{"id":10174,"date":"2024-04-22T15:20:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T19:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10174"},"modified":"2024-04-22T16:51:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:51:50","slug":"book-review-hail-santa-by-john-mcnee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-hail-santa-by-john-mcnee\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Hail Santa! by John McNee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Hail Santa!<\/em>, by John McNee<\/p>\n

Blood Bound Books, 2024<\/p>\n

ISBN: 9781940250601<\/p>\n

Availabie: Paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

Buy:\u00a0 Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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If you want a good holiday-themed horror story that isn\u2019t just an excuse to have a serial killer running around (such as the films Silent Night, Deadly Night<\/em>, or Black Christmas)<\/em>, then Hail Santa!<\/em> is for you.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s bloody good fun (pun intended) that does a nice job combining some of the classic aspects of demon mythology with the story of Santa Claus, while managing to smash plenty of humans into pulp jelly throughout the story.\u00a0 Horror fans and gorehounds alike will love this one.<\/p>\n

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St. Nicholas is a small, dying town in the northern Canadian woods that is given a new lease on life when a Chinese conglomerate buys up the whole town, with the plan of turning it into an upscale ski resort for the seriously wealthy skiers of the world.\u00a0 However, the land was never really the town\u2019s to sell: it\u2019s the property of Saint Nicholas, due to a deal he (or it) made with the town\u2019s founders centuries before, and, he isn\u2019t happy with the idea of his town being turned into a playground for rich schussboomers.\u00a0 The throttle opens up quickly on this story, as Saint Nicholas and his army of the town\u2019s children slash and bite anything in their way, while a small and very eclectic group of adults try to stop them and save the town.<\/p>\n

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This isn\u2019t just a paint-by-numbers splat-fest: there\u2019s more under the hood when it comes to the plot.\u00a0 It\u2019s the use of demon myths that really makes the plot intriguing, such as the fact that their names wield genuine power, and that worship of them is truly important- it\u2019s a matter of survival.\u00a0 Saint Nicholas isn\u2019t doing all this just because he\u2019s angry: he has legitimate reasons for wreaking havoc on the town.\u00a0 That all ties into what the survivors learn in their attempts to stop him, and it\u2019s done well.\u00a0 They get little clues along the way, but it takes some thinking for them to come up with a targeted plan to stop him.\u00a0 It\u2019s enough to keep the reader thinking along with the characters. You\u2019ll have fun trying to imagine what would possibly work against the power Saint Nicholas wields.<\/p>\n

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The heroes in this are an extremely likable bunch.. There\u2019s the Chinese lady responsible for the whole town project, a rookie teacher, an elderly janitor, and a couple of drunken contractors, among others.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good mix, as they have varied strengths and weaknesses, due to their backgrounds.\u00a0 But, therein lies their power, as it gives them a variety of perspectives, which they need to survive, and everybody plays a vital part.\u00a0 Readers will like and relate to at least some of them, and it does hurt when some of them get killed off… this isn\u2019t an “all the good guys survive and prosper” story.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a great twist to the end of the story that takes it in a new direction: it\u2019s much better than any standard stock ending.<\/p>\n

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Bottom line:\u00a0 this is the perfect antidote for holiday cheer.\u00a0 Recommended.<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n

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Hail Santa!, by John McNee Blood Bound Books, 2024 ISBN: 9781940250601 Availabie: Paperback, Kindle edition Buy:\u00a0 Amazon.com     If you want a good holiday-themed horror story that isn\u2019t just an excuse to have a serial killer running around (such as the films Silent Night, Deadly Night, or Black Christmas), then Hail Santa! is for<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5530,2595,1339,2912,5640,5641],"class_list":["post-10174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas-horror","tag-demons","tag-holiday-horror","tag-occult-horror","tag-santa","tag-smaill-town-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10174"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10212,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10174\/revisions\/10212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}