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.

Lake Country by Sean Doolittle

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2014 (Audible Studios audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on August 8, 2022
• unreviewed

The Lake Is Life by Richard Chizmar

• Published October 2020 (Cemetery Dance Publications signed and limited to 1,112 copies chapbook edition)
• Finished reading it on September 16, 2025
• unreviewed

The Last Astronaut by David Wellington

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2019 (Hatchette Audio audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on December 27, 2021
• unreviewed

The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2019 (Amazon Digital Services audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on September 5, 2019
• I took advantage of my Amazon Prime membership on this one and listened to the audiobook for free. I've been enjoying everything that I've read by Tremblay so I knew this would be a no brainer. However, I was kind of thrown by the first little part of the story. I had recently read a short story where someone woke up in a bed with bandages and didn't remember how he got there. I think it was "Propeller Boy" by Robert Steven Rhine but I don't have the book on hand to check. Anyway, I thought I knew the story at first but it quickly became evident to me that I was thinking of a different story. I think that is why I was a little distant from the characters at first. By the middle and the end, I was totally sucked in. I did guess the surprise at the end of the story but by that time, I didn't care. I had to see and feel and experience the drama. It cut and hurt on multiple levels. I will also say that the narration by Steven Strait was perfect. It totally fit the tone of the story and the situation. I'm curious as to how Strait sounds on other audible books so I might end up hunting something else read by him with my next Audible credit. Overall, highly recommended.

The Last Deep Breath by Tom Piccirilli

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2010 (Tasmaniac Publications signed, numbered and limited to 180 copies paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 26, 2024
• unreviewed

Last Day by Bryan Smith

• Purchase it here
• Published April 2018 (Bitter Ale Press ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on January 24, 2025
• unreviewed

Last Exit for the Lost by Tim Lebbon

• Purchase it here
• Published May 2010 (Cemetery Dance Publications hardcover signed and limited to 1,500 copies edition)
• Finished reading it on February 27, 2014
• There are some authors which I love reading their short stories and there are some authors which I love reading their longer prose. Lebbon doesn't really fall into either category. He has had excellent short stories, novels and novellas. Unfortunately he has also had stories that have been not been as interesting. Sometimes he knocks it out of the park and I'm flabbergasted. Simply awestruck. Other times he does a good job, I'm entertained and that's about it. In these cases, I've kept the analogy going and compared it to an infield hit. A good job but not as good as you would have like. His writing is poetic and stirring. It can be engrossing and amazing. He will do more than just entertain; he will get his ideas under your skin and make you think. The stories might not always be great but when they are, you know that you just read a masterpiece! While choosing my favorites from the book, I realized that most of them focused on a father's love for their child or spouse. Coincidence? My favorites from this collection are below.

  "Last Exit for the Lost" - A father receives some packages from his daughter and must face the darkness inside.

  "Kissing at Shadows" - A man's love for his wife continues even beyond the apocalypse.

  "Pay The Ghost" - A father gets some limited closure to his daughter's disappearance while also facing some hard truths about life and love.

  "The Horror of the Many Faces" - A Sherlock Holmes story with a undertones of H.P. Lovecraft.

  "In Perpetuity" - This is the home run of the book. The grand slam. It's a heart wrenching tale of a father's love for his son and what he would do to prove it. It grabbed me from the start and squeezed my emotions the whole way. This one easily made the purchase of the book worthwhile.

  "The Evolutionary" - A chance to see how important the individual can be to nature moving forward.

The Last Rakosh by F. Paul Wilson

• Purchase it here
• Published 2005 (Overlook Connection Press hardcover signed, numbered and limited to 500 copies 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

• Purchase it here
• 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.

