Ladies' Night by Jack Ketchum

• Purchase it here
• Published 2000 (Gauntlet Publications paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on December 31, 2004
• If you like intense, graphic and extreme violence, then this book is definitely for you. Tom Braun and his wife Susan are quickly approaching a divorce due to Tom's infidelities and his late nights out. Their son Andy is caught in between. Unfortunately for them and numerous others in the immediate area, their life changes one night when a tanker truck labeled "Ladies Inc." drives into a residential neighborhood and crashes. The resulting smell converts almost all the women into crazed killers, very reminiscent of George Romero's zombies from "Night of the Living Dead". In fact, the whole book can be seen as a big tribute to Romero's movie. Explanations of the science behind the disaster is kept to a minimum. The plot too is kept to a minimum: basically survival of the males from attacks by the females. Unlike "Night of the Living Dead" though, the characterizations here are almost nonexistent. It's almost like a typical slasher movie in that we are introduced to people just long enough to have them turn into a bloody corpse, definitely not long enough to know and feel for them. What I did find great about the book was the introduction by Ketchum on some of the history behind the story. He mentions that originally this 166 page story was over 400 pages. Now that would be the story to read instead. Something that provides more depth and interest of all the characters. This is still a novel that I would recommend and Ketchum is still becoming one of my favorite authors, but I would have liked more.

The Lake by Richard Laymon

• Purchase it here
• Published November 2005 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 15, 2007
• Laymon is a great writer and has written tons of books that I thoroughly enjoy. Unfortunately this book wasn't one of them. It was interesting but not the "I'm enthralled; tell me more" type of interesting. More like the "grade B movie" interesting. Something that you want to finish because it's really not that bad but something which you can't believe because so much craziness happens. Leigh West is a rebellious 18-year-old in the 1970s who goes a little too far and gets sent to her aunt and uncle in Wisconsin to stay out of trouble. Trouble follows her though and she hooks up with a local boy, has a terrifying accident and ends up pregnant. Now eighteen years later, she and her daughter end up tormented and stalked by a crazed chef with a cleaver. And if that wasn't enough by itself, the cop that ends up helping them turns out to have his own problems that start interfering in her life. But wait, there's more. A nearby neighbor has a secret and becomes involved in the chaos that is Leigh's life. Granted things in a Laymon novel can be pretty weird and a bit too coincidental at times, but this book took it to extremes. Everything seemed to be there solely to advance the plot and not because it fit in with the story. The daughter starts running at midnight while she is being stalked by a crazed killer because she needs to meet the new neighbor. Leigh does not change the locks on her home despite having a killer sneak in using a spare key. In the middle of the book, the story seems to be going nowhere for about 100 pages and as I started wondering what all the back history had to do with anything, it gets pulled in with the bare thread of reason. Then the book itself would have a character's inner dialogue flow into the inner dialogue of another character. The point of view would jump around too much. At least put section spacers to symbolize the shift. All told, I would have to say avoid this book. Not because it is horrible but because Laymon does so much better elsewhere. This is not a good starter for a new reader.

The Last Rakosh by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published 2005 (Overlook Connection Press hardcover signed and numbered limited edition)
• Finished reading it on August 10, 2007
• Closer to a novella than a full novel, this book still delivers. Wilson continues the story of Repairman Jack and Scar-lip, the Rakosh ordered to kill Vicky. Last we saw Scar-lip, he was swimming out to be with the other dying Rakosh. It's now a year later and Jack has discovered Scar-lip in an "Oddity Emporium", a.k.a freak show. Vowing to continue protecting Vicky from the creature that remembers Jack and possibly remembers Vicky, Jack goes back to kill it. If any of this sounds totally alien and nonsensical, then you obviously are not current on your Repairman Jack lore. Go back and read All The Rage before finding and reading this book. You'll appreciate it. The story is solid and a good fit within the mythos. Nothing is drastically changed or introduced but it is still a good addition to Jack's world.

