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Book Review: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

cover art for The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Del Rey, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593355336

Available:: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy: Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

 

This reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau takes place on the Yucután peninsula in 1871 against the backdrop of the Yucután Caste War. A hacendero, Joseph Lizdale, hires the adventurer Montgomery Langdon, a functional alcoholic with a special set of skills that include hunting, taxidermy, and working with dangerous animals, as mayordomo for the isolated estate occupied by Doctor Moreau, who is researching creating human/animal hybrids as replacements for rebellious Mayan workers, his daughter Carlota, and the more successful hybrids.

 

Six years later, Montgomery is content in the company of the Moreaus and their hybrids and Carlota has grown into a young woman. Lizdale’s funding is drying up, and the doctor’s research is stalled. Eduardo and Isidro Lizdale arrive without the elder Lizdale’s knowledge demanding men to help chase down Mayan rebels. Carlota defuses the confrontation by inviting them in. She and Eduardo fall in love and he asks her to marry him. Change, and revelations, are coming.

 

The point of view alternates between Carlota and Montgomery. I really liked Montgomery’s voice and enjoyed his character. Carlota frequently grated on me probably due to her naivete and meekness, but she was kind and loyal. Watching their relationship develop was interesting- he was a more thoughtful man than he often appeared.

 

The monstrousness of Moreau and his work is evident to the reader early on but it’s only as Carlota realizes it that we really see it. The monstrousness of the hacenderos, even one as handsome as Eduardo, is easily revealed. The hybrids, who appear to be monsters to the humans, are less monstrous than their creator and those who wish to exploit them.

 

This is a fast, engaging, easy read. You don’t have to be familiar with the source material, but it did enhance my reading experience.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on January 24, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Earworm by Aaron Thomas Milstead

cover art for Earworm by Aaron Thomas Milstead

Earworm by Aaron Thomas Milstead

Blood Bound Publishing, 2019

ISBN: 9788397672245

Available: Paperback, KIndle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

An earworm is loosely defined as “an annoying pop song you hate and loathe, but somehow the damn thing gets stuck in your head and keeps boinging around.” Example: Taylor Swift’s entire catalogue.  (I make no apologies to Swift fans)  In Earworm, it’s a bit more: it is an actual annoying voice that talks and responds to you (or is it?).  Protagonist Ripley McCain had better listen, since he might need to help save the human race, as well as himself.

 

Earworm is a good horror/thriller read, with some surprising emotional depth: there are a few spots where readers might start sniffling and reach for a tissue.  Ripley is an excellent lead character: it’s impossible not to like him, due to his struggles.  He does everything he can to win back his wife, overcoming the bottle…and finds out he has six months to live.  Fate intervenes in the form of the earworm.  Important: it’s a symbiote, not a parasite.  For readers that flunked Biology 101, that means each creature feeds off the other, to the mutual benefit of both.  These aren’t Star Trek 2’s brainworms.  However, Ripley’s earworm does have a task for him: protecting the worm from certain other worms that want to destroy it, and destroy all people as well.

 

The story is a nice split between Ripley’s actions to stop the evil earworms of the world, and the dialogue with his own worm.  Their conversations are always entertaining. The worm is certainly not a formal voice of wisdom, it’s more like his new best friend, for a guy that desperately needs friends.  The emotional part comes from Ripley’s scenes with his wife and daughter as they try to settle things, and some of the dialogue with the earworm.  These parts are very well done, and raise the story above the standard horror novel.  It helps to get readers invested in Ripley’s character, and they will cheer him on till the end.

 

That being said, there’s plenty of action along the way: walking corpses, tentacles blasting out of people, and possessed chickens.  The supporting cast helps move the action along and provides a nice contrast, the doctor who knows the secret of the earworms stands out, and Ripley’s drunken sort-of friend who is along for the ride helps the story also.

 

The only drawback is that there are too many analogies to pop culture. They are useful tools in moderation, but detract from what is good writing, and they should have been whittled down to a manageable number.

 

The bottom line? Earworm is worth the read. It’s entertaining and unusual enough that most people will enjoy it.  Bonus: you get an interesting discussion on how on Gilligan’s Island, the characters can’t escape because they are actually in hell.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on January 21, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: FRIGHT! Stories of Murder, Monsters, and Mayhem by Matt Martinek

cover art for FRIGHT! by Matt Martinek

Fright! by Matt Martinek

Self published, 2023

ISBN: 9798864210465

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

This little183 page volume has 19 short stories that vary in quality.  Most are decent: there are a few clunkers mixed in, and a few real hum-dingers as well.  If you like your horror fiction short, this may be worth looking at.

 

All the stories are written in the first person.  If there is a theme, it’s “very bad people doing random bad things”.  There’s not much in the way of monsters or supernatural material, although  “Blood of My Blood”, a nice little werewolf story, is an exception.  The best stories are undoubtedly “Diary of the Red Spike”,  “WarWolf”, and “The Butterfly of Prometheus”.  “Diary of the Red Spike” gets props for being a serial killer story with some real ingenuity in the murder methods.  “WarWolf” is a clever tale of the government creating war machines, and “Butterfly”…well, just say it’s a crazy take on how art is extremely subjective to the viewer.  One person sees it and throws up in disgust, another sees it and falls in love.  These three alone can pretty much justify purchase of the book.

 

The rest of the stories, minus the few bombs, hit in the nice middle of the road area.  They are good…not great, but not bad either.  There are grave robbers, a strange “nice guy around town” character, sex dolls that get emotionally attached, it’s an odd mix.  Nothing is new enough to be earth-shattering, but it is creative enough to be entertaining.  These stories do not have happy endings: this is not Disney-style writing.  Be prepared for the bad guys to win.

 

One thing that might have helped boost the book up a level would have been mixing up the narration perspective. Writing in first person or present tense is all the rage right now, but first person can be pretty limiting.  It does allow for more internal material for the protagonist, but it also limits the ability to narrate and describe, since everything is from the main character’s point of view.  “WarWolf” is one story that feels like it would have benefited from third person narration. Getting some parts from the wolf point of view could have turned a very good story into a real smasher.

 

Bottom line?  It’s an interesting collection, and at the price, it could be a reasonable pickup for short story fans.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on January 20, 2024 by , Reply
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