Number 29 - A Spider on My Tongue - TM Wright

 If you were to ask me for a list of the best horror novels ever written, A Manhattan Ghost Story by TM Wright would be close to the top every time. It was followed a couple of years later by a sequel, The Waiting Room.  And many years later by this slim volume.

Abner Cray, lead character in the first book, and object of the search by his best friend Sam Feary in the second, is now living, or maybe not, in a house in the woods with a legion of unwanted guests.

His reality has fragmented almost completely.  This book takes the form of a journal detailing his current existence and flashbacks to what led him here, with musings on life and death and the differences between the two states.

It's a weirdly compulsive, totally fractured and not 100% sane narrative. It bounces from subject to subject, flashback to present to nightmare fuel at the drop of a hat.

It has a very similar feel to the TM Wright I reviewed a couple of months back.  It seems like his later books became quite samey, with a lot of repetition of the same verbal tics and narrative trickery, and legible story coming in in second place behind the style. 

The style is very readable and very creepy when it works.  It insinuates itself into your brain without you noticing. The horror comes in quietly at an existential level rather than being immediately frightening.  I still prefer his books that had more conventional narratives along with the existential terror.

This is one for Wright completists like me I think. It's difficult to find online for a reasonable price.  For the casual fan, read Strange Seed, Manhattan Ghost Story, The Woman next Door, The School, the Playground or any of his books from that sort of era. They're more satisfying reads than this one as good as this one is.

Number 28 - Monstress Vol 3 Haven - Liu & Takeda

 This series continues to impress. The artwork continues to amaze.

The worldbuilding continues apace. It's a fascinating and, in my experience, unique mix of feudal Japan, human/animal hybrids, magical necromantic cats, cyberpunk, and eldritch ancient gods.  What's not to enjoy?

We learn more about the ancient ones and the creature living inside Maika Halfwolf. Can Maika trust it? Does she have a choice? Or even a say?

The political scene becomes more and more fraught and war is on the horizon. 

Our heroes have reached a safe haven, but is it? With the forces chasing Maika, trouble is not on the horizon, it's right there.

I have part 4 all lined up and ready to read. Looking forward to it.  

The problem with writing up these continuing series is that, if the quality stays consistent, i'm going to end up repeating myself.  It's not easy to give any plot details without spoilers for the earlier volumes.

I will say though, that this series is as satisfying as a prose novel and I truly recommend you all seek it out.

Number 27 - Nothing But Blackened Teeth - Cassandra Khaw

 

I picked this up because of that gorgeous cover, and word of mouth on social media.  That plus quotes on the back from several of the brightest stars in modern horror which claim it to be the absolute cat's whiskers and best new thing since Hill House...

I went in therefore with expectations set at very high...

That might have been a mistake. Although I can see the quality of the writing and it did move me in the final chapters, I was a little underwhelmed.  I don't think it completely lives up to hype. 

It tells the story of a group of friends who pitch up at a haunted mansion in the depths of rural China for the marriage of a pair of them.  The bride has always wanted to get married in a haunted house (as you do) and this place certainly fits the bill.

A lot of time is spent detailing the past love lives and interactions between the friends. The bride is so opposed to the narrator, it's hard to believe that she would have agreed to allow her to come along since there are so few in the group.  A wedding party of 20 or 30, maybe, but only 6? It's not like she's a plus one to a fully welcome guest. In fact, for a close knit bunch of friends willing to travel to a remote (500 miles from the nearest hospital we're told at one point) part of China for a wedding, there seem to be a lot of underlying resentments. That might be the ghosts dragging their worst feelings out though. 

The atmosphere is built nicely. the legend of the house is suitably nasty and the style of writing is mostly very good. Despite the short length of the book (a shade over 100 pages) this is a slow burn until the terror kicks in.

There's some meta style commentary going on too.  "This is the part of the story where this happens" sort of dialogue.  That was a weak point in the writing for me I will admit. If it was meant as comic relief, it wasn't.  It it was meant to heighten tension, it lessened it.  IMHO.

I think I probably need to set aside a couple of hours uninterrupted reading to properly appreciate this.  Over the last few days I've only managed to catch a few pages here and there, which isn't ideal for this style of horror.

