Reviver Review

Reviver

Seth Patrick

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Able to wake the recently dead, and let them bear witness to their own demise. Twelve years after the first reviver came to light, they have become accepted by an uneasy public. The testimony of the dead is permitted in courtrooms across the world. Forensic revival is a routine part of police investigation. In the United States, that responsibility falls to the Forensic Revival Service. Despite his troubled past, Jonah Miller is one of their best. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is watching. Waiting. His superiors tell him it was only in his mind, a product of stress. Jonah is not so certain. Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public attention, is murdered, and Jonah finds himself getting dragged into the hunt for answers. Working with Harker's daughter Annabel, he becomes determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Soon they uncover long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands for, and reveal a threat that if not stopped in time, will put all of humanity in danger...

A creepy and disturbing thriller read which had me shivering and wondering what there really is out there. Set in the near future, a special type of person is discovered, a reviver who can bring the dead back for a few minutes to say goodbye to their loved ones or help the police capture their murderers... Without getting bogged down in how this process is actually achieved, Reviver leaps straight into some big questions – what is there for us after death? Are those who return just the memories of those who died or their souls? And once brought back, can these remnants be banished again easily? With most of the focus on a Reviver who has had a troubled past but finds himself drawn into the questions behind the process when he glimpses something else behind the departed souls...

The early parts of the book do cover a lot of background setting the scenes and laying the groundwork for the way the world now works with Revival common place in murder investigations. This is intriguing though and it takes a while before you notice not much has happened – and then about half way through the story really takes off with revelations and discoveries that wouldn’t have made sense without the slow build. The end does finish in a very different place than you would expect and with some loose ends left dangling, desperate for a sequel.

I could easily picture this working as a either a film or a TV show (think Bones or CSI but with actual talking from the dead) – so it’s no surprise the rights have already been sold. With this disturbing cover, this is a blending of horror, thriller and crime that does something different from many other books out there. I am looking forward to another book in this world!

Recommended for fans of SJ Bolton and Christopher Pike. 8 out of 10

Guest Review: The Fury

The Fury
Alexander Gordon Smith

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race turns against you.
Every single person you meet becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage, hell-bent on killing you – and only you.
Friends, family, even your mum and dad, will turn on you. They will murder you.And when they have, they will go back to their lives as if nothing has happened.
The world has the Fury.
It will not rest until you are dead.

Cal, Brick and Daisy are three ordinary teenagers whose lives suddenly take a terrifying turn for the worst. They begin to trigger a reaction in everybody they meet, one that makes friends and strangers alike turn rabid whenever they are close. One that makes people want to tear them to pieces. Cal and the other victims of the Fury – the ones that survive – manage to locate each other. But just when they think they have found a safe place to hide from the world, some of them begin to change...
They must fight to uncover the truth about the Fury before it's too late. But it is a truth that will destroy everything they know about life and death.

Hello all.  It’s been a while since I read a truly supernatural UF, and I’m wondering now what took me so long.  The premise behind The Fury is truly terrifying – what happened if during the course of a day, everyone you met, whether family, friend or stranger, turned into a feral animal intent only on killing you.  Once you are dead, they will walk away as if nothing happened, without the slightest recollection of their behaviour.

This story is at times wonderfully original, especially in a literary world chock full of vampires, werewolves and zombies.  Mel and I often comment that if those species were proved to exist, we would not be too perturbed, however I freely admit to feeling really on edge during the first third of this novel.  I simply could not imagine being in that situation, nor how I would cope.

The young and teenage characters are very real, and very flawed – the kind of kids you would find in any school.  They have to try to find a way to work together, no matter whether they’re the star of the football team, or a high school drop-out.  The way the teenage boys Cal and Brick in particular become so protective of the youngsters is very sweet and without cliché. 

However, the story does stagnate a bit in the middle, and that left me wondering whether Alexander Gordon Smith had added a bit of padding in order to get a second book out of the premise.  The sequel The Storm is due out very shortly, and I am hoping that I will be proved wrong.  

