Leisure Books / July 2009
Reviewed by: Joan Turner

The Bone Factory is a gripping and suspenseful tale of classic horror with shades of both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stephen King’s The Shining. But Kenyon brings new elements into play in this contemporary story of murder and mystery.

When construction on the Jackson Pumped Storage Project halts due to bad planning and severe Canadian winter weather, hydropower engineer David Pierce is hired to correct the plans and oversee the hydro development reservoir. Fired from a rival company and blacklisted as a malcontent after problems on his previous job, David is running out of money and options. His marriage is in trouble and he desperately needs the second chance the position the Quebec City company offers, so he moves his young family a thousand miles to the isolated community of Jackson.

Problems immediately become apparent when, in his first business meeting with his new supervisor, he finds representatives from the Canadian Government and the FERC – the environmental protection agency – in attendance. They are concerned because fish caught near the plant have abnormalities, and Dan Flint of the FERC soon enlists David to help them discover if chemicals used at the plant are responsible, putting him at odds with his new employer.

But danger to the environment is only one of the threats hanging over the little Jackson community.

Jonathan Newman’s experiences in the Vietnam War unleashed a mental breakdown with delusions of persecution that has kept him institutionalized much of his life. Now government cutbacks have resulted in his release against his psychiatrist’s better judgment, and he is sent to Jackson to work as caretaker.

People are disappearing, including the little girl whose family had lived in the house where David and his family now reside, and soon the dreams of four-year-old Jessica, David’s daughter, a clairvoyant, turn to nightmares of being stalked by a mysterious “blue man.”

Kenyon mixes all the right ingredients in this heart pounding third novel: an isolated location, an ongoing mystery, immanent danger and a driven madman compounded by a sense of time running out for the residents of Jackson.

More chilling than his 2007 Bram Stoker Award-nominated novel Bloodstone, Nate Kenyon’s The Bone Factory is page-turning horror at its best.

Purchase The Bone Factory by Nate Kenyon.

Leucrota Press / May 2009
Reviewed by: Anthony J. Rapino

Following his well-received short story collection, Voyeurs of Death, The Kult is Shaun Jeffrey’s first full-length novel since the 2003 release of Evilution. A murder mystery at heart, The Kult employs both suspense and thriller elements, making it a versatile, engaging read.

The Oracle is stalking the streets of Britain. Fueled by anger and revenge, he brutalizes the bodies of his victims, turning their deaths into twisted art. Before long, news of the murders finds Detective Chief Inspector Prosper Snow in the form of gruesome photos of mutilated bodies. It becomes increasingly clear to Prosper and his partner Jill – as a second, then third photo arrives – that they are dealing with a serial killer. They soon realize the pictures themselves may hold clues in the form of murderers’ portraits encircling the victims.

In the wake of these crimes, Prosper receives a message from his old friends – Ty, Paris, Jerel, and Wolfe – in a secret e-mail account. The account was created for The Kult, a club formed in their youth to combat schoolyard bullying. In their childhood pact, if any one of them were bullied, the remaining members would castigate the offender. In the past, this involved merely beating up their tormentors, but the new goal is more than a simple thrashing: They are to perform a copycat killing and frame the Oracle for it.

After The Kult’s misguided act – in which a reluctant Prosper is blackmailed to participate – the Oracle targets them as his new victims. With Prosper’s family, friends, career, and life on the line, he must decipher the clues to discover who the killer is.

Jeffrey adeptly employs traditional mystery devices such as the red herring and the big reveal to construct a suspenseful thriller. He utilizes brilliant shifts in point of view, allowing the reader to examine murders from the eyes of both the killer and the victims. Though the reader won’t find any paranormal horror elements here, they’d likely discover such additions would detract from this visceral, real-life horror. The Kult is a satisfying read that digs its bloody hooks in from the first sentence and drags the reader through its pages at a velocity far exceeding that of lesser novels.

Purchase The Kult by Shaun Jeffrey.

Dutton / August 2009
Reviewed by: Martel Sardina

The Thursday Night Drinking Club consists of four thirty-somethings who are less than content with the mark they’ve made on the world. Alex is a divorced father who somehow managed to make bartending his career. Jenn is a travel agent longing for a meaningful relationship. Mitch is the doorman at a swanky hotel, a demeaning job that leaves him feeling invisible. Ian, the seeming star of the bunch, is a stockbroker who made a killing in the market only to lose his fortune to gambling and cocaine.

