Horror Books

This author's debut novel is a winner! I honestly couldn't put it down until I'd finsihed it. The story was intriguing and very suspensful and it had me turning page after page. I loved the way he brought the characters to life. Hope to read more by this talented new author.

This author's debut novel is a winner! I honestly couldn't put it down until I'd finsihed it. The story was intriguing and very suspensful and it had me turning page after page. I loved the way he brought the characters to life. Hope to read more by this talented new author.

AT Dawn They Sleep by Gregory B. Trotter was a wonderful book that I had a hard time putting down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next all through the book. It really held my interest! I can see this becoming a movie in the near future. This author has a gift!

AT Dawn They Sleep by Gregory B. Trotter was a wonderful book that I had a hard time putting down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next all through the book. It really held my interest! I can see this becoming a movie in the near future. This author has a gift!

I began reading the book one afternoon, just to get a gist of it when I discovered I could not put it down. I read the entire book that day. As indicated above, AWESOME really doesn't describe the book. Should be a "must read" by everyone.

I had read many of Cameron Dokey's books since I was 16. I'm 20 now and am still hooked. I had read Eternally Yours, Blue Moon, The Talisman and Heart's Desire all in the month of my 16th birthday. I have been trying to remember the author for a while now- I can't be more happy I found these books again! Now all I have to find is an elusive (for me) book by Norma Mazer, and I'm good! ahh, yay Amazon.com! I have my friends back!(books)

I first heard of Ms. Dokey when I got "Love Me, Love Me Not" and loved it. I just now found Blue Moon and I liked it as well. It's shorter then the first and I found the pacing to be a bit too fast, but I still enjoyed it and finished it in a day. I look forward to the next in the series.

I honestly can't remember when I had read this novel, perhaps back in 8th or 9th Grade, but I do remember the story ever so clearly and the fact I stayed up reading it all night! From 10 PM to 6 AM in the morning, I read the entire novel and didn't feel bored at all! I also clearly remember the fact that I had a song stuck in my head throughout the read... The Cranberries - Promises, but it suited it well at the time...

This is an amazing story, and simply sweet and loving all at the same time. Recommended for all ages if anyone is looking for a romance story with a bit of a magical quality to it.

I fell in love with the characters! Everything they went through I went through. I lost the book and it's been years since I've read it but my love for the characters and the writers words haven't faded from my mind, or my heart! I would recomend this book to any one with a romantic heart and a love for happy endings!

Chance Davies wanted to marry Sarah Anderson for just one reason: she was the sole heir to her father's vast estate, an estate that would provide Chance with the wealth and prestige he never had because he was the son of a Yankee in South Carolina on the eve of the Civil War. But a jealous former lover, angry over Chance's abandonment of her, curses him, turning him to stone. Not even Sarah's love for him can stop the curse. In the present day, seventeen-year-old Kathleen leaves her Seattle home to move with her family to the Anderson estate. Although suspicious of the oddly human statue in the garden and the mysertious secret admirer who sends her letters and gifts, Kathleen dismisses rumors that the houes is cursed as little more than fairly tales. Little does Kathleen know that she is the only one who can break the curse and save Chance from eternal torment. But the one who cursed him, given eternal youth and beauty because of her worship of darkness, will do anything to stop Kathleen from freeing Chance, and time is running out. I thought this was a very good romantic suspense novel, and I really enjoyed the ending, which certainly proved that what goes around comes around!

I bought this book in Paris. It was the cheapest most interesting book in English, so I grabbed it for the flight. It's one of the best book buys I've ever had.
This stuff is genuinely spooky. There are images here
that will stick with you for a long time, and this guy puts in a lot of interesting historical details that make
the stories seem all the more plausible. Can't
recommend this book enough.

O whistle, an' I'll come to you, my lad;
O whistle, an' I'll come to you, my lad;
Tho' father and mither should baith gae mad,
O whistle, an' I'll come to you, my lad.
(Burns.)

Over the last Twenty years I've purchased many books and got rid of many (After reading them then donating them to charity shops), but this is the only one I've repurchased.
I could never get the scenarios and characters out of my head, the way M R James succinctly describes a scene or a, "terrifying agent of supernatural malice" have resided in my head as much as I would have liked them to leave.
If lots of Gore is your thing you may be disappointed by these stories, but for those of us who like a well written story told with panache and subtlety, then these are for us.
~~~~
For several years in the early 70's when the BBC made "A Ghost Story for Christmas" it was always the M R James stories that disturbed me the most. But even though I was disturbed by them I was always too fascinated to switch the TV off, and whilst the BBC interpretations were good they never quite captured the atmosphere of the written page.
Most of the "Heroes" (For want of a better word) of these stories are intellectuals from the dusty halls of some Academy or other, who are afflicted by intellectual pride or the even graver sin (In M R James stories)of curiosity! They investigate things that should be left well alone.
~~~~
My personal favourites are "The Mezzotint", and "Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to you, my Lad".
The endings of a few of these stories are not completely resolved, and it's because of that, they stay in the mind longer.
It has always amused me that some of the most creepy and ungodly stories ever written in the English language were written by this most devout Christian of men.
For maximum effect to be read late on a stormy night, and by candlelight!

