The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapists in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynette's worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart, piece by piece. 

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. 

The very first movie I remember seeing in a theater was Dawn of the Dead. My mom loved it, so when it was rereleased years later, she took me along. I saw Creepshow at the drive-in, but had to turn around and watch The Sword in the Stone on another screen during one particular scene that will remain unspoken.

I grew up on horror: Children of the Corn, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween. These weren’t just movies, they were lessons in survival, in what it means to be the one who makes it out. One of the first movies I saw on my own was Bad Dreams, and that giant fan scene has lived rent-free in my brain ever since, a moment I still haven’t quite shaken.

I’m laying all of this out so you understand exactly where I’m coming from. I loved The Final Girl Support Group.

This book reads like the twisted sequel to every slasher I’ve ever seen — not the movies themselves, but what happens after the credits roll. The five women at its center survived everything the genre throws at you: summer camp massacres, sorority house bloodbaths, a home invasion that wiped out an entire family, miles of road turned into a moving nightmare. And then there’s Lynette — the book’s version of Laurie Strode — a woman shaped by a killer who tore through her town and left her to live in the aftermath. If you’ve seen the recent Halloween trilogy, you already understand what that kind of survival does to a person.

In the wrong hands, this could have been a straightforward slasher novel, something predictable, something easy to put down. In the hands of Grady Hendrix, it becomes something sharper and more deliberate. He shifts the focus from the violence itself to what lingers after it, memory, damage, and the way the past refuses to stay buried.

Because if horror teaches you anything, it’s that the past is never really dead.

Challenges: Cloak and Dagger 

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

After the terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themselves heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia. 

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell something is not quite right in their home...or in their dreams. 

Let me tell you a story, and if it gets too long, you can skip it. Promise. One of the few places my mom stopped long enough, as we moved more times than I can count — pre-carnival years — was Salem, OR. We lived there for at least a full year before moving further north, but that’s not the story. The house we lived in is.

It was a yellowish beige house on the corner of State St. and some random street I don’t remember the name of. It dead-ended at a railroad track, if that helps anyone place it. Salem wasn’t the safest area to live in the mid-1980s, and our neighborhood was pretty rough… but that’s not really the point.

This little, unassuming house was odd from the start. I had never sleepwalked before, but I started within the first week of living there. The attic opened into the garage, and if you threw a rock up there, it came back down a few minutes later. My mom kept our dog in the garage — not the attic — and it would go absolutely insane, barking up at the attic like its soul was in jeopardy.

One night, some kids from the neighborhood were spending the night, camped out in the living room, when we all heard what sounded like a power saw starting up in the attic. There wasn’t a kid there who didn’t bolt for home. Then there’s the time I watched a crutch travel across a wall in my mom’s bedroom. That one stuck with me.

Needless to say, my mom did a little digging, and while I won’t go into the details, that house had every right to be haunted.

I’m not here to convince you that ghosts are real or that haunted houses exist. I’m just telling you all of that so you understand why I love haunted house stories as much as I do. You’d think an experience like that would’ve sent me running in the opposite direction, but it did the exact opposite. I can’t get enough of them — especially when they lean more Gothic, like What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher.

When I realized the sequel to What Moves the Dead was set in a haunted hunting lodge, I was basically screaming in delight like a six-year-old at a My Little Pony birthday party.

I loved What Moves the Dead so much that, despite all that excitement, I was a little hesitant going into this one. I was worried a second outing with Alex — which still somehow doesn’t involve us sitting down for tea — wouldn’t live up to my probably overinflated expectations.

Thankfully, Kingfisher didn’t let me down. I enjoyed the hell out of this.

I tore through this in one sitting, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get under my skin a little. There’s a slow, suffocating dread here that just keeps building until you realize you’ve been holding your breath right along with Alex. That dread comes through most in how the haunting itself plays out.

The way she crafts this haunting genuinely got under my skin. Alex is attacked by a vengeful spirit that literally steals their breath as they sleep, slowly wearing down their already fever-racked body. And as if that isn’t bad enough, they’re trapped in a nightmarish dreamscape that forces them to relive the worst atrocities they experienced during the war — along with all the guilt and regret that comes with it. To fight back, Alex has to work through those memories head-on instead of avoiding them, which makes this feel more personal.

Maybe that’s why this worked so well for me. That house in Salem never really left me — that feeling that something is there, just out of sight, but very real. This book taps into that same kind of quiet, creeping dread.

Some haunted houses try to scare you.

This one feels a little too much like home.

Trust: America's Best Chance by Pete Buttigieg

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Trust is essential to the foundation of America’s democracy, asserts Pete Buttigieg, the former presidential candidate and South Bend mayor. Yet, in a century warped by terrorism, financial collapse, Trumpist populism, systemic racism, and now a global pandemic, trust has been squandered, sacrificed, abused, stolen, or never properly built in the first place. And now, more so than ever before, Americans must work side by side to reckon with the monumental challenges posed by our present moment.

Interweaving history, political philosophy, and affecting passages of memoir, Buttigieg explores the strong relationship between measures of prosperity and levels of social trust. He provides an impassioned account of a threefold crisis of trust: in our institutions, in each other, and in the American project itself. Today, these perilous patterns of distrust have wreaked havoc on nearly every sector of society, as Americans increasingly resent the very government that needs to be part of the solution. With the internet and partisan television networks acting as accelerants, Americans jettison any sense of shared reality, lose confidence in experts and scientists, and cope with the grim national tragedy of a pandemic that has only further exemplified the lethality of distrust.

Buttigieg contends that our success, or failure, at confronting the greatest challenges of the decade―racial and economic justice, pandemic resilience, and climate action―will rest on whether we can effectively cultivate, deepen, and, where necessary, repair the networks of trust that are now endangered, or for so many, have never even existed.

