Horror Books

My book is the Christmas Killer. It starts off as a kinda boring book. A girl named Nancy disappeared the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Rose had an enteraction with her that night. She then had a dream of where she thought Nancy's body would be found. She reported this to the police and they did not believe her. There wre many more killings after that. Soon this killer earned the name the Chritmas Killer. He left many clues. When Rose went to get help from Miss Mackey, she blanked out. They almost lost her. When Rose found out that she got a solo in the dance recital she was very excited. She went to her dance class she saw that Mureal was on the phon with her back turned Rose went ahead and got dressed. She thought Mureal was playing jokes on her and she was like thats not funny. She gets scared after seeing that it was not MUreals shadow. So, she runs in the stall where she finds Mureal with her throat cut from ear to ear.She runs out and sees a man. He then talks about how good blood is. Then he bruses her up and then Wallace Romala comes in and saves her. She finds out that it was Mureal's twin brother.

Two of the main characters are Nancy Emerson and Rose. Nancy Emerson is missing the wensday before Thanksgiving. Rose is a girl who met Nancy Emerson and stated she was scared and sad. The story begans with Nancy Emerson disappering Wensday Before thanksgiving. Jerram roses little brother said "No need to think about death anymore." The long saige of The Christmas Killer was over.

In the beginning, it starts off with telling you about Nancy. Nancy is one of the main characters who is kidnapped and murdered. Rose is aother main character. After Nancy was kidnapped, Rose had a dream. In this dream Nancy was leading Rose to her burial site. A few days later they find her body in a similar surrounding to what Rose had envisioned. At first Rose was unsure if it was a coincidence, or if it had any real meaning. Throughout the story there are several girls kidapped and many suspects. One of those suspects is jerome, Rose's twin brother. One night she sees jerome outside her den window and then she begins to wonder. Wallace Romano was the first one everybody suspected to be the Christmas Killer, because he chose to be homeless over living in a mansion with his family, also because he is different than most people expect. While all of this is going on, Nancy still appears in Rose's dreams, giving her clues to the crime scenes and the murderer. Rose takes dance lessons from a woman named Muriel. Muriel is a nice, younger woman who has known Rose since she was ten years old. As you read this book you will find twists and turns that will eventually point out the killer to you.

Omgiod! This is serisously the best book that any suspense-thriller reader can read. The first sentence starts off with "Nancy Emerson dissapeared the wednesday (i think) before thanksgiving" now thats scary. Later throughout the book, you will feeel as though u are reali into it because it is so mind-gripping and you really cant put it down, that is if you like these type of bookz. Puh-leese read this book ! You will majorly regret it and it is by an all tyme favorite (thriller/scary) author : patrica windsor. Read other book reports to knoe that i am reali telling u the truth of this book, and to know what it is realli about.! :) thanks a bundle and keep reading out there! :)

This was an absolutely fabulous book. I read it when I was twelve and still remember its bone chilling effect in my twenty's. I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in ghosts or murder mysteries. The characters are well developed and you won't want to put this page turner down.

This is the BEST vampire book ever written. You will love it.

Here is an unusual story about how I came to read this book and why I recommend it so highly. My husband, since the day I met him, has always wanted me to read this book. We have been together now for six years and I finally got around to reading it. He did not have a copy of it as he had loaned it to someone and never got it back about 10 years ago. How he got the book in the first place was from this older woman who said that he would understand its meaning but he never has and it still remains a mystery to him even today. I don't even like stories about vampires but this story was so beautiful, mystical and rich that I couldn't put it down. I was mesmerized as if a vampire from its pages were speaking to me directly.

Illuminati, being the inside term for vampire. I just finished this book not five minutes ago and I immediately had to share my opinion of this fine piece of work. I'm only 13 years of age and I fully appreciate the depth, mystery, and beauty behind this suspenseful novel. I get so caught up in the fascinating stories of Niccolo, des Essientes, and, of course, Lodovico, that it almost hurts to put it down. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the world of the vampire and its kind. Get ready for a journey you'll never forget!

As others have noted, it is a shame that this masterwork is obscure. Hallucinatory and brilliant, Talbot succeeds in telling an engrossing story. Even today, the novel seems fresher than the horde of Anne Rice knock-offs on the market. If you are a vampire fan, this is a must-read.

Please, if you see this book--buy it!This has got to be one of THE best vampire novels ever written.What makes this novel so wonderful are the vivid landscapes and detailed history. You literally become lost as the novel evolves into an epic literary adventure that won't let you put this book down.A mixture of art, history and well-developed characters allow you to cross the realm of reality into a world that dominates your imagination!You will feel for these characters. Or rather, you will feel like you are one of these characters! I don't want to give away anything about this book. It is good from beginning to end. Enjoy!

