Rating: 4.5 ‘Dr. Loomis’ Stars

Publisher: Darker Dreams Media

Genre: Horror

Tags: Contemporary, Christmas, Horror, Mystery, Some Gore, Serial Killer

Length: 306 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Blurb –

No one in Holly Brook, IL has forgotten the horror that unfolded on Christmas Eve all those year ago, and now, as a terrifying blizzard descends upon the small isolated town, and teens begin disappearing one by one, it looks as if that gruesome night was just the beginning.

Review –

This is my second book by this author and I can definitely say I’m a new fan. You can see my review of my first, Jimmy, here.

“Death has come to your little town sheriff.” -Dr. Sam Loomis, Halloween

Ten years ago a family was brutally murdered in the small town of Holly Brook, Illinois. The words “Santa Took Them” had been written in blood on the walls. Michelle, who was eight at the time, was the only survivor but only because she’d been in her secret hiding place hoping to see Santa Claus. To say the killings were horrific would be an understatement. Michelle, after the killer was gone, showed up at a neighbor’s house carrying the head of one of the victims. The consensus around town was that young Michelle had slaughtered her family. If she didn’t, why was she allowed to survive? One detective made it his mission to convince everyone the little girl had been the murderer, becoming so obsessed with the case that it ultimately killed him.

One person in particular, Detective Hines, had been adamant about his theory that Michelle had been the killer that night, but others felt there was no way an eight-year-old could go so far as to sever the heads of four people, especially her own siblings, and then stab her mother.

Michelle was placed in a psychiatric home for kids after the murders. Fast-forward ten years and it’s time for her to leave because she’s aged out. Her therapist, Samantha Loomis, never believed the sweet, quiet child was capable of the things she’d been accused of by the cops and media. There was no proof she’d done anything other than hide. She surmised that carrying the head of one of the victims to the neighbor’s house was maybe a form of shock for the child.

I will admit that was pretty creepy.

If the name Sam Loomis sounds familiar, there’s a reason for it. I’ll come back to that.

After leaving the psychiatric home, Michelle moves in with her uncle, who did everything he could to help her, even though he was 16 at the time of the murders. Not long after moving in, the uncle and his girlfriend are both murdered in the same way Michelle’s family had been a decade before. Michelle is nowhere to be found and the words “Santa Took Them” are again written on walls in blood.

Of course, everybody is convinced that the newly released Michelle has struck again. The killings are too similar to the others and it doesn’t appear to be a copycat killing. Dr. Loomis is convinced Michelle is innocent, just as she’s always believed she was innocent of killing her family a decade before.

Then people start disappearing in Holly Brook. Dr. Loomis and law enforcement believe the house Michelle lived in – and that her family died in – is the center of the new murder investigation and the disappearances. It’s recently been purchased by a man named Henry, who has to fix it up and flip it or lose everything.

Henry’s an abusive jerk.

Then we meet Steve, Henry’s teenage son. Steve’s dating the obviously unstable Renee. She flies off the handle at the drop of a hat, accusing Steve of cheating on her with his ex, Hanna. Hanna is the daughter of the original detective in the murder investigation a decade prior that I mention above.

Like in Jimmy, there are a ton of characters introduced, all of which are important to the story. Listing them all would make this already too long review even longer. The entire story is based on things happening at the ‘murder house’ in Holly Brook and trying to figure out where Michelle is now and if she was/is the murderer most believe her to be.

While people keep disappearing, there are also things going on in the background involving Dr. Samantha Loomis.

The mystery of who the killer is wasn’t really that much of a mystery. Don’t get me wrong, the author did an outstanding job pointing in several different directions. I didn’t figure out for sure until around the 50% mark. This was confirmed not much further into it. Knowing who the killer was so early didn’t take away from the rest of the story. There was still a lot of action happening until the very end.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a good mystery that kept me guessing for awhile. I thought the ending, that some readers apparently hated if reviews are go to by, was brilliant. It was the perfect way to end the book. If I wanted everything tied up neatly in a red bow I wouldn’t be reading horror to begin with.

But…

There were a lot of questions unanswered and I’m not referring to the ending. Certain things happened or were mentioned in the book that I didn’t feel were elaborated on enough later. They obviously didn’t matter too much because I rated the book 4.5 stars. but they should be noted.

Horror fans will recognize the name Sam Loomis. Samuel Loomis was Michael’s doctor in the Halloween movies, hence the quote by him at the top of this review. Michelle’s doctor being Samantha Loomis in Santa Took Them obviously wasn’t a coincidence (duh). Fans of the Halloween franchise will see the similarities in other parts of the story as well. There are some between Michael and Michelle (similar names) but I didn’t find myself reading a knock-off of the original. I’m a huge fan of the Halloween movies (early ones, not later ones) so had I thought it was too close I’d be stressing that in this review. There were similarities but not so many that I didn’t see the originality in Santa Took Them.