I’ve admired Pete Buttigieg for quite a while now, and reading Trust only deepened that admiration. During his presidential campaign, he and his husband Chasten carried themselves with a level of dignity and respect that often feels rare in modern politics. Even in a very intense national spotlight, they remained gracious, grounded, and consistently decent. As a gay man, that meant a lot to me then, and it still does now.

What stands out most in Trust is how clearly Buttigieg explains the growing crisis of mistrust in our institutions — and how complicated the reasons for that mistrust actually are. He writes about the erosion of confidence in government, the news media, and other institutions that shape our public life, and he does so thoughtfully rather than defensively. If I’m being honest, it’s one of the most balanced discussions of the issue I’ve read, and that approach really resonated with me.

He is also careful to acknowledge that mistrust didn’t simply appear out of nowhere. In many cases it was earned — particularly among marginalized communities that have historically been excluded, ignored, or even harmed by the very institutions now asking for their trust. At the same time, he addresses the rise of purposeful misinformation and how it has deepened existing fractures. In many ways, that deliberate misinformation feels like pouring gasoline on a fire that was already burning.

When I finished Trust, I felt that the problem he describes is serious but not hopeless. Buttigieg clearly believes our democratic institutions are worth repairing, and I appreciated his willingness to engage the issue directly. The country could use more leaders willing to do that — and honestly, I’m begging him to run for president again someday.

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket: 

Colonel and Mrs. Bantry are shocked when they wake up one morning to find the dead body of a young platinum blonde on the floor of their library. Nobody in the village of St. Mary Mead seems to know who she is, but everyone has a theory about the crime. The ensuing investigation follows a twisted trail from the quiet village to an upscale hotel in the nearby town of Danemouth, where the victim worked as a ballroom dancer and bridge hostess. As the local inspectors sift through emerging clues to identify a suspect, Miss Jane Marple, St. Mary Meade's resident sleuth, always seems to be one step ahead of them. 

First of all, forgive the slightly askew book cover — I love this edition far too much not to use it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t manage to take a perfectly lined-up photo of it, and eventually I decided close was good enough. 

If I’m remembering correctly, I haven’t reread The Body in the Library in ten or twenty years, so it’s been a while since I’ve spent time with this convoluted caper. It had been long enough that I found myself genuinely surprised by the fiendish little scheme Miss Marple exposed. While I remembered the mastermind behind the murder, I had completely forgotten how it was accomplished, so I took great delight in letting Miss Marple fill in the blanks for me all over again.

Agatha Christie had a mind like no other. She gives you every clue you need and then buries them in just enough distraction to make you doubt your own intelligence. Somehow, when the final reveal arrives, you don’t feel tricked — you feel outmatched. That balance is precisely why she has been my favorite author since I was given two of her books for Christmas in the fifth grade.

I do wish Miss Marple were a little more at the forefront in this one. Too much of the story belongs to the professional inspectors and not quite enough to her quiet deductions. But that’s a normal reaction for me — I almost always want more Miss Marple in her books and less Hercule Poirot in his. I suppose I’ve always enjoyed the old lady with a knitting basket more than a man who refers to himself in the third person.

Challenges: Cloak and Dagger, Mount TBR

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket: 

For the lucky among us, life is what you make of it, but for Dixie Wheeler, the theme music for her story was chosen by another long ago, on the day her father butchered her mother and brothers and then slashed a knife across his own throat. Only one-year-old Dixie was left alive, infamously known as Baby Blue for the song left playing in the aftermath of the slaughter.

Twenty-five years later, Dixie is still desperate for a connection to the family she can’t remember, so when her childhood home goes up for sale, Dixie sets aside all reason and moves in. But as the ghosts of her family seemingly begin to take up residence in the home that was once theirs, Dixie starts to question her own sanity and wonders if the evil force menacing her is that of her father, or a demon of her own making.

In order to make sense of her present, Dixie becomes determined to unravel the truth of her past and seeks out the detective who originally investigated the murders. But the more she learns, the more she opens up the uncomfortable possibility that the sins of her father may belong to another. As bodies begin to pile up around her, Dixie must find a way to expose the lunacy behind her family’s massacre in order to save her few loved ones who are still alive—and whatever scrap of sanity she has left. 

How could anyone read that synopsis and not want to dive right in? Granted, it’s one of those synopses that might be just a tad long, but no matter how many times I read it, I can’t decide which lines I would cut. It’s a synopsis designed to make you want to read the book — and read it I did.

Dixie is one of those characters who, no matter how much she annoyed me at times, I still found myself caring for. I think it’s fair to say she makes horrible decisions. I mean, who moves into the house where their family was slaughtered? Well, Trevor did it in Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite, one of my favorite books of all time — but that’s literally another story, so pretend I didn’t say anything about it. Dixie not only moves into this house, she ends her relationship to do it, and then starts decorating the house to make it look the way it did when her family was butchered. I think sanity is the least of her worries.

Dixie’s descent into an almost fugue-like state of madness is so gorgeously written that at no point was I able to look away or pretend that what I was reading was anything other than the story of a woman slowly coming apart, obsessing over her family’s horrific deaths. She was so lost in the minutiae of what happened that she — like me — didn’t really see the truth before it slammed into her face. I can only hope that now that she’s discovered the truth and faced it head-on, she’ll truly heal and be able to put the past, and her family, behind her.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother, Roderick, is consumed by a mysterious malady of the nerves. 

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all. 

Apparently, despite my intentions to read more of the bazillion unread stories that have been languishing on my shelves, some for years, I’ve been more inclined to pick up old favorites. Visiting old friends, spending time in their company, has a soothing effect, and with all the chaos engulfing us right now, I need the comfort those old friends can provide.

Alex is one of those characters I can see myself being friends with. I can imagine the two of us in a darkened home library, the fireplace roaring as Alex regales me with tales of their past exploits. There would be a table set with tea, and we would talk late into the night. I just wouldn’t want that library to be in the Ushers’ ancestral home.