One for fans of James Dashner and Michael Grant, 8 out of 10.

Novella Review: In The Tall Grass

In The Tall Grass
-       Stephen King & Joe Hill

Kindle Book

In the Tall Grass begins with a sister and brother who pull off to the side of the road after hearing a young boy crying for help from beyond the tall grass. Within minutes they are disoriented, in deeper than seems possible, and they’ve lost one another. The boy’s cries are more and more desperate. What follows is a terrifying, entertaining, and masterfully told tale...

This is a short story I bought especially for Halloween this year and it does do a pretty good job of taking something pretty ordinary and turning it into something creepy. A brother and pregnant sister are taking a road trip when they hear a child lost in the field filled with tall grass. Naturally they stop to help him – and his mother. However, the grass isn’t what it seems and more maybe happening here than they first though.

The first half of this story is truly creepy with the slowly dawning realisation that this field isn’t what you first though. That realisation is beautifully drawn out – with frustration and irriation playing as much of a role as horror. However the second part of the story drops the slow creepiness for more explicit horror which is quite uncomfortable to read and topples the story into a more visual, disturbing element. Like one of those horror films you have to watch from between you fingers – you just can’t stop watching.

This is a perfect little horror story to read now the evenings are closing in and the trees start to weep leaves – but I would make sure your lawn is cut before hand or you may not venture out into the grass for a while afterwards...

Recommended for fans of Shaun Hutson and James Herbert.7 out of 10

The Woman In Black Review

The Woman in Black

- Susan Hill

Publisher: Vintage

Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor in London, is summoned to Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, and to sort through her papers before returning to London. It is here that Kipps first sees the woman in black and begins to gain an impression of the mystery surrounding her... From the funeral he travels to Eel Marsh House and hears the terrifying sounds on the marsh...

Arthur Kipps heads to a distant township on the edge of the marsh to see to the paperwork of the recently deceased Mrs Alice Drablow. The people he meets on the way behave oddly when they discover what he is there for and there is a certain atmosphere at the house which makes him uncomfortable – especially when he starts to discover the history of the place...

For some reason I had imagined that The Woman in Black is an older story than it is. It was first published in the early 1980s but with a long running stage show in London’s West End and the recent Daniel Radcliffe film it has a certain timeless quality to it. The book is much closer to the stage show than the recent film with the creeping horror built through atmosphere and description and is much stronger for it. There is no blood, little violence but the eeriness is palpable and the growing fear as you realise with Mr Kipps what is waiting for him at Eel Marsh House.

Again I am impressed at how much story and description can be squeezed into so few pages (authors take note – some stories don’t need a thousand pages!). The description is creepy and gothic, painting a bleak house on the edge of civilisation, only accessible at certain times and feels very much like the edge of the world as we know it. The true horror slowly builds up and while you might be tempted to say that the start is slow, it is merely laying the foundation for what follows. Like most ghost stories some of the horror stays after the events making you think continually on what happened – and what didn’t.

This is very much a traditional ghost story – like the sort you used to tell around the campfire at Halloween and a welcome change from many modern horror stories. This is a personal tale – no world ending fears, but as a result plays on your mind for longer. The pictures Susan Hill has painted will flicker into your mind at random times – like squelching through puddles on the way to work will give you a sudden flash to the path to Eel Marsh House through the tidelands – or it did me at least! Creepy and timeless – I think all horror fans should read this tale!

Recommended for fans of Dean Koontz and Wilkie Collins. 8.5 out of 10.

