Horror
The Haunted by Niki Valentine
Valentine's novel opens with a sinister tale that has nothing to do with haunted boths – but everything to do with rotting relationships. Susan and Martin are attempting to have a second honeymoon but the dynamic between them is clearly flawed from the very start. Susan seems to be experiencing feelings of seemingly hysteria-driven love, continually alternating with resentment. The opening scenes are played out in the relative calm of a smart hotel, but the tension and irritations between the couple are painfully clear. Full review...
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Arthur Kipps is a young solicitor working in a fog-bound London and soon to be married. All looks rosy for Arthur until one day he is called into his boss' office where he is tasked with the affairs of the deceased recluse Alice Drablow. Alice Drablow had lived in the melancholy village of Crythin Gifford in an isolated house on the remote Eel Marsh, a house only accessible by a strange causeway when the tide is out. It is here Arthur must travel to firstly represent his firm at her funeral and then to sift through Mrs Drablow's house to ensure all her legal paperwork is in order. Full review...
Tarantula: The Skin I Live In by Thierry Jonquet
In a large French country house, an expert in facial reconstruction surgery keeps a beautiful woman locked up in her bedroom. He placates her with opium, but barks orders through hugely powerful speakers and an intercom. She tantalises him with her sexuality, which he tries to ignore, except for when he seems to abuse it in a sort of S/M way when he does let her into society, as he forces her to prostitute herself. Elsewhere, a young, inept bank robber holes himself up in a sunny house, waiting for the heat to die. And finally, a young man is held chained up in a cellar at the hands of an unknown possessor. Full review...
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
A young couple find the beginnings of a dream life together in a new apartment in a New York building that a friend says is a hotbed of death and misfortune. But it seems perfect. His job prospects as an actor have never been better, and they're quickly accepted into the elderly community of their neighbours. What's more, she - Rosemary - gets pregnant. Nothing can go wrong, can it? None of this happiness and hope can come at a dreadful cost - can it? Full review...
John Dies at the End by David Wong
'John Dies at the End' begins with friends John and Dave going to a party and meeting a Jamaican drug dealer who provides John with a hit of something called 'soy sauce'. Thereafter, John starts to see things that others can't see. Dave thinks he has had a bad reaction to the drug until he accidentally takes a hit and also starts to have strange experiences, seeing odd shadow creatures, none of whom are very friendly. Even worse, people start to die and a dog takes on human characteristics. Before long, John and Dave are facing death on a regular basis and are aware that they have access to dimensions that normal people don't know about. Full review...
Newsflesh Trilogy: Deadline by Mira Grant
Ever since the untimely death of his sister, Shaun Mason has been alive, but not much more so than the zombies that populate his post-apocalyptic world. For the man who built a career on poking dead things with a stick, just for laughs, life's just no fun anymore. Full review...
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
The story begins in London. It is 1888 and Queen Victoria is on the throne. She has recently remarried, taking as her husband the infamous vampire Count Dracula. Dracula's influence is all around London as more and more of its citizens turn willingly to vampirism, whilst others resist its temptations. A distinct sense of social and political unrest is in the air as factions speak out against the race of vampires, somehow spurred on by the serial killer at large. Known at first as the Silver Knife, but later as Jack the Ripper, this killer targets young vampire women in Whitechapel, prostitutes who have recently turned to vampirism, known as new-borns. Full review...
The Dark (The Dead 2) by David Gatward
We pick up exactly where we left off in this second book in David Gatward's The Dead series. Lazarus Stone has been killed (twice), resurrected (twice), been to the world of the Dead (don't ask), become a Keeper (dangerous job), got himself a personal guardian angel (Arielle, alcoholic), a Dead guide (Red, whose skin's fallen off), and has gone some way to locating his father (prisoner of the Dark and seriously not having a good time of it). Along with best mate Craig and ex-possessed nurse Clair, Lazarus has a mission. Full review...