Overall, it's mostly fairly well written and atmospheric, but I wasn't 100% won over, and I'm not sure why. There are some stylistic tricks she overuses which become very noticeable and dragged me out of the story. That's one reason. But it wasn't so much that it's unforgivable. 

One for a reread... This is the sort of book I usually love.  I'm disappointed I didn't like it more.

Number 26 - Simon Says - Frattino & Lee

 

I hope Blogger.com doesn't have automated algorithms that will object to that picture.

This is apparently based on Simon Wiesenthal, a Nazi hunter after the second World War. Here he's depicted as a "Nazi-hunting 007" to quote the Forbes review on the back cover.

It's a graphic novel drawn almost entirely in black and white.  The only colour used is red. the artwork is very good throughout but not exceptional. The use of colour is the only standout in the art department here.

The story follows Simon as he initially works with the Americans to hunt down assorted officers of the 3rd Reich still at large in Germany.  When the unit is closed down he becomes a vigilante and discovers a group of high ranking officers assuming more power again. It's up to him and his partner Bruno to stop the rise of the 4th Reich.

The story is exciting, filled with tension and action set pieces.  I'm not sure how much of a liberty they've taken with the "inspired by" heading. Some of it seems as unlikely as the action sequences you find in an actual 007 flick. If you're going to say that it's based on reality, maybe it should feel more realistic.

There are no notes from the author at the end to answer any of my questions about the veracity of any of the events or characters in the book, which is slightly annoying.

It finishes on a bit of a cliffhanger and as far as I can see there's not a volume 2 out yet. That's slightly more annoying. 

A good way to kill an hour or so.  If vol 2 pops up anywhere, I will be certain to buy it.

Numbers 24 & 25 - Soldier from the wars returning - David Campton - At Midnight I steal Your Soul - John Probert

 

I don't want to waste an entire entry on the David Campton book.

In this one, a barman and barmaid reduce a returning soldier to a quivering ruin of who he was. 

Despite the fact that he's one of my favourite playwrights, this just didn't work for me. It's very short - only 16 pages.  It's described as a grotesque comedy, which I thought was a great sign. His comedies of menace like Little Brother Little Sister are amazingly good.  

I didn't get this one though.  I just couldn't tune into it at all which is unusual for me with Campton. I actually read it twice and still didn't get it. Normally with his plays, i can see it happening as i read it, hear the characters talking.  Not this time, and I don't know why.

A rare misstep.

Next up was another cheat read. John Probert's gloriously titled "At Midnight I steal your Soul". It actually says on the front cover a quick read - so it was ideal.  I read it at lunchtime today. Its a short story in large print and double spaced to make it dyslexic friendly.

A young woman attends a choir rehearsal at an unusual location - a local mental hospital. However, something is stalking the corridors that's more frightening and more vicious than any human.

It's a good fun read. It's atmospheric, weird and, occasionally laugh out loud funny.  I loved the cameo appearance of two of Mr Probert's fellow horror writers on the British scene, the two Gary's, Fry and McMahon, both of whom sounded very like the real thing.

If you're looking for a quick easy read with a gleeful nastiness behind it, this will suit you admirably.

Number 23 - Utopia Avenue - David Mitchell

 

Another book with an incredibly bland cover.  I ordered the psychadelic cover from World Of Books but this is the one they sent me.  More than a little irritating.

However, the contents are the important part. This is a semi contemporary novel so I had high hopes for it (I find Mitchell's forays into distant history to be very tedious, but his writing set in times of living memory tend to be great)

And I wasn't disappointed.  Mitchell well and truly hit it out of the park with this book.  At nearly 600 pages it's a bit of a doorstop but it reads so easily it felt half that length.

I might be a few books behind on my total from last year, but my word count must be a lot higher. This is the 4th book so far that exceeds 500 pages by a distance.

