Oliver Muncing, Exorcist by John Paulits

October 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Oliver Muncing, Exorcist by John Paulits
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (150 pages)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Review by: Astilbe

After a catastrophic invasion of elementals from “the other side” kills his grandfather and leaves him crippled, Oliver Muncing vows to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and dedicates his life to investigating other-worldly phenomena.

The problem with piercing the veil and connecting with the spirit world is that not all supernatural beings have good intentions, as Oliver is about to find out.
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Imagine trying to prevent others from doing something they don’t realize is extremely hazardous. Most of the people in Oliver’s world don’t realize that seeking out the spirit world is fraught with danger until they’ve invited something into their homes they can’t control. Oliver’s responses to these emergencies aren’t always graceful, but seeing him leap to action to save strangers made me wish his adventures would never end. The first chapter in particular was so intense that I couldn’t imagine where the author intended to take the plot once that scene ended. It was rewarding to see how quickly Oliver leaps from one case to the next as well as how he handles the elementals he meets who are not necessarily friendly beings.

This is a fast-paced, plot-centered novel that is far more concerned with how Oliver relates to the elementals than his personal development. While I was able to intuit a thought-provoking explanation for Oliver’s sometimes obsessive habits it would have been nice to have my theory clearly confirmed or disproven at some point. Had the author included a few additional scenes to explore and further develop Oliver’s idiosyncrasies I would have easily given this tale a Best Book rating.

The foreshadowing, atmosphere, and pacing were absolutely perfect for the sci-fi/fantasy and horror genres. Mr. Paulits knows exactly how to slowly build tension through the addition of small detail that in any other type of story could easily be brushed off as mere coincidence. I had not heard of this author before reading Oliver Muncing, Exorcist, but now that I’ve been introduced to him I can’t wait to read his back list.

If you love supernatural horror I highly recommend checking out Oliver, Muncing, Exorcist. It’s spooky atmosphere and diverse cast of otherworldly beings is an excellent tonic for anyone in the mood to be frightened.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Dark Zone by Jonathan Janz

October 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

DARK
Dark Zone by Jonathan Janz
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Genre: Contemporary, Action/Adventure, Horror
Length: Short Story (75 pgs)
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Peaceful Valley is about to become a slaughterhouse!

For the first time ever, Samhain Publishing will serialize a terrifying original novel, Savage Species, in five installments, with new installments coming every two weeks.

The construction of the Peaceful Valley Nature Preserve, a sprawling, isolated state park, has stirred an evil that has lain dormant for nearly a century, and all the men, women and children unlucky enough to be attending the grand opening are about to encounter the most horrific creatures to ever walk the earth.

Part Three: Dark Zone
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Charly, Sam, Jesse and the others must do battle with the Children in the labyrinthine subterranean world that the creatures call home. But the situation grows bleaker when many of the survivors are captured and borne deeper into the lightless caverns…where a new and even more horrific species awaits.

The mystery continues to deepens in this arresting installment in the Savage Species series. Many of the survivors are confined to the dark caverns with the hideous man-eating monsters lurking near.

This series can be correlated with a roller coaster ride. Part one starts out as a slow incline, your heart rate picks up in speed due to the unknown fears that’s about to take place. Quickly, in part two you are taken to the peak of horror as you reach the highest point of the ride. Part three would be the decline into the lower part of the ride when your heart rate settles but only for a brief second. In part three the characters are all confined in the underground tunnel with no known way out… not that they even know if they’ll live to see the exit. The repulsive monsters are still on attack and their killing all that they come in contact with. Now the battles are up close and with limited lighting and weapons the monsters have the advantage.

The author uses their confinement in the tunnel to display the characters’ stories before the monsters invaded their lives. Each character seems to have a moment of flashbacks from their past. I’m not really sure how the flashbacks tie in with the plot but I’m sure it will be revealed soon. Just as with the voices in part two, it hadn’t been revealed yet but I think I have an idea what the author is leading up to. In the caves, not only are they fighting monsters but there are also a few personal heated confrontations between Charly and Eric, and also between Eric and Sam.

In part three, the author does reveal the legend of The Children. Don’t fret, Janz has a plot that is captivated and continues to pull it’s reader along in suspense. A new terror is introduced with the Night Flyers and they do just that…fly. A great ploy to insure the reader will advance to read part four. The author does a fantastic job in the detailed description of the action scenes and he has a vivid creative imagination that combines style and suspense.

This installment wasn’t my favorite of the three, however it did answer some questions and possibly reveals a new terror.

The Savage Species series continues to be a chilling suspenseful tale perfect for horror fans, but you might want to sleep with a nightlight available after reading.

