Slap Happy Fun Time

Island - Richard Laymon - 5/5 stars                                                                          Let's be perfectly honest here and admit that Island is not your typical horror novel. It's far darker, and way more sadistic. There's a layer of grit there too that adds to the tension and uneasiness of how it all develops. Is it perfect? No, it's not. The story is told through the journal of Rupert Conway, and we see things through the eyes of a horny teenager which makes sense because we can see early on that Rupert isn't exactly a hit with the ladies. Hell, when we were eighteen, being stranded on a deserted island with three women would be heaven. As a narrator, he's simply doing the best he can. Instead of telling us everything, he's telling us what he feels we should know. The facts ...

Exposed - Lisa Scottoline 5/5 stars                                                                                       I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review       There's good news and bad news. The bad news is Exposed is part of an ongoing series, but the good news is you don't have to read the other books in the series to know what's going on. While the main characters remain intact through each book, there is a stand alone novel, but to be fair, I plan on reading the other books in the series just to see how they measure up. From just this novel alone, I like Bennie and Mary, but as the book goes on you can see cracks begin to form in their partnership because of a case that Mary has just taken on.   ...

Rather Be Fishing - Lucretia Stanhope - 5/5                                                        Rather Be Fishing: Tales of A Monster Hunter was a lot of fun to read because it manages to do everything right. It takes risks, and best of all it places its tongue firmly in its cheek the entire time. Stanhope's novel seems pretty straight forward. Monster hunter battles a variety of monsters. You're expecting a lot of gore, a lot of horror, right? What you get is comedic tale with very little horror. Instead of being just a straight novel, we get short stories which are cases Mike has taken on. This makes the book unique and interesting because each case is different and shows us just how out of shape our hunter really is. You get Mike's story and how he became a monster hunter, but it's told slowly, and evolves organically.     ...

     The Lake - Richard Laymon 3/5 stars                                                                      The Lake was released after Richard Laymon’s untimely death, but is it really as bad as everyone says it is? This may be a trunk novel, but it’s actually not that bad. There are three major storylines, and one isn’t even introduced until the half way point of the novel. It seems as if Laymon was tinkering with the formula a little, and trying out a new way to tell a story without the usual amount of gore. At times, The Lake comes off as creepy at best, but the usual gore we’ve come to expect from Laymon is almost gone. Also, because this is a novel Laymon probably didn’t want released, there’s some issues. Storylines suddenly appear, but make no sense. They add nothing to the novel...

 The Lies She Told - Cate Holahan 5/5                                                                           I recieved a copy of Lies from Netgalley in Exchange for an honest review       Lies She Told is the kind of book you start reading, but can't put down. The story is told from two perspectives, and I know it sounds confusing, but Cate does a great job at keeping things simple. You have the perspective of a character in a new novel, and the author herself who is going through her own personal crisis. As the novel progresses, things begin to spiral out of control, and fact blurs into fiction. Cate unravels the suspense slowly, just enough to tease you and then you're hit with an ending that I never saw coming. Liza is a character you can get behind, her story is intere...

Dead 'Til Dawn - Gerald Dean Rice  5/5 stars                                                                                                           I recieved Dead in exchange for an honest review       When I recieved this my first thought was of course; "Not another zombie novel!" Then, I began to read it, and I began to laugh at the plight of Gary and Jim. Gary is the kind of guy we all know. He has good intentions, but somehow he screws everything up. They take a pill that turns them into zombies for three days, but that's not the entire story. There's a cult called the Ascension after them and want the pill that they took. If you want to call Dead 'Til Dawn something, it would be a buddy c...

One Pefect Lie - Lisa Scottoline 5/5                                                                             I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.        This review is actually based on the UK edition of One Perfect Lie, but no matter where you live, nothing about this edition is any different from the US version aside from the cover. I actually prefer the Headline cover over the US cover. Not that it matters, right? Who cares about the cover? You want a review that tells you my opinion about the book, not the cover. As I began reading it, I found that I couldn't stop. This was pure crack in Kindle form. I would read it before I went to bed, and no matter what I said, I was like a junkie. I didn't really read it, I devoured it....

Dark Screams Volume 7           I received a copy of Dark Screams in exchange for an honest review       I'm not going to lie. I'm a huge fan of this series, and everytime I see there's a new one I get a little excited. Each volume of Screams is good. Of course after volume 6 I was worried that it wouldn't be as good, but I was wrong. Volume 7 may not have the same big names, but it keeps the series going in an interesting direction. The editors have once again picked stories that resonate with you and remind you that sometimes, horror doesn't have to be all blood and guts to make an impact. As a kid I loved atmopheric horror. It was the unknown that was the most terrifying.       Volume 7 is a solid entry to the series that gives you another six stories featuring some really talented writers that I plan on looking up once I get all my reviews done. With such a short selection the beauty here is there's no filler. Each st...

Zombies Vs. Robots - Joe Cautilli, Marsha Cautilli 3/5 stars                                                                     I received a copy of Zombies Vs. Robots in exchange for an honest review and I'm actually kind of torn with this one. If you've read my reviews you know how I feel about this genre. You know I'm always looking for something new, something that takes the genre to new levels, and adds something fresh and unique. In a sense Z V R did that, but what weighed it down for me were the over drawn ideas as the survivors had for their actual survival. It goes into a lot of detail here about everything, and I really didn't care. It weighed the book down, made me feel as if I were suddenly reading a surival manual. I realize this is a zombie novel, and these people need to create a sustainable envi...

The Demon Inside - M.L. Sparrow 3/5 stars                                                               I received Demon in exchange for an honest review and I almost stopped reading it. The romance in the first half didn't interest me and seemed to clash with what I thought the book was about. I kept going and then the world went sideways and suddenly Sparrow was able to shift into horror mode. The initial storm, and its after affects were well written and designed to shock you. You feel as if you're a part of the story. As the novel wore on it shifted into the mode we've all come to expect from books like these. These are the survivors, this is their story. It's a novel geared toward the young adult audience, and it shows. Trust me, it's not a bad thing, but for me, I expected more horror, more violence. What I got was someth...