Epitaph by Shaun Hutson
To state the obvious, all of us are afraid of different things. Gina, a woman having an affair in cheap hotels, is scared of getting caught. Paul, mid-30s and in advertising, sees the redundancy notice he's just been handed as prelude to a nightmarish future. And Laura, 8, can find the underpass from school to home, and echoing footsteps within it, too spooky. The nastiest thing about this book is that for all these characters, they're forced beyond these horrors, to find something even more frightening. Full review...
The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross
Our world is not as it seems. We share it with aliens, zombies, demonic spirits, with ancient god-like entities that are all keen to eat our bodies and devour our souls. It's lucky, then, that we have the British secret service to protect us, more specifically a top secret branch of the secret service called The Laundry. This organisation is so secret that even the bosses at MI6 don't know of its existence. The point of the Laundry is to keep all the myriad of terrors endangering the Earth at bay by the careful use of science, technology and magic, magic being a little known branch of applied maths. Full review...
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No. 1: Night of the Living Rerun; Coyote Moon; Portal Through Time by John Vornholt, Arthur Byron Cover and Alice Henderson
There is something really satisfying about a huge brick of a book: the prospect of settling down for hours and hours of reading pleasure is very tempting. And this book offers an even more tempting lure for Buffy fans, because it contains three whole stories, adding variety to the mix. It's absolutely ideal for a holiday read. Full review...
Blood and Ice by Robert Masello
Journalist Michael Wilde cannot pass the opportunity of spending some time at a research station in Antarctica. His girlfriend is in what could be a permanent coma following a trip that they both made together and he needs to get away. Expecting to see some amazing sights, he is not disappointed. What he was not expecting, however, was to find a block of ice during a diving expedition in which the bodies of a man a woman, perfectly preserved, were chained together. By their side were several bottles of what appeared to be wine. However, once the bodies are brought to the surface and defrost, strange things start to happen and before long, everyone at the research station is fighting for their lives. Will Michael ever manage to return home safely? Full review...
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel by Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith and Tony Lee
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie story of any renown will not remain simply a zombie story. Before you can say the risen undead it will become a series of books, inspiring others, and/or lead to the same story being published in many different guises. Here, then, on its way to Hollywood, is Jane Austen’s story of Lizzie Bennet, the feisty young woman trying to ignore Mr Darcy while fighting off the manky unmentionables – at least she is until the hidden truths open up to her, just as the soft soils of Hertfordshire do to yield their once-human remains. And this time it’s in graphic novel form. Full review...
Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead by Christopher Golden (Editor)
Anyone who enjoys a good horror story and likes zombie films will love this book, which is a collection of nineteen short stories by a variety of authors. I have to admit that I have only heard of one of the authors before - Mike Carey, who writes the Felix Castor novels - but I am not an avid reader of the genre and don't doubt that the authors will be known to readers more familiar with it. Despite this unfamiliarity, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories, with just one or two seemingly not up to scratch. Full review...
Mr Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett
Marcus Connelly, a quiet, reserved and private man, has recently joined the mass of humanity travelling west in search of work. It's the Midwest in the 1930s and the Great Depression is in full swing. The dustbowl is a desperate place and there's none more desperate than Connelly. But Connelly doesn't need a job and he has a wife and a home. Connelly isn't missing prosperity; he's missing his daughter, and he's in search of the man who killed her. Full review...
My Dead Body (Joe Pitt Casebook) by Charlie Huston
Joe Pitt's New York is one riddled with Vampyres, infected by a Vyrus that makes them drink blood and die in the sun. It is also a wasteland of lawless tribes of Vampyres, gang warfare carving up Manhattan into territories, each with their own leaders, specialist workers, fighters, animosities. As we start book five, Joe's New York is actually a subterranean one, as he hides from everyone in the sewers and tunnels, until the enterprise of a top dog character flushes him out, and tells Pitt to find his daughter - a messianic poster girl for the future of the city. Full review...
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
There was a time before Stephen King. There was time before The Shining. There was a time when 'horror' was not rooted in blood, guts and gore. I owe a slight apology to Mr King, because along with the gutsier side of the genre, I will own that he is a master at suspense. Full review...