I didn’t have a problem keeping up with the other characters (and there were quite a few) because the author gave each one enough page time to show their importance to the story as a whole. Some were more important than the others, but you have to read the book to see who they are and what I mean.

Jimmy and what he did was mentioned in this book, something I liked a lot considering I recently read his story.

Overall, another good read. The reader is kept wondering if Michelle is this monster killer child everybody believes her to be. The author does an outstanding job of keeping the reader guessing.

I have Nikki’s Secret and Daddy’s Little Girl on standby to read when time allows. And knowing how I am when I discover a (new to me) good author, I’ll probably go through all his books in the coming weeks.

]]> 5841 https://darkhintsreviews.com/jimmy-william-malmborg/ Sat, 13 Apr 2019 18:53:37 +0000 https://darkhintsreviews.com/?p=5813 Rating: 5 ‘Unsettling’ Stars

Publisher: Darker Dreams Media

Genre: Horror

Tags: Contemporary, High School, Horror, Kidnapping, Sexual Violence, Torture

Length: 316 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Blurb – 

His fantasy becomes their reality!

High school can be a difficult time in a young person’s life, especially toward the end where one has to start making the sudden transition into adulthood. For Jimmy Hawthorn it is even worse. Not only does he need to successfully make that transition, he has to do it while hiding the fact that he is the one responsible for the disappearances of two fellow high school girls, both of whom are prisoners in a secret underground fallout shelter he discovered behind an abandoned house on the outskirts of town.

Review –

That was disturbing. First, for the obvious reasons. Two high school girls are kidnapped in broad daylight and tortured. Another reason this is so disturbing is Jimmy himself, and I’m not referring to just what he did with the girls. I’m talking about every day Jimmy.

Jimmy is a high school senior. He’s kind of a loner who used to get bullied until he started fighting back. The bullies (Brett, Ron, and Matt) are still around, and Brett is still trying to get to him, but he now has no problem kicking their butts, and he damn sure doesn’t hide from them. He doesn’t have a lot of friends but he has Alan, his younger brother by two years, and Tina, the new girl who takes a liking to him right off.

I loved Alan. He was the typical high school kid. I liked Tina too but it took awhile for her story to fully come out. She has issues with her mother, who she’s forced to live with after the sudden death of her father. As a mother myself I cringed at some of the things Tina said to hers. But I also found myself understanding it in a way. She only knew one side of the story of why her mother abandoned her when she was a child. Even when she finds out the whole story later I can totally see why she wouldn’t just immediately accept it. She saw herself as simply being abandoned and unloved. Now she’s stuck living with a woman she doesn’t know and really doesn’t like.

The first girl to be taken is Samantha King, who Jimmy grabs as she’s walking home from school one day. Hiding her is easy. There’s an old, abandoned bunker that only a select few are aware of. It’s on property belonging to the Hood family who left town after 9/11 with their conspiracy theories.

Jimmy has fantasized about hanging women by their wrists and using them sexually. The fantasies have been there since he was very young and have grown over time. He’s obsessed with bondage videos and has amassed a large collection of them over the years.

But then the fantasies aren’t enough.

This is when he puts his plan to kidnap and assault into action.

I won’t detail the sexual violence in this review. Thankfully, a lot of it wasn’t on-page but there were a couple of instances that were.

When Samantha disappears, nobody believes she’s been kidnapped except her friend Megan, who just happens to be the town sheriff’s daughter. Megan begs her father to look for Samantha but he brushes her off with basically the ‘kids will be kids and she’ll show up eventually’ attitude.

Only when Megan herself goes missing does he start taking things seriously.

The fact that Jimmy is warped is obvious. But what makes the book so disturbing is that the author allows the reader to see Jimmy outside of the underground bunker, away from Samantha and Megan. We see his day-to-day. We watch him playing video games with his brother, drinking coffee with his mother, and watching TV with his father. We see him dating Tina and are even privy to when they have sex the first time. He’s just so normal, which is probably the scariest thing of it all.

We also watch as he slowly starts to unravel and begins losing control of the situation he so meticulously planned.

Most of my visits feel like necessary tasks, Jimmy realized. Almost as if they are unnecessary pets that I no longer want but need to take care of.

I kept wondering how the author was going to end this. Everything was centered around the prom. Megan knew Samantha wouldn’t run away with prom and graduation so close. Jimmy, kind of a shy loner, was going to take Tina as his date. Even Alan had been asked to go by a stuck up, bitchy, snobby, ‘I’m better than everybody else’ senior girl. I knew whatever was going to happen would be happening either at the prom or somewhere nearby. I wasn’t wrong.