The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Review

The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

-       Robert Louis Stevenson

Kindle Book

Dr. Jekyll has been experimenting with identity. He has developed a drug which separates the two sides of his nature, allowing him to abandon himself to his most corrupt inclinations as the monstrous Mr. Hyde. But gradually the journey back to goodness becomes more and more difficult, and the risk that Mr. Hyde will break free from Dr. Jekyll’s control puts all of London in grave peril

As regular readers of my blog will be aware I’m not much for the classics – I’ve never read Jane Eyre and despite some constant encouragement of a certain BookGirl of Mur-y-Castell I have never even picked up Pride and Prejudice. But a quick glance at my stats as my most popular posts happen to be the few classics I have read – the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and A Christmas Carol. So I thought I would try to mix up my reading with some of the science fiction and adventure classics occasionally. So for Halloween I decided to read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde...

Once again I am struck by how the story you think you know is NOT the story that was first written. Told through the point of view of My Utterson, Jekyll’s long time friend and lawyer we first meet Mr Hyde via some gossip. He is described as small and young but with some sort of peculiar loathing that he seems to inspire to make everyone feel. Mr Utterson is worried about how this vile creature seems to have attached itself to his good friend Dr Jekyll. It is some time before we meet Dr Jekyll who is described as an amiable, elderly gentleman who does many good deeds for the community. I have to confess the idea of My Hyde as a slight, young man surprised me – I always had that picture in my head of a big, hunched monster which is how he is usually seen in films and TV shows!

The story actually takes places over a couple of years and is very much influenced by Victorian manners and society at that time for doctors and lawyers. Mr Utterson is very worried about his friends reputation and if he is being blackmailed or not. There is a great insight into how men of a certain age and level of society behave towards each other – indeed the only women in the whole plot are a maid (who cries and faints) and a selfish, corrupt housekeeper – each of whom only have once scene each. An insight into women at that time or more an insight into Robert Louis Stevenson’s attitudes towards women? I’ll leave that to the English Literature graduates to discuss, but this is very much a man’s story about man’s urges.

Dr Jekyll himself admits he is still himself as Mr Hyde but without conscience – free to indulge his base instincts. Unless I missed it (always possible!), these base instincts are not revealed explicitly and apart from a short temper and tendency towards violence, it is left to your own imagination to think what these base instincts are. I found that particularly interesting as each person would probably be thinking of their own deepest and reviled thoughts at that point. This makes you part of the story and more involved in MR Hyde's activities. 

This is a classic for a reason as the reader is drawn into the story – and even knowing the ‘twist’ can read it on many levels. I imagine the surprise ending would have been as revolutionary in its day as The Sixth Sense was when it first came out! It’s not a long book and perhaps a little wordy for modern sensibilities but this is a fascinating insight into the ‘true’ story behind the myth we all know. It's not a long story - but there is a reason it has stayed with us for the last hundred years!

Recommended for fans of Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. 8 out of 10

On My Wishlist #105

This is a meme that started on Book Chick City before moving to Cosy Books and is now hosted by the wonderful Sarah at Workaday Reads. There are so many books out there that I want to read that this is the only way I can keep track!

With Halloween this week, there are a couple of horror books that might get me in the mood...

 

Red Rain - R.L. Stine

Publisher: Touchstone

Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers orphaned twin boys and impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island—husband Mark and their two children, Ira and Elena—aren’t quite so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the twins’ true nature—or predict that, within a few weeks’ time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in.

 

I used to read a lot of Point Horror books growing up and when I heard that one of the stalwarts of Point Horror, RL Stine was releasing an adult novel, I knew I wanted to see what he has instore for adults...

 

Horns - Joe Hill

Publisher: Gollancz

Merrin Williams is dead, slaughtered under inexplicable circumstances, leaving her beloved boyfriend Ignatius Perrish as the only suspect. On the first anniversary of Merrin's murder, Ig spends the night drunk and doing awful things. When he wakes the next morning he has a thunderous hangover . . . and horns growing from his temples. Ig possesses a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look--a macabre gift he intends to use to find the monster who killed his lover. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. Now it's time for revenge . . .

Two reasons I want to read this book - Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and I'm curious what that kind of pedigree would breed, plus Daniel Radcliffe's new film is Horns and I always want to read the book of the film!