Far Above Rubies, by Cynthia Polansky,(ISBN978-0-9773893-3-7)is a brilliant literary historical fiction narrative. Polansky has given tribute to Sofie Mecklenberg Rijnfeld Davidson, a selfless woman of incredible strength. The novel is based on the women known by her niece as Tante Soof. Sofie was a Polish Jew who married a man with six wonderful girls. Although not their biological children, she became their mother and loved them as if she had given birth to them. So much so that when her six girls were summoned to report for resettlement, Sofie decided she could not let them go alone. Sophie made a mother's sacrifice to her six stepdaughters, selfish and with love. She willingly accepted deportation and yet had to persuade the SS to take her. The horrors of Auschwitz told through the eyes of Sophie are real. This unflinching women who faced up to the SS, survived the atrocities of this death camp even though at times she jeopardized her own life to help her daughters and other prisoners. Tante Soof lived life with dignity and an ability to inspire hope in hundreds who would not live another day. You will feel an inspirational uplift unmatched when you read this moving memoir who Polansky quotes from Proverbs, "A woman of valor who can find? For her price is far above rubies." You will be compelled to devour this book in one sitting, so plan ahead.

I purchased this book from you (Cynthia) at Carroll Community College and I am so glad I did. I don't know where it is at the moment because I am Jewish and it is being passed around my family right now!!! What a beautiful, inspiring story. I read it in I think 2-3 hours. I couldn't put it down. How amazing was this woman. I thank you for writing something that I could read and really feel. This is something my children will read when they are older...

5.0 out of 5 stars Far Above Rubies, May 12, 2008

Just finished 'Far Above Rubies'. Oh my! What an incredible (as in not untrue but amazing) tale and what a wonderful way to bring history alive. Beautifully and tactfully and impressively written. Thank you so much for writing Sofie's story. This book should be in every library and every school all over the world. Can we learn from history? One would hope. But it appears not. This book might be just the tonic to make a difference.
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The novel Far Above Rubies is more than amazing because it's based on a true story that transcends expectations. Straight forwardly written by Cynthia Polansky, the character of Tante Soof comes alive because of the simplicity of the narrative. This courageous Dutch woman who chose to accompany her six step-daughters to Auschwitz will haunt you in an uplifting way. It's the little moments that surprise and keep you reading. When Mirjam, one of the daughters, writes: "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining,/I believe in love even when not feeling it,/I believe in God even when God is silent." God may be silent but Sofie Rijnfeld isn't. She speaks to our hearts. That has to be God. Thank you forever for writing this horrifically uplifting story about the human spirit. Rosalind Lacy MacLennan, a theater reviewer, mother and author as well.

Combining true facts with the harrowing experiences of one family brings the horror of the holocaust alive. Because we see how the family lived and loved before their world collapsed, made vivid by detailed story-telling, the often-asked question about why the Jews didn't fight back is skillfully answered. We read each incident with disbelief, wishing it could be undone, wishing it could be untrue, as certainly as those who suffered in the camps must have. Bringing the gruesome experience into our minds and hearts is the real gift of this book. The voice is honest and heartfelt and makes reading the unbearable compelling, because we keep hoping until the last page. This small book should be recommended reading in all high schools where Holocaust units are taught and read by anyone who is learning about what happened for the first time, but that does not exclude those who already know. Anyone can benefit from the story of hope and love so compassionately told here.

i recomend this series i just bought night rise upon the completion of evil star. evil star is amazing and so is horowitz.

Evil Star
Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz is an amazing, action packed and fun to read book that I would recommend to anyone of ages ten and up. The story starts in the English town York, where Matthew
Freeman lives and goes to school. There he is asked by a secretive group to retrieve a diary. Along the way he ends up finding a dead man and loses the diary. After that he goes to Peru and meets a strange boy named Pedro. Pedro turns out to be very helpful and in a few situations he saves matt's life. Then, while trying to save matt's friend, Richard Cole, they uncover a mysterious plan made by Senior Salamanda to take over the world. But little does Salamanda know what he is messing with.
Matt is an intelligent boy, he is tall and has short brown hair. In the beginning of the series he was just a normal teenager who got into a lot of trouble until the Leaf Project sent him away in the first book, Ravens Gate. In Evil Star he ends up lost and confused in the winding streets of Peru instead of a distant farm way out in the country. There, his car is attacked, his friend is kidnapped and the driver is shot. Then he finds Pedro and Pedro takes Matt to the man he works for to get him help. To me, Matt seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but somehow he manages to deal with it.
You should read this book not because I am recommending it, but because it is a great series that you can really get into.

Mathew Freeman is a boy of thirteen years of age living with a greedy Aunt named Gwenda Davis in London. At the age of eight years old Matt's parents were killed in a car accident on the way to a wedding. A strange thing happened though. The night prior to the day of the wedding, Matt had a dream that his parents would be killed in a car accident the next day. Right before they were all about to leave Matt suddenly said that he did not want to go with his parents to the wedding. He was an only child and was a bit spoiled so naturally they agreed to let him stay with their neighbor, Ms. Green. Then later that morning a constable comes to their neighbor's house and tells Matt that his parents died on the way to the wedding. He then fosters out and goes to live with Gwenda Davis. Gwenda and her boyfriend then spend the fortune left to Matt by his parents . Matt then starts hanging out with a seventeen year old boy named Kelvin. He ends up getting busted as an accessory to murder while trying to rob an electronics warehouse. He is then put in the LEAF project and he is sent with an old lady to a small town named Lesser Malling which is a town full of vampires. He then runs into a secret organization called the Nexus which is dedicated to fighting ancient evil beings called the Old Ones from coming to Earth through inter-dimensional gates. Matt finds out he is part of the five original gatekeepers born to keep the gates from opening. The first one is Ravens Gate. There are four boys and one girl. Matt will me new people and will be helped and hurt on his journey to destroy Ravens Gate. Matt survives life with Mrs.Deverell his new foster vampire parent. Will he succeed? Who are the Old Ones? Will Mathew Freeman survive Ravens Gate? This book answers all these questions as New York times Best-Selling author Anthony Horowitz does it again in Ravens Gate.