What Moves the Dead is a story that burrowed under my skin, flooding my system with its miasmatic spores until I felt as if my lungs were filled with a wiggling fungal infection, one that threatened to turn me into that nightmarish hare on the cover. It’s a story so steeped in mycological nightmares that once I walked through those doors, I felt just as doomed as Madeline and Roderick. Kingfisher’s prose is as enthralling as it is horrific. She weaves a tale I never wanted to end—even if I desperately wanted Alex and their friends out of it.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends brought back together to celebrate a wedding. 

But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets getbdrwgged out and relationships are tested. 

But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

I don’t say this often—or lightly—but Nothing But Blackened Teeth is one of those books you are either going to love with everything in you, or loathe with your entire soul. I’ve seen no middle ground on this one, and sadly, those who hate it seem to be in the majority.

I personally find the hate this book receives to be undeserved. I fall firmly into the camp that absolutely adores this 124-page novella with every fiber of my being. When I decided to give this a reread a few days ago, I went back and looked at the short little review I typed up on Goodreads the first time around. I loved it so much that I said it belonged alongside The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Hell House by Richard Matheson, and Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite. After this reread, I stand by that.

When I read this for the first time, I experienced an author who truly loves language—the way words feel as you take them in, one after the other, as they lodge themselves into the nooks and crannies of your mind. There is a rhythmic flow to Khaw’s writing as she chooses words and then plays with the way they connect to one another. I think the reason I love this book as much as I do is because this gorgeous writing wraps itself around a group of petty, spiteful, deeply unlikable characters who have no business being friends, let alone gathering together to explore a haunted house and a culture they have no respect for—an experience not all of them will survive. The contrast is so stark that I can’t help but be completely enthralled by it.

While I’m on the subject of language, I want to briefly mention how much I appreciate the seamless way Khaw incorporates Japanese without feeling the need to translate or explain every word outside of the natural context already provided. All too often, those explanations pull me right out of the story, and I’m grateful that never happens here.

I don’t know how often I’ll pull this off the shelf to revisit this beautifully written piece of horror, but I do know that when I do, I’ll embrace the experience and happily lose myself in the ebbs and flows of the prose as I once again walk the halls of that house.

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

Ten year old Harvey Swick is as bored as only a kid can get.  The dullness of February is eating at him, and he doesn't know what to do. Whether it's school or home, Harvey is bored beyond belief and nothing anyone can do, can make it better. Or so he though.

When a strange looking man, going by the name of Rictus, appears at his window, promising to fulfill his wish for fun, he jumps at the chance.  Rictus takes him to Holiday House, where all four seasons take place in a day; and Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all happen within 24 hours.  It's a place where dreams come true, every gift is available, and everyone is just a tad bit creepy.

If Harvey was just a little older, and wiser for that matter, he may have realized that if something is too good to be true, it probably isn't, and that everything has a price.  The question is, will Harvey be able to figure that out before it's too late. 

I've talked about this before, but one of the worst aspects of book blogging has been my inability to go back, and reread some of my favorite books. Preblogging days, there were books I would read at least once a year, never getting tired of them.  The characters were long term friends, and getting another chance to delve into their worlds, was like a homecoming for me.  The Thief of Always by Clive Barker has been one of those books for me for a very long time, and it's one that I've sadly neglected since I've started blogging.

Don't get me wrong, it's not one I've forgotten about.  It's actually appeared on the blog twice now. The first time was in 2012, when I chose to examine the main villain of the piece, Mr. Hood, as part of my Favorite Fictional Characters feature.  One day, young Harvey Swick will be joining him in that feature.  The second time was in a post I did last year, where I looked at how some of my ex-boyfriends have influenced my reading.

When I decided to come back to blogging, I made a promise to myself, that I was gong to start rereading some of my favorites.  And this was the first one I felt I needed to pick back up.  Being able to escape along with Harvey to Holiday House once gain, was so much fun.  I reveled in his playing, lazing in the hot summer sun, dressing up for Halloween, gorging on all his favorite foods, and opening his Christmas presents.  I felt his desire to get lost and embrace the culture that Holiday House seemed to offer.  I shared in his growing sense of distrust, as he realized that things weren't quite as good as they seemed.  My heart broke, along with his, when he realized the full price he has to pay for his freedom.  And I cheered for him as he fought back against Mr. Hood, to reclaim his life, and the lives of so many others.

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

A young actress, Arlena Stuart Marshall, is brutally strangled on the cliffs of a seaside resort.  Each of the guests at the Jolly Roger Hotel has a compelling motive, including Arlena's brand new husband, who seems to be the only man on the island not utterly distracted by her beauty.  It is obvious to all the visitors that Patrick Redfern was violently smitten, much to the distress of his own wife.  And the women hotel guests saw the frivolous and flirtatious starlet in a rather different light.  Only Hercule Poirot, who has come to the Jolly Roger for some much-needed relaxation, can sift through the murderous secrets and macabre clues to unravel the mystery at this secluded playground by the sea. 

It's been a while since I read my last Agatha Christie mystery, and since I'm supposed to be reading them in order, I figured I better get my ass in gear. I wish I could tell you a definitive reason why I've been neglecting not only my favorite author, but my own personal self challenge, but I'm not sure it's all that easy to explain.  I know part of it was the romance binge I was on for a while, a binge I'm starting to week myself off of, but I think another part of it was that Evil Under the Sun was the next book.

I've previously read Evil Under the Sun, in my preblogging days that is, and it has never been a favorite.  I know a lot of Dame Agatha fans that love this one, but I've just never really bought into it all that much. I'm not saying this is a horrible book, because she really never wrote a horrible one, but it is a humdrum outing for me.  When I picked it up this time, I did try to put my previous opinions aside, and go in with an open mind.  And I can admit, that there were certain aspects of the plot and characters that I was able to enjoy more this time around, but it's that blasted ending I just can't get my mind around.