I ended this not sure how I felt about how everything went down. What happened with Jimmy I understood. But my heart also broke a little, and not because of him. I can’t say more than that. The actual ending…. I guess I should have seen that coming. The fact that I didn’t is a huge plus.

Overall, this kept me guessing until the end. I finished it thinking I’d maybe rate it 4 stars because of the broke my heart a little part. But I’m still thinking about it now when I finished a day ago. I’m not meaning for the sake of this review. I mean that the story and characters are stuck in my head and I have a feeling they will be for awhile yet.

I didn’t realize I’d read anything else by this author until I spent 10 minutes this week trying to figure out how to buy another of his, Text Message, and ended up discovering that I’d already read that one over 7 years ago. This was before I met Kazza and started reviewing for On Top Down Under and now Dark Hints. I still have no clue how to buy the book now but if you want to see my Goodreads review from before my official reviewing days, you can find it here.

I’d like to think I’ve improved somewhat since then.

I had planned to immediately start a sweet and fluffy book after this one but ended up starting Santa Took Them instead. I can already tell that book’s going to be brutal.

I’m a big horror reader. It’s nice finding another author to add to my go-to list.

Excellent book. Just go into it knowing what to expect.

]]> 5813 https://darkhintsreviews.com/a-murder-of-crows-arcana-europa-hayden-thorne/ https://darkhintsreviews.com/a-murder-of-crows-arcana-europa-hayden-thorne/#comments Mon, 11 Mar 2019 15:55:23 +0000 https://darkhintsreviews.com/?p=5738 Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Hayden Thorne

Genre: Gay Fiction

Tags: Alternate Universe, Ghosts, Magic, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Victorian (mid-19th century)

Length: 199 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi 

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

Blessed with the unique talent of Inscriptive magic, twenty-year-old Mathieu Perrault leaves his old life in France and the orphanage that has been his home since his childhood for work as the new tutor to a five-year-old mute girl. His head filled with dreams and endless possibilities, Mathieu soon finds himself in a great house tucked away in the quiet wooded hills of the northern region of Luxembourg. 

A house occupied by an ailing Dutch artist, one burdened with a terrible secret, and his charming family. A house shadowed by the sudden death of a well-loved servant. A servant, in fact, whose ghost stirs from its dusky world and seeks out Mathieu in terror. Through echoes of past events in unlit hallways, incoherent messages carved into walls, and the eerie vigilance of crows guarding the family, the ghost does what it can to warn Mathieu of a coming danger. 

And in the midst of warmth, laughter, and family, of friendship and magic, of young love blooming against a backdrop of terrible heartache and tragedy, Mathieu searches for answers in a dreamer’s bid to give the ghost the peace long denied it. All the while, a twisted shadow from the past creeps forward, inching closer and closer to him, a vicious hunger that leaves ruin and death in its wake. 

In that isolated great house among the silent trees and the watchful crows, Mathieu will soon learn that the restoration of balance in a world gone awry doesn’t always lie in the sphere of ordinary, mortal men.

Review –

When Mathieu, 20, arrives at the house in the woods he’s eagerly looking forward to tutoring young Aletta. He’s hoping that his special form of magic will flow to his young charge. His first job away from the orphanage he grew up in, he’s desperate to prove himself. He’s not prepared for what he walks into. The journey is an interesting one as he’s surrounded by crows as he slowly makes his way to the large house the first time. The crows play a big part of the story later, but the reader doesn’t know if they’re warning of upcoming evil or are actually evil themselves.

The first person Mathieu meets is Aletta’s uncle, Josef. Josef, 25, is so handsome that Mathieu finds himself tongue-tied and blushing just by being in his presence. Then there’s Aletta’s mother, Saskia. Saskia and Josef are very close, both doting on five-year-old Aletta. There’s Saskia and Josef’s father, an aging artist who spends most of his days locked away in his studio. Then there’s Aletta herself. She was born unable to speak but she can hear fine and communicates very well via her ‘finger movements’ – re: sign language. She and Mathieu have an instant bond. I adored her right off. She’s very intelligent for her age.

Mathieu hasn’t even had time to get comfortable in his new position before strange things start happening. The crows have gotten loud and are hovering outside the window of the classroom where he teaches Aletta. They appear to be waiting for Mathieu to do something, but what? Then he starts seeing things written in places that would be hard for anyone to access. Cryptic messages that make little sense to him, with the exception of a name: Marjam. When he finally works up the courage to ask questions about Marjam, he’s told a story about a young servant who committed suicide in the lake on the property. The lake is dark and foreboding. Mathieu has been ordered to keep Aletta away from it at all costs.

