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/blades-of-ray-peter-mckeirnon/ https://darkhintsreviews.com/blades-of-ray-peter-mckeirnon/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2019 20:28:43 +0000 https://darkhintsreviews.com/?p=5417 Rating: 4.5 Stars

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: 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.

~~~

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: 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.

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: NineStar Press

Genre: Paranormal 

Tags: Predominantly Werewolves + Vampire, Ghost, Other. Dark & Psychological, Horror, Humour, Ensemble Cast, Subplot Romance, Series

Length: 316 Pages

Reviewer: Karen

Purchase At:  amazon, NineStar Press 

Synopsis:

Outsiders call them False Moons, but Garvey’s kind call themselves Moondogs. Moondogs hunt. Moondogs live free. Moondogs stick together. Moondogs are half-breeds, not completely accepted by those who consider themselves “true wolves.”

Garvey is a Moondog to his bones. He and the unexpected get along just fine. That’s why when Molly, the vampire who should be a mindless eating machine, turns out to be an oddity, Garvey decides to hide her away instead of killing her.

But that leaves him needing another vampire to carry out the schemes of the two powerful werewolf rivals he’s caught between. What’s an improvising Moondog to do other than find some poor sap and create a new one?

Garvey might be a Moondog to his bones, but to defeat his enemies, he must navigate their world and be the stupid, subservient beast they expect. At least on the surface. Behind the scenes, Garvey intends to turn their plans against them and bring the two greater packs to the brink of war.

Review:

**This was my Book of the Year for 2018 at On Top Down Under Book Reviews, so I bought this review across to Dark Hints where I think it suits the blog better. 

I grew up on a diet of vampire books and movies. If werewolves were in the mix, they were generally more primal creatures – we’re talking B&W TV (when it arrived) and early books and movies. While the vampires used their seductive wiles to lure their prey, the werewolves were dark, brooding, shadowy creatures, nothing like the romantic shifters that roam the pages of romance books nowadays. I enjoy a good romance shifter read every now and then, I do, but I prefer darker and bloody paranormal. One of the things that attracted me to The Worst Werewolf, book #1 in this series, was the promise of a darker werewolf based universe. Which it was. They aren’t fuzzy weres, part of alpha/omega shifter verses, with romantic alpha MCs who are more mediators, lovingly using their power for protection of their bonded mate. This series can be harsh. Love, even basic kindness, generally takes a backseat to pack, and even though book #2 definitely has its moments, The Worst Werewolf was a more overall bloody book than The False Moon. It also set up a solid platform for the personalities, events and different packs that don’t like each other but inexorably entwine. The False Moon fleshes and rounds out characters, motivations, and emotion more. And while Garvey and Tovin are absolutely essential characters to the series, and I’m cheering for them, it’s an ensemble cast that fills the pages. At the end of TWW there were some cryptic happenings that promised so much more. That ‘more’ started unfolding in The False Moon.

Once again, this series book is split into parts. During these parts there are different locations and POV shifts to and for corresponding packs and individuals. Whether that be Garvey in relation to what is driving him on behalf of the Moondogs. His wife, a cover for the Moondog pack because Garvey is gay and gay is not something, it appears, the pack likes. Ahhh, the wonderful Mercy. She uses a Southern twang and charm, complete with coiffed hair and nice nails, and she is his co-conspirator in death and mayhem.

“Shoot. If this don’t beat all. I’ll get a tarp in the truck. You, mister—” She poked him in the chest with a short, pudgy finger. “—you owe me cameos at bake sales and competitions. Don’t think I won’t collect.”
“I will be there with bells on, love.”

While Mercy gathered up killing supplies, Garvey briefly wished she were the man he had met out on a Wisconsin lake on a day when the snow made the world white and flat. But the snow had melted, and the land had the curves of a woman.

I mean, the love involved in helping your significant other with all things their job, their life, even if you are best friends and not lovers, is a powerful thing. I can respect that. ‘Hey, honey, let me help you hide the bodies’ – very practical, very loyal.

