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Book Review: The Keepers by Tan Van Huizen

The Keepers, by Tan Van Huizen (Bookshop.org)

Black Rose Writing, 2022

ISBN: 9781684339525

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition 

 

The Keepers  has a frustrating ending: it becomes clear towards the end of the book that there are way too many questions to be answered in the remaining pages.  There is a sequel coming, which is a good thing, as ending the story where it is would be a crime. You’ll want to read The Keepers, and the sequel as well.

 

Set in a small rural town on the edge of a swamp in western Massachusetts, the Keepers are certain members of the local police force charged with upholding a pact made between the Indians who lived there in the 1600’s and the settlers that wiped them out.   The details are intentionally vague in the book, but the gist is, if anyone dishonors the Indian spirits or ancestral land, there will be hell to pay for the town, even if it’s hundreds of years in the future.  People do disappear from the town from time to time, but as for exactly why, and what that has to do with the pact…that’s for the sequel to explain.

 

To be clear, this isn’t a case of an author slapping together a ho-hum book and saving all the big guns for a future story: t’s a solid, exciting read by itself.  The cast of characters is fairly large, but each group connects to the plot.  For the juvenile delinquents, the father of one of them survived a disappearance incident years ago and won’t discuss it with anyone, but it has something to do with the cops.  The cops (only some of them Keepers) are supposed to maintain order, but that’s secondary to maintaining the old settlers’/Indians pact.  There’s also an investigative news crew in town, trying to solve some of the cold case disappearances.  It’s quite a few story threads, but they are slowly drawing together by the end of the book.  However, there is clearly a lot to come in terms of further plot.

 

Despite the lack of plot answers (for now) there’s plenty to keeps readers entertained.  High speed chases, an axe murder or two, people blowing themselves up in the swamp, some dark creature from hoodoo-land that rides the wind across the skies…you know, the usual.  The author clearly knows how to write a page turner, keeping most of the plot details vague until it’s time to reveal them.  Let’s hope that the timeframe for releasing the next book is not on a George R.R. Martin time scale!  

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on August 2, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

   Blood Scion by [Deborah Falaye]

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye    ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

HarperTeen, 2022

ISBN-13: ‏ :978-0062954046

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Blood Scion  is horrific but I don’t know if I would call it horror– it is African fantasy.

 

Sloane Shade is a Scion– a blood descendant of an Orisha, a child of the gods that ruled over ancient kingdoms. As the descendant of the fire Orisha, she has power over fire, but she has hidden it because the colonizers of her country, the Lucis, punish Scions by execution. At 15, she is drafted into the army to fight the Shadow Rebels and Scions, and it is extraordinarily brutal, and hard to read about her training and the compromises she makes with her humanity for her survival.

 

Sloane wants to find out what happened to her mother, who disappeared, by breaking into the archives and consulting the official Book of Records. Her findings are a complete surprise. She decides to seize an upcoming opportunity to see the queen to assassinate her and the heads of all the royal families.

 

This is a brutal book that the author intended to reflect the experiences of child soldiers. There are scenes of sexual assault, children forced to murder loved ones, brutal and violent murders committed by the protagonist, and torture. Watching Sloane attempt to hang on to her humanity while also surviving is difficult but it is a compelling book with surprising twists. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on July 25, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Toadstones by Eric Williams

 

Toadstones by Eric Williams

Malarkey Books, 2022

ISBN: 9781088017302

Available: paperback, Kindle ( Bookshop.org )

 

If you thought you’d read all the possible plotlines available for short stories, think again.  Eric Williams’s Toadstones obliterates that notion.  The book relies wholly on originality and a deft touch with the writing, no gore or sex needed.  For horror fans, this is a can’t miss.

 

It’s only the beginning of the book that runs flat; of the first three stories, two are easily forgettable.  After that, in terms of imagination, all the stories are loaded with enough horsepower to redline a Peterbilt freight truck.  You can catch traces of the author’s influences (a touch of “The Mummy” and  “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” here, a trace of Lovecraft there) but he’s managed to create something entirely new with them.  The closest to a theme for this book would be ‘ordinary dudes running into REALLY weird things.’  Some examples:

 

1.  A man on a nature hike in Utah happens upon one of the Greek gods, and shares beer and conversation with him.

2.  A showing of a crime noir film turns all too real for some of the theatre viewers.

3.  A corrupt cop robs corpses of their limbs to sell for voodoo charms.

 

If that isn’t enough, there are also two bus-obsessed students tracking a phantom bus on an abandoned route, an oil rig crew drilling a seemingly pointless hole for an eccentric billionaire… the list goes on.  All these stories are very creative, and highly entertaining.  A special mention is needed for “Doomstown”, the best story in the book.  It involves two crazy grad students on a quest to locate one of the mock-up towns left over from the days when the military tested high powered bang-bangs in the Nevada desert.  This story has the highest scare factor of all of them: it’s off the charts.  If you thought mannequins were even remotely creepy, read this story.  You’ll never walk past a department store window again.  “Doomtown'” should win every award available for best horror short story this year, it’s that good.

 

All the stories are well written; they flow fast and smooth like the Jack Daniels at a Kennedy family party on Cape Cod.  There’s a nice touch of humor thrown in on occasion, and the characters are well sketched and feel authentic; there are no cardboard cutouts anywhere.  The author does have a mild touch of Dickens-ism (aka using too many overblown words) on occasion, but that’s easily overlooked, as it only shows up a few times.

 

The bottom line?  Just read it.  One of the best of 2022 so far. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson.

Posted on June 25, 2022 by , Reply
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