Aletta speaks often about the sad fairy in the woods. At first it appears as if the little girl has an overactive imagination, but then Mathieu begins to question if maybe she really is seeing someone – or some thing.

Then there are the nightly visits…

Each night Mathieu is awakened by sounds outside his bedroom door. There’s shuffling right before somebody stops and attempts to turn the doorknob. To say he’s terrified is an understatement. Then he starts seeing what he believes is the ghost of young Marjam. Suddenly Aletta’s sad fairy talk doesn’t sound quite so far-fetched.

Throughout everything there’s a growing attraction between Mathieu and Josef. Only when Mathieu confides his fears about Marjam to Josef do things really start to come together. There’s still a mystery to be solved – Why did Marjam commit suicide? What or who is she trying to warn Mathieu away from? – but now there’s support from within the household and relief that Mathieu isn’t seeing or experiencing things that simply aren’t there.

A Murder of Crows has a little bit of everything. There’s the large house surrounded by woods and close to the creepy lake where a young woman went to her death. There’s the bad guy who may or may not have had something to do with what happened to the young woman. There are secrets being kept by the patriarch of the family. There are the cryptic messages, the nighttime visits, the ghost of the woman, and even a budding romance between the wealthy uncle and the orphaned tutor. Throw in a unique cast of secondary characters and the story is complete.

I’m not normally a big fan of books that aren’t contemporary. I don’t find myself enjoying stories where characters have to hide who they are and are looked down upon by society. In historical settings that’s almost always the case. Not in this book. This is set in an alternate universe (of sorts) but it’s still not in a contemporary setting. Thankfully Josef and Mathieu being gay isn’t an issue for the family or society. What I do love are books with ghosts, a good mystery, anything with children, and entertaining secondary characters. I’m a sucker for a good romance, so there’s that as well. A Murder of Crows had it all. The romance may not take center until much later – and it shouldn’t, really – but it does play a nice part in the story as a whole.

The mystery is written well and I was happy with the way that was resolved. It was actually the perfect resolution and something I didn’t see coming. The author also wrote an epilogue that I absolutely loved, giving the reader a glimpse into what’s happening a few years down the road.

Overall, a very entertaining read. I’m eager to read more by the author.

This book was provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Sam West

Genre: Extreme Horror

Tags: Contemporary, Extreme On-Page Violence, Gore

Length: 105 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

Welcome to Sunnyside, a bed and Breakfast in the blackened, festering heart of Broadgate – an English seaside town famous for its sex shops, amusement arcades, high-levels of unemployment and sea the colour of a rung-out dishcloth. 

Meet Gary Brown, the homicidal, suicidal, lonely, sexually-frustrated proprietor of Sunnyside. Come join Gary as he waits for his first ever guests to arrive. You know what they say; women are like busses – you wait around forever and then four come along at once… 

Meet Kimberly Henry, a well-to-do socialite who stumbles across Sunnyside after a steaming row with her husband and a two-hour drive from Kensington… Bad luck for her, one could say. 

It’s going to be one HELL of a night. 

Review –

It’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed a Sam West book. You can check out my reviews of two of them on our sister site, On Top Down Under, at these links – Djinn and Victim. Each of those reviews starts with a warning. I’m also throwing out one here for Gary’s Girls. This is EXTREME HORROR and there are quite a few things that may disturb some. I’ve said this before and this book proved it… Sam West is the only author who has ever made me gag while reading a book and I’ve read thousands of books, a lot of them horror.

With that being said…

Gary is one warped human being. He’s recently inherited an old falling down Bed and Breakfast from his mother. It’s not in the best of areas, though Gary doesn’t care either way. He’s done some remodeling and opened it for guests for probably the first time in decades.

Gary has sick fantasies. I’m not talking a bit of kink here and there. Gary’s fantasies involve acting out what he sees (and masturbates to) on the dark web. He’s so obsessed with it when he does the remodel of the B & B he adds secret doors, video cameras that record in real time, and rooms with his sick gadgets. He’s now gone from just fantasizing to wanting to act these things out for real. The video cameras also stream live online to other sick men like him. His plan is to create his own snuff films for their viewing pleasure.

He just has to wait for the right women to show up wanting to rent a room for the night. Oh, he has no intention of actually renting rooms to anybody. He just needs to get the right woman or women in the door, talk them into ‘renting one’ and then he can act out his sick fantasies. He has no problem turning away those that he’s not attracted to. He simply tells them he has no vacancies.

