Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Hyperion Voice, 2009
ISBN: 9781401340902
Available: New and Used

This book is not horror, but rather historical fantasy. The premise of this book is interesting–what if some of the “witches” hanged in the Salem Witch Trials actually were witches? However, the execution fails, first because the first two hundred pages of this book are spent hinting at this concept, of which readers are already aware.

The main character is a supposedly very intelligent woman working on her PhD thesis. While cleaning out a family house in New England she discovers hints at a book of shadows that might prove the Salem witches were really witches. The story is primarily about her search and her mental growth from complete skeptic to, um, not.

Detail, historical flavor and character building are Howe’s strong points. Storytelling, pacing and plot are her downfalls. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is about a historian telling the story of this neat thing they’ve researched, but with a last minute, obvious mystery plot tacked on, and some pretty heinous and unrealistic treatment of antique books. It’s less of a fast-paced mystery and more like a book wherein a mystery plot smacks an uninterested, and dense, main character in the head for 300 plus pages until she finally decides to do something about it. Not without merit altogether, the prose is pretty when not overwritten, the detail is interesting, when not overpowering the story and the historical scenes are inspiring. This book might have a place in the libraries of readers who love rich historical tales, but it doesn’t speak to a horror or even dark fantasy audience despite the subject matter.

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson
Bad Moon Books, 2007 (Limited)
Medallion, 2008 (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: (Trade) 978-1934755457
Available: New, Used or Limited

Johnny Gruesome is what you might get if you took all the emo out of J. O. Barr’s The Crow and replaced it with hardcore, attitude-filled metal. Johnny Grissom is not a good person. He’s your familiar wayward angry youth with an alcoholic father, a dead mother and a serious problem with the way life is treating him. When he ends up dead, Johnny’s determined not to take it lying down and instead decides to make a mark on the world by kicking the ass of the little town of Red Hill where he lived and died.

Overall the book has a familiar feel, but it’s too well written and enjoyable to be cliché. It is, in many ways, a classic slasher flick in book form. Science and logic are fudged at times for effect, but it’s a fun romp through rage and blood and zombies, and would be a solid addition to private and public horror collections.

Contains: Violence, drug use, sex, language

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

While Shadow of the Dark Angel has similarities to Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lector books it has differences as well. In this book, Katy Green and John Cato are a team of detectives hunting a sexual serial killer. However, unlike Harris’ books, Shadow of the Dark Angel is neither a mystery book nor a police procedural. Instead, O’Neill has filled his book with minute details that lead to explicitly fleshed out characters, at the expense of the storytelling. At best, it’s an extensive profile of the detectives and the killer but what it possesses in detail it completely lacks in tension and plot momentum.

O’Neill’s style of presenting characters and events without genuinely storytelling works in a short form, but keeps readers at an arm’s length in this novel. In the end the minutiae of the characters’ daily lives and psychological health take precedent over the story, leaving out the police work and much of the actual solving of the crime. It’s also frustrating that the author dedicates a lot of time to describing a book Katy Green is writing that is a blatant reference to another of O’Neill’s books, and the reader may feel cheated that the author is using the book to advertise his other works, while sometimes ignoring the plot of this one.

Although Shadow of a Dark Angel is not without its merits, it is a disappointing read. Available only as a pricey limited edition, Shadow of the Dark Angel is best left to O’Neill fans and collectors.

Contains: Explicit language, violent situations, sexual situations

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

In the vein of “The Goonies” and There’s a Batwing in My Lunchbox by Ann Hodgeman comes Monster Moon: Curse at Zala Manor, the tale of AJ and Emily, two friends who get caught up in a centuries old pirate curse cast on AJ’s family line. This book has it all- secret tunnels and talking animals, mad science and real monsters. This is the perfect Halloween themed book for in class reading in elementary schools and early middle schools. Equal parts scary, mysterious, gross and silly, it’s pure fun. It’s definitely recommended for all collections aimed at fostering a love of reading.

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

iUniverse, 2009

ISBN: 9781440135026

Available: New and Used

Hannah, a woman barely out of her teens, arrives in Cambridge to attend school, but she is also fleeing her past. After recovering from the pain of being abandoned by her boyfriend, Bret, Hannah began to realize just how abusive and manipulative their relationship had been. Since Bret was a vampire, and she narrowly escaped becoming one herself, Hannah recognizes that the break up was possibly the best thing to have happened to her so far. But Bret isn’t

quite done with Hannah yet.

This book is short—it covers more than a year in about 130 pages—but this is by no means a starved plot. Although there is room for fleshing it out, the story is well-paced and focused There are some small technical problems, likely because this is a debut book, but there is a lot to recommend. Although this is a vampire book, the author spends a fair amount of time on Hannah’s trying to resist the urge to blame herself for having been caught in an abusive situation and deal with her feelings of worthlessness that stem from her part in the relationship she had with Bret. The vampire aspect is so light it can easily be taken for a metaphor as well, making this book less about vampires and more about a teen recovering from an abusive relationship.

The YA and abuse recovery focus makes this an excellent addition to teen libraries, private and public, and Hannah’s Story could even be a gateway into helping adults talk to teens and tweens about abusive relationships. Recommended.