 

Ghost Road Blues - Jonathan Maberry

Publisher: Pinnacle

Evil Doesn't Die The cozy little town of Pine Deep buried the horrors of its past a long time ago. Thirty years have gone by since the darkness descended and the Black Harvest began, a time when a serial killer sheared a bloody swath through the quiet Pennsylvania village. The evil that once coursed through Pine Deep has been replaced by cheerful tourists getting ready to enjoy the country's largest Halloween celebration in what is now called "The Spookiest Town in America." 
It Just Grows Stronger
But then--a month before Halloween--it begins. Unspeakably desecrated bodies. Inexplicable insanity. And an ancient evil walking the streets, drawing in those who would fall to their own demons and seeking to shred the very soul of this rapidly fracturing community. Yes, the residents of Pine Deep have drawn together and faced a killer before. But this time, evil has many faces--and the lust and will to rule the earth...

I love Jonathan's YA books and this is one of his adult books that looks creepy and will have you worried about what your neighbour is getting up too...

So what's scaring you this weekend? :-) 

Early Review: Apocalypse Cow

Apocalypse Cow

-       Michael Logan

Publisher: Doubleday Publisher – Published on 10^th May 2012

It began with a cow that just wouldn’t die. It would become an epidemic that transformed Britain’s livestock into sneezing, slavering, flesh-craving four-legged zombies.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the fate of the nation seems to rest on the shoulders of three unlikely heroes: an abattoir worker whose love life is non-existent thanks to the stench of death that clings to him, a teenage vegan with eczema and a weird crush on his maths teacher, and an inept journalist who wouldn’t recognise a scoop if she tripped over one.
As the nation descends into chaos, can they pool their resources, unlock a cure, and save the world?
Three losers. Overwhelming odds. One outcome . . .
Yup, we’re screwed

Terry, lone survivor of abattoir attack and Lesley, Scottish reporter down on her luck, end up on the run in a countryside full of dangerous wildlife – from cows, pigs and rats to squirrels, cats and dogs, while Geldof, teenager with bad skin, out of control hormones and parents in full hippy mode is struggling to convince his parents of the danger. Each of these characters feels real – none of them are Bruce Willis or Angelina Jolie. What they are, are fully formed flawed and entirely likeable characters that you can’t help but root for. Even the secondary characters have great personality and leap off the page!

This is a serious comedic novel, or should than be a comedic serious novel? Either way, this book is a brilliant mixture of zombie horror and sheer ridiculous situations. The comedy is less laughter track and more awkward The Office style coming directly out of the situation and the characters. And this just gives the book a brilliant grounding in reality. I didn’t need to use a lot of imagination to picture the British government reacting in exactly this way! That said, the story is played completely straight with some very horrific scenes and the animal attacks not as scary as some of the human reactions to it.

The writing is confident and assured – and certainly doesn’t feel like a debut novel. Throughout I was both entertained and enthralled with the story and the characters. At times it reads like a straight forward zombie horror book, but then a twist happens which will have you in stitches. And if you find the idea of zombie cows funny, I promise by the end of the novel you will be looking twice at those bovine neighbours and making sure your beloved Fido goes out at night!

PS – Michael Logan won the first ever Terrry Prachett’s ‘Anywhere But Here, Any when But Now’ award – and I can see why! J

Recommended of fans of Mira Grant and Terry Prachett, 9 out of 10.

The Small Hand Review

The Small Hand

-          Susan Hill

Publisher: Profile Books

Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer's evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'. Intrigued by the encounter, he determines to learn more, and discovers that the owner's grandson had drowned tragically many years before. At first unperturbed by the odd experience, Snow begins to be plagued by haunting dreams, panic attacks, and more frequent visits from the small hand which become increasingly threatening and sinister ...