I thought this book was way better than Raven's Gate. The story just gets better and better.

This book is about Matt going to Peru because the Nexus believes there is another gate and it's supposed to open soon. So Matt goes to Peru and as he's leaving the aiport, they get ambushed. Richard gets kiddnaped and Matt gets away. He then meets a boy named Pedro. Pedro takes him to a place called Poison town. Matt gets a whole new look because the cops are after him. He goes on a wild journey through town, through jungles. After they come out from the Cloud Forest, Matt meets the Incas, an ancient civilazation, and they beleive that Pedro is one of the five. They go to a labratory in a town because they think it will stop the gate from opening. They fight guards and then they find out the gate is still opening so they get sent all the way into a desert by a helecopter. The helecopter crashes and Pedro broke his ankle and he can't fight. Matt goes out alone and then he watches in horror as the Old Ones come out of the ground. Will the Matt win and save the world or will the king of the Old Ones detroy Matt and take over the world...

I think this book is great for someone who likes actionbooks and people 10 or older.

EVIL STAR is the second book in the Anthony Horowitz series called THE GATEKEEPERS.

In book one, titled Raven's Gate (The Gatekeepers), main character Matt discovers he is one of five specially chosen teens. Their purpose is to save the world. Matt doesn't know the other five and must "close" Raven's Gate on his own. As the second book, EVIL STAR, begins, Matt finds himself in Peru meeting up with Pedro, who turns out to be one of the chosen five.

Matt and Pedro join forces, although it isn't easy since Matt speaks only English and Pedro speaks Spanish. Their unusual connection does allow them to communicate while in a dream state. They learn each others' stories and realize that their paths will someday cross the paths of their remaining team.

Together Matt and Pedro must find and prevent the opening of the second gate. Its history is intertwined with the ancient Incas and the Peruvian culture. As they search the seamier side of Peru, they encounter kidnapping, gun battles, the evil "big headed" Salamanda, high altitude jungle treks, and terrifying helicopter rides. Exactly what is the Evil Star and can they find the next gate in time to close it and save the world from the Old Ones?

Horowitz provides his usual fast-paced, non-stop action in this new series. It is sure to impress his already established fans and create plenty of new ones.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

This is a good book. It is sort of freaky but verry good. It has lots of drama and suspense.

I like Phantom of the Auditorium because it is scary and it is written by my favorite author R.L.Stine!!!It also is creepy and when you least exspect something to happen it happens and at the end of the story it leaves you geussing about what will happen next.It is about a girl who finds out about the scary secrets behind her schoos walls or under them.

age:10 name:Kasey C SCHOOL:HOlland P.A

By.Kasey.C

It was really good, even though I doubted it would be. I really like the Goosebumps that were wrote with kids in school. They are better than the ones where the kids are on vacation or something. The book is suprisingly realistic, also. I think it deserves a read. I'm sure anyone from ages 7-13 would like this.

I like Phantom of the Auditorium because it is scary and it is written by my favorite author R.L.Stine!!!It also is creepy and when you least exspect something to happen it happens and at the end of the story it leaves you geussing about what will happen next.It is about a girl who finds out about the scary secrets behind her schoos walls or under them.

age:10 name:Kasey C SCHOOL:HOlland P.A

By.Kasey.C

I have no idea why i wrote that for my title.

Anyways, this book is a very good book, but the ending is predictable if you've been reading goosebumps/R.L.Stine books for at least a year or 2.

Wow, this must have been quite a few hours of work for Joshi! The fonts are below even standard book-fonts, AND I hear it's an abridged version but still the book is almost 700 pages. But don't get me wrong, in many ways I wish it was longer. The book is a fine introduction to Lovecraft's life, and to most Lovecraft-readers, probably quite enough in itself. It chronicles on an annual basis, highlighting and describing any interesting incidents or activities revolving around Lovecraft and his circle of friends and family that happened over the years. There's not much to say about this, its very good and solid biographical work by a fine devotee of Lovecraft; S.T Joshi. Its not often reading a biography makes me sad, but reading the final chapter on Lovecraft himself "The end of one's life" made a certain Norwegian man quite sad. Apart from some points I'm about to take up, I have no doubt that this is a biography that Lovecraft himself would have approved of. It could have been more detailed in its description of how the various fiction came to be, and more analysis of this area, but it IS after all a biography, so that was of course Joshi's prerogative.

