The young narrator is embarrassed about his dad's clowning hobby. his uncle fills him in on the reasons for it. A surprisingly dramatic story about sabotage and capture whilst they were in the French resistance opposing the Nazi regime.
The translation is nice and smooth. It held my interest. It's very slight- as witnessed by me reading it in about half an hour. There really isn't much more to say about it.
There isn't a single weak story in the collection. It's difficult to choose a standout tale because they are all great stories.
The longest of the stories is only 20 pages, but in each one he manages to build a distinct cast of characters and makes this particular reader at least care about them.
School buses must have been important to Mantooth since three of the stories centre around them. They're very different stories though. Guilt is another common theme in the collection, and the title story in particular is quietly heartbreaking.
It's difficult to pin this collection to any particular genre. there are shades of the supernatural, ghosts, crime, occasional science fiction adjacent ideas, and the fantastic.
What they all have in common is that they drag you in from the first sentence and don't let go. If I was forced to pick a favourite, I'd probably go for This Is Where The Road Ends. The moment I clocked onto where the story was going it felt like my heart dropped out of my chest.
Or maybe I'd go for Walk The Wheat, which is almost a zombie story about the bonds of love and family. Or maybe Saving Doll, where a young track star is blackmailed by her brother in a most horrific way. Or maybe any of the other stories. James is a beautifully sad story about outsiders. Chicken is about teen rebellion leading to tragedy.
They're all great. This is just a great book. I'm almost tempted to go back the start and read them all all over again.
If you like your southern gothic to be southern and gothic, and apparently I really do, this is an exemplary example that will be hard to top.
This time around, the danger comes from inside the earth. When a cave system is opened for the first time in centuries, creatures escape to wreak havoc on the world. they kill their victims and lay eggs in the corpses, spreading exponentially across the planet. Being completely blind, they hunt through sound, the only way to avoid them is silence.
This sounds similar to a particular movie currently on its threequel (prequel) but predates the first film in the franchise by a good few years so all similarities can be safely ignored.
Also, these flying creatures, known as Vesps, are small, the size of cats and overpower their prey through weight of numbers, rather than giant things that fly off with their victims.
Our lead characters are a very normal family with a deaf daughter, teenaged Ally (although she's annoyingly called Ali on the back cover- I wish blurb writers would get the details correct). 10 year old Jude, and the parents Huw and Kelly.
When they see the stories about the spreading swarm on the news, they decide to take the dog and run from the city to an old family home in Scotland. Of course, things are not going to go easily for them.
The vesps are certainly the stuff of absolute nightmare. Once they reach mainland Britain, the tension raises and never drops.
I really like that the book just follows a completely normal family. There's no scientist or soldier to work out the cure and to save the world. These are regular Joes in an extreme situation, just trying to survive. They follow what's happening in the world through increasingly unreliable social media for as long as Ally can keep her iPad charged. Every chapter opens with a quote from someone online, on twitter or Facebook etc, with an increasingly hopeless viewpoint.
The family are easily relatable and their relationships are completely believable. These are people we want to see get through this somehow. Lebbon has created a great central cast of characters. I hope that there is a follow up because I need to know what happened next.
This is my second Tim Lebbon book and I'm kicking myself that I haven't read him earlier, because now I've got a lot of catching up to do.
All through 2022, Toby Litt posted diary entries on a daily basis on his substack. He still does, and has over 1000 entries now.
The first year though was prewritten for the whole year, and published online daily, and then in book form on the first of January 2023.
It's an interesting experiment.
The story of this first year includes a birth and a death in the family. Otherwise it's lots of rumination about life, death, the art of writing, his desk, dust and pencil sharpeners; among other topics including the correct use of semi-colons.
Whilst it works relatively well on a one page a day basis, I'm not so sure about as a book.
There is some beautiful writing in here. Litt is a great writer of prose. he really knows how to craft a good sentence.
As a book though, it comes across as more a selection of essays than a novel. Some of them are more interesting than others. the two weeks spent discussing Keats for example, I only skim read, to make sure there were no notifications regarding the pregnancy or his mother's ill health hidden in there.
There are also days where he rambles quite incoherently.
I was hoping to hear more about his writing workshops which were a highlight in the early part of the book. Unfortunately, they kind of faded out after I'd gotten interested in their interrelationships in the class. They provided a continuity in the first half of the book that I feel was necessary. The second half of the year moves a lot faster because more of a narrative arc forms, with the later stages of the pregnancy and the declining health of his mother.