It tells the story of a brief flash in the psychadelic music scene in the late 60s. We start with Dean, a down on his luck bassist who, on the worst day of his young life to date - lost his job, his money and his home - he runs into Levon, a music producer/manager, who takes him to watch a band playing at a venue nearby. Here he first meets Jasper de Zoet and Peter Griff Griffin a guitarist/singer and a jazz drummer respectively. They form a band together under Levon's guidance and are soon joined by Elf Holloway, a folk singer/guitarist/keyboard player.  thus the new band on the block - Utopia Avenue is formed.

The book follows them through the ups and downs of musical life - from a first gig that couldn't possibly go worse to breaking into the American music scene.  They run into many prominent figures of the late 60's scene.

The time period is drawn fantastically. It feels completely real. The characters are drawn equally well.  When their personal lives turn bad, we feel for them.  

On top of all this there are many nods to his other books, some more subtle than others.  Spotting the Easter eggs adds a whole new layer of fun into the book. 

I wasn't 100% certain that Jasper's storyline fitted the overall tone of the novel - especially when it became unapologetically supernatural in nature.  As brilliant and as tense as it was in the final segments, it sat oddly with the realism of the rest of the book.

That was a minor quibble though. I raced through this in just under a week. It's compelling, it's funny, it's sad, it's a fabulous portrait of 50's England seen through the eyes of a very different set of characters, a psychadellic head trip through the late 60s music scene.. What more do you want? 

Number 22 - Killer's Choice - Ed McBain

 

An accidental reread for me.  half way through i suddenly realised I'd read it a few years ago.  On checking my Facebook "books read in" albums i read it in 2017 and at the time was my first Ed McBain novel.

It's very much a product of its time. If someone tried to publish this today there would be a storm about the casual sexism displayed by pretty much everyone including the women.

However, that aside, this is a damned good police procedural. It's the 4th in the 87th precinct series, but they all work as standalone novels so no prior knowledge is necessary.

I would love to see an ongoing tv series made of these books, set in the same time as the books. They could do three or four of the books per series and they'd take years to get to the end of the source material.

This one follows the investigation into the death of a young woman, Annie Booth, shot to death at her job in a liquor store. It wasn't a robbery since the cash was all still in the register.

Every person who knew Annie seems to describe a different person.  But which of them had the motive means and opportunity to gun her down?

There's also a subplot with another killer being chased down. McBain managed to squeeze a lot of story, and description, into the scant 150 pages of this book.  It's not perfect, but it's solid and good enough that I now pick up the 87th Precinct novels any time I see them going cheap.

In summary, some dated attitudes but a good read.

Number 21 - The Dragon's Child - Janeen Webb

 

A nice little cheat read. Janeen Webb was a complete unknown quantity to me before reading this book that I received as part of a mystery bundle from PS2 Publishing.

It was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

The plot involves shapeshifting dragons who disguise themselves as human and run significant portions of the world economy. After accidentally eating a baby (these things happen), a particularly powerful dragon switches one of her eggs for the deceased infant.

The child learns human feelings, something no dragon has done before.  This can only mean trouble.

Janeen Webb keeps everything in a morally grey area and I was never quite sure which side I should be cheering on. I don't think that's a bad thing though. 

The writing is beautifully done.  I breezed through this in a couple of hours. The characters are sketched as well as they can be in a narrative this short. The world-building is amazing considering the fact it's less than 100 pages.

If I was to make any criticism it would be that this feels like the opening section of a much longer work and not a one off. I was left wanting more, but mainly because it felt like she was abandoning us in mid-story. The fact that I want to know what happens next tells you that I really enjoyed it. I will be looking out for future installments.

Number 20 - Maus ii - And Here My Troubles Began - Art Spiegelman

 Maus I finished where Vladek Spiegelman, after evading the Nazis for years, was captured and sent to Auschwitz.

This volume completes his story, with a detailed rundown of the atrocities he witnessed and his almost miraculous survival.  The first version of that sentence said miraculous escape. but that's the wrong word.

In my write up on volume 1, I said it was powerful and disturbing. Compared to this, volume 1 is mild. 

If this was pure fiction I would say that it was impossible. Humans aren't that vile to each other.  This is unbelievable.  But this is a true story, even it it has been anthropomorphised into animals. It's an eyewitness testimony of the most disgusting crimes against humanity in living memory.