Now to the bad; as a little background to the author of the book, he is in fact an immigrant; an Indian living with a miscegenating Euro-American female. This explains why he constantly abuses Lovecraft for his conservative and racialist views. He conjures up non-sense frequently when talking about this subject; somehow concluding that theories about race and miscegenation etc were definitively debunked by the "scientific work" of Franz Boas. This is of course complete nonsense, like Kevin MacDonald has shown in his excellent work "The Culture of Critique". Franz Boas had specific racial reasons himself for carrying out his campaign against the use of "race" in academia, and the reasons for this were far from what the Western standard of science represents.

So even though I highly recommend the book, I wish Joshi could have been so intellectually honest that he admitted in the book that his status as a non-European immigrant himself has biased him, and made him write the book with an extreme liberal and secular slant. So if you manage to ignore this part of Joshi's book; you'll have on your hands an excellent and well-written account of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and a good introduction to his writing.

Joshi is the foremost student of Lovecraft, and in this volume he has written the unsurpassable biography of the man whom Stephen King himself called "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."

For myself, I can only say it's been a long wait. I first discovered Lovecraft at my local library in eleventh grade. I picked a book decorated with some macabre illustration off a twirling bookstand, checked it out, and rode my bike home with the volume tucked under my arm. That evening I sat with it in the big white reading chair in our home's living room. The first story I read was "The Picture In the House."

I was hooked.

Within the year I'd read every story Lovecraft wrote excepting one--"Herbert West: Reanimator". (I finally got to that earlier this year.) I became, in a way, obsessed with Lovecraft. I wanted to know who he was, so I read Frank Belknap Long's Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Nightside. The stories and poetry I was writing at the time became increasingly colored by (or downright imitative of) my hero. Somehow, the man infected my consciousness in a way no other writer--before or since--ever has. I guess it's because in so many ways my inner life has been--with some important exceptions--a parallel to Lovecraft's. I see him as a kindred spirit.

That being the case, it's hardly surprising I relished--nay, wallowed in--this biography. It is detailed beyond imagining. Here we follow Lovecraft on his walking tours, street by street. We see his grocery lists and menu items. We read his letters and amateur publications. By the end of this text you will feel you have lived and breathed right alongside the old fellow and slung arm-in-arm with him through his nightmare worlds. No one could have done it better than Joshi, and it is doubtful anyone ever will. If you are a fan, this is a must read. If just curious, the lengthy detail might be off-putting, but you may find yourself a convert by the end.

Unlike De Camp in his earlier biography, Joshi doesn't consider HPL to be a failed version of what he might have been had he at various key points in his life been just that little bit more commerce-minded: instead he accepts Lovecraft as he was and goes on from there. I think Joshi brings out what it is about Lovecraft & his work that continues to fascinate today: the curious fact that an erudite, scholarly autodidact should, from an early age, have been so caught up in a melodramatic 'pulp' aesthetic that for the rest of his life he focussed the entirety of his self-expression - emotional, intellectual and philosophical - through that aesthetic. Hence Lovecraft's stories have, even at their most garish & mechanical, an (admittedly sometimes near-subliminal) intellectually rich underpinning, and it is this bleed-through of a higher aesthetic that lifts them above the acres of hackwork that surrounded them when first published in Weird Tales, (try reading even a 'best of' by those other writers today!), gives them a psychological curiosity, and has given them their unexpected longevity.

Joshi's analysis of the 'Cthulhu Mythos' is, I think, exactly right: he defines the Mythos (not HPL's coinage, of course), as 'a fictional technique' for presenting Lovecraft's philosophy - which Joshi defines astutely as 'an anti-theology' which makes manifest (as we see with the cultists in Call of Cthulhu) the delusive nature of all religious belief, and asserts the meaningless of human existence in a vast, uncaring, mechanistic universe.

This analysis justifies what would otherwise be an excessively lengthy exploration of Lovecraft's political and philosophical beliefs, given that he published no significant writing on those subjects, and was only considered a great thinker by his friends and epistolary correspondents. It also highlights the unalloyed perversity of August Derleth in imposing a Catholic-inflected cosmology onto Lovecraft's atheistic vision. How strange that he was so fascinated by HPL & his work, but couldn't accept what Joshi rightly points out is its absolute core!

Joshi manages to address various differing opinions in the world of Lovecraft Studies without becoming pedantic or petty, and takes trouble to credit other researchers and academics for their insights.

As a biography this book is full of interest, and Joshi's pursuit of detail is relentless - occasionally to the point of obsessiveness, it has to be said, but some of the details he uncovers are highly revealing. His account of Lovecraft's death I found surprisingly moving, but I did not, as I did on finishing the De Camp biography, regret his life - except in the single matter of his clinging on to racist beliefs and self-diminishing prejudices.

I have very few criticisms. There are no photographs, and I think the cover is horrid - & certainly is not a good likeness of HPL. Occasionally Joshi is so aesthetically aligned with his subject he indulges him (as he does with certain of his amateur endeavors); occasionally Joshi is over-definitive in his judgment of the merits of various yarns. I think he slightly misses the mark at various points when he comments of (eg the denoument of Herbert West) that HPL must have been sending up his own style to *intentionally* comic effect. This, I think, is not quite right: rather, it seems to me, he allowed his discipline to slip, and reverted to the garish style of the Argosy yarns that he had read as a child, the style of which had so fundamentally informed his entire notion of the form of aesthetic and psychological self-expression that he could never quite discard it. Lovecraft knew it was a failing on his part, but sometimes let it off the leash regardless. I'm sure he never thought of his verbal pyrotechnics as anything other than, on sober reflection, accidentally funny.