The Last Voice They Hear by Ramsey Campbell

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• Published June 1998 (hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on March 30, 2003
• Campbell has written another excellent psychological thriller. He continues writing about what he is great at, the intricacies and secrets of the family, and the problems that arise from them. This time the problems occur with / to Geoff Davenport, an investigative TV reporter. He starts to receive phone calls from Ben, his long lost half brother who was tormented to no end by his parents. The suspense really kicks in when Ben reveals that he is a serial killer during a twisted game of hide-and-seek. Like most of Campbell's novels, there is not a lot of "action" that really occurs because most of the interesting stuff is psychological in nature. The family unit is tortured and stretched thin. And while some might see some weak spots in the book like why Ben is so hated by his parents or why Geoff's son acts a little young for a three year old, those points only highlight how random life can be. Yes, children can be babied too long and take more time to mature. Yes, there are families where one brother becomes a criminal while the others remain law upstanding citizens. Sometimes the psyche develops in unexpected ways and yields serial killers instead of investigative reporters. And that is what makes Campbell's portrayal of such so involving.

Legacies by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published August 1998 (hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on August 28, 2000
• Wilson is pretty consistent with the quality of his writing and how interesting his stories tend to be. Even when I find the characters not as interesting, the story itself is pretty darn good. In this case though, there is not any worries about that. The characters and story are quite exciting. The story is about Repairman Jack; rather than appliances though, Jack fixes ugly situations with a unique twist on personal justice. For example, he'll help con someone who is taking advantage of migrant workers, getting back all the unpaid money and more. Think of Jack as a nicer and more altruistic Burke from Andrew Vachss' novels. This time, Jack is helping a doctor who doesn't want to sell her house for millions to her half brother. Sound too good to be true? Well, that is definitely where the mystery comes in and slowly unfolds through the novel. I admit that I was a bit hesitant because the novel tells how this mystery will permanently change the entire world and that's why everyone seems to be after it; I thought that it was overblown and wouldn't live up to its hype. But the mystery does live up to it. The only real negative that I had about the novel was the way that it got preachy about AIDS. (The doctor works at a clinic for children that are HIV positive.) Wilson was not as preachy as Koontz tends to get but there was definitely a bit of sermonizing here. I suppose that he has the right since as a doctor, he probably deals with all the situations in the book. Overall a good solid read with lively characters and an exciting plot. Don't miss it if you are a fan of Repairman Jack.

Legends edited by Robert Silverberg

• Purchase it here
• 4 short stories by Stephen King, Robert Silverberg, Orson Scott Card, Raymon E. Feist
• Published September 1999 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 04, 2001
• This anthology could actually be better described as a collection of short novels by each of these authors. And to be even more specific, each author dwells in to a world / reality that the author has already been writing about. For example, Stephen King's story fits in to the reality created by four other novels that he's written. And thus begins the difficulties. If you are already involved in that author's story reality, then you want to read his story. Otherwise you don't really care about any of the other stories and tend to ignore / gloss over them. Or at least that is what I did. Combine that with my general lack of patience for pure fantasy / magic stories and you can say that I didn't even make it through Silverberg's or Feist's story. I just couldn't stomach them. So overall I would say that if this book contains a story in a reality that you are keeping up with, then rent the book from a library and read it there. You'll appreciate not spending the money on three stories and 300 pages that you have no interest in.

  "The Little Sisters of Eluria" by Stephen King - The reason that I bought the book. A good little tidbit in the life of Roland the Gunslinger. Doesn't contribute too much to the overall character but will probably be considered a must read by fans of the Dark Tower series.

  "Grinning Man" by Orson Scott Card - A good read. I don't follow this series of novels by Card; I don't follow any stories by Card. But I did find this one interesting and entertaining.

The Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2005 (Washington Square Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 9, 2009
• The Limits of Enchantment is similar to Joyce's The Facts of Life in that both books are extremely literature oriented and involve a minimal amount of supernatural. This one too has a reader's guide at the end with suggested questions to ponder about the novel. All that is missing is an English teacher telling me what to think and making me write a five page paper on the symbolism within the book. The story involves a young woman named Fern Cullen living in 1966 and who must start making her own decisions as her adoptive mother takes ill. And to confound things slightly more for her, she and her mammy are white witches for the local village. Witches that aren't always accepted. Now if you've been paying attention, you'll be thinking about my minimal amount of supernatural statement and the white witches comment. There isn't any real magic that is practiced; instead it is herbs and homeopathic remedies and similar types of solutions. The story is well written with good characters. But, I think this is going to be my last Graham Joyce novel for a while. His literature approach just doesn't interest me as much as his early work. I want something a little more edgy than a feel good book that reminds me of English classes. The weird thing is that I would still recommend him as an author to read. It's just that he's not one that I want to follow.