Setting aside the fact that I actually like the killer(s), though they end up being a truly evil person, I think she dropped the ball on setting up the motive, and even a bit with the killer's backstory.  A backstory that Poirot discovers in the end, though why he even looked in the area he did, is still beyond me.  Because the killer's past behavior is so important to the solution, I felt it should have been fleshed out a bit more  I would have liked to have at least seen a few glimpses of that evil in the day to day actions of the killer(s).  In my mind, there isn't even a hint of it, but who knows, maybe they are so infinitesimal, I'm still missing the clues after my third read of this one.  And as far as the solution itself, the way the crime was committed, it's so far out there, it just boggles my mind.  I guess, yes, like all of her solutions, it was physically possible for everything to happen in the manner it did, but it's an even bigger stretch for me with this one.  I can't fall into the willing suspension of disbelief that is so important when reading fiction.

With all that against it, I would still take Evil Under the Sun over most of the "Cozy" mystery stuff being written today.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Out of the Madhouse by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Werewolves, Trolls, Sea Monsters, Rain of toads, Skyquakes.  Sunnydale is being besieged by dark forces.  But even with Buffy providing her unique style of damage control while Giles is hospitalized out of town, it's more than one Slayer can handle - especially since the abominations are coming from a centuries-old portal through time and space. 

Somehow, the hell-hole must be found and corked at it's source.  For Buffy, Angel, and the rest of her gang, that means a road trip to Boston where an ailing Gatekeeper resides over a supernatural mansion that has been, until recently holding the world's  worst monsters at bay.  Once there, Buffy discovers the catastrophic truth: the magical structure houses thousands of rooms, all of which are doorways to limbo's "ghost roads," and all of which may bring her face-to-face with the most nefarious forces in hell and on earth - forces bent on horrific plans far worse than the Slayer ever imagined. 

You guys know that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show of all time, so it should come as no surprise that I loved the tie in books that were being published while the show was on the air.  I stayed away from the novelization of actual episodes, and loved the books that were original story lines.  I used to own at least twenty of the, but a few moves ago,  I had to make a decision to let them go.  I owned too many books, of course I still do, so I'm not sure what I was thinking.  Over the years, I've only managed to repurchase three of them, the three books that comprised The Gatekeeper Trilogy.

There were a ton of authors that tackled the Buffyverse, but Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder were the two that, for me at least, seemed to actual the actual feel of the show the best.  When they got together and wrote this trilogy, I was in seventh heaven.  I always thought if they ever made a movie based of the books, this was the way to go.

The first book, Out of the Madhouse, introduces us to a whole other dimension of strangeness.  Much like The High House by James Stoddard, the Gatekeeper in this trilogy oversees a supernatural prison, that form the outside, looks like a grand Boston mansion.  Locked in it's rooms are ghouls, shapeshifters, ghosts, and monsters straight out of legend; among them, Springheel Jack, the Leviathan, and the Mary Celeste.  It's also home to the family that has been charged with keeping the world safe from them.  They have managed to accrue a few helpful tools to help them with their charge; the Spear of Longinus and the Cauldron of Bran the Blessed.  The current Gatekeeper is weakening, and his heir has been kidnapped by a cabal of sorcerers, bent on allowing chaos to reign free over the earth.

Sunnydale, because it sits on a Hellmouth, has been dealing with the side affects of the house failing. The residents are starting to escape from the house, even if for a short amount of time, and the Hellmouth draws them in, allowing them to run amok.   Buffy and her friends, after some serious research, travel to Boston to figure out what's going on.  Upon their arrival, they quickly agree to help the Gatekeeper get back the heir, and the best television tie-in of all time is born.

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Miriam Blaylock, rich and beautiful, lives life to the fullest - a house in Manhattan's exclusive Sutton Place, a husband she adores, priceless antiques, magnificent roses.  But then John Blaylock, like all Miriam's past lovers, suddenly beings to age.  Almost overnight, his body reveals the truth: he is nearly two hundred years old!

Fearing the terrible isolation of eternity Miriam stalks a new lover.  She is Sarah Roberts, a brilliant young sleep researcher who has discovered the blood factor that controls aging and thus may possess the secret of immortality.  Miriam desperately wants Sarah, for herself and for her knowledge.  But to win her, Miriam must destroy Sarah's love for Dr. Tom Haver, who learns that his enemy is like no other woman who has ever lived... now or forever 

You know the old adage that the book is always better than the movie?  This is one of those times where it comes really damn close to being false.  I fell in love with the movie adaptation of The Hunger the first time I saw it.  It stars the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve as Miriam Blaylock, David Bowie as John Blaylock, and Susan Sarandon as Dr. Sarah Roberts.  T he movie is about as sexy and horrifying as a movie can be.  The tension, of all kinds, oozes off the screen, all of which can be attributed to the way Catherine Deneuve embodied the character of Miriam Blaylock.  It's a beautiful movie to watch, and my love for it, is what kept me putting the book off for as long as I did.  I didn't want to fall in love with the book, and have a movie I love, suddenly start paling in comparison.

I finally picked a hardcover edition up at a used bookstore for about $5.  It still took me a few months before I was willing to read it, but once I did, I fell in love with Miriam all over again.  The sensuality of her character, which is nailed by Catherine Deneuve, is a bit subtler here, but just as effective.  This is still a story about lust and love, and how those two things can become so twisted and blurred, that it's hard to tell them apart.  It has vampiric wrappings, and after Lestat de Lioncourt, she is about the sexiest vampire to ever be dreamed up.  She is not afraid to draw blood and to use violent means to get what she wants.  But outside of that, and sort of hidden among the obsession, is a story about a woman who is trying to find a home.  More than anything Miriam Blaylock wants that forever home, just in her case it would really be for forever.

The Neighbors by Carol Smith

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

The striking, sprawling Victorian building dominates the fashionable London street.  During one lonely Christmas season, Kensington Court welcomes a new resident: Kate Ashenberry, in flight from an uncaring family and a broken love affair. 