Aside from those very modest quibbles, I found Joshi's judgments & assessments at all times perceptive and thought-provoking, and his 'Life' a highly-readable achievement in biography.

The good: Until S.T. Joshi's book, the only serious, widely-available biographical information on HPL apart from his letters was 'H.P. Lovecraft; A Biography' (1975) by L. Sprague de Camp, which left many gaps and open questions. Joshi's book fills in the gaps and then some. It is the closest thing we have to a definitive Lovecraft bio, and if you're a Lovecraft scholar of any seriousness, you'll eventually need to read it.

The not-so-good: While Joshi's book reads like a rigorously well-researched first draft, I wish he'd consulted a manuscript editor before publication. This massive, expensive and ponderous 708-page book could perhaps be edited into a more readable and reasonably-priced 300-page book, with another 100 pages of small print endnotes, merely by removing Joshi and his scholarship from the foreground and replacing them with Lovecraft. For example:

- Joshi includes himself in the story, using the first person pronoun on nearly every page. "I..." this and "I..." that. While Joshi is likely the world's foremost Lovecraft scholar, and I appreciate his excellent and exhaustive efforts as a researcher, I did not plunk down such a hefty cover price to read about his adventures in scholarship. Easily 200 pages of this 708 page book are about the adventures of Joshi, Lovecraft scholar. That information belongs either in a short appendix or separate article. He'll print a quotation and then add, "To this analysis there is really very little to add...," or "I don't think I can add much to this," or "That last remark may be a little sanguine, but let it pass," seemingly for no other purpose than to firmly return the spotlight, which had momentarily alighted on Lovecraft, to himself. On nearly every page I felt that trapped "captive audience" feeling you get with professors who use class time to speak at length about their personal lives. Surely by now it has become standard practice for biographers to not include the personal "I" in their biographies, at least when they've never met the subject.

- While most biographies focus on the subject and relegate sources and disputes to footnotes and endnotes, Joshi foregrounds the sources and points of contention, which has the odd effect of almost burying the subject. You'll often read four paragraphs of sources and conjecture containing a single sentence of actual biographical information. If Lovecraft did X, but there's some dispute, I'd prefer the main body to say "Lovecraft probably did X," with a small-print footnote citing sources and contentions. I paid to read about Lovecraft, not Lovecraft scholarship. I often feel like I'm being punished, forced to read 708 pages to get 300 pages of information.

- As another reviewer pointed out, Joshi frequently expresses his personal opinions in a tone suggesting that he believes them to be indisputable fact. Especially disconcerting is Joshi's careful habit of never missing an opportunity to denigrate Lovecraft himself. A tiny sampling of Joshi's descriptions of Lovecraft and his work includes: clownish error, clumsily, embarrassing, paranoia, pompous, pseudo-philosophical, trying to do too much, moping, overly given to histrionics, painfully inept, pitiable wish-fulfilment [sic], a pretty sorry excuse for a story, offensive, dubious and pathetic. It's almost as though, while Joshi must have some respect for Lovecraft, he is careful to constantly place himself "above" Lovecraft emotionally. I can sympathize with Joshi, who as a serious scholar must sometimes find himself exasperated by uninformed intellectuals who still underrate Lovecraft's genuine contribution. However, I feel that the body of a biography is not the best place for Joshi to distance himself from Lovecraft's sillier decisions. If Joshi dislikes something, surely he need not bolster his personal opinion by inflating it into a grandiose pretend-fact by pompously lecturing the reader as to what we ought to despise or where to place our "well-deserved contempt."

Why are Joshi's opinions in the book at all? Doesn't he trust his readers to form our own opinions? Almost once per page I felt some resentment at being forced to play captive audience to Joshi's unwelcome editorial opinions and emotional self-positioning in order to gain access to his excellent scholarship. Toward the end Joshi finally provides his editorial rationalization, introducing the topic by slamming previous Lovecraft biographer de Camp with: "[de Camp]'s schoolmasterly chiding of Lovecraft [is] ...galling." Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Joshi goes on to claim that "passing value judgments... is the proper function of any biographer." Excuse me? As with all of Joshi's most dubious assumptions, he provides not a single citation or justification for this opinion, but merely states it as fact. Many (perhaps most) professional biographers would strongly disagree. I couldn't help bursting into incredulous laughter when Joshi finally declares, "...on occasion one feels as if Lovecraft is having some difficulty shutting up."

In closing, I hope this book is re-released soon with S.T. Joshi's presence as a character, editorial opinions, emotional self-positioning and research experiences either cut entirely or summarized in an appendix or endnotes. Then it wouldn't hurt to have a professional book doctor rewrite with an eye to smoother prose and readability. THAT edition will be the definitive Lovecraft biography.

