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Tuesday 24 March 2015

Review: Even Hell Has Standards: Pride


Even Hell Has Standards: Pride
Even Hell Has Standards: Pride by Chantal Noordeloos

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



When I first started reading this story I wasn't too sure that I was going to enjoy it. I'm not a big fan of the whole biblical thing.
The writing itself however won me over very quickly.
It drew me in. I begin to despise the main character, his cockiness annoyed me.
I enjoyed this short story. It's very different to anything I've read before.
You should check it out.

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Review: Hobby - Matthew Hickman





I was on Facebook asking if anyone had any recommendations for me to read. Hickman dropped me a message saying you can check mine out if you want. It's not published anywhere so I can just send you it.

I have been friends with Hickman on Facebook for a few months. He has read some of my work and enjoyed it. I've received some pretty nice reviews from him. Please note, that does not alter my review in any way. I only give honest reviews. I don't think that telling someone a story is 5 stars when it's not is a benefit to anyone, authors or readers.

Anyway when he told me he had a story I said, didn't know you write, kept that quiet!
On his message he told me this story hadn't been reviewed by anyone because it hadn't been out there. He humbly asked me not to crucify him after reading it. Which I fully understand. I'm always nervous when I know that someone is reading my work. People underestimate how difficult it is knowing that a complete stranger is reading through something you worked so hard on and they're analyzing it for faults.

OK being honest, I don't know what I was expecting. I thought that it was probably going to be OK and I could give him some constructive criticism. I always appreciate it when reviewers come back to me and say, well I like the story but you could do with improving this, that and the other.

Right, to the point. What did I think of the story?

I frickin loved it! I've got to be honest, I was a little bit gobsmacked.

It's a very short story. At around 5 pages it'll take you a few minutes to read. But the writing style drew min in straight away. I don't want to give anything away by telling you any plot details, but I'll just say that the descriptiveness in this short tale allows you to picture everything that is happening in detail step by step.

It was like stumbling across the diary of Hannibal Lecter and reading his inner most thoughts.

And when it came to the ending, I was like - woah!
I even passed it straight to my wife for her to read and she loved it too.

I think pretty much any fan of horror which enjoy this. Be warned, it's not for the faint hearted.

You can read it now for FREE here : Hobby - Matthew Hickman

I really hope this author writes more because I would be very interested to read it.

Monday 23 March 2015

Review: Last Words: A Horror Novelette


Last Words: A Horror Novelette
Last Words: A Horror Novelette by Shaun Hupp

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I enjoyed this short story. The writing itself was good, it kept me gripped for the duration.
The story was fun, full of gore and it was quite tense at certain points.
I have given this three stars rather than four, because I feel short stories are a different breed to novellas/ full length stories etc.
I think this would be made better as a full length novel. I don't want to ruin anything by telling the end, but I just think as a stand alone it fell a bit short at the final hurdle.
Still. I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the writing itself. I will be checking more out from this author.

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Review: Stuck On You


Stuck On You
Stuck On You by Jasper Bark

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This book was disgusting! I made the mistake of reading it before bed and now I will see that stuff in my dreams!
Really enjoyed this. I liked the writing style. I liked the quick chapters it felt like I flew through the book.
It's a quick read, only took an hour. Well worth checking out!

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Friday 20 March 2015

Review: Charlotte


Charlotte
Charlotte by Stuart Keane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Ok first things first. Little girls are creepy as F**k! "The Shining" proved it "Poltergeist" proved it. I could list more. I used to tell my wife that our own daughters used to freak me out when they would be stood in the dark at night waiting for the bathroom!

Charlotte is another creepy little girl to add to this list! I enjoyed this story a lot. I felt like I flew through it. The writing style made it very easy to read and the story itself made me want to keep reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

This has just the right combination of tension building and then followed off with a healthy dose of violence and gore.

It's a good read you should definitely check it out!

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Thursday 19 March 2015

Review: C is for Clown


C is for Clown
C is for Clown by Iain Rob Wright

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was probably me my favorite of the A-Z stories so far.
Again another quick fun story. But this one had a clown! If you take anything scary and add clowns it's going to be so much more scary!
Don't want to say anything other than, just try this book. You'll enjoy it!
Just make asure you do A & B first ;-)
Onto D now!

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Wednesday 18 March 2015

Review: B is for Bogeywoman


B is for Bogeywoman
B is for Bogeywoman by Iain Rob Wright

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was another quick fun read from Iain Rob Wright.
I enjoyed this one as well. I can't really say much without spoiling it, just...don't read it before bed.
Looking forward to the rest of the alphabet now!

