Shallow Graves Review

The Newest Release from Robert Essig and Jack Bantry is here. An 11 story collection by way of Deaths Head Press. Does the duo kill it? Or should this one be left in its own shallow grave?

This collections served as my introduction to both authors, so initially, I was unsure what to expect. What we have here is a collection of Brutal, Sick stories. Some of these were tough to read because of the subject matter in them. I’m not one for trigger warnings, but those readers who care about that type of thing might want to seek them out. That being said, despite how tough some of these could be, I found myself unable to peel my eyes away from the horror before me.

Many of the stories in here are on the shorter side, or at least felt that way. I read the kindle edition, so it had locations instead of pages, but the brevity of the stories played to their strengths. I’m all for an epic short, but in this collection, smaller pieces just seem better suited to the material. 

A few of the standouts in here for me were Starving Artist, Like Ants on a Carcass, and A Lesson in Renegade Filmmaking. The rest of the stories ranged from ok to great, the stories I highlighted were just a few of my favorites. 

If you’re a fan of in your face, brutal horror, this is a collection for you. If you’re squeamish, or have issues with certain triggers, this may not be for you. Either way, I personally enjoyed the collection, even if it made me feel a bit mortified at times.

4/5 Stars

My Lovely Wife Review

My lovely wife was the first book I bought when I decided to run a bookstagram and start reviewing. I was excited to read it, although I’m a mood reader and the time never felt quite right. With the paperback release just yesterday, the the time was now, and WOW, what an excellent book.

My Lovely Wife is the story of an upper middle class suburban Husband and Wife. Millicent and her husband (the unnamed narrator of the story) live a tightly scheduled, hectic life. Millicent keeps the family in check, she seems to rule over it with an iron fist. But everything isn’t white picket fences and gated community here, this husband and wife duo have secrets.

I really enjoyed this book. I saw a blurb mentioning it was like dexter meets mr. and Mrs. smith, but I’ve got to say, that’s really selling this book short. Downing weaves both present and past together in this story to always keep the carrot dangling in front of you. Just one more page turns into just one more chapter. Just when you think you’re going to put the book down, a twist comes up and you have to know more. This happened to me a few times. Every time I thought I knew exactly what happened, it turned out I didn’t, and I loved the book that much more for it. 

The book is done in 1st person narrative, through the husbands eye. We never learn his name, only his Alias. Through this, we slowly see how cold Millicent is. Everything seems very matter of fact with the family. There is a lot more going on than meets the eye here, and that’s really all I’m willing to say about the plot. 

The writing in here is nicely done, especially for a debut novel. I enjoyed the way it wrapped up, although towards the end of the book it did seem to come on a bit fast. It feels like if Downing wanted, she could make a sequel, but personally I hope that she doesn’t, the book ended in a way that left me satisfied.

My Lovely Wife is an excellent thriller with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, while at the same time always giving you that one more chapter feeling. Samantha Downing is an excellent writer and I can’t wait for what comes next

5/5 Stars

The Paperback is available for purchase now!

The Garden of Bewitchment review

The Garden of Bewitchment is the latest novel by Catherine Cavendish, are you ready to be haunted?

Sisters Evelyn and Claire leave their home to set down stakes in a quieter area. They’re looking for a fresh start and somewhere they are less known and can work on their writing together. But something is amiss, will the sisters make it out alive?

This was a fun period piece, Cavendish has a wonderful style of writing that draws you in, and makes you feel like you’re reading something from a past era. This is a book that gets more complex as it goes on, and Cavendish expertly weaves numerous plot points together for a fun, yet creepy read. I went back and forth between being engaged in the sisters daily lives to be creeped out by the predicaments they found themselves in.

If I had one complaint, it would be that I was able to figure out a plot point fairly early on in the story, although it didn’t take too much from my enjoyment.

The Garden of Bewitchment will sit well with fans of historical horror, if that’s not your flavor, its still worth a shot.

The garden of Bewitchment is available now, you can pick up your copy here

Scanlines Review

Scanlines by Todd Keisling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Scanlines is the latest by Todd Keisling, and I have to start off by saying. Buy this book, read the review after, but buy this book.

With that out of the way, Scanlines is the story of Robby and his friends who brave the sloth like speeds of the early internet days in hopes of watching some porn. What they didn’t expect was to run into a tape that made “faces of death” look like a children’s show. The video has stuck with the boys, and now the question must be asked, is there any escape?