Clocking in at 654 pages, this sprawling biography will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about the horror scribe -- along with some things you'll wish you hadn't discovered, like how Lovecraft was a more zealous racist than was the norm in his day. Joshi is long-winded, for sure, like the grandfather who, when you ask him how the light switch turns the lamp on, proceeds to tell you the history of electricity, starting with two sticks being rubbed together. You'll be hard-pressed to remember all the details afterward, but the story of Lovecraft's life is smartly woven, divulging the world as viewed through the writer's eyes and those around him. Like a criminologist apt at identifying with a killer, Joshi truly seems to understand his subject down to the crumbs on his coat.

I live 2 miles away from West Pittston and know people who either knew the Smurls or who are related to them. I actually attended their national press conference when all of these events occurred. I will *never* forget the feeling that I had when I first heard the story as a teen.
I used to be really well read with this topic but once the 'drama' of it all died down I didn't think much of it.
I became interested once again because last week at a party I spoke with someone who is the nephew of the Smurls. He claims that the events were true and even said that something happened one day while his dad was visiting them. Another girl that I know was a next door neighbor to them and swears of its truth because she, herself heard things. These are seemingly 'normal' people who I have known a while.
...It is a very intriguing story that was, in my opinion, ruined by the 'Hollywood' interpretation via the made-for-TV movie.
Currently the family lives about 8 miles from their former Chase Street home in West Pittston. The people who live there now, as far as I know, have had no disturbances.
This book is a great summary of events and gives me even more chills because I am so close to the source.

For those that know anything about Ed and Lorraine Warren, you know that they are the real deal. This book, which was made into a horrible, less than thrilling TV-Movie, is truly amazing, fearful, terrorizing, scary, intriguing.... and more. I first read this book when I was in high school and I had nightmares for weeks. Since then, I've enjoyed all the account the Warrens have provided on their website, and hope to still enjoy more information Lorraine may provide (Ed passed this past year).

If you are interested in the paranormal, hauntings or the supernatural, this book is an incredible read! Be warned, it will give you goosebumps and you will be scared! At least, any normal person would be! If you are interested in learning as much as you can about these topics, you really SHOULD read the book!

I read "The Haunted" many years ago as a teenager and was totally moved and even scared to read about the Smurl's horrible event that plagued their lives and home.

This book is an in-depth read, and puts the reader inside the lives of the Smurl family. I felt like I was part of the family with everything going on. It's certainly a page-turner. The pictures also make the text come to life.

Given all the bad things that happened, their faith and strong family ties and values made them overcome the paranormal activity. The activity stopped around in 1986 or so. It's 20 years later. I wonder how the Smurl family is doing?

I read the book, and can relate to the truth because of my own experiences with the paranormal.
This is by far the scariest demonic case I've ever read about...
This world does contain mystery.

I rarely read books, but this one caught my attention (possibly because of the fact that it is a true story). I just could not put this book down. I had read for several hours the first night. I did, however, have to turn on several lights because I kept hearing strange noises in the dark! (And the slightest creaks had really startled me!) After I could no longer keep my eyes open (after three in the morning), I did have to try to get to sleep (not completely in the dark, though). As soon as I got up less than six hours later, I picked up the book and I didn't put it down until I was finished. I was so hoping for a happy ending after all of the torment the family had endured for so long. Their story is completely believable and extraordinarily written!
I would give this book a lot more than just five stars. Superb!

Good things come in small packages! This volume may be slender, but it packs a helluva wallop. This book is pure "rock & roll" hororr!

This horror anthology consists of twelve short stories and an extract from a novel. The collection runs a wide range of the genre with lead characters including the undead, a serial killer, and a dying cowboy's final lament, etc. The book contains well written tales that grip the audience as Staci Layne Wilson provides surprising emotion (that is for the short story format) in several of the stories. The supernatural runs free throughout the tome, but mostly provides atmosphere or the impetus to move the plot forward. Though the title implies a god-fearing or anti-religious fervor, HORRORS OF THE HOLY is more of a secular generalist series of tales that grips the audience with suspense and a wonder what can happen next. Ms. Wilson is a talent worth following (SEE THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RAPUNZEL).

Harriet Klausner

This is a funny book, but it doesn't detract from the horror at all - it's plenty scary! I really enjoyed it, and I'm hoping she comes out with a horror novel soon. Even though there are 13 stories, they were too short. I wasn't ready for them to end!

An anthology of 13 stimulatingly scary short stories. Each story a different look into the darkness, zombies, vampires, monsters and more. Wilson has created a collection of very different intersting, spine-tingling stories. The stories are creative and not really predictable. She uses different perspectives and creative these highly-entertaining plots. Delightfully enough, she sprinkles humor powder into irony, artfully. Her au fait writing style makes this a page turner. Take a journey through the supernatural world. Quick.

The sacred and the profane are only separated by a thin veil, and when HORRORS OF THE HOLY peels back the veil, be prepared for the fearful and unexpected. Beneath the most respected and holy lies the macabre and the profane, often more closely linked than you've ever expected.

