Comes a Chopper

by Bryan Cassiday

"Comes a Chopper" is a collection of Bryan Cassiday's tales from the dark side.

A gambler who can't sleep finds he has blood-curdling supernatural powers . . . A woman is kidnaped. As if that's not enough, now the kidnapers want her sister as well . . . A mortician can't forget the horrifying mistake he once made . . . An actor who fears a homicidal maniac is stalking him finds a terrifying impostor instead . . . A cell phone doesn't take calls. It gives orders to kill . . . A hit man seeks a way out of his profession only to descend into a satanic nightmare . . .

These are but a few of the spine-tingling stories in "Comes a Chopper."

Genres: Horror

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2014

About the author

Award-winning author Bryan Cassiday writes thrillers and horror fiction. His novel Horde (Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson Series Book 6) won the 2022 Independent Press Award and the 2021 American Fiction Award for Best Horror novel. His novel Electric Green Mambas was a Finalist in the Reader Views Award for Thrillers 2021-22. His short story "Boxed" was published in the anthology Shadows and Teeth Volume Two, which won both the 2017 International Book Award for best adult horror fiction anthology and the Florida Association of Publishers and Authors President's Award gold medal for best adult horror fiction anthology 2017.

"A bracing page-turner with an unconventional hero."--Kirkus Reviews on Bryan's thriller Murder LLC

His thrillers include the psychological thriller The Payout and the Ethan Carr thriller Force of Impact, which Kirkus Reviews called "A fast-paced detective novel enhanced by exceptional characters and a striking ending."

Praise for Bryan Cassiday's Thriller Bolt

“From the very start, Bryan Cassiday spins what appears to be a typical Southern Californian private investigation novel in Bolt, but quickly takes off in a direction that speaks to our current troubled times. Well-plotted and crisply written, with great characterization, this is one to look for.”--Brendan DuBois, coauthor with James Patterson of The Cornwalls Are Gone.

"Noir suspense at its best! Private eyes, hit men, globe-trotting, and characters you don't know whether you can trust or not. Fans of James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, and Fredrick Forsyth will love Bolt!"--Matthew Farrell, best-selling author of What Have You Done

Praise for Bryan Cassiday's Zombie Books

"The plot engages from the beginning and holds the reader's interest until the last page."--The Booklife Prize on Horde

"Cassiday blends thoughtful suspense and pulse-pounding terror to deliver a novel with both bite and creeping dread."--David Dunwoody, author of Empire and The Harvest Cycle

"Written with the epic scope of World War Z and infused with the gritty spook works derring-do of a Robert Ludlum spy thriller, Sanctuary in Steel is full of zombie mayhem through and through."--Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Flesh Eaters and Inheritance

"Sanctuary in Steel made me feel like I did the first time I watched Romero. Fresh, exciting and engaging like any outbreak story should be."--Iain McKinnon, author of Domain of the Dead

Reviews

[Justyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comes a Chopper by Bryan Cassiday
I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

“Condemned”
A man searches for his brother in an unfriendly town. This story seemed like there should be more to it and left me hanging. 2/5

“Lizard Man”
A gambler finds his way out of a financial jam by dreaming of Lizard Man to kill the people pestering him. I felt this interesting idea could’ve been taken further. 2.5/5

“Through These Eyes”
A man is sent a video of him killing someone and doesn’t remember doing it. There were some nice ideas here to make a creepy ending. 3/5

“Identity Crisis”
A family’s daughter is kidnapped by Satanists. This was interesting, thought he pacing felt too rushed, and the ending felt like there should be more. 2/5

“The Lucifer Wasp”
An entomologist obsessed with finding a vaccination for bee venom gets stung by his creation, the Lucifer Wasp. This story started with a summary of events before going into real time and this bothered me, and once the idea of the wasp was established, there wasn’t much else. 2/5

“The Fine Print”
A truck driver in need of money signs a contract to receive good luck in exchange for him to kill somebody. So far this is the most solid story. 3/5