 

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Children by Jonathan Janz

October 24, 2013 By 1 Comment

CHILDREN
The Children by Jonathan Janz
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Genre: Contemporary, Action/Adventure, Horror
Length: Short Story (96 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Peaceful Valley is about to become a slaughterhouse!

Jesse thinks he’s caught a break when he, the girl of his dreams, and her friend are assigned by their newspaper to cover the opening weekend of the Peaceful Valley Nature Preserve, a sprawling, isolated state park. But the construction of the park has stirred an evil that has lain dormant for nearly a century, and the three young people—as well as every man, woman, and child unlucky enough to be attending the grand opening—are about to encounter the most horrific creatures to ever walk the earth. A species so ferocious that Peaceful Valley is about to be plunged into a nightmare of bloodshed and damnation.

As impotence is mostly observed due to erectile dysfunction, and to levitra generic cheap my link promote prostate health. Peyronie’s Disease (a bending in erect penis), Phimosis (a tight foreskin), a tight frenulum (a piece of skin, which joins the foreskin to the cialis prescription cost male sex organ). The drug will be delivered to sildenafil india wholesale you in short. The whiplash for chiropractic , joint dysfunction, or spinal manipulation includes short thrusts or gentle movements of the impaired area or joints in the restricted direction, done by the chiropractic doctor. 2.Muscle Stimulation or Relaxation This unique chiropractic treatment includes gentle tadalafil pharmacy online unica-web.com stretches of the muscle which has too much tension or repetitive contractions. In part one of the Savage Species series, Jesse, Emma and Colleen, a young group of newspaper writers were on site to write about the opening of the newly constructed Peaceful Vally Nature Preserve Park. While there interviewing the local residence they are invaded by inhuman monsters. Charly is at her wits end with her husband and then she finds one of the monsters has taken her son from his room.

Part two picks up with Jesse, Colleen and Professor Clevenger in a grisly fight for their lives. They’ve left the playground and found the creatures were even worse at the RV site. They load up the truck but can’t leave until they find Emma. Dead bodies are piling up. A war between humans and monsters is in full effect. Janz continues his awesome detailed description of the fight to get away from these mystery killer monsters.  For a bit, the shooting and killing seemed to go on forever, almost to the point of over doing it. Then finally they pack into a white Buick with monsters chasing behind them as they head to Red Elk’s place looking for a possible escape.

The story also continues with Sam and Charly both have made a plan to go look for Charly’s son. Eric Florence, Charly’s husband, sees Eric and Charly and decides to follow them.

Janz makes the reader feel as if they are actually in the middle of the terror. The second installment in the Savage Species series, The Children continues on to be a darkly intriguing mystery. It is a good read and Janz definitely has a talent for being creative and delivering an extremely visual setting, but I do have to point out a few things that I found irritating. In the mist of death, horror and running for their life they find time to discuss soft porn, and Emma’s push-up bra. I am not sure what is going on with Charly hearing her mother-in-law’s voice in her head and the same for Sam. He is hearing his dad’s voice in his head.

Be mindful the mystery won’t be resolved in this installment. I was left with questions as to where the blood thirsty monsters are from and why are they all of a sudden attacking? And will anyone survive this savage terror?  So you know what that means…..yes I will be starting the next portion of the series right away!

Join me in grabbing a copy of Dark Zone to see what happens when Eric finds Charly and Sam together and will Red Elk be able to lead the group to safety.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Things Slip Through by Kevin Lucia

October 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

THINGS
Things Slip Through by Kevin Lucia
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Genre: Horror, Contemporary, Paranormal, Historical
Length: Full Length (159 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Welcome to Clifton Heights, New York. Just another average Adirondack town, and nice enough in its own right.

Except after dark, or under the pale light of the moon. Or in a very private doctor’s office at Clifton Heights General Hospital, where no one can hear you scream. Or on a road out of town that never ends, or in an old house sitting on the edge of town with a mind – and will – of its own.

Maybe you shouldn’t have left the interstate, my friend. Maybe you should’ve driven on to the next town.

But you didn’t. You saw our sign, turned down our road, figuring on just a short stay. And maybe it will be.

Or maybe you’ll never leave.

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Except after dark. Or on cold winter days when no one is around, and you’re all alone…

Some questions are better left unasked, and some mysteries were never meant to be solved.

Chris has investigated some truly bizarre cases since he moved to Clifton Heights a year ago. Despite growing close to several of the residents in the town he has never been able to convince anyone to explain what they know about the people in their community who died under violent circumstances or disappeared without a trace. Their reticence casts an eerie pallor on the first few chapters, and Chris’ attempts to tease the truth out of them provides smooth transitions between the short stories embedded in this piece.

