Book Review: The Things He Heard by Matt Shaw

Posted on 06/03/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Things He Heard

Author: Matt Shaw

Publication Date: November 25, 2022

Number of Pages: 68

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Independent

Genre: Horror

Synopsis:

A tragic, violent

The boy didn’t have cancer. He had something else buried deep within which he named “his Cancer”. Others didn’t know it was there, even though he tried telling them. Instead, they said he was “fine” and being “silly” and “melodramatic”. Even when his anger turned to frustration and streams of tears, they continued to say he was okay. He knew he wasn’t though and, the more they doubted him and didn’t listen, the more the “cancer” grew.

He could feel it inside and, it scared him. He knew that, one day, it was going to explode. What he didn’t know was who would be caught up in the explosion.

From award-winning author Matt Shaw, the author of Sick B*stards, The Octopus Trilogy and Roe V. Wade. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Boy From the Woods (Wilde, #1) by Harlan Coben

Posted on 06/02/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Boy From the Woods (Wilde, #1)

Author: Harlan Coben

Publication Date: March 1, 2020

Number of Pages: 384

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Century

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime

Synopsis:

Thirty years ago, a child was found in the woods. He had been living a feral existence, with no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Everyone just calls him Wilde.

Now another child has gone missing – Naomi Pine – who may be playing some sort of disappearing game. No one seems concerned about her whereabouts, not even her father.

No one – except criminal attorney Hester Crimstein, whose grandson knows Naomi is being bullied badly at school and is concerned for her safety. Hester is determined to find Naomi so she calls Wilde – now ex-military and an expert in security issues – and asks him to track her down.

But even Wilde can’t find Naomi. One day passes, then another, then a third.

Four days later a finger shows up in the mail.

And Wilde knows that what may have started as a game has now spiralled into something far, far darker… Continue reading →

Book Review: The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

Posted on 06/01/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Mother-in-Law

Author: Sally Hepworth

Publication Date: January 29, 2019

Number of Pages: 352

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Macmillan Australia

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Synopsis:

From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm’s length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they’ll never have the closeness she’d been hoping for.

But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something…

From the bestselling author of The Family Next Door comes a new page-turner about that trickiest of relationships. Continue reading →

Book Review: Never Lie by Freida McFadden

Posted on 05/19/2023 by Lenn

Title: Never Lie

Author: Freida McFadden

Publication Date: September 19, 2022

Number of Pages: 336

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Amazon

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Mystery

Synopsis:

Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.

But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth. Continue reading →

Book Review: Ritualistic Human Sacrifice by C.V. Hunt

Posted on 05/09/2023 by Lenn

Title: Ritualistic Human Sacrifice

Author: C.V. Hunt

Publication Date: October 15, 2015

Number of Pages: 208

Format: Ebook

Publisher: GrindHouse Press

Genre: Horror, Bizarro Fiction, Splatterpunk, Occult

Synopsis:

Nick Graves is a miserable man. Every day he comes home from his dream job to a stale marriage. On the day he finally summons the courage to tell his wife, Eve, he wants a divorce she has exciting news for him – she’s pregnant.

Nick is a spiteful man. He purchases his dream home in an ideal location far away from family, friends, and coworkers. It’s a life changing decision he’s chosen to make without Eve’s consultation.

Nick is a terrified man. He quickly realizes the residents of his new hometown are a bit eccentric. After a trip to the local doctor’s office Eve begins to behave strangely. And once Nick finds out what’s really going on he’ll never be able to look at Eve the same way. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan

Posted on 04/25/2023 by Lenn

Title: The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo 4)

Author: Rick Riordan

Publication Date: September 24, 2019

Number of Pages: 439

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Genre: Fantasy, Middle-Grade

Synopsis:

In his penultimate adventure, a devastated but determined Apollo travels to Camp Jupiter, where he must learn what it is to be a hero, or die trying.

It’s not easy being Apollo, especially when you’ve been turned into a human and banished from Olympus. On his path to restoring five ancient oracles and reclaiming his godly powers, Apollo (aka Lester Papadopoulos) has faced both triumphs and tragedies. Now his journey takes him to Camp Jupiter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Roman demigods are preparing for a desperate last stand against the evil Triumvirate of Roman emperors. Hazel, Reyna, Frank, Tyson, Ella, and many other old friends will need Apollo’s aid to survive the onslaught.

Unfortunately, the answer to their salvation lies in the forgotten tomb of a Roman ruler . . . someone even worse than the emperors Apollo has already faced. Continue reading →

Book Review: I’m a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: 6 Deadly Social Media Influencers (Dr. Harper, #3)

Posted on 04/02/2023 by Lenn

Title: I’m a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: 6 Deadly Social Media Influencers (Dr. Harper, #3)

Author: Anonymous

Publication Date: March 8, 2020

Number of Pages: 192

Format: E-book

Publisher: Independent

Genre: Thriller, Splatterpunk, Horror, Extreme Horror

Synopsis:

The Explosive Conclusion to the Dr. Harper Therapy series

I’m a therapist, and I’ve worked with the wildest internet celebrities… A vigilante who treated humans as factory farm animals. A germaphobe who warned of the next major plague. My own best friend. A rapist who got cancelled online — and in real life. A psychic medium with a disturbing prediction.

And the last patient I ever worked with: The one who asked me to take them off life support.

It all started with a big social media festival on a little island. We were promised endless days of sunshine, beach bonfires under the stars, and a chance to party with the world’s most renowned influencers.

Instead, we were lucky if we made it out in one piece.
Continue reading →

Book Review: You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric Larocca

Posted on 03/30/2023 by Lenn

Title: You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood

Author: Eric Larocca

Publication Date: March 11, 2022

Number of Pages: 210

Format: E-book

Publisher: Independent

Genre: Splatterpunk, Horror, Extreme Horror

Synopsis:

A disturbing new vision of terror from the author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.

“Each precious thing I show you in this book is a holy relic from the night we both perished-the night when I combed you from my hair and watered the moon with your blood.

You’ve lost a lot of blood . . .”
Continue reading →

Book Review: Talia by Daniel J. Volpe

Posted on 03/14/2023 by Lenn

Title: Talia

Author: Daniel J. Volpe

Publication Date: April 25, 2021

Number of Pages: 211

Format: Kindle

Publisher: Independent

Genre: Splatterpunk, Horror

Synopsis:

In the early 1990s the rising popularity of the video cassette gave birth to a seedy, underground world of illicit pornography.
Talia, a Midwest dreamer, leaves home in search of fame under the blinding Broadway lights. But nothing could have prepared her for what she finds instead. Savage violence, bottomless depravity, and no way out.

Talia will unapologetically drag you into the foul underbelly of society. A sanity straining journey, full of hot bloodshed and betrayal.
Continue reading →

Book Review: Time is a Mother by Ocean Voung

Posted on 02/22/2023 by Lenn

Title: Time Is A Mother

Author: Ocean Voung

Publication Date: April 5, 2022

Number of Pages: 128

Format: E-book

Publisher: Penguin Press

Genre: Contemporary, Poetry

Synopsis:

In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother’s death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong contends with personal loss, the meaning of family, and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave, and propulsive, Vuong’s poems circle fragmented lives to find both restoration as well as the epicenter of the break.

The author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds, winner of the 2016 Whiting Award, the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize, and a 2019 MacArthur fellow, Vuong writes directly to our humanity without losing sight of the current moment. These poems represent a more innovative and daring experimentation with language and form, illuminating how the themes we perennially live in and question are truly inexhaustible. Bold and prescient, and a testament to tenderness in the face of violence, Time Is a Mother is a return and a forging forth all at once.
Continue reading →