“Infestation”
A blind man gets stuck in a zombie infestation. Like some of the other stories, it seemed as if the ending had been cut off. 2/5

“Holder’s Coffin”
A mortician believes he’s buried someone alive when he sees a bleeding coffin. Decent, and the ending wrapped everything up. 3/5

“Brush with Death”
A hypnotist messes with trying to control a zombie. This was interesting, but I’m not fond of zombies. 2/5

“Second Sight”
A hitman with a premonition someone is going to kill him visits a psychiatrist. I’ll excuse the stereotypical therapy as Freudian psychoanalysis, and praise this for its focused idea and resolution. 3/5

“The Sand Stalker”
An actor believes a murder is stalking him finds out their true identity. It was another interesting concept for a decent story. 3/5

“Crisis”
A sufferer of catalepsy request to not be buried until he’s confirmed to be dead, only to find out an undead plague has struck. I guess this story was about selfishness despite the zombies. 2.5/5

“Cellular”
An idea I thought could’ve taken a better direction than a guy telling someone about what murders he’s committed. 2/5

“Boxed”
In another zombie story, strangers trapped on an elevator try to figure out who’s been bitten. I’ve seen this situation before which suits the short story format. 2.5/5

“Mallory’s Last Stand”
Another zombie story, but this time a cop who’s also a zombie killer neglects his family only to suffer the consequences. I sensed a theme of regret in this which is a plus. 2.5/5

“A Way Out”
A hitman who wants a new life gets caught in a satanic cult. Another interesting idea, though it’d be more horrific if I cared for the main character. 2/5

I wanted to like this book and the descriptions of the stories sounded compelling, but I couldn’t get into it. As with any short story collection or anthology I hoped to find a few gems, but not this time. On a positive note, the stories were consistently no worse or no better comparatively and there were some interesting ideas. However, the writing wasn’t up to par. I found too much telling and redundancy of making the same point over and over, and irritating dialogue where characters would ask what the reader should be asking. As a reader I can make inferences myself without being told what has happened or what questions to ask, and I do like some ambiguity, and even then an ending must have some resolution. The stories lacked the haunting resonance to make any of them memorable.
2.4/5

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comes a Chopper was my first experience with Bryan Cassiday.  He put together a great collection of stories, the first is Condemned. A story of a man looking for his brother in a strange and quiet town. This is followed by Lizard man, this is a fun straight forward horror story of a man with strange dreams. In his story Identity crisis a family deals with a family member who is kidnapped, the ending that comes out of left field leaves you stunned. The stories told here get better and better, in Fine print a man is told an unbelievable tale. This is classic horror story telling at it's best, reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. There are so many good stories in this collection. They are fun, quick and witty. Crisis is another great twist on an apocalyptic tale of a man who fears he will be buried alive. Cellular is an excellent story with a hint of truth in the subtext about a man's cell phone telling him what to do. The final tale is Boxed, a great story about a group trying to escape the end of the world as zombies close in on them. These are just a few of the stories in Comes a Chopper, some that really stood out. It's a great read for horror fans.

[Josh Chireno · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book at night and I'm glad I did.
Cassiday truly provides an engaging horror novel in short vignettes to wonderful effect. The stories are creepy, the writing is solid, and the character development is amazing considering the length of each segment. 4/5

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Warning! LONG Review. And kinda sorta spoilers!*
This review is most likely the longest I have ever wrote due to the fact that this covers a collection of short stories.
“Condemned” (1 star rating): This one felt very simply written, but instead of feeling like a short story, I felt like I had read a random chapter out a book. I had a few problems with the story…
1) Why does the Coroner just randomly open up to a stranger if he is so fearful for his life?
2)What’s the deal with the brother? Why is he in hiding?
I really felt like there was more to this story and could have been fleshed out a bit more. Maybe not a novel-sized story but at least a few more pages.