The Last Weekend by Nick Mamatas

• Purchase it here
• Published March 2016 (Audible Studios audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on January 27, 2022
• I haven't read much by Mamatas but what I have read has been interesting. Stuff that has made me think and examine life. There were parts of the book where I felt that if I wanted the full effect, I would need to sit and analyze different elements. The kind of writing that just screams "dissect my symbolism!" The story here focuses on Billy as he tries to survive a post-apocalyptic but still functioning world. Zombies have disrupted the United Stated but not destroyed it. City government is still functioning and hiring drillers to finish any zombies that appear, a job for which Billy is newly hired. We follow Billy as he performs and excels at his job but then at the same time suffers with the other aspects of life: relationships and his heart's desire of being a writer. There are a lot of elements to Billy's life that readers get to consider: conspiracy theories, letting the world impact your life, the starving artist. I found the novel fit into a Venn Diagram of Enjoyment, Literature, and Cliche. The starving artist cliche became a bit much and was borderline annoying before I found myself back in Enjoyment which would morph into Literature. Some of the symbolic portions left me realizing there was more depth to the novel than expected; other portions had me knowing that something was there but that I was missing something. Overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more stuff by Mamatas. At the same time, I understand many of the more frustrated reviews.

Later by Stephen King

• Purchase it here
• Published March 2021 (Simon & Schuster Audio audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on September 9, 2024
• unreviewed

Lazarus, Volume 1 by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2013 (Image Comics paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on June 1, 2015
• unreviewed

Lazarus, Volume 2: Lift by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

• Purchase it here
• Published July 2014 (Image Comics paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 25, 2025
• unreviewed

Lazarus, Volume 3: Conclave by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

• Purchase it here
• Published March 2015 (Image Comics paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on November 4, 2025
• unreviewed

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.

Leather Maiden by Joe R. Lansdale

• Purchase it here
• Published August 2008 (Alfred A. Knopf hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on May 17, 2011
• It's hard to go wrong with a Joe Lansdale book and this one is no exception. Cason Statler is an Iraqi war veteran who moves back in with his parents in Camp Rapture, Texas. This after losing his reporter's job for sleeping with his editor's wife and the editor's daughter. Cason is struggling to deal with his older, more successful brother, the girlfriend who got him through the war but dumped him and a drinking problem. Fortunately his new reporting job provides an insight on an unsolved disappearance of a college student. Once he starts digging into the mystery a bit more, he gets blackmailed and finds out that his brother is involved. As with all Lansdale stories, the characters are unique, quirky but absolutely realistic. People that you would like to meet and maybe even be friends with some of them while simultaneously avoiding others. These types of characters plus the equally quirky situations provide Lansdale's novels with that "je ne sais quoi" which keeps me coming back. It's something that places all his books on my must read list.

Legends edited by Robert Silverberg

• Purchase it here
• 4 short stories by Stephen King, Robert Silverberg, Orson Scott Card, Raymond 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.

Legion by Robert Swartwood

• Purchase it here
• Published June 2018 (RMS Press ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on November 3, 2024
• unreviewed

Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge

• Purchase it here
• Published April 2010 (Subterranean Press hardcover edition)
• Finished reading it on April 10, 2014
• unreviewed

Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2010 (Thomas Dunne Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 5, 2018
• Even though this book is slightly older and had been converted into both a Swedish and a U.S. film, I was able to approach it with a blank slate. I hadn't seen either movie and knew only the basics about it being a vampire book. Oh, and that it was a good story. I was very pleased and entertained. The story focuses on Oskar, a 12-year-old boy and target of the local bullies. One evening Oskar makes friends with Eli, the girl next door who just recently moved in. Oskar finds her strange but also nice and the two become friends. Meanwhile their town of Blackeberg starts to play a bigger part as people start dying and the connection to Eli becomes apparent. LET ME IN pleasantly surprised me in several spots. One element was that there was a pretty large cast of characters; this worked out nicely because it meant that when someone was killed, it could be a "real character" and not just someone that was going to die from the start. Plus, it meant that I could see the effects of the death on other people. Also, the story went for longer than I thought before the word vampire was even brought up. And then it seemed like shortly after that point when Oskar realized what the rest of us already knew. Once that happened, I had to shift my mind away from all the predictions I had built because the story was going somewhere that I hadn't planned. Then right around the time that Oskar goes to visit his dad, I realized that the story was about growing up, about changing and maturing. It was about finding and holding on to what made you happy in life. Oskar learned to stand up for himself, that his own life was worth fighting for. Eli learned to enjoy life rather than existing through the moments. The idea is even mirrored in the relationship between Virginia and Lacke, especially once Virginia gets sick. All of that became clear to me when Oskar thought "Which monster do you choose?" That became a watershed moment for me. So, was there any negative to the book? Not really. At the time I was going through it, the first quarter of the book seemed slow but then I realized it was providing a true depth to the characters and events that were occurring. Now I need to get Lindqvist's short story collection LET THE OLD DREAMS DIE in which the title story continues the story of Oskar and Eli.

Leviathan by Tim Curran

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2013 (Severed Press ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on March 30, 2015
• While an entertaining read, LEVIATHAN could have been better. The idea for a story was there but it didn't strike me that enough effort was put into developing the idea. The result ends up being, as another reviewer pointed out, a book that compares to a Syfy original movie. Johnny Horowitz has overextended himself. As a member of the paparazzi, he is currently on the bad side of enough celebrities that he needs to take a break to let things cool down. That's how he finds himself on vacation on Seagull Island. It is there that he finds an abandoned beach where, when the conditions are right, a gateway to another world or time is opened. A world where monsters and dinosaurs still live. With a hurricane on its way and causing the gateway to open more frequently, Johnny is determined to get irrefutable proof. There are lots of holes in the story that detract from the book. Why has no one really discovered this occurrence in the last eighty years that the beach has been closed? Why do people get trapped or disappear into the other world but no creatures end up on Johnny's world? What happened to the sheriff who appeared at the beginning of the book but was never seen again? Unfortunately I think poor or lazy writing is the answer to that last question. Realistically I think a lot of my issues with the book could have been addressed relatively easily. Expand the book to novel length instead of a novella by inserting a conspiracy on the part of the islanders. The occurrence could have been well-known by the locals but purposefully hidden. Then the book could have had a dual focus of the island's secret and the creatures. This could have led to some character development which would have helped to make me care whether they lived or died. Overall, the book wasn't bad; it just should have been better.

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.

Lightning by Dean R. Koontz

• Purchase it here
• Published May 1989 (Berkley Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 31, 1992
• unreviewed

Like Death by Tim Waggoner

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2005 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on October 14, 2024
• unreviewed

Like Porno For Psychos by Wrath James White

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2011 (Deadite Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 13, 2025
• unreviewed

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.

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 (Dell 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.

Little Heaven by Nick Cutter

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2017 (Simon & Schuster audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on October 15, 2022
• unreviewed

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!

Lola on Fire by Rio Youers

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2021 (HarperAudio audiobook edition)
• Finished reading it on October 12, 2021
• unreviewed

The Long Last Call by John Skipp

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2007 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on January 15, 2009
• unreviewed

The Long Shadows of October by Kristopher Triana

• Purchase it here
• Published September 2019 (Grindhouse Press paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on May 15, 2022
• unreviewed

The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King's pseudonym)

• Purchase it here
• Published September 1980 (New English Library paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on September 1, 1983
• unreviewed

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 and Lonely by Brian James Freeman

• Purchase it here
• Published March ?? 2018 (Cemetery Dance Publications paperback signed edition, Advanced Reading Copy)
• Finished reading it on February 7, 2018
• This collection lives up to everything you would expect from its title and its author: absorbing stories of quiet horror about lost and lonely individuals. While the collection is not very long, it is also the right length considering the sadness within the stories. It would have been a bit depressing to read too many more stories of lonely individuals. This is not the book to use in order to pull yourself out of a funk. Anyway, a solid collection that is well-worth reading. The stories are listed below, going from my least to my most favorite.