The Light At The End by John Skipp and Craig Spector

• Purchase it here
• Published February 1986 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 12, 2002
• The book might be a bit old but it is still a good one. It's written by the same two guys who edited the Book of the Dead series in addition to a few novels themselves. I wasn't too sure what the book was going to be about when I started it but it quickly revealed itself as a good, old-fashioned vampire story, brought into modern times of course. For the most part, it follows Joseph Hunter who deals with a personal tragedy by making it his vendetta to find and stop the "Subway Psycho." We also follow Rudy: the "Subway Psycho" and a newly transformed vampire still learning what he can do. There was a little too much of the "lucky coincidences" where the characters just happen to be in the right spot to see the right event to figure out that X and Y really lead to Z; it was just a little too convenient. And I had a little bit of trouble keeping the characters straight as to who was who; there were too many of them and while some really stood out, some of the others just blended together. But considering that I think this was the first book they wrote, some minor things like that are expected. Overall the book is still a great read and one that I very much enjoyed. I would definitely recommend it over a lot of other garbage that is out there. Plus you can then read one of their later books like The Scream or better still Animals and track their evolution as writers.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2006 (Scribner hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on December 21, 2008
• It's been a little while since I've read a Stephen King book. Or at least it feels like it. However long it has been though, there are parts of this novel that feel like a King book and others parts that don't. The story follows Lisey Landon as she starts the process of cleaning out the office of her famous writer husband, deceased for two years. Doing this begins to stir up memories that both frighten and thrill her. Throw into this first a sister who is losing her touch on reality and then a psychotic stalker who uses a small excuse to start terrorizing and hurting Lisey. And you've now got the makings of a King story. He adds his usual great characterizations and modern voice to make everything very real; as with most of his novels, it becomes easy to see the foundation or start of the novel happening. At least until the supernatural elements kick in. And this book is no exception. The parts that I had problems with though were his extensive use of flashbacks. There are large chunks where Lisey remembers key events in her and her husband's past and that is to be expected. However in addition to the numerous memory flashbacks there were a few times when the flashbacks were nested within themselves. Lisey would remember back to a time when she was remembering back to another time and then relive that further memory. I understand why King wrote it that way and I suppose it worked but it was also something that I found distracting. Each time he did it I would be pulled out of the story and realize that I was just reading a book; part of the magic would disappear. It wasn't something that made me stop reading but it was distracting nonetheless.

Little Deaths edited by Ellen Datlow

• Purchase it here
• 22 short stories by such authors as Clive Barker, Harry Crews, Douglas Clegg, Ruth Rendell and Dan Simmons
• Published September 1995 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on February 09, 1999
• Looking back at the stories included, I find that the book actually started kind of weak and then gained in intensity and quality. Most of the stories at the end are really good, even if they didn't make my favorites below. I also didn't mean to pick as my favorites the stories by the authors listed on the cover, but they were the best ones inside. So they become my favorites. Not one of the better collections out there but not too shabby.

  "Becky Lives" by Harry Crews - An excellent tale of extremely nasty revenge by an ex-husband.

  "On Amen's Shore" by Clive Barker - Part of The Great and Secret Show universe that expands on Quiddity. A must for Clive Barker fans.

  "An Outside Interest" by Ruth Rendell - A scary hobby becomes deadly.

  "Ice Palace" by Douglas Clegg - A fraternity hazing goes a little too far.

  "Dying in Bangkok" by Dan Simmons - A vet visits the ultimate sex show in Thailand, twice.

Live Girls by Ray Garton

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2006 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 25, 2008
• This was an extremely fun and exciting book to read. The story gets moving pretty early on and doesn't let up. This is one of those books where you don't want to put it down and before you know it, a couple hours are past and you are almost finished. Davey Owen is having a hard Monday. After his girlfriend leaves him and work treats him as crap, he steps outside to get some fresh air. Before he knows it, Davey is enticed to visit a peep show labeled as Live Girls. And thus starts a new level of having a hard day as Davey finds himself sucked into a world of vampires. Yeah, if you try explaining the book as "vampire strippers", it sounds really corny. But the story is very well thought out and mature. The characters are interesting, flawed and engaging. And it is a nice modern twist on the vampire mythos. You might think that you've had enough of vampires but you should give this a try. You'll like it.