“Lizard Man” (2 stars rating): Again, the simple writing and a feeling of being rushed through. This one also felt as if it would have been better with a few extra details and added pages. I felt this story should have covered a couple of days instead of basically a few hours. But I did love that last paragraph!

“Through These Eyes” (½ star rating): I did not like this one at all. A waste of pages, really. I get that the point of short stories are little mini books, basically, a quick, easy read. But this… What the hell was the point?
1) Where did the video come from? Why was it made? Why was it sent to him?
2)Why is he in the dark about what he has done?
3) Why does no one seem to know recognize him?
I don’t care what color hoodie the pointless character of his girlfriend is wearing when I have no idea what the hell is happening…

“Identity Crisis” (4 star rating); This one I LIKED. A bit jumbled with stiff dialogue, but a plotline that I fully enjoyed. SO messed. Loved it. (However it is spelled “Kidnap/Kidnapped/Kidnappers”. Two “P”s when “ed” or “er” is added. This was distracting throughout the story as well as on the back cover) The other thing: one sentence read “ACCESS of rage” Is it suppose to be ‘EXCESS of rage“?

“The Lucifer Wasp” (4 star rating): Ugh… OK. This one made my skin crawl which I guess was suppose to be the point. Best short story “timing” so far, neat and compact, I feel as if there was a whole story in this one. Really enjoyed it.

“The Fine Print” (4 star rating): Clever storyline. I liked it. Another that was neat and compact with a beginning, a middle and an end. Plus, no nagging questions leftover when done.

“Infestation” (3 star rating): Nice take on the Zombie-verse. Blind guy? Interesting spin and that deal with the eyes and not smell… kinda cool. Story fell a bit flat though, but still pretty good. (One sentence mentions a “phone BOTH“. I assume it was suppose to be a phone BOOTH”

“Holder’s Coffin” (4 star rating): I liked this one. But I gotta ask about Herb. Real or no? I’m assuming not since he saw what De Quincey saw but I still feel unsure about it.

“Brush with Death” (3 star rating): Not bad. So far it’s not the worst, but it isn't the best either. I can picture this story occurring at the same time as “Infestation”. Better written than a few of the others, but the story line was a bit predictable after the new twist of the hypnotizing part.

“Second Sight”( 3 star rating): A bit predictable but granted it did have a twist. Fear of dying and only two people in the room…easy to see where that was going. Nicely written though and slightly entertaining.

“Sand Stalker” (1 star rating): This was another was seemed pointless? Was he crazy? Seeing a shadow? I don’t get what was going on and the couple that he interacted with just seemed like a tacked-on afterthought to have some one asked “What happened to Vince?” at the end.

“Crisis” (2 ½ star rating): Another one that I see taking place in the same time frame as ‘Infestation” and ‘Brush with Death”. It rang hollow. Sudden outburst between a man, his wife and best friend? AND, he just happened to have a fit after branching the discussion with the wife and B.F.F? Little hard to swallow. But I did like the story as I am still enjoying this new take on how to NOT get eat by Zombies.

“Cellular” (1 star rating): Not impressive. Almost lame. It was decently written but wasn't believable at all. Not unless Charles was a pea brained idiot.

“Boxed” (2 ½ star rating); This kinda felt like the movie “Devil’ which wasn't very good. Another story that I see happening with “Infestation” and the other two. If his wife really did tell him that…why did he get on the elevator? Not hard to understand why now. But nice touch with the multiples.

“Mallory’s Last Stand” (3 star rating) Taking place slightly after “Infestation”…perhaps? Well-written, to the point and almost heartbreaking. Was expecting the twist of it all being in his head and the last three murders to be unnecessary and caused by his warped mind. But instead the twist is there is no twist. Sneaky. I approve.

“A Way Out” (2 star rating); Not the big bang ending that I was hoping for. But the book ended on a better note than it began. Never read anything that mentioned C.M kids. So that was slightly refreshing.