In the dark hallways Kate will meet an odd assortment of neighbors: irrepressible Ronnie and Rowena Barclay-Davenport; high-stepping Miles Burdett and his ambitious wife, Claudia; exotic Eleni Papadopoulos from across the hall; acid-tongued dowager Mrs. Adelaide Potter; eligible heartthrob Gregory Hansen; and free-spirited actress Connie Boyle.  Some encounters will blossom into friendships; other will grow more menacing than a brush with a stranger ever could be. 

One potential neighbor has escaped Kate's acquaintance, for journalist Guy Bartlett had tumbled to his death shortly before her arrival.  Some tenants say his mysterious five-story fall a continent away was the most exciting story to touch their lives in years.  But after Kate moves in, more residents of Kensington Court die, each more horribly than the last... and each bafflingly murdered behind a door locked securely from the inside.  Trust between neighbors evaporates.  Kate fears her name is climbing higher on the killer's list of victims.  And always, across the courtyard at one rear window, a lone, unmarked watcher stands vigil.  
As a kid, watching the old black and white movies, I fell in love with apartment buildings like Kensington Court.  They are sprawling buildings, taken up entire city blocks, and are filled with all sorts of interesting people.  Of course, because I fell in love with this grand buildings though movies, I also knew to expect one or two things; either various residents in the building would be killed in a series of murders that seems impossible to solve, or one of them would end up giving birth to the Antichrist.  I figured I had nothing to lose in either situation, so I was already to move to a big city, and move right on it.  Then life happened, I live in a mid-sized city with no grand apartment buildings, and even if I did, I seriously doubt I could afford to live there.

Until I move to London or New York, which would require winning the lottery, I'm going to have to make due with old movies and well written mystery books.  I bought, and read, The Neighbors years ago, preblogging days, and it was all about the location.  Here was another chance to live in one of those grand buildings, even if it was only in my imagination.  And by the end of the book, did I not only want to live there, I wanted to take up an entire floor, all to myself.  Since quite a few of the tenants were dead by then, I'm almost betting I could have gotten a pretty good price on the space.  I think it was watching The Mad Miss Manton with Barbara Stanwyck the other night, that put me in the mood to give this one a read once again.

This is one of those books, that would not work in another location.  It's the size of the building that allows this story to unfold as it does.  It gives the characters the illusion of wide open spaces, but as the body count rises, the insular nature of the building allows the author to ratchet up the tension, filling the building, and the book, with a miasma of fear.

I'll be honest, Kate by herself would bore me to tears. Don't get me wrong, I like her, and think she would be a pretty cool neighbor, but I need the rest of characters to truly bring her to life.  These are the kinds of characters I've always envisioned living in one of these buildings, and they didn't let me down here.  They are such an eclectic, well written bunch, that there wasn't one I didn't have fun with on the page.  Even the nasty, bitter, gossiping hadrian of the group, was interesting enough to keep my attention.  Hell for that matter, the murderer among them had me fooled.  I would have gladly gone along with any plan they came up with, just thankful that they wanted to hang out with me.

And I almost forgot, the peeping tom referred to in the synopsis, is not the killer. I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying that, simply because had the peeping tom been the killer, that would have been way too obvious.  He is connected to Kate though, and while I find the connection and the peeping tom's involvement in the story to be a little contrived, by the time the book is over, I'm so ready for Kate to have her HEA, that I overlook the huge coincidences that were involved, and go with the flow

Challenges: A-Z Mystery

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Young, beautiful, and successful, Elena Michaels seems to have it all.  Her happy, organized life follows a predictable pattern: filing stories for her job as a journalist, working out at the gym, living with her architect boyfriends, and lunching with her girlfriends form the office.  And once a week, in the dead of night, she streaks though a downtown ravine, naked and furred, tearing at the throats of her animal prey. 

Elena Michael is a werewolf.

The man who made her one has been left behind, but his dark legacy has not.  And though Elena struggles to maintain the normal life she's worked so hard to create, she cannot resist the call of the eleite pack of werewolves from her past.  Her feral instincts will lead her back to them and into a desperate war for survival that will test her own understand of who, and what, she is.

Do you ever think about a series you used to love, but for whatever reason, it lost it's appeal?  If you don't, no sweat, I do enough thinking about it for everyone.  I'm one of those that feels a strong guilt about it.  Now I'm not beating my chest and flogging myself, but I do feel more than a tad bit of remorse.

 I can't tell you how many series I have gotten into over the years, then completely lost interest in.  For the most part it happened preblogging more than it does now, and I have no clue as to why.  Most of the series I've lost interest in would be classified as urban fantasy, and that may have an overly large role in it.  It didn't take long for me to get bored with all the vampires, werewolves, wizards, and demons living in a modern world, so the books they inhabited didn't appeal to me for very long.   There are a few that I still read when a new book comes out, but for the most part, I flirted for a while, then dropped them faster than you could say Lestat.  One series that lasted for a few books before getting the cold shoulder was Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series, of which, Bitten is the first book.

Oddly, even though I gave up on the series, I still love this book, and I hadn't read it since I started blogging.  For whatever reason, I picked it up last week, and a few hours later, I was turning the last page.  It didn't take long for me to fall right back in love with Elena, Clay, Jeremy, and all the rest of the Pack.  I'm not really sure what the author had going on in this one, and Stolen the second book in the series, but the writing is so much better, and the characters are fully fleshed out in a way I can't say about some of the later books.  I really wish she had stuck with this first set of characters, instead of going off and getting the rest of the supernatural races involved.

In Elena and Clay, you have the perfect couple.  They love each, can't live with out each other, but they have both made some horrible decisions, putting so much tension into their relationship, it pulsates off the page.  When the book opens, they haven't been in the same state for over a year, and their reintroduction doesn't go smoothly.  If it wasn't for the dangerous situation they were having to deal with, and the rest of the Pack members acting as a buffer, that tension made have become too implosive, harming the reading in the process.