In those sequences, I could really get involved emotionally.
Overall I enjoyed reading it, but I definitely think it needed more of a narrative arc and less essays about dust. Even though the essays could be interesting (even the ones about dust), there were just too many of them which detracted from making this feel like a novel.
Melissa (aka Mouse) is sent by her elderly father to clear out her recently deceased grandmother's house. In addition to being an all round not nice person, her gran was also an extreme hoarder, so it could be a long job.
In her grandad's old room, she finds a journal which seems like gibberish. Unfortunately, after she takes the dog a=on an eventful walk, where she finds geographical features that shouldn't exist, his writings begin to make a lot more sense.
I was hoping for something dark, twisted and scary. instead this is actually more of a comedy. The cover mis-sells this book entirely.
Mouse is a very funny narrator. Her descriptions of living with her coon-hound almost make me (a devoted cat-person) want a dog.
Looking at it as a light-hearted horror with a comic edge, this really works very well. Once I adjusted my expectations I found a lot to like in this book.
The ramblings in the Granddad's journals are actually taken from a 1904 Arthur Machen story- The White people. I'd never heard of it until the writer's afterword, but prior knowledge of the story will probably not affect enjoyment overmuch.
Despite never being particularly scary because of the light tone of the narration, Kingfisher still generates some decent tension in places. As a reader I liked her and the dog, and didn't want to see them come to any harm. I particularly liked the fact that, when things took an unambiguous turn for the nasty, Mouse's first instinct was to get the hell out of there. She's certainly one of the most believable central characters in a horror novel in that regard.
The supporting cast are nicely drawn and good comic support. The monsters when they appear are imaginatively nasty.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and will definitely be buying more of her work in the near future.
Back in 2021, Boom comics released BRZRKR, a series of comics by Keanu Reeves about an immortal warrior with a tendency for ultra violence, who just happens to look a lot like one Mr Reeves. (He's slated to play the role in an upcoming live action version too.)
The comics did rather well and apparently broke records for the sales figures.
Now there's a novel set in the BRZRKR world, with Keanu's name above that of the actual author of the novel. And here it is,
Reeves has been completely honest about his level of input into the writing process of this (I believe his quote was along the lines of "China Mieville wrote a novel").
The immortal warrior Unute aka 'B' is almost as old as homo sapiens. He's immensely strong and prone to berzerking, where he basically kills anything in range, including friends and family if they're too close. Even on the odd occasion when he dies, a magic egg will form and rebirth him, full size and ready to kill all over again. He longs for mortality. he doesn't want to die, he just wants to be able to. In the modern day, he's working with a top secret government agency. When a very dead young soldier mysteriously resurrects, it looks like forces from his past may be coming back to face him all over again.
I will admit that I struggled to get into this book. However, after about 70 pages or so it became a lot easier. I'm not sure if that's because the style of writing settled down, or whether I just tuned into the style, or maybe just because I understood what was actually happening at that point... Regardless of why, it became a much easier read and quite compelling in its own way.
He alternates chapters between modern day and relevant flashbacks to his past which serve to explain what's actually going on (although some of the relevance is not clear for a long while= you have to take him on trust that it's going to mean something and he does repay that trust).
It's probably the least good book of his that I've read, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a serious literary take on a very basic and pulpy plotline. It's a mix that probably shouldn't work as well as it does (and I could sympathise with people who might claim that it doesn't work) but I would give this a clear 7/10.
It's a different take on the zombie novel in that the title character was born dead and grows to near adulthood from infancy in the first segment of the book. From then on in it mostly joins the ranks of the various thinking zombie style books.
John "Stony" Mayhall is found dead in the arms of his dead mother by Wanda Mayhall in the aftermath of a zomie outbreak. When he started to move, Wanda took him home where, against all possibility, he starts growing.
Eventually, he is forced to go on the run where he meets the underground organisation protecting the Zombies left "alive". From thereon in, this becomes a political thriller with zombies rather than the unusual family drama we'd had to that point.
Stony has powers I've never seen before in a zombie novel. At times this is almost a superhero story with zombies.
This is a fast and very easy read. Stony makes for a sympathetic central character. The supporting cast are well drawn.
This is one case where I'm not sure we needed the prologue as it almost stretched from foreshadowing into spoiler territory. That's a minor point though and at no point was I bored while reading this. It's frequently funny (referring to the Romero films as documentaries for example, and the been there done that attitude to one potential action sequence is particularly amusing) and there are some real shock moments.