The Magdalena Curse by F G Cottam
Mark Hunter is the sort of father who would do anything for his son. After losing his wife and daughter in a tragic accident, his surviving son Adam has become his whole world. And Adam is an exceptional child – beautiful, incredibly smart and mature beyond his ten years – only recently he's been channelling the voices of the dead. Plagued by horrific dreams, able to speak Russian in the hours after he wakes, drawing occult symbols when he doodles, Hunter believes Adam to be possessed. Doctor Elizabeth Bancroft is sceptical, until she meets Adam, and witnesses the horrors the poor boy endures for herself. Full review...
Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth by Chris Priestley
Young Robert is put on a train back to school by his stepmother. It's the first journey he's made on his own. It turns out to be more of a challenge than he could ever have imagined. The train stalls at the mouth of a tunnel and while the other passengers sleep through the wait, a mysterious woman in white tells him a series of stories - stories with a difference. Full review...
Tales of Death and Dementia by Edgar Allan Poe and Gris Grimly
Wow! What a wonderful combination: Edgar Allan Poe, master of the gothic horror short story, and Gris Grimly, outstanding illustrator, known for his work with Neil Gaiman. Poe's Tales of Death and Dementia are shown off at their very best in this edition. Full review...
Last Rites by Shaun Hutson
A man gets viciously beaten up by unknown assailants in a North London street. Only afterwards do we discover anything about him - he is a teacher, with a dead daughter, an estranged wife, and after the assault a new-found urge to flee, and to move on to something and somewhere new. Meanwhile, in rural Buckinghamshire, odd things are happening. People are brutally killing and displaying animals, while unconnected teenagers with both long-term aims and immediate intentions, are suddenly and flippantly killing themselves. Full review...
Every Last Drop (Joe Pitt) by Charlie Huston
Joe Pitt is a heavy-drinking, chain-smoking, superhuman Vampyre. A rogue in a secret world of violence and bloodlust set in the heart of The Bronx. Away from the steady infrastructure of American society, the various Vampyre clans have found the perfect place to hide themselves away from the 'Van Helsings' of their world. The clans, each with their own agenda, have claimed a piece of The Bronx as their territory and over the years have established themselves well. Full review...
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Mary has lived her whole life in a village in the middle of the Forest of Hands and Teeth, protected from the Unconsecrated by a fence. Life in the village is simple if you follow the rules – obey the Sisterhood for they know best, preserve the next generation by marrying and having children and stay away from the fence.
Then Mary's mother is bitten when she strays too close to the fence, looking for her husband who was lost some months ago. The Guardians want to kill her before she turns and becomes Unconsecrated, but Mary's mother chooses to live and join her husband in the Forest. Full review...
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Coraline has just moved to a new flat in a huge converted old house. It's the summer holidays, but her parents both work from home but are busy, so operate a general policy of benign neglect. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible on the ground floor offer Coraline the odd cup of tea - and read its leaves to boot. The crazy old man upstairs is busy training a mouse circus. There's plenty of scope for exploring in the grounds, and so that's what Coraline does, just as Alice did before she found Wonderland. Full review...
One More Bite (Jaz Parks) by Jennifer Rardin
You are in the business of ghost release?
Well, when that is asked of a vampire CIA assassin who has lived through untold horrors and seen innumerable deaths, and Jaz Sparks, his spunky human-but-getting-less-so-with-every-book colleague-turned-lover, it only comes down as a major understatement. Full review...
The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
Spooky, sprawling house out in the sticks – check. Relocated, young, childless, vulnerable couple – check. Slow drip-drip of the odd to chill the male of the couple while she is away in a working assignment – check. Slow drip-drip of the odd to chill the reader? Well, given patience, yes, somewhat. Full review...
Body Count by Shaun Hutson
There is a certain edge to the prologue to this latest Shaun Hutson. Is it a futuristic slasher, or a sci-fi slasher, an otherworldly fantasy slasher? You'll see the connection among my suggestions – this is a Shaun Hutson book, after all, and we can expect no let-up in the gore and carnage over the few hundred pages to follow. Full review...