The writing in the first few books, and in Bitten specifically, is so tight, so put together, it's hard to find any flaws in it.  Armstrong keeps the narrative moving at a natural pace, allowing the characters and the events to set the tone.  She doesn't force them into convoluted interactions, or behaviors that go against who they are.   It's a perfect blend of style, characterization, and storytelling.  But most importantly, it's a book that has a permanent home of my bookshelves, even if it's extended family was served with eviction papers.

New Spring by Robert Jordan (Password Clue)

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

For three days the battle has raged in the snow around the great city of Tar Valon.  In the city, a foretelling of the future is uttered.  One the slope of Dragonmount, the immense mountain that looms over the city, is born an infant prophesied to change the world.  That child must be found before the forces of the Shadow have an opportunity to kill him.  Moiraine Damodred, a young accepted soon to be raised to Aes Sedai, and Lan Mandragoran, a soldier fighting in the battle, are set on paths that will bind their lives together.  But those paths are filled with complications and dangers, for Moiraine, of the Royal House of Cairhein, whose king has just died, and Lan, considered the uncrowned king of a nation long dead, find their lives threatened by the plots of those seeking power.

After I had done my Favorite Fictional Character post on Perrin Aybara, I was longing to dive back into the world of Robert Jordan.  While I was craving a taste, I really didn't want to gorge on the entire feast, so I went back and reread the prologue to the entire series, New Spring.  During my last drive to reread the entire series in order, so I could finally read the concluding book, I skipped over this one, though I'm really not sure why.  At only 334 pages, it's a rather short read compared to the other 14 books, so it wouldn't have taken much to fit this one in at the beginning.

When I dove back into these pages, it was like I was coming home.  I don't think I truly realized how much I had fallen in love with the world, and how much it meant to me.  After I finished A Memory of Light, I don't think I fully processed everything that happened, nor did I allow myself to fully accept some of the events that took place in that final book.   Because of that, my mind has been in turmoil when it comes to these books, and finding myself once again walking among the characters, healed some of that for me.  It wasn't a complete healing, I would have to spend time with some of the others for that to happen, if it's even a possible goal to reach.  I think I need to see a few epilogues written, instead of reading a prologue, but since I'm sure that will never happen, I'm going to be of two minds on this series for a long time to come.

New Spring was originally intended to be the first book of a prologue history, but like so many things, I think this will be the only one.  This is the book where we first meet Moiraine, Lan, and Siuan Sanche.  They are three of my favorite characters in the series, so seeing how they got their start on such a perilous journey is a treat to read.  In the 14 books of the main series, you know they all have tight relationships, but being able to see how they first formed, and how strong those relationships were from the beginning, is comforting in it's own way.  It's always nice to have the back story, so you can understand the way the dynamics work, and even more importantly, why they work.

If anyone is interested in getting started with the series, and why you wouldn't I have no clue, this is a good place to start.  It was published after book 10, but I'm not sure that really mattes all that much.  Since this is a relatively short novel, and it explores the history of some of the events and people involved, it's a good place to get your feet wet and decide if this is something for you.  In the end, I think it will be, and you'll be more than glad to get started on the journey.

Challenges: Password (Spring)

Scavenger Hunt by Christopher Pike

Synopsis From Back Cover:

School was almost over.  A secretive club on campus had organized a scavenger hunt for the entire senior class.  In small groups, and with the help of cleverly planted clues, the kids are led throughout the city, and then deep into the nighttime desert.  The sponsoring club has promised a wonderful prize for the first group to reach the goal of the hunt.

But for Carl Timmons, a troubled young man who has recently lost his best friend, the hunt will become a nightmare. Led astray by his love for a strangely beautiful girl, he will wander far from the other, and back into a haunted past, where the line between the living and the dead is blurred and broken.

The other day I was wanting something easy, quick, and fun to read, but I didn't feel like hunting something down in a bookstore or browsing through the NOOK store.  So I went to the greatest resource every bibliophile has, my own bookcases.  To tell you the truth, I almost forgot I owned this book, especially since I was never a huge Christopher Pike fan.  I think this is the only book of his I've owned, let along kept all these years later.

It's probably been at least ten years since I've picked it up, and it was exactly what I was needing at the time.  It had been long enough that I forgot some of pertinent details of the plot and found myself engaged from the get go.  I still really enjoyed Carl and his friends, and the journey they were forced to undertake was suspenseful enough to keep me interested.

If you are familiar with Christopher Pike's books, and a lot of you should be, you know he was good at plotting, and was decent at character development.  I think Scavenger Hunt is one of his best, and I know I'll be picking it up again sometime in the far future.

The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

The colonies on Altair were frontier settlements whose raw materials fed the factories of Earth.  It was no surprise after torrential rains thundered across Altair that the small Rowan Mining camp was totally destroyed in a mudslide. What was surprising was the psychic wail of agony that went up, so loud and clear that it pierced the mind of every halfway sensitive telepath on the planet - and more surprising still, the discovery that this strong new psychic voice belonged to a three-year-old child, the lone survivor of the disaster.

The named her "the Rowan," not knowing any more about her than that, and she grew into a beautiful, magical-looking woman. She was also the most important Talent on the planet, using her enormous mental powers to help move cargo loads to all of the other inhabited worlds. 

But it was a lonely life - an especially lonely life for a lovely woman who had been deprived of her childhood.  The men who loved her were beneath her, and she loved no one - until Jeff Raven entered her life.  His voice appeared in her mind one day: the strong call of a fellow telepath in distress, Jeff was a wild Talent, his latent abilities called forth by an alien attack that threatened to destroy his planet.  With the Rowan's help, he rove back the invaders; now he wants only to find out more about he strong and fascinating woman who helped save his world.  