I requested to review Things Slip Through under the assumption that it was a collection of unrelated tales, so discovering that they shared a common setting and in some cases the same characters was a pleasant surprise. Mr. Lucia wove the lives of the residents of Clifton Heights together in ways that I did not always anticipate. Coming across these connections occasionally helped to explain things that had earlier mystified me about certain plot points.

The author spent so much time amplifying the mysteries of Clifton Heights that I would have liked to see him spend more time explaining how the community became such an unnerving place to live. Some backstory is provided, but given the ominous tone of certain conversations early on I was expecting to have more clues to work with in order to better understand how certain facts were linked to one another.

Given how dark the plot had been up until that point I was expecting a similar tone in the final case Chris revisits. The author’s approach to the disappearance of a small child was unexpected and would have worked quite well as a standalone story, but it did not blend in well with the overall tone of this novel. This was even more true when something from an earlier case that had been used in one of the scariest scenes in the book showed up in this one. With more development the juxtaposition between the two scenes would have added depth to the plot, but as it was written I was a little confused by why Mr. Lucia made the decision to link these tales.

With that being said, reading Things Slip Through was like finally catching a good look at something dark and slithery lurking in the shadows that normally moves too fast to be seen. The author clearly spent lot of time developing the setting, and his meticulous attention to detail pays off every time the tension builds to a new peak.

Things Slip Through is the scariest thing I’ve come across so far in 2013. This is a good choice for anyone who likes the surge of adrenaline that comes from reading extremely descriptive horror.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Terror at White Otter Castle by Bonnie Ferrante

October 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

CASTLE
Terror at White Otter Castle by Bonnie Ferrante
Publisher: Single Drop Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (53 pages)
Age Recommendation: 12+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Laurel, Aster, and Beth have been best friends since grade one when they created the “triangle of power”. In September, as high school graduates, they will head off in different directions. Because Laurel fears it will be the end of their friendship, she convinces the others to join her on an end of summer trip – a nine-day canoe expedition to White Otter Castle, deep in the Northern Canadian forest. Unknown to her, the hundred-year-old log castle is has a dark secret. The “triangle of power” faces the ultimate test when the dark forest holds a terror they never imagined.

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If there’s scarier place to set up camp in than in the shadow of an abandoned mansion I can’t imagine where such a place might be located. Ms. Ferrante convincingly builds up the tension from the very first scene, and there’s never a dull moment as the hiking group settles in for the night.

It was difficult for me to determine the best age recommendation for this book. While the main characters are seniors in high school, certain plot points are resolved more quickly and easily than I would expect from a horror novel written for teens. The tone of this piece seems to be geared to a younger audience, but the violent content makes makes me reticent to recommend Terror at White Otter Castle to anyone under the age of 12. This is not a good selection for middle school readers who are sensitive or brand new to the horror genre, although I do think it will be appealing for most students in that age bracket.

The unexpected ending drew me back into the intrigue I felt when I read the opening scene. Ms. Ferrante struck a good balance between explaining what was happening and allowing the reader to bring his or her own interpretation to the chain of events. It also reinforced my hunch about the age group for which this tale was originally written.

Terror at White Otter Castle is a good choice for anyone who loves contemporary young adult horror.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Lost in the Shadows by Selah Janel and S.H. Roddey

October 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

LOST
Lost in the Shadows by Selah Janel and S.H. Roddey
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Suspense/Mystery, Horror, Contemporary, Holiday
Length: Full Length (300 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review ed by Astilbe

Welcome to the Shadows:

Journey with authors Selah Janel and S.H. Roddey to a world where every idea is a possibility and every genre an invitation. In this collection of forty-seven short stories, lines blur and worlds collide in strange and wonderful new ways. Get lost with the authors as they wander among fantasy, horror, science fiction, and other speculative musings.

Shadows can’t hurt you, and sometimes it’s all right to venture off the path.

How would you choose the right path if you had limited information about your options and an extremely short period of time to decide what to do?
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Some answers to this question responses come in the form of extremely short stories, others focus on how it is people find ideas or what happens when you make a big mistake. The authors’ creative approaches to the topic, especially the ones that personify certain aspects of the writing process, sucked me into this book.

Angel’s dazed reaction to an extremely dangerous situation after a car crash in “A Choice” is one of the highlights of Lost in the Shadows. She has a limited amount of time to make a life altering decision, and her level-headed reaction to what happens to her after the crash made me wish I could keep following her after the plot wraps up.