  "How The Wind Lies" - While this was the longest story in the book, I also thought it was the weakest. William Carver has moved his family from a colonial town to the middle of nowhere to avoid a Vampyre. However, all the signs show the Vampyre has followed them. I was disappointed with the ending because it was too ambiguous. There was a fair amount of suspense and tension built up over the story. Then the final confrontation ends with an open door and screams; it left me with more questions than satisfied resolutions. The suspense implied a horrible beast was there in the doorway, causing William to scream, but if there was no beast, William should have been screaming too. A "no beast" ending would have been better but there was nothing in the story to even imply that might be the case. So in the end, I was left more puzzled and unsatisfied than scared and thrilled.

  "Losing Everything Defines You" - Originally published as "Something to Be Said for the Waiting". This story is a great blend of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and a found footage movie. It was incredibly easy to get pulled into the confession of what was remembered. Or at least what the protagonist wanted to remember.

  "Loving Roger" - This story was similar to a slow motion crash that keeps getting worse. As we follow Patty on her drive, we know something horrible is going to happen. It's just right there around the corner. But every page reveals that there is something worse about to happen instead. And us readers are in the middle of the action but unable to do anything but slide along and hope the end result isn't as bad as we think.

  "The Plague of Sadness" - While the shortest story of the bunch, this one still packed a punch. A woman experiences a harrowing event and wonders how it could ever happen. Then mere pages later, she's in a similar situation and about to do the same. The how is left unanswered but beautifully so because at that point, the how doesn't matter anymore. It just is.

  "Perfect Little Snowflakes" - This was my favorite of the collection. The title refers to a saying that the protagonist's father used to tell her: that all children are like perfect little snowflakes. It's this image that carries through with the two main characters as the pressure brews. Then it is the sadness at the end covering the loss. The snowflake image fits perfectly with the main character's past and her present. I so wanted to step inside the story and make everything better, but of course I couldn't.

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 hope

  "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 what 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 Echoes by Joe R. Lansdale

• Purchase it here
• Published February 2007 (Vintage Crime / Black Lizard paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on August 27, 2008
• unreviewed

The Lost Level by Brian Keene

• Purchase it here
• Published December 2014 (Apex Publications paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 14, 2016
• I very much enjoyed this book. It touched me on several different levels. (pun not intended) In addition to being an engaging story by itself, it also tied into the occult and conspiracy theories of the real world. Plus many times it referenced elements from Keene's other works. And most importantly, it had heart. Aaron Pace discovers a way to open doors to other dimensions and quickly starts exporing. Suddenly he finds himself trapped in a new, or I suppose I should say different, dimension. A dimension which is an amalgam of pieces from other worlds and times. A place where a modern robot could end up in a fight with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Aaron soon finds two new companions who accompany him on his discoveries through the land, or if you prefer the level. In the Afterword, Keene acknowledged multiple sources for this lost world / man-out-of-time story including among others Edgar Rice Burroughs, the TV show "Lost", the TV show "Land of the Lost" and Mike Grell's comic book "Warlord". And while I can only admit to being a fan of "Lost", I will admit to loving this type of story. Who doesn't want to experience the mysteries of the future and the wonders of the past and also thrive due to your "normal" life experiences, all with a beautiful companion at your side? It appeals to the want-to-be hero in all of us. THE LOST LEVEL gives us all of that. At the same time, Keene weaved in different elements from his Labyrinth mythos. We heard about Ob's invasion of a world. We saw some familiar clicking monsters from the sea. And we got hints of more, more missed or more to come. Or maybe both. (Cue dramatic music) Anyway, it's more than enough to make us Keene fans squeal with delight. The characters that we experience this all through might fit the lost world stereotype but they don't lack originality. They are loving blends of pop culture. For example, Bloop is a blend of Chewbacca, Groot, the blue-furred Beast and probably more that I don't see; Keene made sure we realize this by including references throughout the story. The book was written with love and respect for the genre and readers should love it.

