Review: The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco

The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco
MCD (November 2018)
400 pages; $17.70 hardcover; $13.99 e-book
Reviewed by Blu Gilliand

Most years, come November, I’m looking to cleanse my palate after a month of Halloween-related horror book and movie bingeing. I usually turn to crime fiction (even though I find that horror and crime are closely intertwined — but that’s an essay for another day). Today, I’m looking at my first post-Halloween read, a story of Victorian-era opium dealing called The Best Bad Things.

Alma Rosales is a former member of the Pinkerton Agency, an early version of our nation’s F.B.I. Rosales has been dismissed from its ranks following a disastrous mission that left her partner dead. She’s made her way to Port Townsend, a Pacific Northwest hotbed of various illicit activities, particularly drugs and prostitution. She’s there to infiltrate and upend one of the area’s leading opium distribution networks, a move that could go a long way to restore her standing in the Agency.

Jack Camp is a roughhousing dockworker and member of that network — a member with aspirations of being much more than a footsoldier. He’s got a plan to find out who is stealing product from his boss, Nathaniel Wheeler, and to head off the authorities that are sniffing around Wheeler’s operation. If it works, his plan will greatly improve his standing in the organization.

Thing is, Alma Rosales and Jack Camp are the same person.

In Alma Rosales, author Katrina Carrasco has created an unforgettable lead, a walking powder keg of raw emotion whose every move is driven by her appetites for sex, for power, and for violence. Alma is playing two sides in just about every facet of her life, and her ability to maintain control while juggling dual identities and agendas is awe-inspiring.

Carrasco is juggling a lot here, too, and it’s sometimes a little difficult to keep up with the narrative. But hang with it — the tight, often beautiful prose will keep you invested even when the plot is hard to rein in, and Carrasco is eventually able to wrangle her runaway storylines into a satisfying conclusion.

The Best Bad Things is an intricately twisty, immensely enjoyable piece of crime fiction; a debut by a promising novelist worth watching.

Review: Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare by Stephanie M. Wytovich

Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare by Stephanie M. Wytovich
Raw Dog Screaming Press (December 2017)

162 pages, $14.52 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her Bram Stoker Award-winning poetry collection, Brothel, earned a home with Raw Dog Screaming Press alongside Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, An Exorcism of Angels, and her newest collection, also nominated for the Stoker Award, Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare.Continue Reading

Review: Let There Be Dark by Tim McWhorter

Let There Be Dark by Tim McWhorter
Hydra Publications (August 2018)

180 pages; $11.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

After reading nothing but horror for over a year now, is it possible for me to still be scared? I’ve been asked that question quite a bit lately and the answer is: Absolutely. If horror fans are honest with themselves, we are showing up for horror because there is always the potential for something to crawl up under our skin and linger there. We like it.Continue Reading

Review: Fantastic Tales of Terror: History’s Darkest Secrets edited by Eugene Johnson

Fantastic Tales of Terror: History’s Darkest Secrets edited by Eugene Johnson
Crystal Lake Publishing (October 2018)
570 pages; $18.99 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Sometimes an anthology accomplishes what it sets out to do and nails the concept perfectly. That doesn’t happen often in the glut of tired, generic tomes with the same old names rehashing the same old tropes and writing. But, what if someone suggested using those tropes in an alternate history, utilizing some of the most famous names, monsters, and personalities in the genre and creating fantastic tales that run the gamut from fun and entertaining to chilling and all-out weird? Continue Reading

Review: Hag by Kathleen Kaufman

Hag by Kathleen Kaufman
Turner (October 2018)

336 pages; $25.19 hardcover; $11.59 paperback; $11.01 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

The book Hag by Kathleen Kaufman is exactly what I’ve always wanted in a novel about witches. Every night, I crawled into bed and let my mind escape to the Scottish lowlands to hear more about the Cailleach — an ancient, matriarchal entity. The folklore and legend is intertwined with the modern day, coming-of-age story of the protagonist Alice Grace. Alice Grace has the ability to see things before they happen and sometimes it startles and scares her but often times, the gift serves her well.Continue Reading

Review: When the Night Owl Screams by Michael H. Hanson

When the Night Owl Screams by Michael H. Hanson
MoonDream Press (October 2017)

154 pages, $12.95 paperback; $1.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

When the Night Owl Screams is a collection of dark fantasy and horror poetry. It’s a wonderfully designed book with a very appealing cover, and features some very clever ideas. The poems, however, are clunky. Ultimately, this is a weak collection of poems.Continue Reading

Review: Bedfellow by Jeremy C. Shipp

Bedfellow by Jeremy C. Shipp
Tor (November 13, 2018)

