely on all fronts. Some events were a bit predictable. Others were unknown but not shocking. The characters are left in a good spot of having grown, things changed and poised for the next book and major events in their lives. Will I return and find out what? Most definitely!

Born Bad by Andrew Vachss

• Purchase it here
• Published August 1994 (Vintage Crime / Black Lizard paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 13, 1996
• This is actually a collection of short stories by Andrew Vachss. Forty-six stories. They might be short but they all pack one hell of a wallop. Like everything that I've read by Vachss, his stories are heavy hitters. Plus since they are all short stories, they are that much faster in being paced. Many of the stories deal with revenge or justice. Almost all of them deal with a part of society that, at best, could be called sick. This is definitely not a collection to read if you want to feel good about yourself and society. However, if you want some hard hitting, fast paced stories dealing with a negative side of certain people, then this is it. My favorite section here is the stories dealing with Cross.

The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2000 (hardback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 31, 2002
• It seems like many authors that write a bunch of books end up doing a coming of age book at some point. The Bottoms is Lansdale's coming of age book. And in typical fashion for Lansdale he does it in his own way. The story follows Harry Crane, a young boy who discovers a dead body in a river. Harry's father, the local constable, starts an investigation that proceeds to change Harry's life and viewpoint of life. As with most of Lansdale's books, this one is ripe with vivid images, rich characters, unexpected violence and the unique southern charm that makes Lansdale's book his own. As a period book set during the Great Depression, it carries across a lifestyle that is hard to believe. Hard because the descriptions are so real that it is impossible to not see or imagine them, especially when compared to the modern conveniences that we have now. As is usual, I can highly recommend this book for everyone to read and enjoy.

Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon

• Purchase it here
• Published May 1992 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 7, 1996
• This is a very good book! It is very captivating and enjoyable. At the heart of the book is the capturing of the magic involved with childhood. McCammon does an excellent job of portraying this. While reading it, the world does change and become simpler and magical. There are ghosts, monsters, childhood wonders, bullies and miracles as only a child can experience them. Intertwined throughout the entire novel is a murder mystery which is touched upon in the exact same manner: as a wonder to enjoy and experience. This novel will definitely pull you in and make you experience the magic. There were a few parts that pulled me and reminded me so much of sad events in my own childhood that I was in tears. And as is usual in McCammon's books, he includes an author's note. This time he lists an acknowledgments section which will remind you of things from your past that you maybe have forgotten. An excellent close to a wonderful book.

The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell

• Purchase it here
• Published February 1985 (Fawcett Crest paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 06, 2004
• I initially picked up this book because I really enjoyed Morrell's collection of short stories Black Evening and was hope for more of the same. Not short stories of course since this is a novel but more of the same style and thrills. Well, I was pleased with the style and the writing and the characters but I was a bit disappointed with the story. It's about two orphans, Saul and Chris, who get trained from a young age to become highly proficient assassins. Then life takes a drastic turn for both of them as they find themselves being hunted for different reasons but by the same organization who hired them. The problem is that after the characters have been introduced and put into action, the story becomes pretty predictable. It doesn't really go into new areas that surprised me or thrilled me. It was still a good story and is much better than any of the recent Ludlum novels but I probably won't be picking up any more Morrell books unless it is horror or short stories.

Bullets of Rain by David J. Schow

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2003 (Dark Alley paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 20, 2005
• This novel kind of hard to sum up in a short little blurb and still do it justice. I realized this when a good friend asked me what I was reading now and I tried to sum it up for him. A story about a guy trying to survive a storm while meeting a bunch of people at a party isn't a fair sum up. Those are the events in the story but it centers around survival. Surviving the weather. Surviving the death of a spouse. Surviving past the crazy nature of a society that is not always balanced. And surviving with yourself. The character growth and analysis is excellent; I found myself realizing that in the last twenty pages nothing would really happen but I was still engrossed the whole time. There is a twist in the last thirty pages that I thought detracted from the whole story. It fit into the overall story and wasn't horrible but I felt it was too contrived. All things considered though, it might just have been me. I've enjoyed Schow's work in general and this might have been a bold twist that I just couldn't get behind. Give it a try yourself and see how you feel.

Bumper Crop by Joe R. Lansdale

• Purchase it here
• Published originally in May 2005 (Golden Gryphon Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 13, 2006
• It's hard to not enjoy a Lansdale novel. Or in this case a Lansdale collection of short stories. Everything he writes is extremely enjoyable. They are just pure fun and this is no exception. The collection contains twenty six excellent short stories with the only negative being that you've most likely read several of them elsewhere. I know that I did. Many of the stories are pretty short too. With twenty six stories and not even 200 pages and each story has one page of an author's note, you can see that some are really short. Even with all that and it not being a completely new collection, it still is a must read. My favorites of the bunch are listed below.

  "The Man Who Dreamed" - An old man who sees the future does his best to improve it

  "Pilots" (with Dan Lowry) - Two sets of life's victims do their best to adapt to regular life

  "Listen" - A fun story of someone who is permanently ignored and forgotten

  "Bestsellers Guaranteed" - How to write a best selling novel

  "Master of Misery" - A man is pushed into a fight he does not want

Burn by Sean Doolittle

• Purchase it here
• Published April 2005 (Dell paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 07, 2006
• I've read a bunch of good reviews on Sean Doolittle and that's what led me to picking up this and a few others of his books. I'm not impressed to the point of "Wow! I have to read more by this guy!" but then I'm also not disappointed and thinking "Wow, that was a waste of my time." Judgement will be held until I can finish another book or two by him. Meanwhile with Burn, I'm not exactly sure why but I had a hard time telling some of the characters in this book apart. It wasn't that they had similar names or that they didn't have their own quirks and personalities. It was more along the lines of them matching with other characters. For example, two characters would fall under the hard edged, single, male, loner type while another two fell under the secondary character who is not completely smart and who works at the primary suspect's gym. Each single of the matching pair went in their own direction and did their own thing but I kept forgetting which was which. Other than that I pretty much enjoyed the novel. It is a good hard boiled mystery that left me pleased while reading it.

The Burning by Bentley Little

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2006 (Signet paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 28, 2009
• Little keeps getting better and better with all his novels. The Burning is no exception. Its characters are full and engaging. The story is well thought out. And the book had many scary moments that creeped me out. Instead of following one or two main characters, there are four people who slowly become more and more involved in the events. There is the college freshman who unearths one aspect of trouble. There is the separated woman and her son who find another source in her home town. There is the park ranger who unwittingly contributes to the growth of the evil. And there is the young man on a journey across America who finds more than he expected. Together they see the pieces of evil and hauntings come together to strike out. One of the things that I really liked was how Little took the idea of a haunted train and wove it across the railroads and the building of the railroads and then the persecution and bigotry that came out of it. Both Chinese and Indian cultures were impacted significantly by the railroads; that impact is at the core of the novel. The only negative that I had with the novel was remembering the names of the four main characters. I easily remembered who was who with regards to the events around their lives but remember whether Jolene or Angela was the freshman was difficult for some reason. That is nowhere near enough reason to skip the book though. Greatly recommended!

Send comments or your opinions on these books to mike@kazba.com.

Last modified on December 29, 2009