Last week something horrible happened to me. I left the house without a book! I managed to make it to the office between the metro paper and my MP3 player but I wasn’t going to suffer again on the way home. Instead I went to a local charity store at lunch and picked up this book for £1 to keep me busy on my hour commute homewards – a horror story to fit with my mood!

This is only a short book, less than 200 pages and no word is wasted. As the central character, Adam Snow is a little bland. While it is told in first person from his point of view, I never really felt like I knew Adam or what motivated him. He is a blank canvas so I was never overly bothered by his frightening experiences, although I did like his job as a rare book dealer. The strongest element was the ambience as Susan Hill manages to create an atmospheric and timeless ghost story with an intriguing central mystery. As with most good ghost stories there is an ageless element to the story which makes the odd mention of emails jar slightly.  The description of the run down gardens and White house are invocative and draw vivid images in the mind. I loved the writing style and was instantly drawn into the story.

The mysteries around the small hand are appealing, but for some reason the idea of a small invisible hand holding yours doesn’t scare me much. In fact for a ghost story it was less scary and more absorbing with the tale itself the main reason to continue reading. I am looking forward to reading more Susan Hill – hopefully with a scarier ghost!

Recommended for fans of Amanda Stevens and Michelle Paver. 7 out of 10.  

On My Wishlist #76

This is a meme from Book Chick City. There are so many books out there that I want to read that this is the only way I can keep track! This week I'm feeling a little spooky...

 

The Wolf Gift - Anne Rice

Publisher: Knopf Publishing

 The time is the present.
The place, the rugged coast of northern California. A bluff high above the Pacific. A grand mansion full of beauty and tantalizing history set against a towering redwood forest.
A young reporter on assignment from the San Francisco Observer. . . an older woman, welcoming him into her magnificent, historic family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency . . . A chance encounter between two unlikely people . . . an idyllic night—shattered by horrific unimaginable violence. . .The young man inexplicably attacked—bitten—by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness . . . A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing who—what—he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift.
As he resists the paradoxical pleasure and enthrallment of his wolfen savagery and delights in the power and (surprising) capacity for good, he is caught up in a strange and dangerous rescue and is desperately hunted as “the Man Wolf,” by authorities, the media and scientists (evidence of DNA threaten to reveal his dual existence). . . As a new and profound love enfolds him, questions emerge that propel him deeper into his mysterious new world: questions of why and how he has been given this gift; of its true nature and the curious but satisfying pull towards goodness; of the profound realization that there are others like him who may be watching—guardian creatures who have existed throughout time and may possess ancient secrets and alchemical knowledge and throughout it all, the search for salvation for a soul tormented by a new realm of temptations, and the fraught, exhilarating journey, still to come, of being and becoming, fully, both wolf and man.

 

Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles were one of my first brushes with the world of vampires and I'm so curious to see her take on the werewolf!

 

Frankenstien 5: Dead Town - Dean Koontz

Publisher: Bantam

The war against humanity is raging. As the small town of Rainbow Falls, Montana, comes under siege, scattered survivors come together to weather the onslaught of the creatures set loose upon the world. As they ready for battle against overwhelming odds, they will learn the full scope of Victor Frankenstein’s nihilistic plan to remake the future—and the terrifying reach of his shadowy, powerful supporters.
Now the good will make their last, best stand. In a climax that will shatter every expectation, their destinies and the fate of humanity hang in the balance.

I've been enjoyed Dean Koontz take on Frankstein and this is the latets book (and last?) in the series!

Patient Zero - Johnathan Maberry

Publisher: Gollancz  

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills.  And that's both a good, and a bad thing.  It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance...

 

I loved Rot and Ruin, Johnathan Maberry's YA zombie novel, so I want to see what he does with and adult book!

 

What are you wishing for this week?

Guest Review: Horns

My guest reviewer, Sarah is back with a book that I think I need to get my hands on soon...

