There is a place where nightmares are real. It is a dark and terrifying place, hidden from the world we know by borders that only the most unfortunate of souls will ever cross.
James Halldon woke up in the dark, alone, without any food or water, without a clue where he was, and with no memory of where he came from.
It only got stranger.
James has somehow found his way to The Corridor, a midnight place that no human should ever see and the prison of a creature that has destroyed entire worlds. Somehow James has to learn to survive.
But he is not alone. The lost souls of others who have drifted into The Corridor, and died, also haunt this world, and they have been waiting a long time for someone to come along.
The Journal of James Halldon is a dark sci-fi novel that follows Halldon's struggle to survive whilst trying to understand the strange, dark, and terrifying world in which he is trapped.
If it's dark when you wake up, and you can hear growling, then close your eyes and maybe it will go away.
GLYNN JAMES is an author of science fiction, post-apocalyptic, dark fantasy, horror, and dystopian fiction. His love of science fiction began when he was eight years old after discovering HP Lovecraft and Richard Matheson, and then later on Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, James Herbert, Clive Barker, and Stephen King.
In addition to being author of the “ALTERLIGHT” supernatural mystery thriller series, he is author of the dark sci-fi series "DIARY OF THE DISPLACED", the post-apocalyptic "THROWN AWAY" series, and co-author of the "ARISEN" series and the “DUSTFALL” series.
Every once in a while I stumble across a book that is so unique and pure, that I cannot believe no one has heard of it.
Glynn James paints a strange and vivid world for James Halldon, but it’s not James’ world. James wakes up in a strange and dark land full of dangerous creatures, but with no memory of how he has arrived there. He takes it upon himself to keep track of his exploration of this new place, and his instincts of survival. Through his journey he finds that everything is not what it seems.
This book is strange and unusual, but I feel as though I broke out of a rut of the same old thing.
I love, love, love this story!!! I'm rooting for the main character, I love Dogthing. It really sucked me right into it from the very first. I highly recommend this really fun adventure to anyone and everyone!
This is a book i can recommend with all my heart. Its a very interesting story that draws you into the mysterious and strange world James has created immediately. Take it up, read a couple of pages and you are stuck with the book until the end.
The first thing i thought when i finished it was, when can i read the next one?
At it's heart, it's a dog story, and I love that. Plus, it's Glynn James, and I enjoyed his dystopian Thrown Away series, and was looking forward to similarly good writing skills applied to a great adventure story.
What I got is much, much more. The Journal of James Halldon is a mash-up of dark fantasy, horror, action adventure, survival science fiction with a twist of "Alice in Wonderland" and a dash of "A Boy and His Dog." It's an incredibly good read set in an imaginative horrorscape that is both realistic and fantastical. And I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.
When James Halldon finds himself in a mysterious place infested with zombies, he sets out to find Rudy, his friend who died, long ago. Rudy and James set out to find Adler, not quite sure where he'll be. When the three of them, and DogThing, James's wolf like friend, try to escape the darkness of The Corridor, they find themselves facing Cutterjack, a human like creature who craves death. James has Cutterjack's compasses, James doesn't realize it, but they are the keys to the other worlds. Cutterjack is determined to kill James and get back his keys, creating new, deadly creatures to attack. When James finds Cutterjack's mirror, will he be his true self? Will he be able to escape Cutterjack and his army of zombies?
DogThing is one of the maw, the wolf like creatures who live throughout the worlds. He becomes James's best friend, helping him fight against Cutterjack. Dogthing is honestly a good guy, who only fights the truly evil. His weapons are his massive teeth. Cutterjack, on the other hand, is an enemy. His human like image allows him to look normal from a distance, but up close he is nine feet tall with a grotesque facial pattern. His weapons are simple. Long, sharp knifes that cut like butter. Cutterjack creates zombies that act as minions. Although they are two extremely different characters, DogThing and Cutterjack do have similarities. For one, They both hat each other. Also, they were both strangers to James when he arrived in The Corridor. Don't forgewt the fact that they are both extremely deadly. My favorite of the two is DogThing. He may be a "dog" on the outside, but on the inside, he acts human. He is protective of James. Plus, he is a giant wolf, with a mouth full of razors! DogThing is truly epic.
I recommend this book to higher level readers who like zombies and wondering what's coming next. I say "higher level" readers because this book is very confusing and requires you to pay close attention. I recommend it to people who like to wonder what comes next because this book is constantly coming out with new surprises that will have you reading all night!
James Halldon has no idea where he is. It's dark, he's alone, there's no food, nothing to drink, and there seems to be junk everywhere. Also, he discovers, there are zombies.