I simply had to have this book. I have started on a creative writing career hoping to specialise in supernatural fiction. So who better to read than the acknowedged doyen of the genre? MR James was an absolute master of the craft. Many years ago the BBC dramatised one of his short stories every Christmas Eve and continued the practice for several years. Even as a mature adult these plays used to scare me witless! Michael Hordern's wonderful depiction of paralysis in sheer terror at the end of "Whistle and I'll come to you my lad", is indelibly engraved in my memory. But the television can only depict one man's interpretaion. Believe me, the imagination does so much more. So the stories are infinitely more enthralling. This volume contains all the greats: the nightmarish Count Magnus, Whistle.., Number 13, the haunting Mezzotint and perhaps the most chilling ghost story ever written, A Warning to the Curious. The thing about MR James was that he wrote so well and with such a sensitivity for how to make the supernatural thriller "work". Apart from the inevitably dated settings, it is entirely possible to imagine the events he relates as a plausible part of one's own daily experience! This volume contains a very useful essay (Explanatory Notes)by the author on the elements of the most effective ghost stories. The valuable insights offered therein are alone worth the price. This volume contains a representative sample of his best known work and I am compelled to recommend it in the highest terms. But a warning to "the curious": this is potent story telling. The reader who having once picked it up, will not be the same when they put it down again; if they can (heh, heh, heh,heh).

More than at any other time since the era of the gladiators, entertainment in America today seems obsessed with murder, mayhem and gore. The Chainsaw Disembowelment Scene has been used in so many movies that it's almost a cliché, and I'm so jaded with seeing cadavers that I refuse to turn-on my TV.

How different are these stories by M. R. James. There are no monsters such as in H. P. Lovecraft, and the spectres which do appear never get to perform any injury - it's always a close call.

The focus here is on suspense. Not, though, that there are any surprises. We know that the strange old tome will yield its dreadful secret; that room 13 of the inn will be infested with demons; that the druid slide-whistle will summon some ghastly phantasm.

The pleasure of reading the work of M. R. James lies in his pretty writing - the lost art of the English language in its perfected form. Reading these stories is analogous to listening to a great musician perform florid music which is always in a minor key.

M.R. James is the quintessential, literary ghost story writer. His stories begin with such dark innocence, the reader wanders along, enjoying the prose, while the atmosphere thickens with the macabre. He is very Victorian in his approach, his paragraphs are skillyfully crafted. The only trouble the novice reader will encounter is adapting to his scholarly attention to detail. His prose is magnificent but heavy. The thrill is in the patient reading of his stories. Think of reading M.R. James in terms of drinking port... you sip port, you linger with it, you appreciate its aromas, its texture. You wouldn't think of knocking back a beautiful glass of port? No...Pick this book up, indulge yourself slowly with these stories and soon enough, ghostly memories will fill your imagination. The moods he casts heightens the pleasures of both the mind and the spirit.

I would really like to know when The Cold one II:Seedling is coming out ? I've read and adore everything this man has written but when is something new going to come from him? I think we all need to hit him up and demand a new book ! Nah , just kidding but I would like to read what happens in that book it's driving me crazy it's been years,come on A distressed fan .

This book is a great book and I encourage anyone to read it. I think it's one of Christopher Pike's best! He did a wonderful job on the first one because it was soo real. Pleeaaasseee read it!

Fan From Hell was an amazing short story that was a semi-sequel to Master of Murder. Marvin, a yung H/S student/writer is talked into terrible lies from a woman who claims to be his #1 fan. She soon seduces him. She later black mails him by saying he, Marvin raped her & beat her. Even though it was her who hit herself & she did allow Marvin to "make love" with her. She negousates by telling Marvin to basicially write a story for her that she'd started, but couldn't complete. She tries to trick Marvin with his on plots, but she makes a mistake, never interfer with a writer & his work.{hehehe} She'll try to get rid of Marvin, but who'll survive? Pike leads the reader in many twists & turns & even though Pike insists Marvin isn't suppose to be based on him, i still think a portion of Marvin has Pike's brilliance & personality. I hope he'll have another story involving Marvin & his writings. He's my favortie YA writer of all time!so far at least...?

THer is this one story about 4 teenagers from 20,000 in the future when they decide to visit present day humans of the 20th century. They are named 11, 33, 66, 99 and come into bodies of 4 teenagers. It talkes in teen language, like "getting laid" and "she got screwed" and "did you wear a condom" ...I can't describe in words, they are too funny to do so. It has a huge amount of humor in this story and its hard not to laugh. Along with this story is a whole lot of other interesting things too good to put down. I ain't kiddin' ya one whole bit.