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Review: Monster: A Novel of Extreme Horror and Gore


Monster: A Novel of Extreme Horror and Gore
Monster: A Novel of Extreme Horror and Gore by Matt Shaw

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This is one of the best stories I've read in a while. You need to check it out now!
I've read things from Shaw previously so I already knew I liked his writing style.
This is my first read of Bray. I'm not sure who wrote what bits, but I think I can guess. There are some slight differences in style.
However, both authors write in such a way that it's just easy to read. Everything flows nicely. There is no work involved, it's just fun.
The story itself was deep! Gruesome at times, but don't let the gore fool you into thinking this is a splatter novel.
This was an intense psychological thriller as well as a brutal horror.
It pulled me in from the start, I really started to feel for the characters within the story.
I enjoyed every minute of this book and I definitely recommend it.

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Saturday 14 March 2015

Review: Dust Devils


Dust Devils
Dust Devils by Jonathan Janz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



My first read of Jonathan Janz. I tried this book after hearing it being recommended by Brian Keene on his horror podcast. I can see why people like this guys work!
I really enjoyed this story. It's a vampire tale, but with a twist. A good way to describe it guess would be "The Lost Boys" meets "The Young Guns".
The story itself is great, it sucked me straight away. It obviously held me for the duration as well because I constantly found myself getting annoyed with the characters and their actions. Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you check that? Without giving anything away. These horrible blood suckers just don't die! I thought the story may go on forever!

I'll be checking out more work from this author. Definitely recommend.

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Thursday 5 March 2015

Review: The Riggle Twins: A Selection from Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror


The Riggle Twins: A Selection from Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror
The Riggle Twins: A Selection from Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror by Gregor Xane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



When I first started this story I thought it was a fun little Halloween story. The twins actually reminded my a bit of the trick or treaters from The Nightmare before Christmas.
Around the half way point this story takes a very sinister turn. It becomes something more like Childs Play meets Saw.
I liked this a lot, it's a short story so a quick read.
You should definitely check it out.

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Wednesday 4 March 2015

Review: Pizza 911: A Mister Jinnah Mystery


Pizza 911: A Mister Jinnah Mystery
Pizza 911: A Mister Jinnah Mystery by Donald J. Hauka

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Dnf 47%

I'm sorry, but apart from the original dead body. Nothing really happened to keep my attention. I wasn't looki forward to reading this. I just spent time thinking about what to read next.
Sorry, that's pretty much all I have to say about it.

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Tuesday 3 March 2015

Review: A is for Antichrist


A is for Antichrist
A is for Antichrist by Iain Rob Wright

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Ok, this was my first read of this authors work. I have heard his name mentioned by quite a few people and he is part of a group of authors I follow.
I noticed this short story was a few places above my own story in the horror charts so I thought I would give it a go.
This was a fun short story. It was pretty cool, reminded me a lot of "Horns" I think.
I enjoyed the writing itself, this new breed of horror writers seem to write in such a way that it just makes it easy to read.
I'll definitely be checking out more from this author.

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Monday 2 March 2015

Review: A Death


A Death
A Death by Stephen King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was a very short story. It's available to read for free at "The New Yorker" online.
I don't really want to give anything away. It's difficult to say much apart from it's a good story.
Not one of Kings best, but that would be impossible with such a short tale. My only quarm with this is that I guessed the ending before it happened. Having said that, I was hoping that my guess was wrong. I was actually sad when it turned out to be true.
So I guess that means the story drew me in. Take a look, it'll only take ten mins.

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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Review: The Rising


The Rising
The Rising by Brian Keene

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Firstly, I have never read a zombie book before. They just haven't ever appealed to me. Zombie films, yes, books, no. But I've read other stuff by Brian Keene so I thought I would give it a go.
This is so different to a normal zombie story. For a start, the zombies have a good level of intelligence. Which I think makes them even more scary!
When I first started the story I thought I might have given up quite quickly. I thought it was going to be stupid (ahem, zombie goldfish) but trust me. Do no let that put you off!
There is far more than just human zombies in this story, it's all animals all shapes and sizes, and I assure you. It may sound silly, but in the book it is terrifying!
I would definitely recomment this to any horror fans. I will be adding the sequel to my TBR list immediately.

One more thing, that ending.........Brian Keene, you asshole!

All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk



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