224 pages; $8.60 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

Jeremy Shipp has a unique brand of psychological horror. I read his novella, The Atrocities, earlier this year and was taken aback by Shipp’s bold, almost reckless storytelling choices. It seems like anything can happen in his books which can be quite unexpected for the reader. I would say more often than not these strange, almost absurd plot details are successful in creating an enjoyable reading experience; but sometimes, they’re not.Continue Reading

Review: Fauna by David Benton

Fauna by David Benton
CreateSpace (January 2018)
292 pages; $12.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Nature fights back. It’s a familiar theme that has been around forever. To make it special takes some tinkering and imagination, not to mention strong storytelling. David Benton brings something to the table that keeps the teeth gnashing and adrenaline pumping until the final page. He combines the visceral brutality of an Ed Lee or Richard Laymon with the globe-trotting skills of James Rollins, resulting in an exciting romp that evokes The Zoo by James Patterson, but with a message. Continue Reading

Review: The Willow By Your Side by Peter Haynes

The Willow By Your Side by Peter Haynes
Unsung Stories (November 2018)

330 pages; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by Meredith Durfy

The Willow By Your Side is a novel that plays with themes of war and humanity. It also uses conventions of fairy tales. The sister of the unnamed main character runs away from their abusive father who suffers from PTSD. The book is told in reverse order. The main character tries to return his sister home while facing multiple obstacles including a Red Cap. Continue Reading

Review: The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp

The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp
Tor (April 2018)

112 pages; $10.53; paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie Hartmann

When a novella starts off with a line like, “Turn left at the screaming woman with a collapsing face,” I’m going to sit up a little straighter in my chair and pay close attention. And that was my reading posture during the duration of time it took me to get to the one hundredth page. Focused.

Captivated.Continue Reading

Bev Vincent Reviews Elevation by Stephen King

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

“The Incredible Lightness of Being”

Stephen King’s most recent published work, “The Turbulence Expert” in the anthology Flight or Fright (which he co-edited with yours truly), suggests the existence of people who prevent airplanes from crashing. It’s an uncharacteristically encouraging notion.

Scribner hardcover

His new novella, Elevation, has an even more positive outlook, despite its setting: Castle Rock, a small town in Maine where terrible things have been happening for decades.

That’s not to say bad things aren’t happening to protagonist Scott Carey, forty-two, recently divorced and dealing with the repercussions of that life change. He’s living alone (with a cat) in a too-large house on Castle View, and he’s having problems with his new neighbors.Continue Reading

Review: Scapegoat by James Newman and Adam Howe

Scapegoat by James Newman and Adam Howe
Honey Badger Press (October 2018)
215 pages; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

James Newman lives in North Carolina, USA, and Adam Howe makes his home across the Atlantic in England. Thanks to the power of the Internet, collaborations like this one are possible. The result is both wondrous and wonderful.

So what’s Scapegoat about?  Well, I’m glad you asked…Continue Reading

Review: Frankenstein in Baghdad

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Books (January 2018)

288 pages, $10.87 paperback; $11.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage

Ahmed Saadawi is an Iraqi novelist, poet, screenwriter and documentary film maker. He won the 2014 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for Frankenstein in Baghdad, which was recently translated into English and published by Penguin.

Frankenstein in Baghdad is a Dickensian novel, focused on multiple characters. The titular character, also known as Whatsitsname, comes into being when Hadi, a junk dealer, collects the body parts of bombing victims throughout Baghdad and sews them together in order that there be a body to bury and perform holy rituals for. This piecemeal body gains consciousness and begins to take revenge on the people who are responsible for the death of its individual parts; however, once an individual part is avenged, it begins to disintegrate, requiring the body to constantly be updated with new parts. This starts a vicious cycle of finding parts quickly enough to replace the disappearing parts, and soon the bodies of terrorists and criminals are used, which causes a madness in the creature. Continue Reading

Review: The House by the Cemetery by John Everson

The House by the Cemetery by John Everson
Flame Tree Press (October 2018)
256 pages; $16.48 hardcover; $13.86 paperback; $6.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

John Everson writes some of the darkest horror imaginable, sprinkles it with a healthy dose of sex, and yet it’s easy to believe every word he puts to paper. His latest story, The House by the Cemetery, is the quintessential October release.  It’s the tale of a purportedly haunted house by a cemetery being refurbished as a Halloween attraction.Continue Reading

Review: Episodes of Violence by David Bernstein

Episodes of Violence by David Bernstein
Sinister Grin Press (October 2017)
276 pages; $16.99 hardcover; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by Jonathan Reitan

If you think you’re ready for some of the most brutal, sadistic and in-your-face violent horror that you’ve ever read, then continue reading this review and go ahead and add Episodes of Violence to your shopping cart. Continue Reading