This is such a dark, bleak book. From the very beginning of the story, Keisling pulls you in and never lets you up for air. The writing here posses a wonderful quality that has you just turning the pages until you’ve finished. The atmosphere of the entire story was just dark, ominous and sad. You could just tell that things were going to keep getting worse. It’s hard to describe but something about this book just stuck with me, it didn’t feel like fiction. It felt like an urban legend you heard about, and wonder if it could be true.

I recommend scanlines to anyone looking for a dark read. To talk about this book too much is to ruin it, I’ll just reiterate...I couldn’t stop thinking about this book. It just sticks with you.

Consequences Review

Consequences by John Quick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Did you miss John Quicks debut, Consequences? Fear not, the wonderful people at Poltergeist press have got you covered.

Teenage friends decide to throw a little party in a secluded cabin to celebrate graduation, one last hurrah before they go their separate ways. Things don’t go as planned, an accident happens and one of them ends up dead. Someone is out to make sure they suffer the consequences of their mistake.

The book opens fantastically. We start off with a bit of history of where the local “crazy Freddy” legend comes from, and then from there on out the book moves at a break neck pace, it doesn’t feel like 300+ pages.

Quick elected to make a slasher without supernatural elements, and I believe it was the right choice here. The killer is brutal, but he’s not invincible and it makes the tension thick, but you feel as if the kids might have a chance.

I also enjoyed the characters here, they’re typical slasher fare, but Quick developed them well enough that when bodies start dropping you worry for them.

I enjoyed my time with Consequences. This is an excellent homage to slashers. I know people will think of 70’s and 80’s slashers but to me, this felt like a written version of something like I know what you did last summer. It’s an absolute blast and I highly recommend

4.5 stars

We Are Monsters

We Are Monsters by Brian Kirk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


We are Monsters, by Brian Kirk is the latest flametree release. This one a reprint of Debut previously published through the now defunct Samhain. If you haven’t read it, it’s time to fix that.

The Apocalypse Killer, recently deemed unfit to stand trial by way of insanity has been sent to Sugar Hill Psychiatric hospital for treatment. Dr. Alan Drexler is developing a cutting edge drug that help cure schizophrenia. Things look to be going Drexler’s way, but there are unforeseen side effects.

I was blown away by how much I enjoyed We are Monsters. I mentioned this to people while I was reading it, and I’ll say it here in this review. This book doesn’t read like an authors debut. It’s well thought out. Kirk spends a good portion of the book building his characters and the world they live in. This causes to make the first half read a bit slow, but I’m ok with that. You can’t complain about books with under-developed characters but complain when an author takes the time to actually develop his book.

As I said before, the characters are well done. As for the rest of the book? Once the ball gets rolling it really picks up steam. It would have been very easy for this book to go off the rails, and it does but just enough to make it a good kind of crazy. Kirk never loses control of his story, he gives it room to go nuts without ruining what he built in the first half.

I’m being a bit vague here, and that’s by design. I want to stay as spoiler free as possible. Fans of psychological horror MUST read this book.

The whole time I was reading this I would think to myself, this is what a horror movie written by Christopher Nolan would be like. I mean that in the best way possible. BUY THIS BOOK.

4.5 stars

True Crime Review

True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I first became aware of Samantha Kolesnik’s True Crime on Twitter. I’d seen a couple tweets of the excellent cover and was further drawn in by the blurb from Brian Keene. I reached out to the author in hopes of being able to get my hands on a review copy. Shortly thereafter, the copy came in, along with a note from the author, part of which stated she hopes the book leaves and impression. After finishing the book, it’s safe to say it did a lot more than leave an impression.

True Crime is the story a girl named Suzy. Suzy lives at home with her brother Lim, and their mother, who is abusive to both of the siblings. The two flee home and embark on an adventure filled with murder and mayhem.

I had a blast reading True Crime, but at the same time I’ve got to mention this book was truly disturbing. There is a lot of mental and sexual abuse within this book. I’m not the type of reader to be disturbed by much of anything, but what’s in these pages really made a mark on me. On more than one occasion I put the book down to take a breather before continuing on. That being said, this book was well written and fascinating to read. As the blood spills within these pages, I was intrigued to see what was going to happen to Suzy. Did her upbringing make her a monster? In time, could she be healed? Suzy isn’t sure of this herself and as the story continues she becomes more detached and cold. From the get go, Lim strikes me as empty, likely because of the abuse suffered, but we don’t get to see what’s in Lim’s head because the narrative is in first person and Suzy isn’t exactly sure of what’s going on in Lim's mind.

True Crime is an exceptional book. It’s filled with abuse, brutality, murder, and psychosis. This is the type of book that sits with you long after you finish. If reading about sexual abuse isn’t something that you can stomach, this may not be for you, otherwise I’d highly recommend True Crime.

5/5