Lizard Wine by Elizabeth Engstrom

• Purchase it here
• Published January 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 11, 1999
• This story is unbelievably awesome! The characters are enriched with life. The story is extremely intense. And the actions are believable and scary. What starts out as a normal night for three men and three women in Eugene, Oregon devolves in to a serious and intense situation that you know will spell out disaster. Then intermixed with the nightly events are each character's background story which is just as interesting as the evening proceedings. The backgrounds flush out the characters and makes the verbal assault of the evening better. Oh, in case you get the wrong impression, the intensity is not action based; it's mostly psychological. But they are mind games which can still lead to death. If that is what you enjoy, then do not miss this book!

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1965 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 04, 2002
• Since the memory of the movie was more prevalent than my previous reading of LOTR: FotR, I often found myself comparing the two. And other than the removal of a couple of characters and some speeding up of the plot, the two are very similar. And actually I thought the speeding up of some elements made more sense. In the book, the characters, mostly Gandalf, keep emphasizing the need for speed yet they keep delaying. A good chunk of time is spent at Rivendell, even after they decide what to do it took another chunk of time to decide who should go with them. And then more time is delayed at Lorien. And of course the original departure from the Shire was delayed even after it was decided to go with some urgency. Anyway it is still a thrilling and fantastical journey and tale of good versus evil. And now I'll have the final two books to finish without a move-yet-released to taint my impression.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1965 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 21, 2002
• Maybe it's because I read all three books pretty much back to back but I didn't enjoy this last one as much as the previous ones. I usually don't care much for the details of where things are located or the ancestral history of various character and this novel had both in abundance, including six different appendices of history. Every time someone went somewhere it took five pages to describe the paths and roads taken and another five pages to describe the parents and grandparents of each person. It was just too much. Then the books inside the novel again separated the journeys into the rest of the company for Book V and Sam and Frodo for Book VI. The pacing would have been better if the two stories were intermingled. This would have allowed for a continual build up instead of one then the other with references to the first being inclusive. overall I'm glad that I re-read the stories and I enjoyed them but I'm also really glad that there is not a fourth novel.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1965 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 17, 2002
• LOTR: The Two Towers is essentially split into two stories. The first half, Book III, details Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas as they follow Merry and Pippin. Actually it details the two separate paths that lead the groups in the battle against Saruman. It involves the return of Gandalf, now Gandalf the White, in an explanation that doesn't completely explain things. This kind of makes sense since wizards should be mysterious. The other main thing I was a bit disappointed with was the resolution of Saruman. It kind of left me hanging. The second half, Book IV, deals with Sam and Frodo and their journey to destroy the ring. Along the way they befriend/tame Gollum and in the process add a lot of depth to his character. In fact I began to like Gollum more so than Sam or Frodo. In the end, Gollum stayed true to character and helped to make an exciting end that was even more of a cliffhanger than in LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring.

The Lost by Jack Ketchum

• Purchase it here
• Published May 2001 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 05, 2005
• Before I started this book, I thought the title was referring to some gang of crazy people hiding out in the woods who killed people. An idea that gained further strength from the cover of a body in the woods. It wasn't until about a third of the way through the book that I realized the title referred instead to some of the main characters and how they were lost in life. In addition to the obvious negative force within the character Ray, there are many minor characters with various degrees of being misplaced in life, unsure of what they are doing or should be doing. Similar to Ladies' Night, there isn't one primary character driving the story but instead an ensemble cast whose lives all intermix. It's not quite what I was expecting, namely it was more grounded in reality, but it was still full of wonderful and interesting characters. And more importantly it was a solid read through and through.

Lost Angels by David J. Schow

• Purchase it here
• Published March 1990 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on March 19, 2000
• While I was looking forward to reading this book, I didn't realize it until I actually started to read it that it was a compilation of five short stories and not a novel. No problem, I love short stories also. And right off the bat after reading the first one, I love it. "Red Light" is my favorite story of the group. Don't take just my word for it; it also won the 1987 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. Unfortunately the other stories don't quite measure up to the first. Sure, they are all good but "The Falling Man" does ramble a bit with no clear end in sight and "Monster Movies" is more like reminiscing than a story. I can't fault the character development though as each story does include people that you can identify with.

