77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

There is a new thing in horror and it’s an oldie but goodie.  Haunted houses are back – big time.  They have been showing up in horror movies for about a year now and the novelists are catching up.  Dean Koontz, who I’ve think was lacking with his horror for a while now, is back in form and delivering the chills.  He’s drawing upon the supernatural, the natural and the engineered to bring this chiller of a novel.

The Pendelton is a Gilded Age palace in some large city somewhere in the middle of the country.  Once an opulent single family home it was converted into luxury apartments in 1973.  Some things didn’t change with the renovation.  Every thirty-eight years something strange happens and the inhabitants of the Pendelton disappear, or go mad, or change somehow.  It’s 2011 and the last disturbance at the Pendelton was during the renovation.  You do the math.

Was it scary?  I have no problem reading serial killer thrillers, zombie horror, or anything just plain gross.  I do get a little…concerned…when the book is spooky.  Things seen out of the corner of your eye, unexplained voices, irrational happenings, now that’s when I get a little unnerved.  Did I stay awake for a bit looking at the shadows in my room before falling asleep while reading this novel?  Yes.  I most certainly did.  And it was worth it.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Horseracing with a bizarre and deadly twist.  Stiefvater takes the myth of the water horse, a malevolent creature which looks like a normal horse but can swim like a fish, run like the blazes on land, and only ingests meat (human, horse or sheep are just fine), and combines it with an annual race on a rocky island for a large winning purse.  Sean has won the Scorpio Races with the water horse Corr four times in the last six years.  If he wins this year he can buy Corr from the Malvern Stables, the richest family on the island, and his employer for the past nine years.  Kate rashly claims she is entering the races on her horse Dove, a regular horse, not a water horse, so she can save her family home and keep her brother from leaving for the mainland for a few weeks more.  Kate is the first woman to ever enter the races and the first participant to ride a normal horse.

I got the sense that the book was set off the coast of Great Britain during the early 1900s but I’m not quite sure.  There are British accents and references to America so it is set on a fictional island somewhere in the real world.  Mostly an adventure and coming of age story there is a romance as well.  Something for everyone!

Since the story is told in alternating chapters from Sean and Kate’s points of view it was great to hear both a male and female voice actor.  I loved it on audio until the last disc.  The action was so fast paced that it was hard to listen to!  If I had the book in hand I would have been furiously skimming to the end.  So, I guess it’s good that I listened to it otherwise I may have missed something!

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

Human remains are found buried in the peat in Saltmarsh near Norfolk.  Archaeologist Ruth Galloway is called in to determine if the remains are ancient or if it could be Lucy Downey, a five-year-old girl who went missing ten years ago.  DCI Harry Nelson hopes that he has finally found Lucy and is disappointed to learn that the body is that of a young girl, but a girl who was sacrificed during the Iron Age.  Threatening letters were sent for a year when Lucy first went missing and seem to link her disappearance to Saltmarsh and the henge there.  When another young girl, Scarlet, goes missing and letters once again start to arrive referencing the area DCI Nelson goes to Ruth for help puzzling out the mystery.

This is one of the few instances I’ve read where the expert in the field (amateur sleuth) and the police detective work well together.  Ruth doesn’t go off and try to solve the mystery.  She trusts that DCI Nelson knows what he’s doing, and he does.  This is not to say that our amateur sleuth doesn’t find herself in some interesting situations, but we can forgive her because she didn’t do anything silly to end up in peril, she remains intelligent and true to character throughout. 

Whispers in the Dark by Maya Banks

Whispers in the Dark by Maya Banks

Review by Cassandra, Librarian at Mary Jacobs Library

It is that time of the year when the nights are dark and cold so why not spice up your winter reading selections! I started reading Maya Banks' KGI Series several months ago and the latest installment, which came out in early January, is a winning choice for steamy, romantic suspense.

Whispers in the Dark is book 5 in the KGI Series and focuses on the story of Nathan and Shea.

Unlike the other books in the series, Banks throws in a twist in that Shea has special telepathic powers. Overall, her special abilities have made her life hell, but she can't ignore the telepathic communications from a soldier being tortured who is on the brink of giving up, Nathan Kelly. For Nathan these skills save his life and enable him to survive. They also create an incredible bond between these two people.

But when Nathan is rescued, Shea cuts off their connection because she is in her own fight for her life as she is being hunted for her abilities and is on the run. Only when things get desperate and a weak moment on Shea's part causes their connection to flare back to life. That's when the entire KGI team swings into action to save Shea and in turn, save Nathan.

I loved that we got to see an even deeper level of the dynamic between the Kelly brothers. They have a huge part in this story as they are all working together to save Shea. However, just a bit of a fair warning that this is one of those books that you either really love or really hate and be prepared to suspend disbelief!

Three Days in Europe Story by Antony Johnston, Art by Mike Hawthorne

Three Days in Europe Story by Antony Johnston, Art by Mike Hawthorne

Review by Kay, Librarian at Bridgewater Library

“Love in the Fast Lane” is how I would describe this graphic novel. The story involves a couple who are attempting to improve their relationship by planning surprise European vacation trips for each other.  But lack of communication and hasty departures brings about each person traveling to the wrong location.  Both parties - Jack and Jill - end up with one-night stands and in dangerous situations.  There is a happy ending:  the couple up in Paris together, the police catch the bad guys and Jack and Jill are once again a couple.  The graphics are all in black and white and the action is fast and predictable.

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce

This is a wonderful mind bender of a book; a love story that makes you think about life, love and what comes after.

Jake and Zoe Bennett go skiing in the Pyrenees early one morning and are engulfed by an avalanche.  They manage to free themselves from the crushing snow and hike down to their hotel only to find it empty.  There is no one at the front desk, in the kitchens, anywhere.  There is no one in the town, in the shops, at the police station.  They reason that there must have been an evacuation of the entire area due to the avalanche threat.  Not wanting to be caught in another avalanche they try to drive, hike and walk to a neighboring town.  But they always end up where they started.  As Jake and Zoe explore their surroundings they come to the conclusion that they are dead.  But as time goes by they start to wonder: are they really dead?  Where are they?  What exactly is going on?

This is a slim, descriptive tale that will keep you reading, smiling and crying until the very end.  A story about love and how it truly conquers all.

How I Made It to Eighteen: A Mostly True Story Story and Art by Tracy White

How I Made It to Eighteen: A Mostly True Story Story and Art by Tracy White

This is the tale of how Stacy Black (Tracy White’s illustrated self) wound up in a psychiatric hospital, faced that she had a problem (actually problems) and got herself back on track.  The author freely admits on page one that the book is in essence true.  She did a lot of drugs, she was depressed, and she had other problems.  As far as the untruths go, she changed the order of some events and the names of some people to protect their identities.

This is a stark in your face look at the process of facing your problems and beginning to work them through.  We see Stacy through the eyes of four of her friends from different times in her life as well as through her own eyes.  As much as you want to shake her sometimes (her obsession with her boyfriend is painful to behold) you like her and want her to get better.  It’s a very real feeling book and the simple black and white line drawings fit perfectly with a person reconstructing their life.