Ranging from vampires and the supernatural to priests and evangelists, and even the common such as jewelry and teeth, HORRORS OF THE HOLY will have you checking the mirrors and the bathroom repeatedly. Two of my favorites, "Always Amber" demonstrates that possession may come from the simplest of things, while " Anti-Christ Superstar" will have you thinking twice before checking out that cool new web site.

Perhaps some of the fun with HORRORS OF THE HOLY also comes from the play on literary tradition. "Always Amber" was on my mother's book shelf for years; all children of the sixties and seventies loved "Jesus Christ Superstar" and of course the allusion to the bible in "The Tooth Shall Set You Free." Wilson's clever alliteration of the title, of course, also delights this English major: HORRORS OF THE HOLY: 13 SINFUL, SACRILEGIOUS, SUPERNATURAL STORIES.

While some stories are vaguely familiar as ghost stories or urban legend, this fresh voice brings new meaning and vitality to the story telling. Each story is riveting, written with an intensity that will hook the reader right through the end. Each story lives with vibrancy that is very difficult to match with such a diverse short story collection. If you love horror stories, the HORRORS OF THE HOLY is a must read.

I am a fan of the Wendy Ward novels and decided to give this one a try. It was OK, but a little disappointing. I liked the premise, but it seemed like it took a long time to build any suspense or to head in any kind of direction. Then the final climax scene was a bit of a let down, too. It seemed to me this book could have been either a lot shorter or a lot more complex. But it was not terrible. It's worth a read, especially if you are a Passarella fan.

John Passarella's KINDRED SPIRIT is a creepy, ghostly chiller that will keep you turning the pages into the wee hours of the morning.

It has been one year to the day since Heather Galloway was murdered, leaving behind her husband, Tom Galloway, her five-year-old son, Shane, and her twin sister, Hallie Moore, who is a popular television reporter in Philadelphia, Pa. In memoriam on this day, Hallie drives to the country roadside monument the family erected in loving memory of the murdered Heather, whose killer the police never identified and caught, leaving the murder unsolved.

Alone at the site, Hallie experiences a psychic connection with Heather, something she has not felt since the sisters were children, when Heather suffered a concussion that closed off the telepathy that had once existed between them. Stunned by the experience, in which she feels herself in Heather's body at the time of her murder, Hallie struggles to see who the killer is, but fails to identify him. When she comes out of the trance, she finds Heather's gold photo-locket and chain in the field where she died.

Hallie knows Heather somehow contacted her, and led her to the missing piece of jewelry: Hallie also believes that if she can further channel her dead twin, she will solve the murder and find the killer. What Hallie does not realize, however, is that the killer has already found her, and plans to commit the perfect murder twice. Can Hallie survive not only the apparent possession of her body by her dead twin, but also the deadly intentions of a crazed killer who is stalking her?

Highly recommended reading, with all the lights on!

Kindred Spirit brings us into the lives of Hallie and Heather, twins who share a very special bond. As it happens, Hallie and Heather can speak to each other without talking and it's not until Heather falls from a tree and breaks her arm that things between them become different. Years later, having begun separate lives (Hallie as an up and coming news reporter and Heather as a wife and mother), Heather is murdered quite brutally. Even with this tragic event, life seems to be moving forward normally...that is until the one year anniversary rolls around. Hallie goes to the memorial site and upon touching the cross that marks the site, she is transported to the night of her sister's brutal attack and relives it in every grisly detail and from here on out, things are never quite the same for Hallie. Once the vision is over, she finds her sisters heart pendent in the grass at the site of her attack and she knows instantly that the murderer has recently visited the site.

From this moment on things in Hallie's life become less than ideal, she's having trouble on the job, she's losing time, constantly tired, feeling a much stronger connection to her brother-in-law and nephew and doing things that she's never done before...things that Heather used to do and it's at this point that she knows she has to figure out who killed her sister. What follows is a kind of supernatural amateur sleuth story that is both frightening and suspenseful.

Hallie uses her connection to the news station, her psychic connection to her dead sister and her own wit and wisdom to work on solving this mystery before the killer strikes again. For me Kindred Spirit was a tad predictable, as I figured out what was going on and the ending well before it ended, but still enjoyable. I wouldn't be inclined to add this to my permanent collection, but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes amateur mysteries with a paranormal bent. I give it a B, it's not a bad way to spend a few hours being entertained, but it's not the best out there.

I've been a big fan of Passarella's Wendy Ward novels and couldn't wait to get my hands on Kindred Spirit. Once again, he doesn't disappoint.

Kindred Spirit is an intriguing supernatural suspense novel that will have you flipping pages long into the night. You really get into the lives of the main characters and feel their fear as they plummet into the unknown. I won't spoil it, but there's a scene involving a pair of ghost hunters that is not to be missed. Definitely hair raising!

I'd say this is a great summer read, but that would not be entirely true. This is a great read any time of year.

With the publishing of Kindred Spirit, Jack has written a thriller which should appeal to most readers of mysteries. It's not hard to buy in to the idea that identical twins share auras and experiences which the rest of us never know.

