Horror Books > A Horror Books

Advantages: An excellent & imaginative story
Disadvantages: Waiting for the next book

As a children's story this is some seriously dark writing and may not be suitable of younger readers, but for adults it's an exceptionally good read. The heroine of the story, Candy, finds herself pulled into a parallel world by a strange sea, a world that consists of 25 islands. 24 islands represent a particular hour of the day with the 25th a dark place of murder and madness. This initial volume sees Candy's travels around a selection of these ...
...trying to stay out of arms reach of the dark servants of the Lord of the 25th hour. This is a place where friend and foe are never what they seem and many are out for the capture of Candy. The illustrations included in this book give it an extra and enjoyably warped depth. Clive Barkers visual take on his fantasy world is one where even the good-guys can be seen as ugly monstrosities. You'll definitely want to read the next instalment. ... Read review

Advantages: Great characters and great story
Disadvantages: Not as scary as some horror stories

...local library, where I found Amara by Richard Laymon. It wasn't difficult for me to make a decision about borrowing it as a) I like horror stories b) I like Richard Laymon books and c) it was a massive, thick hardback that there was no chance of me finishing it and then going stir crazy. I had a bloody good go, though! Amara is a three-thousand year old Egyptian queen. She's also a mummy. As this is a horror story, I don't think that you'll be surprised ...
...and starts killing people. I shan't spoil it for you by saying why (or how). Given the size of the book, there are a lot of characters. They all hold the reader's interest well, for as long as they're alive anyway! Some characters seem to bear no relevance to the rampaging mummy, but this lends a certain intrigue to the story and all becomes clear in the end. For instance, teenager Ed Lake, who is kidnapped and held hostage in a cage. Periodically, ... Read review

Advantages: gripping plot full of twists and turns
Disadvantages: none-simply Laymon at top form

Melanie Conway is a violinist.One night,during a concert she suffers a convulsion and,upon coming to her senses,tells her boyfriend,Bodie,that she has had a vision that someone in her family is hurt. Her sister,Penelope,is an aspiring mystery writer who,all her life,has had to beat guys off with a stick.Currently suffering from a barrage of obscene phone messages,she is surprised and a little mystified when Melanie and Bodie turn up at her door.Then ...
...a hit and run and suddenly Melanie's vision doesn't seem quite so fanciful. When Melanie has another fit at the hospital,she becomes convinced she knows who tried to kill her father.Obsessed with bringing the step-mother she believes responsible to justice,her relationship with Bodie begins to take the strain...which is when Bodie and Penelope begin to find themselves drawn closer and closer together. Dealing less with the supernatural elements ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent opening to the series
Disadvantages: Probably only for fans

...have a limited number of Aliens running round. Then a second party of Predators, mainly juveniles but also with several more experienced warriors and one main leader, will go down and kill the Aliens as a rite of passage. The problem is that humans have only recently colonised Ryushi and they find themselves falling prey to the Aliens. Also by accident one egg contained a Queen Alien meaning that rather than a limited number of Aliens their population ...
...the colonies leader Machiko Noguchi, an asian female with a cold manner. She has similarities to Ripley in the 'Aliens' series, although she is never a stereotypical machine-gun toting bad ass. She carries alot of baggage but is still one of the first to realise what is going on and try to organise some kind of defence against it. The second main character, rather refreshingly, is the lead Predator - Dachande. He is a legend amongst his kind and ... Read review

Advantages: Good start
Disadvantages: Far too short..goes too quick

Half way through this book, I was really enjoying it. The first chapter was good and it sounded like the type of plot I like... the old "abandoned house where people had been murdered" situation, which I tend to enjoy in stories. The story had great potential and, knowing how good Richard Laymon is, I thought it was going to be brilliant. However, it's not. It's far too short...not that i'm against shorter novels but there was hardly any background ...
...with a woman he meets one afternoon and I find this to be very unrealistic considering he's supposed to be in love with another woman... I would have liked to have read more about the relationship between Sam and the new woman he meets. This is just one example, of many, where I would have liked to read more about the character/situation etc. I can't really explain better what I mean about the lack of background information on the characters but ... Read review