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Book Review: Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower

Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower

Journalstone/Trepidatio Publishing, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-947654-61-7

Available: paperback, Kindle edition

 

Rose McFarland has had a convoluted life.   Growing up, she was often tormented by the Whispers, voices that only she could hear, and sometimes see.   Her parents felt she was a child of the Devil, and made her childhood a living hell, often locking her in the basement for days at a time.  When their house burns down, with only Rose and her mother surviving, her mother dumps her in a psychiatric hospital and forgets about her.  The Whispers eventually stop, and Rose is released, determined to avoid her mother forever, and make her own way in the world.

Fast forward roughly 15 years: Rose is a sniper for a S.W.A.T. team, and divorced with two kids, although she maintains an excellent relationship with her ex-husband for the sake of the kids.   Suddenly, she’s confronted with two problems: the Whispers return, this time to torment her 4 year old son Tommy; and her latest sniper victim turns out to be a half-brother she never knew about, who also doesn’t want to stay dead.  The two unrelated problems later tie into a larger plot concerning the fate of humanity, and whether Rose and the few people she trusts can help her son and save humankind.  Giving away any more of the plot would spoil the book: this is one where you don’t want to know about it until you read it.

Whispers in the Dark is a classic mystery/thriller, where every element of the plot and character development is done to just the right level.  The plot itself is done perfectly: it’s a relatively complex set of ideas, but the author never gives away more than is needed, giving you just enough hints and clues to keep you reading into the next chapter…and the next…and the next… until you find yourself at the end, asking where those 300 pages went.  It’s a testament to Hightower’s skill that the plot doesn’t scream at you to keep going, it…whispers, pulling you gradually from chapter to chapter to find out what’s going to happen.  The mystery isn’t an easy one to figure out, either: most readers will probably not guess the totality of the plot until the end.  Thankfully, Hightower avoids the cliché of throwing in a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, and then switching character perspectives, as some authors are prone to do.   There are some good chills in the book also: all the parts involving people going into basements are genuinely eerie.  It’s enough to make going to bed at night with the lights off just a little bit more difficult.

The strength of the characters is worth noting also.  None of them are one-dimensional: they are all cut from shades of gray and seem completely realistic.  Rose herself is a great example. She shoots people for a living, swigs beer with the guys, indulges in occasional flings, and has a foul mouth.  But she also sings her kids to sleep, and loves to cook breakfast for them whenever she can.  The secondary characters (especially her ex, Sam) are done just as well: they all seem like actual people, not caricatures.  You’ll find yourself caring for all the protagonists in the book and rooting for them.

Overall, Whispers in the Dark is a perfectly done mystery/ghost story, and one you won’t want to miss.  Keep an eye on this author; she’s one to watch in the future. Highly recommended.

Contains: violence, profanity.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on July 13, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Peter Green and the Unliving Academy: This Book is Full of Dead People (The Unliving Chronicles #1) by Angelina Allsop

Peter Green and the Unliving Academy: This Book is Full of Dead People (The Unliving Chronicles #1) by Angelina Allsop

TCK Publishing, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1631610646

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Fourteen year old Peter Green wakes up on the floor of a hotel lobby wearing only pajamas and a silk tie, and discovers he is dead, has no memories of his life, and is stuck in Purgatory without them until he is 18, or family claims him. After navigating the bueracracy of Purgatory (and of course Purgatory has bueracracy) he is sent to a boarding school for other “orphans” or unclaimed children. Scoot, an action-oriented redhead who carries her head under her arm, and Charlie, a flamboyant dresser who can’t keep a secret, orient him to the school and get him to his first classes. Peter soon learns that the school isn’t just for the unliving– it’s also the home of monsters, most of whom are part of the staff. He quickly gets on the wrong side of the school bully, Shelly Grant, causing a number of mishaps, and is then invited to join BASA, a special club that trains students in the skills they need to become spies and assassins in the “community”.  As he adapts to school and throws himself into his training for BASA, he can’t let go of a feeling that he needs to help his family, and with the help of his friends, steals the file containing his memories.