  "Red Light" - A tale of love and too many pictures

  "Brass" - A son inherits more from his father than he could hop

  "Pamela's Get" - A contract is a contract

  "The Falling Man" - A director gets the deal of a life time

  "Monster Movies" - Friday night monster movies return

lost boy, lost girl by Peter Straub

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2004 (Ballantine Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 31, 2004
• I really like Straub's writing and this book is no exception. It's not as strong as some of his previous work but it's still quite good. This book continues the life of his recurring character Tim Underhill, this time by concentrating on his brother and nephew. After the death of his brother's wife, Tim is pulled into the start of a mystery. I say start since the bulk of the mystery occurs after his nephew's disappearance. It's then that he really starts to investigate and probe what happened. Unfortunately for us this book centers more around the story and less around the characters. There could have been much more depth to the characters which would have involved us that much more into the book. Instead we get a story that is more surface than deep. I also regret not seeing more of the Tom Passmore character. I've come to really like him from The Throat and Mystery that it was a shame to tease us with him but not really give him much to do. Overall though, the plot does contain a good crossweave of elements that pulled me in as they were revealed. And it did leave me pondering and thinking of the book hours after I finished, always a good sign in my mind.

The Lost District and Other Stories by Joel Lane

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2006 (Night Shade Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 31, 2007
• Beautifully bleak. That is an excellent way of describing Lane's collection of short stories. They are beautiful to read, extremely poetic in the way that images are quickly and lovingly portrayed. I was continually amazed at how well portrayed the stories were. But at the same time the subject matter is brutal, harsh, emotionally honest and blunt. These are not stories to lightly parse over and continue reading back to back to back. About halfway through the collection, I had to stop and read another book in order to break the grim feelings. I remember when I read Harlan Ellison's Deathbird Stories the introduction for that collection warned about not reading the book in one continual string. The same thing should be said here. The stories are dark and creepy. For fans though who like facing their own horrors and being honest about affects them (emotionally and sexually), then this collection is for them. While an occasional story might be missing a plot (at least in my opinion), all of the stories invoke strong images and themes. My favorites are below.

  "The Bootleg Heart" - A story summed up by the first line: "My first love was a girl I never actually met."

  "The Only Game" - A man's girlfriend dies on him again and again

  "Beyond The River" - A writer takes a reporter into the world of her books

  "Reservoir" - A con visits the victim of his cellmate

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1993 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 19, 1997
• Just in case you think that this is just another vampire novel by a female author who is based in New Orleans; it is not. The vampires here bare only the slightest resemblance to anything from Anne Rice's novels; they have more in common with the creatures from the movie "Near Dark" than anything else. Brite's characters are much more intense and gritty and wild. Rather than blending in and hiding with humans, these creatures relish an open road and the prey they can find. Nothing is too intense for this trio of drug addicted, blood suckers. (An unconscious pun; one of the main character's name is Nothing.) If you are sick of the romantic vampire, this is the place to look! Come experience the graphic violence and intense drama created by vampires, a band of two and an ex-girlfriend. It will grasp you, pummel you near senseless and leave you wanting more, more!!

Love Lies Dying by Steve Gerlach

• Purchase it here
• Published December 2006 (Bloodletting Press signed and numbered hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on September 7, 2009
• Wow, this book is extremely gripping and exciting. It grabbed me from the start and didn't let go. Almost all the action focuses on only two characters: John and Zoe, John's wife Helen's best friend. It starts not so innocently when John comes home late from work and finds Zoe laying naked on his couch. Zoe reveals that she is running from a boyfriend who has threatened and scared her and that she wants to hide with John and Helen until she can get back on her feet. The problem is that Zoe's past is catching up with her and John becomes involved in the battle. As I was reading the book and got to the halfway point, I noticed that we had only seen two characters. Others were talked about and had personalities to love and hate but we had only seen two characters actually there and doing something. A third was introduced shortly afterwards but that was it. It definitely helps in keeping the readers off kilter. I know that was about the point that I started doubting a lot of what was happening and wondered what was true and what was not. There were several points where John was doing things that I wondered what he was thinking. Normally no one should be doing that. However, then I would realize that John was reacting to Zoe with his other head and wasn't thinking. Considering the amount of sexuality that Zoe was oozing off the pages, it then made perfect sense as to what he was doing. In fact, the whole book was very sexually charged. It was also complex in the actions taken and the underlying context. I very much enjoyed the book and encourage others to read it. Much better than Rage, the previous book I read by Gerlach.