Occasional missteps are found in tales like “The Empty Table.” Calliope has a dangerous secret that she has so far hidden from her boyfriend. When he invites her parents over for Thanksgiving dinner, though, she worries that they will pick up on the clues about her past Calliope can’t hide. The premise was excellent, but I didn’t understand why Calliope and her boyfriend had such poor communication skills given information about their relationship that surfaces later on in the plot. Expanding stories like this one into novellas would allow them more space to explain background information that was sometimes so sparse I had trouble understanding what was really going on.

At first I thought that “Downing Street” could also use more exposition. The idea of anyone taking advantage of Halloween to cover up a crime is chilling, but once I read it again I quickly came to appreciate the slithering horror of only knowing half of the details. “Downing Street” is so short it could almost be classified as flash fiction, but it quickly became my favourite entry in this collection.

There were also a handful of tales that felt out of place in a primarily science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthology. For example, “Almacide” explores an urban environment from the perspective of a seed who was expecting to sprout in a clean, rural garden. The premise was interesting, but the sermonizing tone of it was a poor fit for this particular collection.

What surprised me the most about Lost in the Shadows was how seamlessly everything fit together. It isn’t easy to blend two different writing styles together, but Ms. Janel and Ms. Roddey make it look effortless. Within a half dozen pages I was slipping from one adventure to the next without realizing that they were written by two different authors.

I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish Lost in the Shadows. This is a solid anthology that I would recommend to anyone who likes well-paced, genre-blending short stories.

Filed Under: Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

And the Night Growled Back by Aaron Dries

October 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment

NIGHT
And the Night Growled Back by Aaron Dries
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Horror, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (68 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

They shouldn’t have run.

There are three of them, Sam, Lila and Paul—young travellers with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and yet, everything to lose. Their visit to Iceland has invigorated their senses…until the carnival. There, a single punch is thrown. A man lies dead on the ground. Blood speckles Sam’s bruised knuckles. In a blind panic, they flee the scene and disappear down an unpaved road, winding through the barren landscape. Soon they find an empty cabin, the perfect place to hide until they figure out what to do. Dead is dead; wrong is wrong—this cruel truth is etched into their minds as though carved with a rusted blade.

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Fear is a drug, and like all drugs sometimes it has side effects.

No sooner do weird things begin happening around Lila than she is sure she’s figured out who or what is causing them. Her rationale for the theory she comes up with is as puzzling as it is horrifying, and I found myself searching for more clues in the text that would support her hunch even as I privately wondered if there was a better explanation waiting for me at the climax.

Uneven pacing contributed to the 3.5 star rating. I plunged into heart-stopping action in the beginning only to see the plot stumble into a much slower pace about halfway through. The final scene was terrifying, but the action leading up to it happened so rapidly that I had trouble understanding what was happening for a moment. Experiencing certain flashbacks earlier on in the piece would have helped me maintain the tension that builds up so steadily in the beginning.

What keeps my skin crawling when I think about this tale, though, is the electrifying way in which Mr. Dries describes the dark, quiet, rural setting. Iceland is as much of a character in this piece as are the living, breathing people . The land and sky are silent witnesses to the horrors that take place, and their unnerving observance makes the plot much more frightening than it might have been otherwise.

And the Night Growled Back is full of classic horror tropes that sometimes showed up in unexpected places. I’d recommend this book to anyone who appreciates a fast-paced storyline and graphic violence.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Sleeper(s) by Paul Kane

September 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

SLEEPERS
Sleeper(s) by Paul Kane
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary, Action/Adventure
Length: Short Story (96 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The sleepy English locality of Middletown is about to get even sleepier, as a strange malady starts to affect the population. It spreads quickly, causing the authorities to quarantine this small city, and seek out the only person who might be able to help: Doctor Andrew Strauss. However, Strauss has a secret, one that has linked him to this place all his life, one that has linked him to a particular person there, though he doesn’t yet know who. But he’s not the only one hiding things – and as he ventures into Middletown to collect samples with an army escort, a mixture of UK and US troops, cracks soon begin to appear in the operation. Especially when his team come up against the most terrifying threat humankind has ever known…

Dr. Strauss is about to visit a quarantined city in the hope that he can develop a treatment for the highly contagious, mysterious aliment that has struck every man, woman, and child who lives there. The problem is that he has to work closely with someone on this assignment who has every reason to distrust him.
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The vivid descriptions of what is happening to the residents of Middletown paint such a horrifying picture of the changes they’re undergoing that I nearly jumped out of my skin when a piece of my hair brushed against my neck as I read that scene. Every assumption I’d made about what was actually happening in Middletown was thrown out the window as Dr. Strauss begins collecting samples and attempting to find a cure.