This is a great book. There are several short stories so you won't get fed up with one story plot, and "The Fan from Hell" is amazing! It isn't terrifying, exactly, but it really made me think. This is C.Pike's best book!

A number of reviewers of this book have compared Benson's ghost stories to Montague Rhodes James - justifiably, since they were probably the two greatest Victorian authors of supernatural short stories after Sheridan LeFanu and Algernon Blackwood. But there are also differences, some subtle and some less so. For instance, James's stories, drawing heavily from his own experience, frequently have a whiff of the ecclesiastical or academic about them, while Benson's tend to center on a middle-class, often somewhat smug Englishman going about his daily routine with no greater concerns than what to have for dinner and what seaside resort to spend the summer in. James's supernatural creatures are almost always malignant and frequently solid, as in "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook" or "Mr. Poynter's Diary", while Benson's, while they can be heard, felt and occasionally smelt, tend to be more traditionally misty and sometimes more anguished than malevolent. As the useful introduction by Richard Dalby points out, the trademarks of Benson's stories (overbearing fathers, malice-filled women, men whose closest friendships seem to be with other men and for whom love of the opposite sex has disastrous consequences) tell us a great deal about him as a person, whereas about all one gets about James from his stories is that he had a great love of ancient manuscripts, was religious and was a profound scholar.

Another difference is that while James occasionally shows a bit of dry irony, Benson more clearly has a sense of humor. As other reviewers mentioned, he frequently inserts psychic interludes dealing with mediums, seances, and somewhat exasperated spirits, but he also points out that the mediums and seances depend on fraudulent tricks (especially in "Mr. Tilly's Seance," where the disembodied spirit itself gets irritated at the medium's chicanery). His attitude seems to be that mediums and spiritualists are less to blame than those who swallow their bait - if you want to believe that Aunt Martha has nothing better to do with her afterlife than answer your impertinent questions, he seems to say, don't ask me for sympathy! In stories like "Spinach," he betrays a clear affection for the likable young sibling mediums, even if they are clearly at least partly frauds. And in one of the book's most hair-raising stories, "How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery," centering on an ancient murder that will make any parent's skin crawl, he argues that the attitude of the other-worldly apparition may depend on how you approach it, not the other way around.

Having said that, the one thing James and Benson have in common that separates them from lesser hack writers is that in both cases, the persons who tell the story are likely to be pottering along in their daily lives, totally oblivious to signs of trouble, when something sudden and terrible comes out of the darkness and either almost overwhelms them and carries them off, or actually does so, never more terribly than in "The Face." For those whose acquaintance with Benson may be restricted to "Mrs. Amworth" and "The Man Who Went Too Far," both frequently reprinted in anthologies, this book will open up a whole new, and somewhat frightening, world.

Benson was a good friend of classic ghost-story writer M.R. James, and was among those present that Christmas Eve when James read aloud his first ghost stories.

Benson didn't have the genius or the highly literate background of James, but he did know how to write a good ghost tale, and he did just that. His stories, as has been mentioned elsewhere, deal largely with a man or two men going on holiday and finding horror instead. Women often get the worst of it in his stories, either being innocent victims or horrifyingly evil antagonists; it doesn't often happen that a woman in one of his stories is a regular person who helps to solve whatever mystery is entangling the characters.

One classic in the misogynist vein is "The Room in the Tower", in which a young man experiences a recurring nightmare of visiting a school friend, whose frightening mother always speaks the same words: "Jack will show you to your room; I've given you the room in the tower." Our protagonist knows that he must, at all costs, avoid that room, but he always awakes before the evil inside can overcome him.

"The Step" is one of the finest ghost stories ever written, about a heartless English businessman in Egypt who begins to hear someone following him down the street, at night... and what happens when he confronts his pursuer.

For those who, like me, love the ghost stories of the Victorian and Edwardian era, this is a must.

E.F. Benson, perhaps best known for his amusing 'Mapp & Lucia' comedy-of-manners stories also wrote a respectable body of ghost stories which are gathered together in this excellent omnibus anthology. All make for quality reading as examples of the English supernatural genre but a few stand out as darkly-luminous masterpieces, unforgettable in their haunting hold upon the reader and written with real verve. 'The Room In The Tower' is an undeniably chilling narrative of vampirism featuring a truly terrifying female revenant - the words spoken recurrently by Mrs Stone to the protaganist: "Jack will show you to your room: i have given you the room in the tower" are enough to instil a frisson of pervasive dread every time one reads this story. 'The Sanctuary' is a delectably macabre tale of damned souls and secret diabolism at an English country house complete with a hidden Satanic chapel for nocturnal celebrations of Le Messe Noir. 'The Man Who Went Too Far' unfolds by awful degrees the seductive but injudicious immersion of an artist in the deeps of nature mysticism which can only culminate in the most hideous revelation of truth and the sign of the cloven hoof - it is marvellously written, exquisite prose and descriptive passages and has a most beguiling undercurrent. 'The Cat' likewise is utterly engrossing and 'Mrs Amworth' stands as a unusual classsic of the vampire tale. But these are just a few of the delights this packed volume offers to the curious reader, there are many other marvellous tales to cause one to look over one's shoulder as the clock strikes twelve and a sighing midnight wind scrapes the twigs of an overhanging bough against the window. Quintessentially English, wrought with a delicious lightness of touch and a hint of a stylish insouciance but nevertheless conveying a genuinely disturbing charge of the uncanny these tales will be read again and again. E.F.Benson's contribution to the field of supernatural terror is of a very high standard. This anthology is well-worth obtaining.