The Lost World by Michael Crichton

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 13, 2001
• Originally I was a bit hesitant to read this book. Not because I didn't like the first one because I did. Not because I don't like Crichton's writing because I've pretty much enjoyed everything of his that I read. No, my problem was the return of characters that he had killed off in the first one. But when it came down to it, he accounted for that in a really simple and quite clever manner which I'll leave it to you to read and find out how. Overall the book was good but not great. There were a few events that were just a bit too unbelievable, like the kids stowing away on the plane or people escaping from the dinosaurs in some scenes. Plus Ian Malcom didn't act like he did in the first novel; I would have expected him to be a bit more cynical about the dinosaurs like he was in the movie. I didn't think that his character was consistent. And it was a bit too heavy handed in the dinosaur lectures. But it was still an enjoyable book. One more thing, don't read the book expecting it to match the movie; the two don't match up in very many ways.

Lovedeath by Dan Simmons

• Purchase it here
• Published November 1994 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 29, 1999
• This is actually a collection of five different novellas rather than a single story. Each one focuses on a combination of, obviously, love and death. The compilation worked extremely well except for one story. And unfortunately it is the last story and the one that I think the most work was put in to. But let's look at each of the stories individually.

  "Entropy's Bed at Midnight" - An insurance investigator spends the day with his daughter. This story is a weird mix between love and death by having small stories told throughout the larger short story. It leads to a strange but enjoyable feeling that helps to explain love.

  "Dying in Bangkok" - Originally I read this in Little Deaths but it still loses none of its impact when read a second time.

  "Sleeping With Teeth Woman" - A story meant to counter the movie "Dances With Wolves" which does a superb job of it. Mostly about an Indian brave whose horniness leads him on a great journey of becoming the tribe's leader.

  "Flashback" - An excellent science fiction story involving a drug that lets you flash back for 20 minutes to any point in your past. Unfortunately it causes a family which does love itself to be torn apart.

  "The Great Lover" - This is the one story that I think fails somewhat. It is about a man during World War I who falls in love with Death personified. While the story telling is done excellently and the details of the war are enough to completely un-glamorize it forever, the falling in love part did not work for me. It just seemed to drag the story on and make it longer than necessary. In all, it should not have been the closing story of the collection.

Lullaby: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2003 (Anchor Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 16, 2004
• I finally did it. Or rather I finally overdid it. I've maxed myself out on Palahniuk. This is the third book by him that I've read in two months. I'm going to have to put his books on a hiatus for a while. There is only so much I can take of lonely characters existing on the fringes doing really weird stuff. And don't forget the lists of semi-weird strange items that you half wonder if Palahniuk really knows the list or if he just did a search on the Internet and is listing all the items. This time the lists included furniture styles, home designs, and animals killed in producing food for humans. The story itself involves a journalist finding that the reason for a bunch of unexplained crib deaths is a culling song in a book of poems and who then takes it upon himself to find and destroy all the copies of the book. Is the story good? Better than Invisible Monsters but not as good as Fight Club. I would probably say that it is one of Palahniuk's better books. However learn from my mistake. Don't try to read too much of him at once. It becomes overkill.

Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton

• Purchase it here
• Published January 1996 (paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 19, 1999
• I was a little hesitant to start this novel despite all the good review that I had heard about it on-line. My biggest fear was that because it was only one book of a series on Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. So of course there was going to be a lot of background and knowledge that I didn't know since I was stepping-in in the middle. However it didn't turn out that way. Well, not completely. There were references to events in previous books but nothing that I felt left out of. Sort of the reverse. That I would have felt in the know if I had read them. Instead I was just left with the solid story of a very interesting character. The world in the story is like today except vampires, werewolves, witches and magic have always existed; rather than being a completely fantasy based story, it was more of a murder mystery with a healthy dose of violence thrown in. But at the same time everyone is multi-faceted and the relationships between characters is what makes the story. I can easily see myself getting pulled in to the series and enjoying it!

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

Last modified on October 17, 2009