Garvey’s feelings for Tovin, aka Sweet Treat, the guy he picked up online (book #1) and created a life-changing date from Hell with, were potent from the beginning… but you can’t let sentimentality get in the way. One day Tovin’s working in sales, looking for a little adventure to show his horrid ex he’s not boring, to the next day being a bloodslave in the thick of inter-pack machinations that go off the rails. Adventurous is overrated. Now he’s ensconced, grudgingly for most, in the Isangelous pack. A place where he has to speak as the Alpha Guardian’s pet and socialise with people who have drunk the Kool-Aid about being given immortality after serving as bloodslaves. Tovin is an introverted, geeky human who absolutely hates social interactions, knows the Isangelous lies about immortality for its humans, but now has no choice but to make nice and pretend. He also has a ghost that’s chosen to hang out with him, giving him guidance and support, as cryptic as it is, and he’s not sure why. He’s not even sure for a while if she’s real, but he’s named her Destiny anyway. Destiny is the perfect side kick for my boy Tovin’s dorkiness and humanity. In a sea of apathy to anger, Tovin is suddenly a spreader of moral and shiny. No one in the Isangelous pack believes him about the ghost, they simply believe him to be an even weirder outsider than they already thought; particularly as he now has conversations with someone or something they can’t see. But he’s Eresna’s so they humour him…to a degree. Then there’s the door that whispers for Tovin to touch it and the corresponding death records for people before him who have done just that.

Yuri and Nadine, from the Isangelous pack, have their own issues. Yuri’s a smart wolf. Pack has always, always come first… but then there’s Tovin, a human she has a special attachment to. Pack is pivotal to all the wolves, no matter which pack. Doing her job well has always been of paramount importance to Yuri. She’s been valued for her skills and smarts by Eresna, the Isangelous Alph and Queen, for so long. After Tovin’s ‘extraction’ went badly, and Eresna’s been stuck with him, Yuri has been blamed, ignored, and demoted. No matter that it was Garvey who imploded that ‘extraction’ with all its ripple effects. Nadine is now her boss, and while they have a deep and abiding friendship, something that could have been more, it stings that the reckless and free-spirited Nadine has Yuri’s old position. However, it never gets in the way of their interactions and how they feel about one another. Yuri also knows Tovin has the death records, and this knowledge, her connection to Tovin as well, starts some events in motion that have the ability to create a great deal of havoc.

Amber, another human, and Lavario, werewolf, are at the Varcolac pack, but neither are Varcolac. Both have some highly emotional and challenging moments. Amber’s family were slaughtered by the Varcolac, on Kijo’s command, and the twenty one year old is incredibly hurt and angry. Lavario, who raised Kijo, had no choice but to take Amber in. She’s not happy with Lavario but he’s increasingly hard to to stay mad at. The revenge she has so badly wanted shifts regarding who it is she wants to hurt. Although it’s not particularly simplistic to say her anger has completely shifted. It hasn’t. She thinks of her family every day. Hears her younger sister in her head about where she is and what’s happening to her and what she’d say to Amber if she were still alive. She’s in danger with the Varcolac because Alpha Guardian Mazgan barely tolerates her. While Lavario is intimidating to the pack, and it affords her a degree of protection, it isn’t simple to break down just how Lavario sits within the structure of the Varcolac in a review.

Most wolves who met Lavario slunk away, avoiding eye contact. Those who gave him orders—sweep the floor, drive me here, pick up the dry cleaning—did so in a voice shimmering with hesitation. For good reason. Lavario obeyed patiently, but the look he gave them said, I’ll remember. I’ll collect.

There’s a presence making itself known around Amber as well. Something no one initially understands, but as they do, it increasingly puts an even bigger target on her. Lavario tells her he would kill her if need be, but, in a great and meaningful dichotomy, he also offers her a knife that would kill him if she has to fight for her life. Even with the anger, partly because of that, partly because of daddy issues, Lavario and Amber start a sexual relationship. Their relationship is the most complex of the book. To be honest, anyone Lavario has had any real connection with ends up in a complex relationship with Lavario – Kijo, Garvey, Amber.

He slowly shook his head. “She remembers the woods. You were sloppy.”
All semblance of calm vanished. She transformed. She lifted her lip to show the tips of her fangs. “You don’t understand, Lavario. Amber is very dangerous.”
“Is she now?”