I have been soaking up horror anthologies like a sponge for well over two years now. I would have thought I would tire of them, but I just can't get enough of the atmosphere and the gloom these types of tales relate.

My current favorite is this dense book compiling the supernatural tales of E.F. Benson. At the moment I am only about of a third of the way through. Perhaps I should wait until I finish, but judging by the variety of stories here, I feel safe to say that I highly recommend this hefty volume.

Many may find some of these tales a little dated, for science may have disspelled a few of the subjects covered. But for the most part these are timeless tales, rich in description, drenched in dark moods and never failing to surprise with the seemingly endless ways Benson appears to construct a solid ghost story cleverly and elegantly.

I'm not given to superlatives, but I find it hard to express anything to say about this book where superlatives or comarisons to the greatest writers of this genre without seeming trite. There ARE a few contemporary authors of the Victorian-Edwardian Era, which the Benson Brothers bridged, who have a story or even several better than many in this collection, but just mentioning these names says more about how great E.F Benson is- I'm talking about J.S Le Fanu, M.R James, Villiers D'Isle Adam and in the modern era, the list is even more impressive: Flannery O'Conner, Thomas Liggoti, Clive Barker, Issac Bashevis Singer and Peter Straub(who has quietly taken over the crown as America's Horror Short Story king with two masterpieces "Houses Without Doors", "Magic Terror" and several novellas masquerading as novels). I urge you to read E.F Benson's Book of Ghost Tales, then demand that some publisher do a public serviced and re-publish Benson's two nearly(?)as talented brothers R.H and A.C Benson who, from the few tales I've read in anthologies and old magazines may well be as good or,dare I say it?...even better.

Being a horror fan of every book or movie, I had to get this book when I first heard about it. I was not dissappointed. I was able to see what goes on in a movie shoot, how the actors interact with each other, what the job entails, and the attitudes of everyone involved. I knew this book was building up to a big ending and that it wouldn't be pretty, but I wasn't expecting the absolute horror of it all. It was like watching an
impending train wreck, knowing it was going to happen, unable to stop it, knowing it would be horrific, but unable to look away when it happened.

wow, just wow. this is an awesome book! sucks you in from the first page and doesnt stop. great characters and dialogue, nonstop chills and suspense and even some surprise laughs! my only complaint is that it didnt last longer, i finished it in 2 days.

The Grindhouse - the origin of the 'B' Movie. "Crimson Orgy" follows director Sheldon Meyer as he attempts to shoot his borderline pornographic to some film, 'Crimson Orgy' - but no one ever said show business was easy as on set problems are abound, the cops are on his tail, nature is working against him, and his own inner demons begin to consume him - at what cost does Meyer pay to get that he desires. "Crimson Orgy" is a deftly written, exciting tale from first page to last, highly recommended for community library fiction collections and anyone who seeks an edgy story set in the heyday of the Grindhouses.

As others on this page have mentioned, Crimson Orgy combines laugh-out-loud humor, unrelenting suspense and full-throttle horror to create a truly memorable literary experience. As the story rushed toward its inevitable climax with the momentum of a runaway train, I was afraid to keep reading and even more afraid to stop! If ever there was a book that jumps up and screams "destined to be a cult classic," this is it.

Readers who gravitate toward the edgier side of fiction, such as myself, are anticipating the release of "Snuff" by Chuck Palahniuk with great relish. I'd strongly recommend all Palahniuk fans pick up a copy of "Crimson Orgy" by Austin Williams at their first opportunity.

Seamlessly blending pitch-black humor with suspenseful and horrific elements, this tale of insanity, murder and mayhem offers a distinctly unnerving literary experience. Like Palahniuk's new book, "Crimson Orgy" immerses readers into the urban mythology of snuff movies, but the scope here is much broader than you might initially suspect. Beyond weaving a taut narrative of cinematic malfeasance, Williams masterfully sketches out a vivid portrait of exploitation filmmaking as it was practiced in decades past.

Dripping with swampy atmosphere, punctuated by quoatable dialogue and loaded with a shattering sense of inevitability, "Crimson Orgy" will make you laugh and cringe with equal measure. It easily tops my list of recent favorites.