Unfortunately, Kimberly shows up and she’s exactly who Gary is looking for. She’s just left her cheating husband and needs some time to think. She’s a bit too high class for Gary’s place but she’s tired and desperate. That turns out to be the biggest mistake of her life. Not long after she arrives, others do. This is when Gary’s sick ‘party’ begins.

I won’t say more than that.

This was a good horror story. I just know to be prepared going into one of her books because of the gross factor. There’s only one particular scene like that in Gary’s Girls but it’s something others might want to skim over. I can read gore without a problem usually. Gross, not so much. There was a bit of a twist at the end that I really didn’t see coming.

I do find myself wanting to know more about Tristian, a character who makes an appearance later. I know there’s more about him in another book The Dark Side of Red, that I’m sure I’ll read someday. I liked that he was mysterious, though I didn’t love him so much as a character.

It was nice reading another Sam West story. I recommend it to those who are good with what I mention in my warnings and the review.

Rating: 4.5 Star

Publisher: Slumberjack Entertainment

Genre: Revenge Horror

Tags: Contemporary, Graphic Violence, Psychological, Serial Killer

Length: 65 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

On his graduation night something terrible happened to Ray Barber. Twenty years later he has returned to his home town of Haven Hills with only one thing on his mind. 
Revenge.

Review –

Don’t you, forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you, forget about me… 

I can’t recall if I’ve ever started off a review with lyrics from a song (Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds for those who don’t know), but those lyrics are important to this story.

Blades of Ray starts off with Ray’s first kill. There are no filler pages of miscellaneous details. The first death literally happens within seconds of the book starting.

Ray Barber is back in town.

Ray had a bad childhood in the small town of Haven Hills. He was heavier than the other kids and different in probably every way from his classmates. It didn’t help that his mother was an addict. Haven Hills is a town where everybody knows everybody and their business. Ray was bullied horribly all through school. If he wasn’t being beat up and bullied for his size it was happening because of who his mother was. He endured it because he didn’t have a choice.

Then graduation night happened.

It’s twenty years later and Haven Hills High School is about to have a reunion celebrating what has always been called the ‘Golden Year’ – called that because every person in the class of 1988 became successful, allowing the town to grow.

That is, except Ray Barber. Ray had left after graduation night and never looked back – or so the town thought.

The reader knows immediately that something horrible happened to Ray on graduation night. Exactly what happened isn’t revealed into long into the story. Little by little comes out with each kill.

Ray won’t be satisfied until every single member of the class of 1988 is dead.

That’s all I can say about that without giving too much away.

This is the third story I’ve read recently where I have sympathy for the killer and not so much for the victims. Every single person that Ray kills was either there on graduation night or had bullied him horribly over the years. From his classmates to even a few adults who should’ve done something – anything – but chose to take part in the bullying themselves.

When the secret comes out of what happened to Ray at the hands of all of these people you want to go back in time and save him. Sadly, people are bullied to this point daily and it breaks my heart. I know they don’t come back two decades later and do what Ray did – and I’m damn sure not saying they should – but Ray’s story proves that after the bullies go on with their lives the bullied person often can’t. It’s something they have to live with for the rest of their lives. It’s heartbreaking. And it angers me. Not much gets to me as bad as watching someone suffer as Ray did when he was a child.

The author says a lot in only 65 pages.

As much as I loved the story I did have a few issues with it, which is why I’ve knocked off a half star from my rating.

The editing. There were a lot of typos. I know it’s only a short story but ‘new’ where ‘knew’ should’ve been and ‘know’ where ‘now’ should’ve been. There are a few sentences where the punctuation was all over the place. Did that take away from the story? I still enjoyed it (obviously) but what I’ve mentioned (and a lot I didn’t mention) were glaring.

Another thing is that I wish I could’ve seen more about Ray’s life in the twenty years he was away from Haven Hills. Nothing is said about what he went on to do, where he lived, or anything else. I didn’t need more details about the townsfolk. The author handled that brilliantly. I just wanted to know more about Ray as an adult.

Overall, this is a really good horror short. I’ll be reading more by this author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: D.M. Wolfenden

Genre: Horror

Tags: Contemporary, Dark Humor, Past Abuse, Serial Killer, Graphic Violence

Length: 52 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

Well, hello, Sugar, my name is Joanna… 
That’s the introduction that all my victims get. It’s nice to be polite. 
Even serial killers have manners. 

I know what I do isn’t normal, but I also know that I do the country a service. 
And the world is better off with me in it. You’ll understand. 
See, I was once the victim. 
Hurt by the one who should have taken care of me. 
Let down by the system that should have protected me. 
Now I vow to help others, and if I have to hurt people to do it. I will. 