Their tumultuous love affair means the end of loneliness for the Rowan, and the union of their Talents makes them the most powerful team in all the inhabited worlds - ready for the challenges they expect may await them, as the rest of the universe begins to notice the expansion of human settlements in space. 

The Rowan, and it's sequels, are comfort reading for me.  I'm not a huge science fiction fan, nor am I really a fan of Anne McCaffrey.  I've tired to read the Dragonriders of Pern books, but really can't get into them at all.  But there is something about this series, these particular characters, that I can't seem to ever let go of, and choose to revisit every once in a while.

I'm sure part of it's because the Rowan, whose real name ends up being Angharad Gwyn, and her sense of isolation and loneliness that tugs at those same feelings in my own life. Because of all the moving and traveling we did as a kid, I never really had the opportunity to stay around kids my own age, which means I really never learned how to develop lasting friendships.  I couldn't relate to them, so loneliness was a very real thing for me growing up.  Add in the feelings of growing up a gay kid, and you can imagine that it wasn't a ton of fun for me.  Like the Rowan, I grew up, and while that loneliness never goes away all the way, I've learned to deal with it, and have come out of my shell quite a bit.  She is an amazing character, one that changes so much through this books, and it's sequels, but like a lot of my favorite characters, she is more than that for me.  She's like a sister I never knew I had, or a long lost cousin, one I get to reconnect with every year or so.

What really sets this book apart from the rest of what I've read from McCaffrey, are the secondary and supporting characters.  There really isn't a weak or unnecessary one in the whole bunch, and I'm in love with them about as much.  I adore Jeff Raven, and his mother for that matter.  He's such a quietly confident individual, and he is the perfect match for the Rowan.  They compliment each other in ways, I can only hope of finding in my own life.  I've always pictured them this way; take the relationship that Nick and Nora Charles have, take away the alcohol, give them monstrous telepathic/telekinetic abilities, and put them in space.  They are one of those couples that just fits, and nothing could ever force them apart.  There's also Afra Lyon, who I love just about as much, and a whole host of equally compelling characters.  When you put them together, it's the perfect family portrait, just mixed in with telepathy and invading aliens.

By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey (Password Clue)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Granddaughter of the sorceress Kethry, daughter of a noble house, Kerowyn has been forced to run the family keep since her mother's untimely death.  Yet now at last her brother was preparing to wed and when his bride became of the lady of the keep, Kerowyn could return to her true enjoyments - training horses and hunting.

But all Kerowyn's hopes and plans were shattered when her ancestral home was attacked, her father slain, her brother wounded, and his fiancee kidnapped.  Driven by desperation and knowledge that a sorcerer had led the attack, Kerowyn sought her grandmother Kethry's aid, a journey which would prove but the first step on the road to the fulfillment of her destiny.  For facing her family's foes would transform Kerowyn into an outsider in her own land, a warrior bound to the spell blade Need, and a mercenary forced to choose between her loyalty to her comrades in arms and the Herald of Valdemar, whom she had rescued and who in his turn had helped to awaken her to the true meaning of love and to her own unique powers of magic. 

If I had to pick a favorite Mercedes Lackey character, after Vanyel Ashkevron, it would have to be Kerowyn.  It's a hard decision to make with all the great characters she has created to dwell in Valdemar and it's surrounding countries, but Kerowyn is such dynamic character, that it's hard to not like her.  By the Sword is where we first meet her.  She starts off as a young noble woman, sharp of mind, and possessing a strong desire to be doing something with her life.

Throughout this 492 page book, her journey takes her from her famous ride, to commanding her own mercenary company,and finally into the fold of Valdemar's Heralds.  This is one of the books that takes place in the "present" timeline, though there are now quite a few books after the events in this one.  Selenay is Queen of Valdemar, the Tendrel Wars are about to rage, and magic is "still" a thing of mystery withing the confines of Valdemar's borders.  Kerowyn is not from Valdemar, and though I'm never sure it's ever implicitly stated, but I've always assumed her to be Rethwellen, though I'm not sure it really matters all that much.  Actually I do know why it matters, it's the decisions she makes; backing the King of her home kingdom into coming to Valdemar's aid, agreeing to lead her mercenary troop into battle for Valdemar in the war, and eventually being chosen by the Companion Sayvel, those decisions, even if some were influenced by Need, helps cement her to her new homeland, despite where she may have come from.

And, in part, I think that is why Valdemar is such an unique and special place.  It's a land where all are welcome, all are valued for their talents, and where all faiths are free to worship who they choose.  It's a land were race really doesn't matter, or where being schaych (gay) doesn't matter in the broad scheme of things.   It's why Valdemar is one of those places that needs to be protected.  It's a land defined by it's people, more than by it's boundaries.

Challenges: Password (By & Sword)

The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard (Password Clue)

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

The Despair has plagued the earth for five years.  Most of the world's population has inexplicably died by it's own hand, and the few survivors struggle to remain alive.  A mysterious, shadowy group called the Collectors has emerged, inevitably appearing to remove the bodies of the dead.

In the crumbling state of Florida a man named Norman takes an unprecedented stand against the Collectors, propelling him on a journey across North America.  It's rumored that a scientist in Seattle is working on a cure for the Despair, but in a world ruled by death, it won't be easy for Norman to get there. 

You guys already know this about me, but I'm not a huge fan of science fiction, or dystopian fiction.  There is actually very little of either genre that I tend to enjoy, but when I do, I love them.  I think I can still count on two hands, the total number of books or series that I enjoy from either genre.  I first read The Suicide Collectors back in 2009, when it first came out.  I hadn't started blogging yet, hence I've never written a review for it before, and since I decided to dust it off, and give it another go, this is the perfect opportunity for me to convince you that you really do need to read this book.