This is a pretty good purchase if you want to get mostly up to speed on 'The Darkness' comic. There are gaps here and there, such as events that occur in Witchblade and the Darkness/Batman crossover, but you get the meat of the story overall.

A great buy for Darkness fans. Though it took two weeks just to ship and the sender didnt bother wraping it in any kind of plastic to protect it during shipping so my copy has a few minor rips in the spin. Other then that great condition and a great read.

The Compendium allows you to catch-up on the history of The Darkness with the first 40 issues. Please note, it is missing a few of the cross-over issues like Witchblade #18 & #19, but it tells you which ones so you can get them later if you like. For the price and free shipping, you can't beat it! Warning: this book is fatter and heavier than some dictionaries with its 1280 pages, but so well worth the hand cramps it may cause in holding it. Not for children! After reading this, I recommend getting the Witchblade Compendium #1, as it will tie up a few of the lose ends you get when reading this. Enjoy!!!

I thought that the book was very captivating and over whelming in gory details. I also was taken on a magic roller coaster ride........of emotion. Super awesome until towards end when the new artist and writer took over and f*&%ed it in the @$$.

This is a great collection and my criticism must not be allowed to distract from this. I had not read The Darkness before, having returned to comics after a ten year absence and ordered the compendium on reputation and reveiws alone. The service was great, I was delivered in South Africa on time in pristine condition.

It's hard to comment on this publication without referring to its size. It is huge. While this is a good thing, it is not without its drawbacks. The compendium cannot be read as I would a standard graphic novel in that a degree of discipline is needed. I found myself racing through it missing the artwork and the natural pace a comic has by nature of its original monthly format. While the standard comic can be frustratingly short, nine or ten bound together is a great afternoon's read, taking time to savour each panel. Over 1200 pages is a bit indigestable and I would have perhaps preffered to buy a series of smaller collections to make up the whole. Text close to the spine is difficult to get to without risking the spine and it's not something that would be easily shared with a friend, being a bit unweildy to lend out or have someone help themselves to over a coffee (unless they are a comic enthusiast).

Having said all of this there is still something nice about it being ridiculously huge.

While I am particularly "non-religious", I do find myself questioning the content at times (as enjoyable as it might be). There is a point or two where I was struck than a line was being pushed, such as the offhand killing of an inocent person because its all our hero could come up with on short notice to save himself or the ham-fisted religious references in the Magdelina editions. This is obviously a discomfort I have with the genre itself. Violent dark action/humour would perhaps be less enjoyable if it didn't push the boundry of moral offensiveness. Potential purchasers should know that this one does so more than most and is certainly not for kids.

I am however splitting hairs on what is an excellent collection; the artwork is fantastic, and the humour dark. In my opinion it is the best of the genre.

What could be more horrifying than to have the psychic ability that forces you to witness the events in other people's lives but not be able to find your own son after he is kidnapped? With an intense plot and vivid detailed writing, Rick R. Reed has crafted a compelling, fast-paced thriller that would haunt any parent's nightmares.


www.AllTheseBooks.com

Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (2/08)

Rick R. Reed's new novel "Deadly Vision" is another page-turner from this masterly horror writer. The novel opens with Cass, a single mother, who also happens to be a lesbian, simply trying to make a life for herself and her son by working as a waitress in a diner. One day, she gets hit on the head by a tree branch during a storm, and when she wakes up, she begins to see strange visions, which she realizes are related to the recent cases of missing girls within the community. Cass is reluctant to be in the public light, but she knows she must use her knowledge to save lives. She has a difficult time trying to get help from the authorities and media, but eventually, she convinces them and one of the girls' bodies is found. When Cass's name appears in the paper for having helped the media find the missing girl's body, the killer decides he must stop Cass from revealing more. His revenge leads to an exciting showdown.

Unlike many horror, thriller and detective novelists who center the plot around a detective character searching for an unknown killer, Reed eliminates the mystery behind who the murderer is, and instead depicts the killer in alternate chapters. Reed did an exceptional job in his previous novel "IM" of getting into the killer's mind, and by doing so, while the mystery is absent, the excitement and adrenaline flow all the more. In "Deadly Vision" Reed writes in third person, so we do not understand as well what causes the villain, Ian, to act as he does; instead we view the action from the eyes of Ian's girlfriend, Myra. Ian is obviously crazy, talking about how he must sacrifice people to The Beast, yet Reed fully makes the reader understand why Myra remains with Ian for so long, first because he is gorgeous, secondly because he taught her how to lose weight and make herself attractive, and finally out of confused loyalty and eventually fear of Ian. Myra is forced into the role of accomplice to Ian while she continually tries to manipulate him to stop the crimes, and yet helps him out of fear. I personally thought Myra the most developed and interesting character in the novel.