As always Passarella's character development is superb. His characters quickly become real, and the settings are easy to imagine. It becomes obvious that he spent many hours researching the places he describes to us. The Philadelphia Zoo; the TV studio; detective work; all are incredibly detailed and real.

This book was hard to put down. I look forward to more works by Jack and would love to see Kindred Spirit as a movie. Sure would beat most of the movies for which I see previews today!

I hadn't read anything from Tom Picciirilli before but I will be reading more from this author. I was hooked from the very first chapter and he kept me guessing up to the very end. S.L. Chessor, Authors of Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers and My Tongue Fell Out.Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers: A Poetry Collection
My Tongue Fell Out

There are two writers extant who can bring me to tears, to real
laughter, and sometimes, to screaming in frustration or anger. One
of them is Tom Piccirilli. When I first picked up The Midnight
Road, I remembered, at once, the very first line of the book from a
little taste given at the back of his last novel, The Dead Letters:
"Flynn remembered the night of his death more clearly than any
other in his life." Wow! And, of course I read through that little
taste and decided Ihad to stay alive for another year or so to
finally read the entire book. Which I have. Twice. Wow!

This is the story of Flynn, a forty year old man who carries enough
grief and pain and regret to fuel an entire city. Everyone he loved
died, but the worst death was that of his brother, thirty years
gone. Flynn still drives the Charger in which is brother and
girlfriend met their ends. He is a deeply flawed, deeply empathetic
man who works for Child Protection Services just to try and ease or
prevent yet more suffering. Too many people think that a guy
working for CPS is a potential pederast, and don't look kindly on
him. In trying to save a child and her naked and scarred autistic brother who was locked in a
cage from their nutsoid gun-toting mom, Flynn gets to die. For
twenty-eight minutes. (not a record!) After that, everything goes
downhill. People start falling dead around him, and the cops think
he's involved. Which he is, but not in the way they think. So he
has to find out what's going on.

Good story. Terrific story, in fact, studded with all kinds of
oddities. Like the ghost dog who died along with Flynn and then
came back to haunt him, still wearing plastic booties and a
sweater. Like Flynn's boss, Sierra, whose face is full of
reconstructive plastic. But the best thing, the very best, is the
writing itself and all those terrible emotions it conjures up.
There is something so very natural, so unforced and lacking
contrivance about Piccarilli's writing that you just fall into it.
You know that this is real: this is how people would think and talk
and act. This is how it would go down in the world off the page.
This is not a writer inventing stuff, this is somebody telling you
how it is. It is that simple, and that amazingly good.

And Piccirilli is really funny. Don't know why more people don't
respond to that outrageous humour which is sometimes very subtle,
sometimes very black, and sometimes absolutely silly. It gives a
wonderful balance to all of the pain and misery which his
characters have to endure.

And this is why his writings can make me cry and laugh and steam
with anger. He has that very rare ability to encite real emotional
response in the reader, to render his characters so very alive
that they walk off the page and into your thoughts. You may finish
the book and put it down, but you will never forget it.

The Midnight Road is the latest novel written by one of America's finest storytellers of dark fiction. As with Piccirilli's other work, the protagonist begins a journey of self discovery, weaving in and out of their own troubled past that somehow connects to a current threat. While the story itself wasn't as gripping as his other book, Headstone City, this one still has the trademarks that Piccirilli fans have come to know and love - flawed, haunted characters caught up in dangerous situations, wrapped in a beautifully detailed world of pain. The only problem I had with the book was the occasional over-analyzing of characters, delving into their psychological motivations throughout the story over and over again. I felt the story wanted to break away with greater speed and energy - and should have - only to be held back sometimes by this technique. That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller and as always, look forward to the next Piccirilli tale.

Piccirilli's latest begins with one of the most memorable sentences he has penned yet, and ends on an even deeper note. Blending modern-day noir, suspense, mystery, and a slick, funny ghost-dog side character (that doesn't take away from the serious tone of the story, but actually adds to it), THE MIDNIGHT ROAD may be the perfect book for your next trip to the beach . . . you'll find it very hard to put this one down. But this isn't your typical "beach" read, as the author's trademark prose and fantastic dialogue puts most other thrillers to shame . . . including everything and anything on the bestseller list. Don't miss it.

First Sentence: Flynn remembered the night of his death more clearly than any other in his life.

Flynn is an investigator for the Suffolk (NY) County Child Protective Services. Responding to a tip, he drives through a snowstorm to the Shepard's Long Island mansion where he finds a young, mentally disabled, man being kept in a cage. In spite of the mother threatening to shot him, and accidentally shooting her husband, Flynn escapes with the young man and his even younger niece. A car chase by the mother, lands Flynn in the frozen harbor, but revived after being "flash frozen" for 28 minutes. However, his new life ends up a nightmare with someone killing the people around him.

From the opening sentence, I found myself embroiled in Flynn's story. Piccirrilli's writing is lyrical, although a bit overblown. He has an excellent ear for dialogue and knows when to use humor to balance the dark a bit. This is a case where the weather becomes an essential element of the story, along with the talking dog. The characters are eclectic and have violent histories. I would have said this might not be my type of book, but, instead, found it a dark, intriguing, haunted and haunting book I couldn't put down.