It actually came to my attention because of the Barnes & Noble Book Clubs, which sadly are now defunct.  They used to be a lively and engaging group of message boards, covering a wide swath of topics.  It was on the Fantasy Board that this book was first introduced as a monthly read, and I jumped a the chance to get my hands on it.  The cover was extraordinary, the synopsis had me hooked, the moderator seemed to be really excited about it (thanks Paul),  and the author was from my home state of Minnesota.  As soon as the book was released, I took a trip to Barnes & Noble, paid for the book, and had it read in one sitting.  I was actually hoping to link that old discussion for you guys to read through it, but sadly they decided to not even keep the archives up.

I really don't want to go into too many plot points or character studies.  You guys know that I normally don't really have that much of  an issue doing that, but this is one of those books that you really do need to discover on your own, and it would be so easy for me to spoil something for you.  I am willing to say, and it's even more so now that I've done a second reading, that Norman is one of those character that you can't help but fall in love with.  There is an inner strength to him, one that is not forced or contrived.   He is one of those  men, who may not be the most eloquent in verbally expressing how they feel, but you know that you can depend on them for whatever you need, that they are true "men" in every sense of the word.

The only other tidbit I want to throw out there is this, I love the way the author chooses to keep the cause of the Despair a little foggy.  I've never been a huge fan of books, or movies for that matter, that feels a need to explain every little detail.  I seriously doubt the characters are really ever going to be aware of every little nuance or piece of back history, so why should the reader.  Some things simply can't be explained, there needs to be a bit of mystery to them, otherwise they just aren't that impactful.  Explaining everything, takes away some of the punch.  I think that was part of my problem with The Town that Forgot How to Breathe, it was too neatly wrapped up, too explained, hence it lost some of it's mystery and horror.

So please, if you only read one book that I recommend this year, let it be this one.  It's a gorgeously written journey, one that explores what it means to be human, in the face of overwhelming heartache and pain.  It's a story that will stay with you for days after you turn the last page.

Challenges: Password (Suicide)

Angel Souls And Devil Hearts by Christopher Golden

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The Gospel of Shadows has been lost, and the existence of vampires has been revealed.  Peter Octavian is trapped in Hell, but he has given his allies a mission - to discover the secret origin of vampires.

Once they were legend.  but now the entire world knows the truth about their nature, their powers... and their weaknesses.  Everything they have fought for centuries to hold on to, including their mortal loves, is in danger.  For human prejudice can be the most powerful evil of all.

The war has begun...

I can't believe it's been a little over four years ago that I first reread the first book in this series, Of Saints and Shadows.  I'm not really sure why it's taken me this long to get around to rereading the second book, Angel Souls and Devil Hearts, but I hope it doesn't take me that long to reread the third book.  I read the first four books of this series when they first came out, and I fell in love with them.  When Christopher Golden decided to continue on with it, they reissued the the first four books of the series, and I decided to read them again since I really didn't remember everything that happened in them.  And since I really want to read what has happened after the fourth book ended, I need to get my ass in gear, read the next two books, then I can delve into the new material.

One aspect of this book, and of this series as a whole, that I did forget, is how perilous these characters lives are.  None of them are safe, even the ones you think will never die, will die.  It's always a little disconcerting to realize an author is willing to kill off any character they want, regardless of how much you like them, or how used you got to having them around.  The body count in this one is rather staggering at times, and for the most part, a lot of them are characters I truly liked.  Characters who shouldn't die do, and for the most, I loved so many of them.  Even the first vampire of them all, who is introduced in this book, loses his life.  John Courage is one of the characters who makes a grand entrance, makes a huge impact, imparts an even bigger secret, and then goes away.  If you want in on that secret, pay attention to his initials.  Let's just say that it's an interesting take on the origins of the vampire race.

Warlord by Jennifer Fallon

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Marla Wolfblade is reeling from the loss of her closest confidant, Elezaar the Fool. who taught her the Rules of Gaining and Wielding Power and helped shape her into a force in Hythria.  But Marla's plans for revenge are disrupted when she discovers she has a dangerous adversary....

On the border, Fardohnya has massed troops for an invasion, and Marla's eldest son, Damin Wolfblade, heir to throne of Hythria, finds his ability to fight back is thwarted by tradition, politics, and the foolishness of the High Prince....

Back in Krakandar, Mahkas Damaran awaits news of the battle and has sealed the city against Damin's return.  With the city on the brink of starvation, it seems only theft on a unprecedented scale can free Krakandar from Makhas's madness and tyranny... and destroy Hythria's web of secrets and lies.

Who the hell lets lose a plague to kill one person?  It hasn't to be the most blood thirsty attempt at assassination I've ever seen, and it didn't even work.  Alija Eaglespike, who has been a bitch the entire series, ramps it up in this, the last of the trilogy.  At least she gets what she deserves by the end of the book.

I guess I should apologize for starting this review off in such a strange way, but seriously, the woman was evil.  And though she has been trying to kill Damin and install her own heir into the chair of the High Prince, the stone coldness was truly on display in this book.  Between her and Mahkas, this book was not lacking villains.  And it seems such a shame.  Considering the power these two individuals wielded, the intelligence that they clearly possessed, it was such a waste of potential.  They could have been courageous, strong leaders, but they let greed and the love of power get in the way.

I continued to love the extended family that Marla built up around herself and Damin.  Though they came into it from different directions and different backgrounds, this is a group of people who truly care about each other, and are willing to stick around when times get tough.  And I have to say, I loved the addition of Galon Miar, the next head of the Assassins Guild.  Such a unique and complicated character.  He is the perfect match for Marla at this time in her life, and he fits into the family with ease.

The two standouts for me in this book, besides Damin who I love, where Tejay and Starros.  They are two characters who don't fit into any easy mold, but have such a core of strength running through them.  They come at life in different ways, have different beliefs, and want different things, but they both shine in this book.

At some point int time this year I will reread and review the previous trilogy, which actually takes place before this one.  If they are half as good as these three books have been, and from what I can remember they are, I'm really looking forward to it.