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!!

The Lost World by Michael Crichton

• Purchase it here
• Published October 1996 (Ballantine Books 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.

Love Letters From A Nihilist: The Complete Short Fiction of Brian Keene, Volume 3 by Brian Keene

• Purchase it here
• Published November 2019 (Independently Published ebook edition)
• Finished reading it on June 15, 2025
• It shouldn't be a secret that I really like Brian Keene. As an author and the persona that he puts out there. He seems like a really good person and someone that I would love to sit and have some drinks and a good conversation. The stories that I'm sure he would tell would be captivating. Which directly leads us to this set of his short stories. A collection that reinforces my desire to have an evening of drinks and storytelling. Or rather, story listening on my part. Some of my favorites are below. There were many stories that left an impact and were really good. However, I decided to limit myself to just a few and thus I've listed those top favorites below.

  "Growlers" - A son visiting his father in the hospital gets trapped in the bathroom by an unknown monster. A story that hit due to multiple relatives in hospitals and at death's door.

  "Purple Reign" - A hot-air balloon causes purple rain and leads to chaos.

  "Exit Strategies" - The Exit is probably my favorite recurring character from Keene. Any story with him makes me smile.

  "A Delayed Exit" - The Exit must close a door that has already opened.

Love Lies Dying by Steve Gerlach

• Purchase it here
• Published December 2006 (Bloodletting Press hardcover signed, numbered and limited to 300 copies 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.

Lovedeath by Dan Simmons

• Purchase it here
• Published November 1994 (Warner Books 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.

The Loveliest Dead by Ray Garton

• Purchase it here
• Published January 2006 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on April 26, 2007
• While trying to deal with the loss of their son, the Keller family moves to a new home. An old dilapidated house that has seen better days but that provides the Kellers with hope of rebuilding and starting new. However, they soon start seeing and experiencing things that haunt their lives even more. To that degree, the story is a haunted house novel but the grief, dread and suffering felt by the Keller family is very real. That is what pulls the novel into being something memorable. That and being scary throughout. Overall, I will have to admit that there's nothing wrong with THE LOVELIEST DEAD. It is a solidly entertaining novel and one I would recommend. Not necessarily the best out there but still good.

A Lower Deep by Tom Piccirilli

• Purchase it here
• Published October 2001 (Leisure Books paperback edition)
• Finished reading it on July 18, 2010
• As someone who has read more of Piccirilli's later works, this novel was significantly different. I'm used to his crime noir or pulp fiction type stories. Something hard hitting and gritty and intense. A LOWER DEEP gives us some of that but puts it into a different environment. Instead of real world, the world is full of sorcery and magic, religion and Satanism, and Armageddon. The unnamed Necromancer and his familiar Self are forced to confront their old coven leader Jebediah DeLancre who wants to force the premature return of Christ; this would trigger Armageddon. Necromancer is tempted though because Jebediah promises the resurrection of Necromancer's true love. The story takes the character across the world through places such as stopping a witch's coven, a haunted monastery and finally the climax in Jerusalem. Along the way Necromancer must fight with his own ghosts and his own zombie father. Most of the time I have problems with books centered around magic. There doesn't seem to be much to stop the author from creating whatever magical spells they need. Too few limitations and too few ramifications of those magic spells. This book though didn't fall into that arena. There were some amazing spells being cast but the whole book had a gritty feel that made it more real. It was not as fantastical as it might seem. The book does contain a lot though: Christianity, paganism, witchcraft, multiple demons, zombies, gore, violence, laughs and powerful themes that you'll remember after finishing the book. I probably wouldn't recommend this book as a starting point for Piccirilli's work (try A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN or THE COLD SPOT instead) but this would absolutely fall on the highly recommended list.

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 December 6, 2019