The highly ambitious and aggressive Kijo is now separated from Lavario. She also finds herself being challenged regularly because of Alpha Guardian Mazgan, who has a slash and burn mentality to everything. Either Kijo is by his side and bows to him, something he wants and she won’t do, or she’s taken out by a pack challenger – yeah, good luck with that. Kijo scares Mazgan as she has the brutality and the ambition to take the pack away from him but he fancies her too, but rules are rules when they suit him. Mazgan is a hypocritical coward and I hold a grudge against him. Yes, I do realise he’s fictional – but Hell hath no fury like a reader angered. There are quite a few pack plots occurring and Kijo is involved in numerous situations that are critical. She is power-driven, observant and strategic. Having been raised predominantly within the aggressive Varcolac, she likes the power-plays, always believed she hated the Boo Hag – Isangelous – mentality of pretty and fine things, but learns that nurture can be a bitch. She remains badass throughout both books, usually something I love in female characters, but I find it difficult to like Kijo. While I respect her keen brain and her sheer power and tenacity, she’s too cold for me. However, absolutely anything is possible with her because she’s seriously calculating and enigmatic. She’s also had one interesting father figure and brilliant political and character mentor in Lavario.

Meanwhile, Garvey has several things going on and he’s up to his neck in most dilemmas. In the midst of it all, he cares deeply for Tovin. Maybe there’s a mate connection, maybe it’s just plain old pheromones, lust, and opposites attract. Tovin hasn’t shown his hand exactly, he’s kind of in the middle of new paranormal activity and survival. However, they finally get to be intimate with one another, and I was so happy. And, who knew? Garvey has actual feelings, and for more beings than I thought possible. Occasionally in book #1 his feelings would peek out, but now he’s thinking about Tovin more and more.

“Do you love Tovin?”
Uncomfortable with the personal question, he toyed with a sarcastic response. Typically, Moondogs didn’t share feelings with Boo Hags. In this moment, he wanted to believe they were deathmates if not packmates. “I think so, yes. It’s hard to tell. I want to protect him, and I want to be near him.”
“He’s so moral.” You’re not was heavily implied. 

Yes. Well. Garvey isn’t the most moral and I love him for it. Jerald was such a well deserved, violently loving gift he served up. *Sigh. He also has a vampire on a leash, Molly, that he’s brought through a portal to wreak a little destabilising mojo. His pack, the lesser esteemed Moondogs, or False Moons, are culled every decade – and here comes decade-culling time. Garvey isn’t sitting back waiting. Molly is not your typical scheming and seductive vampire, nope, she is totally ruled by her need to feed. Hungry really is her catchcry. She also says one word only from any sentence Garvey uses, and she’s fond of our Moondog. One Word Molly: I found her adorable, in a totally creepy way. I shouldn’t, she’s a walking death plague, or creator of a lower type of undead, but not one single being is anything less than three dimensional in this series, and Miss Hungry seems to be developing a creeping sentience.

Overall:

I could write a thesis of a review on this book and barely scratch the surface of the world and characters. I’ll finish up by saying that this is a fantastic paranormal series. It’s intelligent, well written, well edited, involved. Each chapter has the best heading, like Dead Asshole Scientists and Annoying, Unless Pets, which always fit the corresponding chapter perfectly. The humour is jaded, noir, hilarious, often youthful. Lavario and Eresna have been around for a while, they’re mature Davis-Crawford pro-level dry and snarky, but they sometimes react in ways that surprise me. The romance aspect of this series is developing nicely but it’s part of a bigger picture. This isn’t MM, it has het sex, for one, as well as gay and fluid moments. It’s paranormal. It’s horror. It’s humour. Romance is a subplot.

Being a character obsessive means I need good, strong characters to enjoy a book. Every character in this series is perfectly nuanced and multifaceted, reflecting lighter and darker aspects of who they are, their very nature as they move through this ‘verse toward their impending and fateful personal and pack intersection. The False Moon is absorbing paranormal reading, adding a progressive and balanced layer upon The Worst Werewolf, which you do need to have read first. I absolutely love this series, so very glad I found it, and I’m sure that whatever comes next will be one hell of a ride. I can’t wait. 5 Stars.