I will definitely be adding more of Gregory's books into my ever growing TBR pile. And if my sister is reading this- a big thank you.
This is a psychological thriller about twins separated at birth, with a large inheritance and shady conmen thrown in for good measure.
When rich girl Fiona, who's due to come into a large amount of money on her 21st birthday, finds a photograph in her mother's drawers of a girl who looks just like her, she becomes obsessed with finding her. A few years later, she tracks her mysterious double to Rome and moves there.
Maddie, her estranged twin, has had a neglectful and abuse filled life. She lives in Rome with her alcoholic mother and is suspicious of Fiona. She can't understand why someone like her is jealous of her life.
The tension between them builds and Fiona's behaviour becomes more erratic. Meanwhile, the men in their lives are all less than trustworthy. Who is playing what games and who is going to win?
The book opens in the 21st century with a couple watching a show about people who've disappeared. This is a clever use of foreshadowing telling us that something is on the horizon.
Lambert expertly keeps us guessing as to which of the twins features in the current day segments and what was the fate of the other.
I can think of no higher praise for this book than to say it reminded me of a Patricia Highsmith novel. we know the crime is going to happen, but we have no idea what crime or who will commit it.
Lambert is a maser of building suspense. He effortlessly drops us in the heads of the different characters allowing us to see their clashes and switch sympathies as he wishes us to.
I raced through this book in two days despite the fairly substantial length. It's an easy read but one that will keep you guessing. Lambert is yet another name on my collect everything they've written list.
If you can find a copy of this, buy it.
I'm not sure if I should say much about the plot here as I think this is a book that's best enjoyed cold, with zero prior knowledge, the way I just did.
That makes things a little awkward to review it though.
It's set in the medieval village of Lapvona which is ruled by a despotic lord and inhabited by a scurvy bunch of villagers, none of whom are the slightest bit likeable.
Our principle characters are Marek and Jude, a deformed sheep farmer's son and his father. They're devout to the point of self-flagellation and believe suffering brings them to god.
That's good for them because there is a lot of suffering in this book. The village is beset by numerous natural disasters, murders, assaults by local bandits, cannibalistic tendencies, rapes and more.
Other residents are Villiam the despot in his manor above the village, and Ina the witch who becomes more scary as the book goes on.
This is not a realist novel. The fantasy elements mainly come through Ina the witch, who is impossibly old and has strange powers. A strong stomach is needed as Moshfegh does not shrink from describing all the putridness of the village and the villagers. The whole setup is broad and arguably 2 dimensional. This is almost the medieval village you would expect in a Monty Python skit.
The character's motivations make sense in the framework of this strange world she's created. I was repulsed and irresistibly drawn in simultaneously for much of the book. Her prose is simple and elegant (although she does seem to love the words Sheath and Pubis and maybe overuses them). There are no moral judgements or lessons to be gleaned from this book, and that is deliberate on the part of the writer.
I adored this books and ploughed through it in a day. One of the quotes on the front cover describes it as "Provocative". That's certainly one of the most appropriate adjectives you can apply to this book. The reviews on Amazon and elsewhere are polarised to say the least. I'm adding my name to the positive side.
I loved it unreservedly. This is yet another name to the Must Read More list.
First of all I have to say that this is one of the most beautifully put together books I have in my collection. The wraparound artwork is stunning. The Front and end-piece both have a really weird picture and all but one of the stories is accompanied by something equally good.
The paper quality is palpable. The title page is embossed with the Press logo - something I've never seen before- and the whole thing is just gorgeous to look at and hold. It's also limited to only 330 copies.
It's a collection of weird tales based around trees and nature. The only author in the collection that I knew before I picked this up was Adam Nevill. It's fair to say that he was the whole reason I forked out the surprisingly low price for this.
There are 12 stories in here of varying quality.
It opens strongly with Roots- by Die Booth. This is a strange tale about a young girl and her relationship with a root witch, which becomes the oracle for the small village she lives in. The ending was nicely ambiguous.
One of the highlights from the rest of the book is Adam Nevill's Rock Hopping- where adventurous kayakers come to regret their hop onto an island off the Devonian coast. This has already been selected by Ellen Datlow for her annual best horror of the year collection if you don't believe me that this stor is excellent.
Other highlights include Burnt orchard by Charles Wilkinson- a young family, newcomers to an English village find it difficult to fit in in the heart of the rural community- The Fell by Alys Hobbs- which reads like a particularly strange fever dream- and In the White May by Mat Joiner which brings horror into stories of the Fae.
