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Book Review: Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos

Cover art for Tick Town by Christopher A Micklos

Tick Town by Christopher A. Micklos

Castle Bridge Media, 2025

ISBN: 9798991785549

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

Do you miss the good old days of 80s pulp fiction? The times of old, when books like Guy N. Smith’s Crabs series, James Herbert’s The Rats and Graham Masterton’s The Wells of Hell terrorized bookshelves everywhere? Fear not, for Christopher Micklos’s Tick Town is here, and he’s clearly learned from the best of the genre masters. This is a true homage to those days, a smashmouth, blood-spewing classic, right down to its purposefully cheeseball cover art. Readers will devour this faster than the giant ticks in the books devour humans, for Tick Town is a true “rage on the page” that will stomp all over you.

 

As for the plot, the story begins with…oh, never mind. Why bother? Based on the type of book this is, do you really need plot details? This is pulp fiction, which is just about one thing: pure, fast-paced entertainment. The basics are: giant mutant ticks, small midwestern town, good guy reporters and cops, slimy town officials and EEEVIL corporations. Any new, little used literary devices or elaborate character expositions? Perhaps some social commentary on the travails of the oppressed lower class? Hell, no! And that, my friends, is a good thing. Micklos wisely doesn’t waste time trying to write some kind of horror literary masterpiece. Instead, he sticks to the three engraved rules of pulp fiction:

  1. Hit the reader hard.
  2. Hit the reader fast.
  3. Get the heck out and end the story.

It’s also a good idea to throw in a good mess of blood and guts, and a minor touch of sleaze never hurts, and the author checks all the boxes. Tick Town races out of the gate in the first chapter, featuring two dumb teenagers fooling around in a tent in the woods. They hear something and go investigate, and you know what happens next. The throttle is now open, and it’s WFO. right to the end of the book’s 197 pages. There’s no slowdown: this is heart-pounding to the end. One thing to note: most people are probably not that familiar with how ticks kill their prey, this isn’t just teeth and claws. The author cleverly finds a way to work in a lesson on that for the readers, using a video call with a biologist to explain all the details. It helps with comprehending the ticks’ slaughter as the book progresses. Who says you can’t write pulp and be smart with it?

 

Based on this book, pulp-style horror thrillers are not only still alive and well, but the genre just may have found a new torch-bearer. The fact that this is a debut novel makes it all the more impressive. This is a must-read for horror fans and one of my favorites of 2025 so far, this book will occupy a spot of honor on the shelf next to my yellowed paperbacks of Grizzly, Piranha, and Croc. Beyond highly recommended, and that is certainly the bottom line!

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on July 28, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Their Monstrous Hearts: A Gothic Horror Novel with a Dual Timeline and a Suspenseful Mystery by Yigit Turan

Cover art for Their Monstrous Hearts

Their Monstrous Hearts: A Gothic Horror Novel with a Dual Timeline and a Suspenseful Mystery by Yigit Turan

MIRA, 2025

ISBN-13: 978-0778368274<

Available: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:   Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

A feeling of impending doom hangs over the characters of Their Monstrous Hearts emanating from, of all things, beauty. The narrator tells us: “Beauty had a threshold, and beyond it, it became a captivating terror.” This terrible beauty finds its expression in the overwhelming presence of living and preserved butterflies and the cloying smell of tuberoses connected with the elegant, sinister Perihan, grandmother of Ricardo, who wields a secret power over the elite of Milan.

 

When Riccardo, a struggling writer, leaves Paris to attend his Turkish grandmother’s funeral, he has mixed feelings about returning to Milan. When he finally reaches Perihan’s home, he discovers her once beautiful garden has been left untended, and there is a cloud of butterflies hovering over her house. He also finds that Perihan’s employees, familiar to him from childhood, are still there, but they are acting very oddly.

 

As he prepares for the funeral, Ricardo discovers a manuscript written by his grandmother, with his name on it, and immediately begins reading what seems to be a very strange horror myth. He finds himself wondering whether she has left him a phantasmagoric novel or a shocking memoir. The answer to that question will determine how much danger Ricardo is in and whether he will be able to face the terrors Perihan has prepared for him.

 

Their Monstrous Hearts is notable for its originality of plot, its complicated juxtaposition of magical goodness and mythic horror in the characters’ motivations, and its European locations infused with a Turkish sensibility. At times, Riccardo’s constant reading of the manuscript is an unwelcome distraction, until the final scenes in the book. But there is also a luxurious languor, ironically, in the mesmerizing prose that leads to the best part of the tale. That is when Turhan answers his own question: what would happen if you extracted something from a fairytale and placed it outside its original context, dragging it back into the center of reality?

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on July 27, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Night of the Living Toilet Paper (Alien Survival Guide #2) by Kevin Garone

Night of the Living Toilet Paper bookcover

Night of the Living Toilet Paper (Alien Survival Guide #2) by Kevin Garone

Temor Press, 2025

ISBN: 9788991328449

Available: Hardcover, paperback, ebook edition (pre-order)

Buy: Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com

 

The irresistible, alien-chasing young scamps are back! Thankfully, author Garone thought his prior book, I Know What UFO Did Last Summer, was good enough to continue the story. Night, while a bit different in scope, has all the charm and enchantment of the original.

 

In Night, original members Marvin (code name: Gold Leader), Jace (code name: Baller One) and Nora (code name: Space Cadet) all return, and they have expanded their ranks to include Kenji Kowahara (code name: Pyro). You can guess what his specialty/obsession is!

 

The story finds the four of them trying to destroy a giant animated mass of toilet paper, which is under control of a Sleech, one of the creatures from the first book. It’s a good story and written as well as the first: it’s just a bit smaller/more focused in scope. The first book had the team in a few different places, (woods, a super secret lab) and tackling a few different related problems. This time, it’s pretty much the team vs. the paper monster in their neighborhood: that’s the crux of almost all the story. Does it work? Yes, very well, it just isn’t as broad of a plot. Think of it as a smaller version of the original, but just as good (kind of like those downloadable expansions they do for video games these days).

 

There are some good modifications from the first book. For one, the kids really don’t get any help this time. It’s up to them alone to use their ingenuity and make the right decisions to outwit the creature, and that’s what makes the characters and their specialties stand out. Marvin and Jace are still good as team leader and tactics officer, respectively, but Nora’s character plays a bigger role this time, with her developing abilities as a backyard mechanic proving critical to the team. Kenji also has a big part, as his fire obsession comes in very handy when the team is on the defensive against the TP monster. As before, it’s the comradeship between them all that carries the story. The author may be planning ahead, as there are some very slight hints that the kids may be starting to mature. They have to deal with the actual loss of a person– a minor character– but a loss nevertheless, and there are a couple other subtle hints.

 

Bottom line is, if you liked the first one, you don’t want to miss this. It has all the characteristics that made the first one such a pleasant surprise. Whether they are trying to use an inflatable mattress as a boat, or riding motorcycles while spitting flames, it’s hard to avoid loving the antics of Marvin and his team. Certainly recommended!

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on July 26, 2025 by , Reply
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