Ian has managed to keep his financial problems and drug addiction a secret. But when his debts get out of hand, he sees an opportunity that may just be the answer to the group’s collective problems – the chance to make some fast cash and get out from under the things that have been holding them back from achieving their goals. The problem is this opportunity isn’t legal. It involves robbing Alex’s boss. They get over their moral objections by rationalizing that since they are stealing from a known criminal, they aren’t really committing a crime. And though the group has thought things through, the fact remains that they are amateurs. Can they really pull a job like this off?

The short answer is “yes.” They manage to rob Alex’s boss but the job doesn’t go as planned, leaving a man dead. As the group struggles to figure out what to do next, loyalties are tested. Will the friends succumb to the temptation to turn on each other in order to save themselves?

The Amateurs is Marcus Sakey’s fourth novel. In his previous offerings, he’s given readers an interesting moral question to ponder. In his debut, The Blade Itself, it was how far would you go to make amends for wronging a friend? This time, Sakey questions the means people use to get ahead. In the age of corporate greed, honesty is for suckers. The way to get what you want in life is to reach out and take it. But when you do that, are you going to wind up getting more than you bargained for?

Sakey continues to amaze this reviewer with his vision of Chicago. Each of his novels has been set in the Windy City, but with each offering he’s captured the uniqueness of its various neighborhoods. Sakey casts a light on the dirty underbelly of the crime world that exists and permeates not only South and West, but also affluent lakefront communities like Lincoln Park and Lakeview.

The Amateurs is another of Sakey’s fast paced, page-turning thrill rides. Peppered with social and political commentary, this is a book that will make you think. Its mix of action and suspense will leave readers contemplating how far they are willing to go to get ahead and whether or not the consequences are worth it. A highly recommended thriller.

Purchase The Amateurs by Marcus Sakey.

Lethe Press / October 2009
Reviewed by: Vince A. Liaguno

Jameson Currier knows horror. So why, then, doesn’t horror yet know Jameson Currier? One of among a handful of pioneering writers who chronicled the impact of AIDS on an entire generation of gay men, Currier lived through and witnessed, first-hand, the ravages of an epidemiologic nightmare. With his landmark novel Where the Rainbow Ends and three subsequent short story collections, he brought humanity to the inhumanness of the AIDS crisis and those victimized by both the disease and a world slow to respond to it. So while many horror readers were discovering writers like Stephen King and Bentley Little and Jack Ketchum in the 80’s and early 90’s, Currier was watching friends and lovers battle a monster far worse and far more devastating than rabid dogs or backwoods cannibals. And the experience has left him haunted.

It’s this pervasive sense of being haunted that informs every aspect of Currier’s superb debut collection of genre fiction, The Haunted Heart and Other Tales. The twelve stories here represent a wide spectrum of the modern gay experience – from the domesticity of gay families and the comforts of upward mobility to the volatile world of circuit parties and addiction, from the grapple with middle-age to the undisciplined abandon and hopefulness of youth. What sets Currier’s stories here apart from the usual spirit-driven tale is that the hauntings are not external to the protagonists – most are manifestations of their own memories and unresolved guilt.

While some stories – like “The Woman in the Window” and “The Incident at the Highlands Inn – remind us that modern-day horrors like home invasions and stalking are blind to sexual orientation, at the core of The Haunted Heart and Other Tales is an intersection between history and the modern gay experience. Through his fictional exploration and juxtaposition of Civil War lovers (“The Country House”) and the intolerance of mid-eighteenth century Calvinism (“A Touch of Darkness”) against gay parents and openly gay Hollywood actors, Currier reminds us of just how far we’ve come as a community.

Standouts here include “The Man in the Mirror,” a gorgeous lament on the cruelty and inevitability of aging and the mercilessness of the human conscience, and the titular tale, a short story about the ghost of an old sea captain whose decades-long haunting of a gay couple reveals his own lost humanity. Despite its relatively modest word count, “The Haunted Heart” is epic in scope and downright devastating in its resonating emotion.

The Haunted Heart and Other Tales expands upon the usual ghost story tropes by imbuing them with deep metaphorical resonance to the queer experience. Infused with flawed, three-dimensional characters, this first-rate collection strikes all the right chords in just the right places. Equal parts unnerving and heartrending, these chilling tales are testament to Currier’s literary prowess and the profound humanity at the core of his writing. Gay, straight, twisted like a pretzel…his writing is simply not to be missed by any reader with a taste for good fiction.

Purchase The Haunted Heart and Other Tales by Jameson Currier.