This story was not marketed as a romance in any way, so I was quite surprised to meet characters in a love triangle. Their conflicted feelings about their predicament are not central to the main plot and there are no sex scenes, but the love triangle was mentioned often enough that I briefly wondered if the publisher had mislabeled this book. It would have been helpful for me if the blurb hinted at this particular subplot as it is not one of the traditional tropes of the horror genre.

Mr. Kane ultimately had good reasons for including the scenes that initially confused me, though. By the climax he weaves all of the subplots together in ways I never would have predicted they would fit. The final glimpse of this world was the perfect capstone to this eerie, rule-bending tale.

Sleeper(s) kept me up late last night. I’d recommend this book in particular to readers who love techno-thrillers and science fiction that is heavily influenced by current scientific knowledge.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What Child Is This? by Victor J. Banis

September 13, 2013 By 1 Comment

CHILD
What Child Is This? by Victor J. Banis
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (6 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

What had happened to her own daughter? Where had this child come from, the mother wondered. Who was she? Why did she sit for hours staring at her baby brother, contemplating…who knew what?

It was enough to drive you mad…especially, if you had a history of madness. But the doctors had assured her that was all behind her, a thing of the past…

Wasn’t it?

Every parent worries about their children, but some concerns are much scarier than others.
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The narrator of this piece has spent years anxiously attempting to predict the future. Her racing thoughts keep reverting to the same horrifying conclusion, but she’s having a difficult time getting anyone to listen to her. Occasionally doctors and well-meaning family members treat certain adult patients as if they are children, and the narrator’s reaction to this new dynamic in her closest relationships was quite similar to how I’ve seen other people in the same situation react in real life. Her reaction to the paternalistic treatment of her emotional state fleshes out this character’s personality and made it easier for me to like her when she makes certain choices.

While I completely understand that short stories generally don’t include a great deal of background information, I would have had an easier time understanding the ending if the narrator’s troubled past had been explained in greater detail. Everything was wrapped up so quickly and with only one or two hints about the truth that it took me a few rereads to realize what was actually happening to the narrator and her children.

Even with my confusion about the ending I was eager to figure out the narrator’s jumbled point of view. Mr. Banis creates an extraordinarily creepy atmosphere in what should have been ordinary scenes from the daily life of a young family. Sometimes the most frightening things in the world are also the most familiar ones.

What Child Is This? sent a shudder down my spine. This is a good choices for readers who prefer horror that is suspenseful instead of gory.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Perfect Curiosity by Homer Eon Flint

September 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment

CURIOSITY
The Perfect Curiosity by Homer Eon Flint
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Historical
Length: Short Story (13 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Truly heartless? Is it possible?

Dr. Childers is one of the world’s finest surgeons. His hands never tremble and if the operation is particularly delicate, he can quiet his own heartbeat to further steady them.But brilliant as he is, he has never known love. Women are unimportant.Relationships don’t exist beyond the hospital walls. Is there something wrong with his heart? Some abnormality?

There’s only one way to learn the answer—with a knife.

Have you ever wondered if you were normal? Dr. Childers has been quietly comparing himself to others for many years, and he can not longer ignore the sinking feeling that he isn’t like everyone else.
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There is something quietly unnerving about Dr. Childers’ ability to control his circulatory system to such a precise degree. While he’s the kind of doctor I would have wanted to operate on me if I lived a hundred years ago, his bedside manner leaves much to be desired. There is an eerie coolness to his personality that makes otherwise benign conversations in this tale send a flood of goosebumps up my arm.

The ending was chilling but abrupt. I would have preferred to see the final scene expanded in order to explain what was happening in more detail. The consequences of a decision Dr. Childers makes are far more interesting than the events leading up to this choice, and had more attention been given to what happens in the last few moments of this piece it would have earned a much higher rating from this reviewer.

With that being said, this is one of the creepiest stories I’ve read this year. I read it in a well-lit room in the middle of the day, but the final scene still haunted my thoughts as I drifted to sleep that night. Good horror isn’t about frightening the reader as he or she is immersed in the story so much as it is about spooking them hours or days later as they remember what they just read. The Perfect Curiosity knows just how to do this, and for that reason alone it is well-worth picking up.

The horror and science fiction elements of The Perfect Curiosity blend so well together that this story will appeal equally to fans of either genre. I highly recommend it to anyone who is well-read in one of these genres and is curious to explore the other one. This tale is a good stepping stone in either direction.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , ,
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