Review –

This is another book where the reader knows exactly why the so-called bad guy, or girl in this case, is the way they are. Joanna’s entire story comes out slowly as you read the book. When you end it you know exactly what turned her into a serial killer. And, honestly? It’s hard not to sympathize with her.

Hell, it’s hard not to cheer her on. While I’m not saying what she does is right (it isn’t), but who hasn’t wanted to see horrible criminals get theirs?

Joanna only kills the worst of the worst – pedophiles, rapists, those who commit other horrible crimes. She doesn’t just go out and kill at random.

Joanna herself is a victim. At one point in her life she was forced to endure things that nobody should ever have to endure. The justice system doesn’t always work in a victim’s favor, as we see way too often in the real world. This is what happened with Joanna. Her abuser was prosecuted but she didn’t feel that his punishment was severe enough, hence her seeking justice of her own against those who harm others.

The violence Joanna inflicts is on page and it’s extremely graphic. If you’re squeamish this book isn’t for you.

This was an excellent horror short. While I may or may not agree with what Joanna does, I get it. She doesn’t want anybody else to be a victim. Her taking out the ‘bad guys’ is her way of saving others, one at a time.

The cover is perfect.

Note that the author lists victim resources at the end of the book.

Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Dark Void Press

Genre:  Horror

Tags: Creepy Doll, Gory, Graphic Violence, Psychological 

*** See Note At Bottom Of Review. ***

Length: 85 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Summer ends, Fall comes, and then Winter kills everything with snow, ice, and bitter winds.

The five tales of horror contained within these pages touch upon the worst of the season – from haunted Christmas presents to secrets hidden beneath a frozen forest floor.

So cozy up next to a warm fire, put on your fuzziest robe, and prepare to have your blood chilled.

Review –

The Toy

It all started with a toy; with the toy, my life ended.

That was disturbing.

Mike, Emma, and Teddy are the perfect family. Teddy is four and kind of a mama’s boy. I’m not saying that in a bad way by any means. He just relates more to Emma than Mike. It’s close to Christmas and Emma has to work on the day she’d planned to pick up the bulk of the gifts. Mike agrees to do it and to make a day of it with their son. Everything is going well until young Teddy spots a toy in the window of an old antique shop. This thing is ugly and more than a little creepy. Of course Teddy begs Mike to buy it for him. Anything to make his boy happy, you know? Unfortunately, buying the creepy toy for Teddy turns out to be the worst thing he would do in his life.

The toy obviously isn’t your average toy. When Teddy removes it from the box on Christmas morning weird things start to happen.

I’m huge on books about family. I always have been. Give me a story with a kid in it and I’m usually happy. I can’t say that about this particular story and I can’t say why. I knew from the first page what was going to happen. I just wish I knew in advance how it was going to happen.

This reminded me of the story of Robert, the ‘haunted’ doll in Florida, I think it was? If you’re not familiar with Robert, I suggest checking out his story. I’d add a link but Robert creeps me the hell out, so there you go.

The writing was good. The way the story was told was good. The ending was perfect.

Good horror short. Just take note of tags above and my ‘final thoughts’ at the bottom of this review.

A Few Steps Away

This was a breath of fresh air after The Toy. I can’t say much other than A Few Steps Away tells the story of a boy and his dog. From the time the boy is quite young until he’s twenty-one he and the dog have a special bond. This bond doesn’t disappear when one of them is no longer in this world.

I really enjoyed this.

Armed Insanity

The title for this is so fitting.

Charlie, 35, has just been through a rather bitter divorce after his wife cheated on him. He lost the wife and his young daughter to some guy named Sean.

A couple of months after the divorce is finalized Charlie makes the mistake of going out for a few beers after work with one of his coworkers. One bar turns into several and before he knows it Charlie is pretty wasted. It’s snowing hard but drunk Charlie decides to try to drive home anyway.

He doesn’t quite make it. What happens on the drive home is bad. What happens later is terrifying.

The Fridge

I’ll never look at a refrigerator the same again. Old, new, whatever, it doesn’t matter. I will now have nightmares of possessed refrigerators, gory deaths, and teeth.

Yes, teeth.

Anything I say beyond that will tell the whole, strange story so I’ll stop here.

The Edge of the World

This is an excellent horror story.

A young couple takes a walk through the woods on a cold, cold night. It’s only their third date. The girl is wanting to see a section of the forest known as the Edge of the World. There’s been talk of disappearances for decades involving the Edge of the World but it’s mostly been laughed off.

If ever there were woods foreboding enough not to enter, it was these. But see, I would’ve done anything for her. I would’ve followed her into hell, if she wanted me to.

The young man really doesn’t want to go but you know how it is with young love. He wouldn’t allow himself to show fear. What would she think of him then?