The Devouring by Simon Holt
Meet Reggie, a fifteen year old girl who cannot quite come to terms with her younger brother Henry's behaviour. Is it down to her awakening at last to boys and driving lessons? Is it that, due to an easily diverted father and a mother who left the household months ago, she is fed up with being a free babysitter? Or is the real reason more akin to what is in a scratchy journal she finds due to her working in an occult bookshop? Is Henry in fact only going to dark and disagreeable places and moods due to possession by a Vour, a devilish entity that thrives on developing then dining on fear? Full review...
Bitten to Death (Jaz Parks) by Jennifer Rardin
Slash – the sound of vampires lashing out at each other – a noise and activity you'll have to get used to when reading this book and the three prequels. Vayl is a vampire working on behalf of humankind, despatching the nastier side of the undead as and when required.
Crunch – the past colliding with the present in this latest mission, as Vayl and his human counterpart Jaz encounter a Grecian troupe of vampires, about to be taken over it would appear by the baddy of baddies, Samos. Jaz has to face up to the fact that Vayl has a history with this band of vamps. Which is nothing compared to the present he and a certain female among them are to share. Full review...
Blood Noir (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) by Laurell K Hamilton
I don't think all this can be blamed on Mr Bram Stoker. Of course there is a sexual element to the exchange of bodily fluids of his Dracula and his victims, but this has become too much in this example of what can only now be loosely termed vampire horror. Anita Blake, US Marshall with distinction in killing unwanted undead, due to some part-supernatural skills of her own, lives with at least one regular sexual partner, Nathaniel, but takes herself off with Jason, an occasional lover and full-time werewolf, to help him. Full review...
Angel Fire by Chris Blythe and Steven Parkhouse
John Dury and his partner Zee are businessmen you would find it hard to like. Hard-hitting, go-getting types, they spend their leisure hours taking drugs, and their company time making smash-and-grab raids on family firms, carving them up and selling the relics off piecemeal. Their boss, Mr Belial, rewards their more amoral business successes with escorts in their scanties, and yet more narcotics – the trendiest street drug of which is Angel Fire, a new chemical that can easily take you to heaven. Full review...
Feast of Souls by Celia Friedman
Whilst I tend to read fantasy more than any other genre these days, my first love has always been the horror genre. So when an author promises me a fantasy novel with a dark twist, then I am always likely to be interested. Full review...
Biting the Bullet by Jennifer Rardin
Things aren’t getting better for Jaz Parks, and her gang of undead, near-dead and just plain odd hunter-killers. The uberbaddy prevalent throughout the series seems to have got a new dogsbody, The Wizard – one who is able to bring the reavers – soul-eating nasties – back to life as zombie versions that are even harder to kill. A trip to hell (or a dream resembling that) has brought suggestions from Mum that things aren’t going to be getting better, or easier, and tells of jobs unfinished. Full review...
Half the Blood of Brooklyn (Joe Pitt Novel) by Charlie Huston
The scratchy maps at the start of the book show how the world of Brooklyn and Manhattan has been separated into gang territories – gangs of Vampyres, the undead forced that way through some form of viral contagion. The Society, that Joe Pitt works for as a gopher, hard man and possibly just mule, able to be played like a puppet on a string, that have their world centred on Greenwich, are rebuffing an approach from the Docks, over the Brooklyn Bridge. This is easily done, with a few quick axe slashes, but no-one, not Pitt, not the moll of the gang, Lydia, and not even the head honcho, Terry, can predict just how volatile the whole of New York is becoming. Full review...
Unmarked Graves by Shaun Hutson
This horror book certainly raises questions. How can the author so successfully manage to tie in the initial threads into what boils down to a zombie novel?
A tall, charismatic African political leader (or terrorist, depending on whose side you're on) leaves the scene of a woman he has butchered to death in a gruesome little episode, and flees across the continent as any emigrant would. An emigrant with armed bodyguards willing to take any amount of bullets, that is. Full review...