Reed's characters are often homosexual, and in past books his characters' sexual orientation has added to the novels' plots. However, while the back cover includes Lesbian with Fiction/Mystery/Thriller as one of its genres, I didn't see any reason why Cass or Dani, her reporter friend, were depicted as lesbians. It was clear they were going to become a couple, but their sexual orientation was not detailed enough to advance the plot or motivate their actions, unlike the detective in "IM" who is himself homosexual and seeking to save his male lover from a killer bent on murdering gay men.

I would gladly welcome a sequel to "Deadly Vision" where Reed further develops the relationship between Dani and Cass so their sexual orientations are more integrated into the plot. The two women make a great team, and I can definitely see possibilities for further adventures as Cass learns better how to use her psychic abilities. I would also like to know more about what became of Myra. I hope another Rick R. Reed book will soon roll off the presses.

Cass D'Angelo lives a regular life in small town, Ohio, with her seven-year-old son, Max. She works at a popular diner and has little unusual going on in her life except, initially, the lack of a girlfriend. Her whole life changes, however, after being struck on the head during a storm. When she wakes up in the hospital, she discovers that she's acquired psychic powers, specifically the ability to visualize the grisly deaths of local girls who have recently begun disappearing.

The killers are an insane, but handsome, psychopath and his smitten and spectacularly confused girlfriend. We find out very quickly that they worship a devil-like entity, "The Beast," and when they discover that Cass has directed the police to unearth one of their victims, they go after her and her family.

Like Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly character, Cass D'Angelo is a psychic character who's fascinating to read about. She's thoughtful, smart, and capable. Unlike Harris's character, who travels around to use her gift, Cass is mostly happy and settled in her Ohio home and committed to family, friends, and her community. That makes her deadly visions and horror over the sick murders even more palpable. Everyone is at risk, even her own son.

Reed gives us alternate chapters from the perspective of the twisted killer's girlfriend and of our increasingly-stressed heroine. His secondary characters, particularly Cass's mother and Cass's journalist girlfriend, are lively, interesting, and essential. His use of tone, pacing, and atmosphere is masterful. A natural born storyteller, this author does an excellent job showing Cass's increasing panic in the face of the killers' single-minded murderous intent. With every page, the reader's tension level rises until the wild climax. At times graphic, always descriptive, and endlessly suspenseful, this novel takes you on a rocky ride through horror and anxiety. Will the killers be thwarted? Will Cass live to see another vision? Will she lose the one she loves the most?

Highly recommended for all who enjoy heart-pounding suspense, horror, and good old-fashioned fright within an expertly constructed narrative. ~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

Hot on the heels of his enjoyable gay serial killer novel - last year's "IM" - Rick Reed returns with another gripping thriller, "Deadly Vision." Reed is quickly developing his own unique formula that blends suspense, fast-moving narratives, fully-realized gay characters, and a touch of the occult. His seeming bid to become a gay hybrid of James Patterson and Dean Koontz will not be lost on readers with this latest offering.

Cass D'Angelo, single mother to seven-year-old Max, is toiling away as a waitress in a small, depressed river town in Ohio. When Cass goes off after Max when he wanders off one afternoon during a thunderstorm, she runs afoul of a lightning strike and a falling tree limb. She awakens days later in the hospital - relieved to find Max safe - and discovers that the resulting concussion has left her with a newfound psychic ability. Before you can say Psychic Friends Network, Cass receives disturbing images of several local girls gone missing - their grisly fates playing out behind her mind's eye. Fearing more deaths, the reluctant psychic reaches out to the police and to one of the missing girl's parents - all of whom are skeptical. But when the father of a second missing girl begs Cass' help in finding his daughter and her decomposing body is found along the Ohio River banks, Cass finds herself the center of unwanted attention from a pair of devil-worshipping killers desperate to find out how she found their carefully hidden grave. It's here that the story kicks into even higher gear with a kidnapping, a manhunt, and - to a lesser extent - hints of a budding romance with a sympathetic female journalist.

As in "IM," Reed again opts to tell his story through multiple points of view. And, again, it works surprisingly well even when minor characters like Cass' mother get their chance at the storytelling bat. Laying out the actions and motives of your villains for readers is a tricky proposition - give too much and risk predictability at the expense of the suspense. But Reed expertly walks the tightrope between disclosure and omission, crafting passages told from the killers' perspective that are appropriately chilling and give just enough away to readers so that their acquired insight translates into dread when the action switches back to Cass and company. It's foreboding at it s finest with readers left muttering, "If you only knew what I know" at the book itself.

