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Book Review: The Man Who Killed His Wife (and What Happened Afterward) by Wol-vriey

cover art for The Man Who KIlled His Wife (and What Happened Afterward) by Wol-vriey

 

The Man Who Killed His Wife (and What Happened Afterward) by Wol-vriey

Blood Bound Publishing, 2023

ISBN: 9781948278690

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon..com

 

Wol-vriey’s latest is so nutty that readers might just laugh at the absurdity of it all, and that’s not a bad thing.  It’s a merry-go-round of horror craziness, like his last one.

 

Maryanne Wilson wants to get pregnant, but her poor, overworked husband Bob simply doesn’t have the energy for bedroom fun.  So, she turns to her neighbor (who of course happens to be a witch) for a demon sex charm.  That works until an argument with Bob ends in her accidental death.  Unfortunately, the charm causes Bob to have sex with her corpse, which makes him leery of calling the cops.  So, he enlists the help of another neighbor (who of course is a top-level computer hacker) to dispose of the body and come up with a viable explanation.  Naturally, nothing goes right for Bob.  Ashley, the hacker, is a psychotic sadist who wants payment in pain, the corpse won’t stay dead, and there’s the matter of the little blue demon who eats everyone he finds.  It’s a tragic comedy of errors for everyone involved.

 

Enjoying this means not taking it too seriously, as Bob constantly makes boneheaded decisions that no rational person would.  While skipping details to avoid spoilers, let’s say Bob probably could have got out of his mess in less painful ways.  Plus, this must be some apartment building, as it has a witch with real powers and an ace computer whiz with government connections under the same roof.  Who knew they were this common?  That’s why it’s important to remember, none of that matters in this type of fiction.  It’s meant to be fun and not taken too seriously, much like some of the pulp writing of yesteryear.  And, fun this is.

 

As always with this author, the book speeds along, with no deep soliloquies or wasted time.  Despite the pain and gore that show up (and, if you’ve read Wol-vriey before, this isn’t as brutal as some of his other works) the book still has a somewhat lighthearted touch compared to some of his darker, more ‘serious’ efforts.  The little blue demon goes a long way towards keeping this from getting too ugly: it’s such an obnoxious eating machine that you have to chuckle at it, and its final fate is hilarious.  Some of Ashley’s ridiculously painful ideas of a good time (and her amusing notes afterwards) also keep the story trending that way.  Quite over the top, but still entertaining.

 

Bottom line?  This isn’t a book to terrify readers, or bowl them over with its profound nature.  It’s just big, goofy horror fun, and should keep the author’s fans happy until the next one.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on February 26, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Marriage by Wol-vriey

cover art for Marriage by Wol-Vriey

Marriage by Wol-vriey

Burning Bulb Publishing, 2023

ISBN: 9781948278621

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Marriage is the equivalent of a silly 80’s B-grade horror film. There’s plenty of gore and graphic sex, a crazy plot, and little depth or making sense.  The last third of the story finishes out the book with a bang that helps make up for a lackluster beginning.

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The protagonist, Adam Norwood, has an affliction that causes his skin to catch on fire when exposed to sunlight, so he inhabits a darkened mansion on an river-island, with his wife and father in law.  Drunken debauchery takes place at the mansion every couple weeks, with a somewhat rotating cast of overage party animals.  Sounds like fun, but Adam keeps having dreams of his wife killing him, in vivid detail–, vivid enough to seem real.

 

That’s the plot for the first part, and it’s pretty thin.  There’s no real character development of interest, rather they are standard caricatures of 30-something drunken lechers.  Most readers probably won’t find them interesting, since they are all interchangeable: it would have helped the story to flesh the characters out. As it is, if anything, you’ll be rooting for them to all get killed off!   Adam also needed further character development. What does he do every day, living in a darkened mansion on a permanent basis?  Binge-watch old WCCW wrestling matches?  Write a memoir of the trials of living with his affliction?  Deify plums?  And how in the world did his father-in-law become a genius at witchcraft?  This part of the book is rather tedious, and tough to get through.

 

BUT… on page 83, the narrative moves away from its early repetitiveness and shifts into gear, introducing a black magic element.  On page 128, it kicks into overdrive, and it’s a wild ride to the finish of the 171 pages.  There are worm-hole creatures that remind one of the movie “Tremors”, some resurrection, and a wacky but entertaining set of explanations for the weird happenings on the island.  They may be pretty outlandish, but this IS horror fiction: realism isn’t required.  The most intriguing part is Adam’s sleuthing, to find if what he sees is really happening, or all in his head.  It’s the best part of the book: it keeps you guessing, and holds your interest.

 

Bottom line: it’s short on making much sense, but the last part of the book provides enough of a payoff to make getting through the first part worth it.  It’s not on the level of the author’s real bell-ringers like The Final Girl and Women, but it’s still fun.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on February 4, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Through the Witches’ Stone by Scott A. Johnson

Cover art for Through the Witches' Stone by Scott A. Johnson

 

Through the Witches’ Stone by Scott  A. Johnson

Timber Ghost Press, 2023

Available: Paperback

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

12 year old  Hadley and her younger twin brothers are stuck for the summer on her grandma’s isolated farm. It isn’t as boring as she expects: she learns she is descended from a long line of witches, and her grandmother starts teaching her magical spells. Hadley’s grandma has only three rules: stay out of the locked rooms upstairs, stay out of the woods, and don’t invite strangers into the house. But while the twins have each other, Hadley has no one her age to talk to, until one night she spots a girl in a white dress and sneaks out to meet her.

 

Although her brothers are uneasy, Hadley keeps it a secret from her grandma. There’s a magical barrier that prevents the girl from crossing between the house and the woods, so she lets the girl lead her into the woods, and they become friends. Then Hadley makes the mistake of inviting the girl into the house. She turns out to be a changeling, who kidnaps Hadley’s brothers and grandma. Hadley must go into the inhospitable woods alone and attempt to find and defeat the changeling to rescue her brothers and grandma. She saves a pukwudgie (a short creature with hedgehog quills down its back and a large nose that originates in Native American mythology) She is also accompanied by a duo of brownies she calls Tom and Jerry. Despite the unfriendly folk and forest, Hadley wins them over and eventually, after some really creepy and compelling adventures, rescues her family.

 

There’s a lot of grief work going on. Hadley’s father was killed in a car accident she blamed her mother and herself for. Her mother is grieving her sister, husband, and father. The pukwudgie is grieving his family. Much of this is about making peace and letting go of grief and fear, but it does not overwhelm this fantastical, scary tale reminiscent of Mary Downing Hahn’s books, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Outside Over There.

 

 

Posted on December 31, 2023 by , Reply
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