Unfortunately, the Edge of the World turns out to be more than just a section of the forest that warranted being laughed off. It was everything the ‘talk’ had said it was and more.

Excellent short. This is the type of story I look for when I want horror.

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Final thoughts and Slight Spoilers 

This is a nice collection of quickie horror stories, but be prepared if you’re interested in reading this. One has the rather brutal death of a child and another one involves the violent death of a pet. Expect a little bit of gore and know what you’re getting into before picking up the book.

While all the stories were written well (even if parts bugged me), A Few Steps Away and The Edge of the World are my absolute favorites for two totally different reasons. Excellent short stories. As for the others, make note of my warnings if you go to read them.

I’ll be reading more by this author.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Matt Shaw Publications

Genre: Revenge Horror

Tags: Contemporary, Horror, Revenge, Sexual Violence

Length: 64 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

Critically acclaimed bestselling author, Matt Shaw – #1 bestseller in Horror Fiction with hundreds of 5 star reviews – brings you one hell of a messed up “romance”.

CHAINED

He is chained to her through his own choice.

She is chained to him through no choice of her own.

A thick chain linking the two of them together by their ankles and kept in place with heavy-duty locks.

She knows why she is there. He has explained that once – and only once. Each subsequent time she asks, he simply tells her that she knows the reason. She knows there is no way out until he says so.

For a time of his choosing, she is his prisoner and that is all there is to it. Yet – for the two of them – things could have been so, so different.

“There is a ferocity about Matt Shaw’s writing that is both welcome and also necessary when it comes to horror.” – Shaun Hutson, author of “Slugs”

Categories for CHAINED

• Horror
• Psychological Fiction
• Survival horror
• Serial killers
• kidnap horror
• Suspense horror
• Revenge horror

Review –

The first thing I have to say about this story is that it may contain triggers for some readers. Past and current sexual violence is on-page. See my tags above and those listed in the blurb.

I’ve always enjoyed Matt Shaw’s books. He’s one of the few authors who can say a lot in only a few pages. He does so brilliantly in Chained. The only problem is that it’s difficult to write a review because almost everything I say can be a spoiler.

The blurb says a lot about the story. What it doesn’t say is why. We know that a man has a woman chained to him against her will. At first the reader is led to believe that he’s this monster who kidnapped this innocent woman. He’s not a good guy by any means, but he has his reasons for why he’s keeping her captive. I’m not saying they’re good reasons, but in a sense you can see exactly why he feels that he has to do something to hurt her. That’s not me saying I agree with it – I don’t – but once the reader is given a glimpse of backstories for both characters it makes sense in a very warped, screwed up, and violent way.

I’m a big horror and dark thriller reader. When I read those types of books I’m usually trying to figure out exactly why the bad guys are the bad guys. What made them that way? A lot of times they’re just flat out evil and there’s no coming back from that. Other times there were events in their lives that led them to do certain things that they’ve done. In Chained there is zero doubt why the man does what he does. Do I agree with it? Not at all, especially considering some of the things he does to the woman. Does it make sense in a way? His want to punish her? Absolutely. She is a victim. She is being held against her will and being forced to do things she shouldn’t have to do. However, the captor is also a victim, made so by past events put in place by the woman.

I can’t say more than that.

This is classic Matt Shaw. Just when you think you have the story figured out he throws the reader for a loop. That’s exactly what he did in Chained.

Great short story.

Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Devil’s Crescent Publishing House

Genre: Erotic Horror

Tags: Contemporary. Dark Humor, Horror, Knife Play, Short Story, Stalking, Violent Sex Fetishes

Length: 29 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

She picked up the phone and a man spoke: “Your husband, Jon, is having an affair,” said a tough-sounding voice in a thick Mancunian accent. She wants to see and hear it for herself, but what she discovers about her husband and his sordid sexual appetite shocks her to the core of her being – he has a fetish for blood and knives and murderous role-play. She discovers other strange things too. That the young mistress has a friend who wants to join them for a threesome. And, that they are planning to have a ‘dirty weekend’ in an isolated cabin in the Lake District. The games continue and this graphic little tale culminates with a horrific murder scene and an absolutely shocking twist…

Review –

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Well, that was fun. In a creepy, warped, violent kind of way anyway.

It all starts when the wife is having lunch with a friend. During their weekly gossip (and drinking) session they discuss a mutual friend who’d committed suicide after killing her cheating husband and burying him in her backyard. Not long after this discussion Linda (aka the wife) gets an anonymous phone call telling her that her beloved husband is having a torrid affair. It doesn’t take much to discover it’s true. Dear old Jon’s facial expressions give him away as she tells him about the woman who’d killed her husband for being a cheating bastard. Once it’s confirmed, she puts a little plan in place. What she discovers next is that her husband isn’t just having an affair. He and the little trollop (not my word) get off on kinky knife play.