At one time I was a huge Stephen King fan. I'm not sure what happened along the way, but sometime after Cell, I just felt like his books were no longer giving me the thrill they used to. I'm sure it's not him, it's me; but whatever.
Diary of the Displaced reminded me of everything I loved when I read vintage Stephen King. The scenery, seemingly so improbably, makes perfect sense as the story unfolds. The dark and the horror of the undead, the apocalyptic conditions, and worst of all... being alone. All these things create suspense in the reader and makes the story impossible to put down.
The only thing in the entire book that made me shrug a "Meh" reaction was the introduction of the supposedly horrific Gargants. They're giant slugs. Slugs don't really scare me. They're definitely gross, but they don't really scare me.
Squirrels, now, they scare me. Giant squirrels would have given me nightmares for months.
I would not normally read a book like this but I got it free on Amazon so thought I would try it. It's actually pretty good. James Halldon wakes up not knowing where he is and not being able to remember how he got there. He is in the dark, attacked by zombies and talks to ghosts which makes for a strange book but it works. I don't know if I will read any more in this series because my shelf is full of books to read but if I came across the second book for free or cheap I would probably give it a go. I don't know what kind of book I could compare this one to but it was a very interesting read. Once you get accustomed to the surroundings then it seems to take off so don't give up on it to quickly.
I found this a very fast paced, exciting read, with twists I didn't see coming. I thought I was used to this world having already read The Last to Fall by the same author, but it still surprised me. I found myself wondering what I would have done in the same situations the character found himself in; I was rooting for him all the way. I loved the maw, which were discussed briefly in Last to Fall but examined more closely here, and the bad guy is just plain nasty. This is not I world I'd like to visit personally, but I did enjoy reading about from a safe distance.
James Halldon wakes up and doesn't know where or who he is. He slowly gathers up some supplies and sets off to see if he can figure things out. Along the way he encounters some very strange creatures and befriends one of them-Dogthing. James and Dogthing make their way through a very strange and original world filled with zombies, gargants and a crazy guy named Cutterjack. I thought it was pretty well written and I enjoyed it enough to read the second book in the series.
While a unique premise,nothing was truly answered in the end. Implausable that he survived 4 days without any water or liquids to drink. While this was a free read I felt disappointed in the end and probably will not read the sequel.
When lost in a world you aren't used to, it's a good idea to keep track of what you see, because it can come back to get you. This, being a diary, has a unique way of describing atmosphere and tension between the main character and what is around him. The character interaction is written in such a way that you can believe someone quickly jotted it down from memory and the occasional odd list of supplies or random thoughts on a subject make the diary experience all the more real.
Having not yet read any other books by this author, I found that for the most part, this was a book that was easy to get in to and finished quickly. I wasn't lost for lack of knowing anyone and after a very realistic semi-confusion that mirrored the main character's, I found myself quickly turning pages. The various plot points might seem like nothing of too much importance at first, but when you continue on through each day, you realize how important everything can be.
Descriptions of the world and the action within it are written in such a way that your mind can easily come up with a visual, but they do not plug up the plot. I found that as I read things, my mind simply went with the flow, imagining things even if they weren't completely explained right away. A swamp is a swamp, what makes these swamps unique are the creatures that are inside.
Overall I enjoyed reading Diary of the Displaced and am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the books focused on these characters because by the end of this one I was wanting more.
Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review.
James Halldon of London, England finds himself in a bizarre world of darkness amid a gigantic landfill. James slowly gets to know the new world he’s trapped in as he searches through the trash and uncovers bits and pieces of the modern world. He also runs across strange creatures that inhabit the darkness with him, including a toothy doglike-creature, zombies, and ghosts, as well as a homicidal maniac known as Cutter-Jack, all the while searching for a way out of the darkness.
This is a surreal nightmare-dream fueled by zombie movies, teen slasher pics, post-apocalyptic movies with their ruined cities, and perhaps Wonderland with it’s giant mushrooms. The imagination that went into this is incredible, and following James around was a fun experience as he uncovered new things at every turn, and the tension as he avoided and faced the vicious Cutter-Jack (Absolutely loved the grotesque zombies and the threat of Cutter-Jack!). Would I continue on with the series? While I liked this first story and the mystery of will James get home and uncovering the mystery of where he was, the overall feel of the story was too surreal for my tastes, and the end resolve on this particular story didn’t cut it for me since it felt like a bit of a cheat for the author to suddenly tell me that James isn’t actually James of London, and then it abruptly left the ruined and trash-filled world without any real explanation as to why the world had modern world bits and pieces, or what the strange lizard-men were, or who Cutter-Jack really is. Another quibble I had was that the story considers itself a “diary” (even says it in the title), but it’s written more as a first-person narration with chapter breaks at the end of the day (totally different from a diary, btw, which is usually written like a series of letters). The narration does flow nicely with plenty of character voice, as well as brings to life the strange world around him.