Leisure Books / October 2009
Reviewed by: Martel Sardina

While it’s true that you can’t judge a book by its cover, consider the cover art for the limited edition hardcover edition of John Everson’s latest novel, The 13th, to be a warning. Those who dare to venture past the first page should not be surprised to find hardcore horror within.

When the Castle House Lodge closed, the town of Castle Point hoped for some way to forget the evil that had occurred there. But rumors and ghosts have a way of lingering on, and wind up never quite being forgotten. When the Castle House Lodge reopens twenty-five years later as the Castle House Asylum, it’s only natural that the local police would be concerned about the types of patients being treated there.

Officer Christy Sorenson is keeping an eye on Castle House Asylum. She stops by to meet the proprietor, Dr. Barry Rockford, intent on letting him know that the police are willing to lend a hand should he ever need it. Dr. Rockford is cool, almost standoffish, but assures Christy that his patients will be no trouble. The patients are deeply disturbed pregnant women. Providing a secure environment is the facility’s top priority. These women are simply in desperate need of rest and relaxation. The residents of Castle Point have nothing to fear.

Officer Sorenson has bigger fish to fry anyway. A series of missing persons cases have cropped up in Oak Falls, a nearby town. And now it seems Castle Point has one of their own. Brenda Bean hasn’t been seen for days, since the night she and David Shale met at a local bar. David becomes concerned after being interviewed in connection with her disappearance. There are no leads until David takes a part-time job at the Asylum. He sees a woman that looks like Brenda in one of the rooms. But how could Brenda have become a patient? She certainly didn’t seem crazy — nor did she appear to be pregnant when they met. If it is Brenda, what is she doing there?

From this point forward, John Everson takes readers on a journey into dark places. As Christy and David learn more about Dr. Rockford’s past, it becomes apparent that things at the Castle House Asylum aren’t what they seem. Can they gather enough evidence to prove their suspicions and shut down the Asylum for good?

In his debut novel, Covenant, Everson did a great job of blending genres and giving readers a nice balance of horror and mystery. The 13th has more of a linear progression as the plot unfolds. The mystery element is not as pronounced. At times, the characters became aware of critical information too conveniently or act on information in ways that do not always ring true in terms of their character’s motivation, but these conveniences were a necessary function of the plot. Author liberties aside, the action and pacing here keep the pages turning.

Everson frequently writes stories that involve demons, kinky sex, and ritualistic murders. In his previous novels, he managed to walk the tightrope and keep the story from digressing into misogyny. If Everson didn’t cross that line this time, he certainly stopped just short of it. Still, The 13th is not for the faint of heart. Readers who are sensitive to graphic depictions of violence – including sexual violence – should consider themselves duly forewarned.

The 13th is available now in a limited hardcover edition from Necro Publications. It will also be available in mass-market paperback from Leisure Books in late October.

Purchase the limited edition hardcover edition of The 13th by John Everson.

Pre-Order the mass-market edition of The 13th by John Everson.

Harper / September 2009
Reviewed by: Martel Sardina

When Audrey Lucas finds the apartment of her dreams – an affordable pre-War beauty in Morningside Heights – she wonders if the deal isn’t too good to be true. Of course, it is; it has to be. No one in their right mind would let an apartment like that go for a song. The building’s superintendent admits that apartment 14B was the site of a murder/suicide, and tells Audrey she might be better off looking elsewhere. But Audrey just can’t let this gem pass her by. As an architect, she appreciates her new building – called The Breviary – not just for its city views but because it’s also one of the last remaining specimens of Chaotic Naturalism, a retired school of architectural thought. Although she’s not entirely comfortable with the idea of living in a former crime scene, Audrey signs the lease and decides it’s a risk she’s willing to take. There’s no such thing as ghosts, right?

Audrey’s personal life is in a shambles since her recent breakup with fiancé, Saraub. Although the move should bring Audrey some peace, her first night in 14B is anything but peaceful. After a fight with Saraub, Audrey is plagued with strange dreams and oversleeps, making her late for the most important meeting of her career – the status report on the 59th Street Parkside Plaza Project.

Audrey’s boss, Jill, has been tending to her dying son, Julian. She is relying on Audrey to pull some extra weight on the Parkside project and isn’t about to take the fall for Audrey’s tardiness. Fortunately, Audrey is able to pull herself together enough to make the presentation and save herself from getting fired. She rededicates herself to the project and stays late sketching new plans. She gets lost in her work, only to realize hours later that she hadn’t added much to the previous design save for the addition of a hundred doors. Doors that don’t belong in a rooftop memorial garden.