She was young – the trollop – not a day older than twenty-five.

When she overhears her husband and his mistress planning a threesome with another young woman, Linda knows just what to do.

This was an awesome little short. I would’ve liked to have had a couple of more pages added, but I was satisfied with the way everything came together. There’s a bit of a twist at the end that I didn’t quite see coming.

A very enjoyable read. I love horror. I especially love erotic horror. The Cabin was perfect.

Keep in mind that while the book may be short, the violence is quite graphic and may bother some.

I’ll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Indie 

Genre: Horror

Tags: Psychological, Dark Humour 

Length: 110 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At:  amazon

Synopsis:

She had no idea why she killed him. Frying pan to the back of his head. Repeatedly. She just finally snapped at the lack of romance in their marriage. The lack of love. Perhaps her subconscious simply thought, ‘If Romance is dead – why shouldn’t he be dead too?’ It didn’t matter why she did it. The only thing that mattered now was to hide her crime. Easier said than done with her neighbours breathing down her neck, asking awkward questions. That and the fact that, in his death, she was finally starting to realise why she loved him in the first place.

Review:

Naomi and Ben don’t have the best of marriages. Sure, it was all nice and sweet early on but as the years have gone by, it’s gotten more than a bit stale. Ben has gone from being a nice, attentive husband to being sarcastic, critical, and just an all around jerk. Don’t get me wrong, Naomi has her moments as well. She nags and nags, and can’t a man catch a break on his one day off? Her cooking is bad, she leaves doors open all the time when he tells her to close them already, and she’s always griping about something. A match made in Heaven, right? *smirk*

This starts with a prologue that sets the story in motion. Naomi and Ben are sitting at their dining room table having dinner and Ben’s thoughts wander, as is his norm when he’s around his wife. Of course this irks Naomi. Hmm… everything irks Naomi. While Ben is having little fantasies of taking care of his loving wife (note the sarcasm), Naomi has decided she has had enough. Can he not even tell her about his day, for God’s sake? It’s like pulling teeth to get more than a one word answer out of the man, and even then, he makes it clear he’s not interested in discussing his day, or anything else, with his wife of about five years.

So, after one too many times of being ignored, Naomi decides to fix things once and for all – with the use of a frying pan.

I said this in one of my updates on Goodreads, but I’ve got to mention it in this review. There is an ongoing running joke between Kazza K and myself about frying pans and our men. It’s been going on for so long that I bought her a tiny, cast iron, skillet and sent it to her as a gag gift for her birthday last year (all the way to Australia). I plan on reading every story Matt Shaw has written, but when I saw the frying pan in the blurb of Romance is Dead, I knew it would be my next one.

Now back to Naomi and her frying pan….

See, Naomi has not been happy with Ben for awhile and the ignoring her at dinner – after she fixed him this overcooked steak and under cooked chips wonderful meal, was her final straw. But she didn’t think things through too clearly before she bopped him on the head with the frying pan – over and over again. But he deserved it, she feels, so there’s no remorse at all… until later. She always wanted a pond in her backyard and Ben fought her on it, so she’ll just dig that pond herself and bury Ben in the hole and then tell the neighbors he ran off and left her. She gets so excited over that thought and all the fish she can put in the pond. It will be the perfect plan!

Maybe not.

Naomi starts to lose her mind regret what she did to the hubby. Sure, he deserved it, but suddenly she’s remembering how things used to be with him. There were good times once upon a time, right? Then there’s the fact that well, Ben is dead, and the dead don’t stay, hmm, fresh, and she’s not exactly getting a move on with that pond digging. Who knew it would be so much work? Then there are the perfect neighbors, Liam and Kelly, who are just too close and too nosy for comfort. How is Naomi supposed to bury Ben’s body if Liam and Kelly can look out their back door at any time to see what she’s doing? Throw in the fact that she’s totally convinced that Ben is talking to her – you know, the very dead Ben who is decomposing in the dining room – and Naomi is quickly losing touch with reality.

Then we get to the ending, and no way in hell would I spoil that for anyone, but it was totally not what I was expecting. I read PORN by this author a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve read enough reviews where folks have stated how he is great about throwing out twists at the end of his books. That was definitely the case with Romance is Dead.

I love books with dark humor and I got that in spades with this one. Yes, it’s about a crazy woman who murders her husband, but you can’t read this book and not giggle more than a few times.

Overall, an excellent read. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, and you’ll say what the hell just happened? at the end.

Highly recommended. An easy 5 stars.