Horns

- Joe Hill

Publisher: UK- Gollancz

Ignatius William Perrish wakes up bleary and confused after a night of drinking and "doing terrible things" to find he has grown horns. In addition to being horribly unsightly, these inflamed protuberances give Ig an equally ugly power--if he thinks hard enough, he can make people admit things (intimate, embarrassing, I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that details). This bizarre affliction is of particular use to Ig, who is still grieving over the murder of his childhood sweetheart (a grisly act the entire town, including his family, believes he committed). Ig's attempts to track down the killer result in hilariously inappropriate admissions from the community, heartbreaking confessions from his own family, and of course, one hell of a showdown.

Horns was one of those books that had been on my Amazon wishlist for a while, I got bought for Christmas, looked at the back and went ‘hmmmm’.  And then I started reading it…..

Horns is the story of the once-good, now-blighted life of Igantius Perrish, or Ig – a decent, normal bloke who a year before the story was set, was arrested and accused of the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend Merrin.  A fire at the lab examining the evidence meant that no case could be brought against him, and Ig was released.  A year later and Ig is a shadow of his former self, living in a shabby flat with a dead-end girlfriend, surrounded by people convinced of his guilt.  He hates his life, hates the accusations, and then, he wakes up with horns.  Devil horns.  Horns that make everyone he meets tell him their deepest, darkest secrets.  Horns that allow Ig to manipulate people into doing dark deeds.

This story is quite simply, brilliant.  It’s fiendishly dark, often gory, swinging between hope and despair in a whirlwind ride.  At times you are afraid of Ig, only to love him all over again a chapter later.  How would you deal with those you know and love spilling their darkest desires and thoughts to you?  Could you deal with it?

Lighter moments keep Horns from being depressive, but it is utterly heart-breaking in places and at one point I was sitting on a packed commuter train with tears running down my face.  It is also an intelligent, lucid look at Heaven and Hell, God and the Devil.  After all, if God hates sinners, and the Devil punishes them, aren’t they kind of on the same side????? 

One for Stephen King fans, but I would recommend it to everyone, 9.5 out of 10.

Early Review: Darkness Falling

Darkness Falling (Forever Twilight 1)

-       Peter Crowther

Publisher: Angry Robot

Released on 27th September 2011

E-Arc with thanks to netgalley and Angry Robot.

It was a typical all-American backwater - until the night the monsters came. When four employees of KMRT Radio investigate an unearthly light that cuts off communication with the outside world, they discover that something has taken the place of their friends and fellow townfolk, and imbued them with malign intentions. Little do they know, the phenomenon is not unique to the town of Jesman’s Bend...

One dark night a bright light suddenly blinds you and when you can see again, everyone has disappeared. Everyone in the house, everyone in the town, everyone on the plane. That is the starting point for this creepy and rather chilling story. Only a few people are left...and not all of them are particularly sane... And then twenty-four hours later, the light comes again and this time it brings the missing people back.

The premise of this novel is so intriguing – people disappearing and leaving an empty world. And then returning changed. Just thinking about it gives me the creeps and I couldn’t read fast enough wanting to know what was happening. However, the true strength of novels like this relies on the characters and wanting them to survive. I have to admit I had mixed feeling about some of these characters. Ronnie, Karl and Angel were the only characters I really cared about and I wanted the story to follow them all the time. The other characters included a slightly mad older woman, a murderer and a selection of people from the radio station that I really connect too. (Okay, I wouldn’t want to connect to a mad person or a murderer, but the people from the station Geoff, Mel and the others should have been ones to root for).

There is plenty of action here as well as gruesomeness – if you don’t like gory and bodily function then this isn’t for you. However, it all fits into the story and doesn’t feel gratuitous. There are plenty of sieges, chases, fight scenes which keep the story moving as the characters are gradually pulled together by the end. As this is the first of a planned trilogy, it doesn’t answer many questions, but is an exciting start and I really do want to know what the light was and what happened. I just don’t really know if I want many of the characters to survive! Still I will be looking out for the next book in the trilogy Darkness Rising

Recommended for fans of Stephen King and Joe Hill. 6 out of 10.