It closes strongly too with Tracey Fahey's environmentally themed Uhripuu.
There are a couple of stories I found to be very weak, favouring an overwrought writing style over actual storytelling.
Overall this is a good collection but not excellent. The couple of weak stories and the fact that nearly all the stories have the same tone with little variation prevent it IMHO from reaching great heights.
It's still well worth what I paid for it, just as a thing of beauty in its own right. If you can get hold of a reasonably priced copy, I would recommend you do so. The good stories outweigh the bad.
This opens almost immediately after the events of The Song of the Quarkbeast. Jennifer and the wizards of Kazam must recapture the Tralfamosaur that they accidentally released at the end of the previous book.
This leads to a diplomatic incident with the Cambrian Empire. If that's not bad enough, the Mighty Shandar is more than a little peeved with Jennifer. Because she saved the dragons in the first book, he has now failed in his contract to destroy them all and a refund has been demanded.
The Mighty Shandar does not give refunds.
Jennifer must now go on a quest through the Cambrian Empire to find the mythical Leviathan's Graveyard to retrieve the even more mythical Eye of Zoltar- a cursed Ruby of immense magical power.
Despite being a YA book, the plotting is getting increasingly convoluted. That's a good thing by the way.
This latest entry in the series is hysterically funny in places and strangely moving in others. I will admit to working out where the jewel was about 100 pages before the characters did, but this is a YA book so that's probably not that much of an achievement.
The ending is a great set up for the next book, and a demonstration of how to do a cliffhanger ending. Fforde is building up to the ending from at least halfway through if not earlier, and still remembers to finish the central plot of this book (which is the central flaw in the AM Shine novel I read recently. He just finished on a cliffhanger with zero resolution to any plot points).
If you want to read this, you will need to read the first two first. These are not standalone novels and would be incredibly confusing if you weren't acquainted with the world Fforde has built.
I have book 4 at home ready and waiting. It has moved several spots up my TBR and leapfrogged over all his other books that I have yet to read.
This is a follow on to Blasted Things rather than a sequel. We meet Clem, the central character in that book, twenty five or so years later on in the aftermath of the Second World War. She is mourning the loss of her son Edgar.
Her daughter, Aida, is living in London and not coping well with the news of her brother Edgar's death in a POW camp in the far east. She's taking comfort in the form of men.
Starling is an ex-soldier, who was imprisoned with Edgar and was in love with him. Before Edgar died, he asked Starling to take something home to his family.
When he finally plucks up the nerve to meet Edgar's family he is mistaken for another man. He fails to correct Clem and the mistake soon turns into a lie which spirals from his control.
When he meets Aida, their shared longing for Edgar leads to consequences that will shape both their lives forever.
More than just a romance, as advertised on the front cover, this is an exploration of damaged lives. The sections told from Starling's viewpoint present a heartbreaking picture of what bit was like to be gay in the post-war years.
As the book moves towards its conclusion, I had no idea how this could all end happily for any of the characters. Whether it does or not, I will leave for you readers to find out, suffice to say I think it was probably the most satisfying end that it could have had.
This is well up to Glaister's usual standards. Which means it's excellent. The characters are all totally convincing and sympathetic. It's an very easy read, even as it explores deeper issues around women's rights, the hypocrisy around female sexuality and of course, gay rights.
I raced through this book in one day (I had a lot of spare time). It's one of my highlights of the year so far, certainly one of the more moving novels I've read so far.
When Scott Dwyer calls his old friends back to their old home town after the death of one of their friend group, it awakens old memories and an old evil in the woods.
As teenagers they went camping in Suicide Woods as a Halloween dare and it turned out more terrifying than they could have imagined. The evil following them long into their adult lives.
So far, so Stephen King.
But this book quickly turns into something very different. Any comparison with King finishes after the basic setup.
The first act build the characters skillfully and hints heavily at what happened in the night of the title.
Act 2 takes us back to that night through a detailed flashbacks.
Act 3 gives us the horrible and violent aftermath, along with the explanations to all the mysteries of their shared past. But who will be alive to learn the truth?
This is very well written, atmospheric and occasionally bloody scary take on the old "return to the scene of childhood peril" theme.
The childhood trauma was indeed traumatic. There are some great set pieces and a couple of imaginatively creepy monsters. The violence, when it happens, is brutal and effective. The haunted woods genre has not been this effective since Adam Nevill's The Ritual.
Kristopher Triana was another brand new name for me, but I am definitely going to check out more of his books soon.