Reed also imbues "Deadly Vision" with a strong sense of setting, creating in Summitville a bleak tableau of working class hardship. One gets a strong sense of inevitability for the fictional denizens of the town, like they surrendered master status of their own destinies somewhere between unplanned pregnancies and factory closings. He nails the idea of familiarity and disconnection as analogous functions of small-town life:

"When Sheryl McKenna's mother opened the door, Cass felt as though she had already seen her. And maybe she had. Summitville was, after all, a small town. She could have passed the tired-looking woman on the street downtown, or served her in the diner. The woman stared at her with bright gray eyes, looking her over as if Cass were something she had discarded in the yard that had managed to make its way back to the porch. Mrs. McKenna was small, with no fat on her bones; she looked almost skeletal. Her skin was weathered, the result of too much sun, too much smoke. Her skin, combined with straw-like bleached blonde hair and hard eyes made her, Cass was sure, look older than her years. She held a cigarette in her hand, and the smell of tobacco smoke came out of the house in a wave when she opened the door."

Unlike "IM," the lesbian romance is relegated to the background here, never even a glimmer of possibility until the third act - and even then it's only alluded to in a near future. This is the novel's only misstep - and a slight one at that - and an area where Reed missed an opportunity for deeper emotional investment in the reporter character of Dani Westwood. The lack of romantic connection to Cass keeps her at arm's length for much of the action, consigning her to stock character status.

The novel's supernatural elements are handled quite well, with Cass' understanding of her precognitive abilities evolving gradually over the course of the book and never coming off as forced or over-the-top. Only toward the end when Cass encounters the spectral vision of one of the victims does one get the sense that they're smack dab in the middle of an episode of "Cold Case" or "The Ghost Whisperer" - and that's either criticism or commendation depending upon your level of tolerance for either of those shows.

The literary equivalent of a hybrid vehicle, "Deadly Vision" powers forward on a combustion of supernatural suspense, murder mystery, and breakneck thriller. With psychics and serial killers rendered with the same deft hand in a propulsive narrative likely to increase respirations, it takes no psychic ability to see that Rick Reed is headed for the top of the suspense class.

Ready for yet another roller coaster ride from one of the most entertaining authors around? BUY THIS BOOK!! It's a heck of a ride.
Enter the world of small town America... a place where life is pretty quiet. Well, usually.

You'll become entrenched in the drama in this well written, taught thriller. At times you'll laugh, cringe, sigh with relief and at times your breath will catch in your throat. Mr. Reed knows just how to grab his audience... where it counts.

If you've never read any of Mr. Reed's books, this is a great one with which to begin. After this page-turner... you'll be wanting more, much more. And he'll never disappoint you. Mr. Reed is one of the best, freshest authors today. You're going to be hooked.

"Deadly Vision" is a great read! Fast paced and full of characters you not only like but actually care about.

Will the killer be stopped in time? ONly one way for you to find out... click on the "Add To Shopping Cart" button now!! Then go and buy his other books. You'll be very glad you did.

I never knew quite where Engima was going to take me until I was finished with it. At times I was confused -- hell, most of the time I was confused. I worried that it would become too preachy or philosophical to be enjoyable; I worried it would fall into randomness and end without making sense; I worried it would fall victim to awkward stereotypes. It did none of these things.

Enigma is a fantastic story, dark and twisted. The art reflects this well; it may not be the prettiest thing to look at, but it's fitting enough that it shouldn't be a problem for almost anyone once they get into the story.

The characters begin simply, and through the events of the story grow three-dimensional so that you can't help but care for them. The villains are twisted and fantastic: Envelope Girl especially is a favorite of mine, though she overall isn't entirely important as a character.

Michael is a twenty-something nobody whose life continues every week in such a repetitive way that it could only be called obsessive compulsive; he wears his underwear according to the days of the week and only has sex on Tuesdays. His world is shaken when the first villain appears, and soon he realizes that they're from a three-issue comic he loved as a child. Titus is the creator of the comic, an older, gay man who was too stoned while writing it to make sense of it himself, though he's praised as a prophet by a group of youths called the Enigmatics. And there's the Enigma himself, alternately loved and hated by the populace of the city he more or less protects, and properly enigmatic himself. And the narrator -- an omnipresent voice with an all-encompassing knowledge of the story, full of scorn and contempt for those he tells the story and for the characters within, withholding knowledge and becoming, as he does so, a well-developed character himself.

And the ending -- the ending is perfect. You may be unsure of the story all the way until then, but the ending wraps it all together, fits every piece into place without a space between. Fantastic.

I attempted to read Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo's ENIGMA series back in 1993 and gave up about halfway through it, seeing it as an indulgent mess that would leave me with no explanations as to what was going on. When the trade was released in 1995, I read the whole thing and was annoyed that a story with so many angles would seemingly just boil down to an issue of the main character's sexuality. Forward to 2007: I pick up the trade during a rebirth of my interest in Vertigo books, read it in one day, and am amazed. I finally got it. Yes, ENIGMA does place a heavy emphasis on sexual preference, but it's so much more.