OMG I loved this book. Alone, lost in the dark world, no idea where or who you are and there are things you never thought you'd encounter there.
The plot, characters and world created was great. For me to have no idea at all where a book is going is rare as rocking horse shit! Can't recommend it enough and really look forward to see if book 2 can keep it going.
I can honestly say I have never read a book like this that propelled me by pure Curiosity. I know that is the aim of most authors but when I started reading this book for one thing I couldn’t imagine where James could be and then I couldn’t imagine how James was going to survive and thirdly how the hell was it going to get out of this place? I won’t say these questions were answered well at least not two of the three he does learn to survive an even makes friends with a demon dog and others. He eventually finds the journals of a man there before him they just may have a theory of how to get out but he’ll have to elude the zombies and their demon lord cutter Jack. Please don’t think just because there zombies in the book and he’s in a desolate place that this is one of those books ‘ cause it is totally not this is a totally original read with so much going for it I try not to put too many plot points in my review because it asked per normal I knew nothing except James wakes up in a dark place in here is growling in the distance and that was enough to get me to want to read the book and I’m so glad I did and can’t wait to read the second installment out of nine books in the series.
I love stories about wastelands, especially wastelands full of junk, and Glynn James never disappoints! Its a a weird thing to enjoy, but obviously I'm not the only one who enjoys it because this and other authors, as well as their readers, also seem to enjoy it. Maybe its because I grew up with a mom who had hoarder tendencies? Who knows, but another thing I enjoy is Zombies! Who knew there was a book about Zombies in a junk filled wasteland?!?!? Now that's just too good to be true! The anticipation of learning what the characters are going to find under the next piece of junk (or in the next old building or city) is thrilling, and when they are running from a threat like Zombies its even better! I can't wait to find out what happens to these characters in the next installments.
Diary of the Displaced 1 was good enough that I purchased the second in the six part series, but not good enough that I’ve purchased the entire series upfront.
The story is set in a dark, dreary, and incredibly bizarre world. It is populated by dangerous creatures, especially one nasty character. It is not clear how James Halldon arrived in this world (until the end of the book), nor what he is supposed to do. We explore this world through the thoughts of James, and we learn along with him. And what we think we learn only leads to more questions.
There were a couple of places where I thought the book could have been more carefully edited, but the story was compelling enough to allow me to ignore the rough spots.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
This is a story about the end of the world, but not our world. That is the thrust of this story, but it's not the cut and dried run of the mill story. The author has a unique style that draws the reader in and has him invested into the story. The characters are also unique, dynamic, and have what one could call an investment in the story. I guess one could call the story a who done it type of story and what are we gonna do about it. A very very good story.
The Diary of the Displaced: The Last to Fall by Glynn James The Diary of the Displaced: The Last to Fall by Glynn James is another great story. I gave it four stars.
"I served him as he asked, just a neat whiskey. He didn't have any money and didn't even offer to pay, but that didn't bother me. I think in some way I needed him to turn up at that moment, needed someone to talk to, someone to listen to for a while, just so that I could get my head around what I was preparing to do after he had left.
A compelling enough read until zombies come into the book. Now that’s just dumb. Can’t be taken seriously at that point, and I’m not interested in continuing this.
I strongly suspect that the narrator not knowing his past or where he is located is because the author doesn’t know those things either, and is just making up random events as he writes. I’m not interested in finding out if I’m correct or not.
I think I love this book. It will take me some time to be sure how much I love it. I mean I do love it. I need to read the rest of the series now. I no longer wonder if I will read them all. They’re like Farmer’s Dungeon but I don’t know how much so yet. Yes like but different, I’m sure of that. Now though I’m going to buy the rest of them. I mean right now.
I really found myself sucked into this book. I've had it on my kindle forever (since 2011!) and I finally decided to read it. I'm glad that I did because it's very different to other zombie books that I've read. And tbh I wouldn't even really consider this a zombie book, but there are definitely zombies in it. I'm interested to see where the second book goes.
The writer has an unbelievable imagination. You will be thrown into a world of ruins zombies n creatures that I can't even explain. If this is an adventure u r willing to take, hold on n enjoy the ride!
This was a different story than what I have read before. It was an interesting concept and kept me hooked for most of the story. There was a little bit of repetition and seemed a little slow sometimes but it always left me curious for more.
Mr. James is a genius when it comes to strange worlds you hope you never have to live in. His characters live with you long after the book is finished. My advice is to read everything he writes.
Readers must brave through the dreary beginning but author uses it to show creativity of book characters. Puzzle needs solved. Mazes need walked through. Enough action keep your interest in trying to find the answer to Why am I here?