The meta part of the story, where Art himself interviews his father, is deeply moving and scarily honest. Art shows us all his own and his father's faults as people. How much of his father's personality can be excused by what he went through? Art clearly shows his exasperation at his father, and his guilt for not wanting his father living with him despite the amount of help he clearly needs. 

This being a true story, don't expect pat answers to any questions raised. Do expect to be shaken to the centre of your existence. The descriptions of the atrocities at the Auschwitz and Dachau camps are worse than any horror story. I was thankful that the characters are all drawn as different animals.  It makes the horror of what happened a bit easier to process. Until of course, the moment that it did process and then... 

This is one of the most important books about the holocaust. The artwork makes it so much easier to digest without diluting the power of the story or the horrors humanity is capable of inflicting on each other.

It's a genuinely traumatic read.  But we have to learn the lessons from history. This is one bit of history that cannot ever be allowed to repeat itself. 

 I bought book one when it first came out and struggled to find an affordable copy of book 2 recently. However its easily available as an omnibus version of both books. There's no excuse to not go out and buy it.

Number 19 - Outcast Vol 8 - Kirkman et al

 

After the marathon that was GNTC, a quick sprint through the long awaited final volume of this series. 

Compared to a few graphic novels I've been reading, the artwork is really quite basic, as is the storytelling.

It's still an enjoyable little morsel to read. It''s a good ending to a pretty good series, no matter how basic it might be.

Sometimes a light snack is what you need instead of a banquet, and this is a tasty snack.

Number 18 - Ghoul N the Cape - Josh Malerman

 

This is possibly the single most expensive book I've ever bought.  It's certainly the heaviest. It's also the only book that came with it's own themed shot glass.

This limited edition from Earthling Press is a thing of beauty and arrived in the best packaging I've ever received a book in.

There are 7 full page full colour illustrations inside the book as well. With a word count equaling that of the original version of the Stand, you get an awful lot of book for the money.

I'm used to Josh Malerman writing in a spare, pared back and atmospheric prose. This is almost a direct opposite. It almost doesn't read like a Malerman book. Characters monologue regularly (can you use monologued  as a verb?) for a couple of pages at a time.

We're treated to a continent wide story of a road trip from a dive bar in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty to the westernmost point of Alaska, via Hawaii.

It all starts when a guy walks into a bar. The bar is Logan's (as immortalised on the shot glass)  The guy is the Cape.  He enlists Ghoul, a regular customer in the bar, drinking his life away, to join him on his journey across the States, trying to outrun the Ghost Star aka the Naught as it descends and starts eating the country from east coast to west. They're chased across country by agents of the naught, including a man whose face drips shadows and who carries a long sharp blade that reflects the stars even in daytime, and a man made of blood.

A quest is a trip to accomplish a task.  An adventure is a trip without a destination.  A journey is when the trip is more important than the destination.  This book manages to be all three. They run into an assortment of weird and wonderful characters on their trip. I don't want to say too much about them as it would spoil some great surprises.

This is probably the least scary book Josh has written so far.  Other than the guy with the knife, the threats to life are more metaphysical in nature and I was reminded of themes he explored in Carpenters farm back in 2020.  As a Brit sat watching news from the good ol' USA, I have to say that this book provides as good an explanation as any for the history of the USA in the last 5 years or so.

The writing is as brilliant as it is expansive.  The monologuing I mentioned earlier is no bad thing.  The philosophising that happens is quite fascinating in its own right. There are many laugh out loud moments, and despite me saying it's the least scary book he's written, it still has its moments.

There were a few times reading this where I totally lost track of time.  I'd pick the book up, and what I thought was 5 minutes later I was 50 pages further through and an hour had vanished. It takes good writing to do that. This isn't a book that kills time.  it dissolves it and eats it as surely as the Naught chomped its way through the Midwest and spews you out the other side a changed person.  

The only issue I have with this book is that I've now got to completely rearrange my shelves to find a space for it.

It might still be available from Earthling Press, but it's a limited edition of 1000 copies so you may have to try the second hand markets to see if anyone is fool enough to get rid of their copy. My copy is number 861, so it was selling fast.