Joint Review: The Midwich Cuckoos

Once again I welcome my guest reviewer, Sarah who this month is looking at a classic spooky story...actually, after reading her review I was so intrigued I borrowed her copy and started reading it myself! As such I've added a little commentary to Sarah's review...so the italics are my thoughts.

The Midwich Cuckoos

- John Wyndham

Publisher: UK - Penguin Books

Aliens land in an isolated British village and impregnate all of the women. Nine months later strange children with glowing eyes and intense intelligence "Midwich Cuckoos," emerge to undertake the conquest of the world

Hello once again fellow Mel-followers!  Now, you know I am definitely a fantasy girl, but I must admit I have a deep affection for all things John Wyndham.  My favourite of his is The Kraken Wakes (a must-read), and so it was inevitable that I'd eventually get round to reading The Midwich Cuckoos. 

<I've read Day of the Triffids and The Chyrsalids and enjoyed both. I think John Wyndham is one of those writers I keep forgetting about! I must read more of his books...>

The story is told by Richard Gayford, an unusual narrator as he is often not at the centre of the action, so tells the story chronologically, but often in hindsight.  The story concerns an insular, nodescript village into which an alien race simultaneously impregnates every woman (by design? in desperation?).  The children, when they arrive, are very different and soon set the village, and eventually the world, in turmoil.
<The village sounds like a very quiet place - something both the locals and government seem determined to keep that way even after the incredible events that occur. It reminded me a number of a number of villages in the UK. The normailty of the village does make an interesting counter-point to the strange events that occur during the Dayout.>

What I love most about Wyndham's books, are even though they were written several decades ago, they do not really age - the stories could just as easily fit into our world as they could when they were conceived.  Yes, this story is a bit 'gappy' in places, and relatively simply concluded, but there are definite moments of menace and Wyndham is, as ever, thoroughly thought-provoking.  If you've never read a Wyndham book I wouldn't start here, but it's definitely a book to get round to.  Easily consumed in a day! 
<The slow pace adds to the atmosphere. There is a lot of talking, rather than action as you think about how to treat someone so different from 'everyone' else but yet still looks so human. Why do the children scare people so much? It is very creepy and while I agree the resolution was simple enough - it was the only way it truly could end.>

One for all fantasy and sci-fi readers, 8 out of 10.
<Recommended for fans of HG Wells and Margaret Atwood. 8 out of 10>

Dead Man's Eyes

Dead Man’s Eye

-       Shaun Jeffrey

Kindle Book – I received a copy of the story from the author.

A corneal transplant does more than correct Joanna Raines sight. It allows her to see something that doesn't want to be seen. Something evil. Something that threatens mankind. The only trouble is that no one believes her, and by the time they do, it might be too late ... Seeing is believing. Now Joanna just has to convince everyone else.

Dead Man’s Eye start was fantastically creepy and surprising as Joanna has difficulties with her new eye and starts to see shadows around certain people. The opening scene throws you straight into the action and the early parts are fantastically atmospheric as Joanne struggles to decide if she is going mad, or if what she is seeing is really happening. At some point though the atmosphere disappears and is replaced by action and as Joanne gets more physically involved in events. This changes the mood completely, but needed to make Joanne more proactive.

The relationship between her and her boyfriend is sweet – I loved the banter between them at the start which really grounded it and made it feel real. In fact the dialogue is fantastic throughout – always sounding realistic and reflective of what people actually do say to each other. The writing flowed really well and I just gobbled up the prose. I read the whole novella in one sitting.

However, I was slightly disappointed by the finale – it seemed a little predictable and I would have a preferred a more unexpected twist. However, I would certainly pick up more of Shaun Jeffrey’s books though – especially when I fancy more traditional horror thrills!

Recommended for Stephen King and James Herbert fans. 7 out of 10.