Michael Smith's routine life is shattered by the arrival of the Enigma, a superhero from his childhood. Battling such bizarre foes as the Head, the Truth, Envelope Girl, and the Interior League (my personal favorites, like something from Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol), it is apparent to Michael that the lines between fantasy and reality are blurring, and clues lead him to believe that he is somehow responsible. Michael tracks down the comic's creator, Titus Bird, and the two of them work to reveal the Enigma's identity and how he came to be. In turn, the Enigma helps Michael to discover quite a number of things about himself, but ultimately, this is a story postulating how four-color superheroes could exist in the "real world". Let's face it... if real people had superpowers, they likely wouldn't dress in garish costumes and speak in purple prose, so how could this happen? Your answer is here.

Milligan's story is excellent, now that I finally got my head around it (gee, it only took me 14 years). There's not one boring bit in the entire book, and the narration is excellent, providing just the right amount of "gotcha" at the conclusion. Fegredo's art is spectacular, as always, with every person and object carefully rendered. A perfect team for a perfect book!

I'm an avid reader of both comics and novels, and must say this is definitely one of, if not The best, graphic novels I've read thus far. Although the artwork is a bit scratchy, it quickly fits in with the mood of the story and even adds to the effect. The story itself deals with many interesting psychological and personal topics including homosexuality, responsibility, disillusionment, and the frailty of the human mind. The characters each have their own quirky, unusual backgrounds that will stimulate your brain cells and draw you into the tale, such as the average joe who was tranformed into a mind-devouring monster after a short chat with a dead lizard. And as you can probably tell by now, this book does have its quirks, so be prepared for a truly unique read.

My problem with this comic is that I really could never like this iper realistic drawing style which boast every single line fo people faces so that even those supposed to be very good looking (Enigma himself and the model Victoria Yes) look deformed.
It was a deliberate choice of course, I simply do not share it.

This booklet is self contained and tells us the story of an average straight boy leading a very average life meeting the -male- hero from the comics he used to read as a child.
The idea fo a comic about a comic is not bad and brings forth some fairly interesting issues: identity, sexual identity, children mistreatment, etc.
I was not overwhelmed by enthusiasm but other people might be.

A lot of gore and some topics (nudity and mild gay sex among them) make this booklet unsuitable for minors.

Brilliant comic with a great twist at the end. Very underated from Vertigo's early days. Offbeat characters like Envelope Girl and Titus Bird bring this book to life paying homage to 70's whacked out comics world. Enjoy! and then what?

This book is a fantastic read, I recommend it to anyone over 12. The heartwrenching tale of betrayal and sadness will surely move you. If you read this book I guarantee you will want more. Who could stop at one Virginia Andrews book? I think this is the best volume in the series. The characters are true to life, the plot is intense and realistic. This novel is a must for the personal library of any avid drama reader. The reason I gave it only 4 stars is because, although it's a great story, I think it's really too dark and sad for regular reading. I have a copy and I have read it twice since I got it, which was about three years ago. I don't think it's the type of book you can read over and over again without depressing the hell out of yourself. Still, read it, even if you only read it once.

I COULD'NT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN FOR TOO LONG .THE CHARACTERS WERE ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT FOR WEEKS AFTER I FINISHED READING THE BOOK. HOW COULD A FAMILY EXPERIENCE SO MUCH LOVE, HATE, GREED AND BETRAYAL?THE WAY THEY DO WILL AMAZE YOU. I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE REST OF VIRGINIA'S BOOK, AS SOON AS I CAN GET MY HANDS ON THEM.

A story of a widowed mother of 4 young children who takes her family to her own very wealthy mothers house to live until she can get a job and support herself and children. A number of years before, she fell in love with her cousin and her father said that if they were to ever get married he'd write her off of his will, and if they were to bare children, he would never ever forgive her. She did marry him, and she was written out of his will. However he did not discover that they had children, but the evil and cruel mother did. So, the children live upstairs in the attic, where their grandmother brings them food everyday, until hopefully their mother can be forgiven by her father, and be written back onto the will. However, the few days that are supposed to be taken to get written back on the will, turn into years and the children are eventually forgotten. They escape after 4 years of being locked up.

Reading novels have never been my passion,but after a friend told me the story behind this book, i couldn't hesitate but got a copy for myself.I couldn't put it down until i was done with it,which ofcourse took me the whole day.This novel is so touching and so real.I had to buy the other series that follows,only to miss Petals in the wind which i am still hunting for right now.I really recommend it for anyone.Varginia Andrews,yr books are my favorite,i really love yr writing style.

LO mejor que he leido.Triste ver como una madre deja de amar a sus hijos para amar el dinero.Mentir para lograr ser dueña de la herencia de su padre a tal extremo de abandonar sus hijos a la obscuridad del atico.Robarle años de vida a sus hijos para lograr riquezas.Sumamente interesante no podria soltar el libro y estoy loca por saber como sus hijos logran vengarse despues de haber escapado las garras de su madre y abuela.No duele tanto el maltrato fisico como el maltrato mental que sufrian estos 4 hermanos.No puede dejar de leerlo,lo mejor de lo mejor.