Her nights at The Breviary aren’t getting any better. The neighbors are strange. Most of them are elderly descendants of the building’s first residents. And why do they keep telling her to build the door?

Audrey’s Door is Sarah Langan’s third novel. It’s a modern haunted house story, inspired by classic tales such as The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and The Shining by Stephen King. As a reader, this reviewer found herself totally caught up in the story, never doubting the world that Langan created and never wanting to put the book down. As a writer, I took note of Langan’s ability to weave character and setting together. The Breviary is more than a place. It lives and breathes on the page as much as Audrey or any of Langan’s other human characters. In her Preface, Langan expresses her hope that she “did right” by both the authors and the works that inspired her and by New York City itself, “the city that stole my heart.” As a reviewer, I’m delighted to report that Audrey’s Door should make her inspirations proud. Audrey’s Door is a highly recommended read.

Purchase Audrey’s Door by Sarah Langan.

St. Martin’s Press / August 2009
Reviewed by: Rick R. Reed

Synopsis: It was expecting them.

Conrad and Joanna Harrison, a young couple from Los Angeles, attempt to save their marriage by leaving the pressures of the city to start anew in a quiet, rural setting. They buy a Victorian mansion that once served as a haven for unwed mothers, called a birthing house. One day when Joanna is away, the previous owner visits Conrad to bequeath a vital piece of the house’s historic heritage, a photo album that he claims “belongs to the house.” Thumbing through the old, sepia-colored photographs of midwives and fearful, unhappily pregnant girls in their starched, nineteenth-century dresses, Conrad is suddenly chilled to the bone: staring back at him with a countenance of hatred and rage is the image of his own wife….

Thus begins a story of possession, sexual obsession, and, ultimately, murder, as a centuries-old crime is reenacted in the present, turning Conrad and Joanna’s American dream into a relentless nightmare.

Review: When I read the synopsis of The Birthing House, and saw its moody cover, my hopes were high for a quality horror story, a ghost story that might rival say, oh, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.

And I was not disappointed. Although Ransom’s book is not a serious contender for iconic contemporary haunted house story (as Jaskson’s was), it is original, extremely well-done from a writing craft standpoint, and, like The Haunting of Hill House, uses the fears and psychological make-up of its characters to bring readers their most terrifying and disturbing thrills.

And, like Shirley Jackson, Ransom is able to craft a killer first line, a hook that makes it impossible not to continue reading:

“Conrad Harrison found the last house he would ever know by driving the wrong way out of Chicago with a ghost in his car.”

I admit it: I am a sucker for a good first line and, although Ransom’s does not have the elegance of Jackson’s start to The Haunting of Hill House, it grabs you and compels you to read on just as much as Ms. Jackson’s beginning.

The first line of The Birthing House signals a chilling read, mysterious, and one that keeps you turning the pages. I am a jaded fan of horror novels and movies and even though my love for them continues undaunted, I am not easy to scare. A writer has to be pretty clever to induce in me the vague feeling of dread and unease that Ransom does here.

Like many haunted house tales, The Birthing House relies on established ghost story tropes to construct its conflicted world: the main characters running away from something to what they perceive as an isolated, yet safe, haven. And then, of course, discovering that their refuge is anything but; and the idea of past wrongs needing to be made right with restless spirits unable to find peace until they can find a voice and, ultimately, justice.

Ransom’s story uses these tropes to explore ideas that go beyond the average ghost story. Although the house Conrad and his estranged wife flee to has a horrible, festering secret at its core, it’s also a means to flesh out timeless themes of male/female relationships and motherhood.

It’s hard to talk too much about the actual plot of the book without giving away its delicious and dark secrets. Ransom is masterful at building up his revelations and taking us on a journey into darkness, a pitch so without light that we, as readers, need to feel our way around for a good three quarters of the book to discover just what is going on. Who is the tall woman that appears in and around the house? What kind of evil things did the doctor who originally built the house as a shelter for pregnant, unmarried women do? As we feel our way through Ransom’s darkness, our fingers light upon things that cause us to recoil…and to continue reading.

“Something had happened here, maybe several somethings involving life and death and the things that slip through the cracks in between. Something had been born here and it lived here still,” Ransom writes, which bring us back to Jackson’s elegant beginning to her classic haunted house tale: “Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

If you’ve longed for an original, solid haunted house story that gives you both shocking thrills and quieter, more disturbing chills, The Birthing House may be exactly what you’ve been looking for.

Purchase The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom.

Rick R. Reed is the author of ten novels and has short fiction in more than twenty anthologies. He lives in Seattle, WA. Find out more about the author at his website.