The world building in this is nicely done, and I liked Peter’s friends– especially Charlie– and some of the other characters Allsop got into in depth, such as Katerina the witch. As a magical boarding school book, it’s pretty well done, and while there are some similarities to Harry Potter, it’s mostly not noticeable (the werewolf professor, the giant snake roaming the hallways, the special Halloween visit to town). Allsop also manages to make what could be a pretty grim and scary topic genuinely entertaining and even humorous at times . It’s Peter himself whose character and story are thin. Perhaps some of this is because he doesn’t have memories (and thus not much of a personality) for much of the book, but while individual adventures and incidents get exciting, the suspense of whether he’ll be able to get back to his family is just not there, until suddenly, it’s a time sensitive emergency.  I hoped that we’d see more of the school in a future book, as this appears to be the first in a series, but the ending of the book makes that unlikely.

Despite Peter’s age being set at 14, the book feels like it’s targeted at middle-grade readers rather than teenagers. Kids looking for a “magical boarding school book” should enjoy this one, and hopefully, now that Peter has his memories back, there will be further character development to make him more interesting in the next book. Recommended.

 

Posted on June 30, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Hellrider by JG Faherty

Hellrider by JG Faherty

Flame Tree Press, August 2019

ISBN: 978-1-78758-262-0

Availability: hardcover, paperback, ebook

 

Hellrider is a hell of a ride through the murderous revenge spree of 19 year old Eddie Ryder, a former biker gang member.  He tried to walk the straight and narrow path, but is burned alive in his own auto repair garage by his former gang members as payback for ratting out the gang leader.  Instead of a one-way ticket to the afterlife, Eddie finds himself as a spirit tied to his hometown, although being dead has given him some very special powers.  Needless to say, he has one thing on his mind: paying back all the gang members who helped to kill him, in as painful a fashion as possible.  The story become a whirlwind of beatings, stabbings, shootings, and explosions as Eddie thrashes his way through the town, destroying anyone who ever wronged him, or he perceives to have wronged him.  In between the havoc he wreaks, he makes a bit of an effort to help out the dying mother and sixteen year old brother he left behind, but his primary focus is revenge and mayhem.

 

The book starts off fast, and keeps the throttle wide open until the last of its 278 pages.  Eddie is killed within the first 20 pages, so there’s plenty of time for him to kill and maim.  If this had been just another story about a ghost killing the wrongdoers, it probably would have been a mid-level book in terms of quality.  Thankfully, it’s much more fun than a paint-by-numbers vengeance story.  Eddie has the power to jump into any body (male or female) and possess the person, making them do what he wants.  That’s where the creativity takes flight in this story.  Eddie doesn’t just take over a body and make the person kill himself or herself; he often wants to humiliate them before killing them, and he also takes great delight in scaring them by leaving little messages letting them know who’s responsible.  Whether he’s cutting off someone’s penis, making a tough biker appear like a lovesick puppy in front of people, or simply beating someone to death, Eddie is a creative as well as violent spirit, and it helps keep the book interesting.  You never know what he’s going to do next. He does have the limitation of not being able to move past the town lines, so he has to get inventive to trap one of his victims, who is in jail a few towns away.  This makes the character more interesting–  he can’t just do anything he wants and ignore the consequences.

 

As Eddie grows in his powers and becomes less discriminating about whom he kills, the other characters help flesh out the rest of the story and keep it from becoming one-dimensional.  Eddie’s younger brother Carson is the secondary focus, as he and his girl Kelli realize that despite family ties, Eddie has gone off the deep end and has to be stopped before he destroys the entire town.  Carson is a caring, intelligent bookworm– the complete opposite of Eddie– and he provides a nice contrast in character development.   All of the personalities in the book are well-drawn, and the few moments where Eddie shows some humanity towards his family add some shades of gray to an otherwise dark character.

 

Hellrider succeeds in its intention of providing a rip-snorting, 200 MPH thrill ride of a story that hits as hard as a power chord from the heavy metal music Eddie loves.  It’s a horror/thriller novel that should appeal to a wide audience, and is worth the purchase.  As Eddie Ryder himself might say, UP THE IRONS! Recommended.

Contains:  graphic violence, sex

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on June 25, 2019 by , Reply
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