Overall:
I noticed some simple redundancy in the stories. Some were repeated almost right behind each other and then others were slightly spaced out. It came across as fillers or almost as if the author had forgotten that he filled us in on that tiny detail previously.
The word “smartphone is almost grossly abused throughout the book. At this point, most people have a smart-phone and so “phone”, “cell”, “cell-phone”, “cellular” would have broken up the over-use. Should have name-dropped a brand or two because the word “smartphone” used 8 times on one page alone? A little much, to say the least.

At times, I felt like details, most seemly unimportant, were being flung at me just to fill a page. They weren't ingrained in to the story and stuck out awkwardly. Example: “Dressed in a shift, she had straight blonde hair that reached several inches down her back” -”Identity Crisis” I didn't mind knowing that she had long hair. But instead of it being thrust at me, something along the lines of the mom moving/pacing and flipping her long hair back or pulling it up. Anything but the strange announcement that just kind of hung there. ( And I think if you are a “blondE” that you have “blond” hair? The “E” is absent on the color descriptive?)
Other descriptive facts show up too late. Example: Sully is 60. The story is half over by the time this fact is leaked to us and I have a mental image that doesn't match the newly discovered tidbit. Could have told us that he was 55 at the time of his accident, as we are told it was 5 years ago. Most people can figure the age for themselves.

For the most part, I enjoyed the book. Some stories I could have read a novel sized story about, and others made me thankful it was a collection of horror stories. I am not adverse to reading more by B.C.

[Thomas Bruso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing short fiction is more challenging than penning a novel. With short stories, the author has to get to the point immediately. Grip the reader in the first sentence, either with biting dialogue or an action scene. And with only a certain of pages to tell the story.

In Cassiday's COMES A CHOPPER, most of the stories in this collection end abruptly, leaving the reader wanting to learn more about a character's motive for doing something. In the first story, CONDEMNED, a man is searching for his brother in unfamiliar territory, a small town called San Remo, where his sibling was last known to be living. As Dan asks questions to the strange denizens about his brother's whereabouts, he, along with insurance investigator, Caitlin, who is also looking for Dan's brother, Sam Bronson, things get weirder. Nobody knows who the man is. And when Dan questions the sheriff, all hell breaks loose. The ending, though startling, left me puzzled and asking myself more questions. I thought the story needed more meat on its bones, and a better explanation why Dan and Catiln were succumbed, or condemned, to San Remo the way they were.

I liked IDENTITY CRISIS, a story about a kidnapping and a ransom. Believable. Lots of action and suspense. Interesting, realistic characters. LIZARD MAN concluded a twisty ending, which I liked: Beware of what you wish for--dreams can be deceiving. I thought its sudden ending could have benefited from more storytelling.

Throughout the sixteen stories, I felt that the dialogue between characters was stilted and forced. Some of the character's motivations for a solution were unrealistic. For example, in the third outing, THROUGH THESE EYES, a character is watching himself killing another human being on his laptop. It reads: "I hoped she couldn't see the laptop image of me killing blubbery man with the blood sloshing out of his neck coating my eager tongue that I was sticking out in anticipation." The narrative is too wordy.

However, some of the stories stood out for me. "Holder's Coffin" and "The Fine Print" were my favorites in the bunch, both well-written and suspenseful, keeping me flipping the pages. Good characterizations and plot. I wished the stories were longer.

[Sinead · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Gooodreads FirstReads giveaway.

I actually finished this collection of short stories over a week ago, but I went on vacation so I didn't have time to review. I purposely chose this book before leaving since it consisted of a series of short-stories which would be perfect in case I didn't finish it before I left. That being said, I stayed up late the night before I was supposed to leave so I could finish all the stories.

I loved a good horror story. I love being scared! While I wasn't scared during any of these stories, many of them were enjoyable. My favorite was "The Fine Print." Kind of gave me chills at the end and I thought it could be turned into a movie.

Many of the stories were zombie-themed and I like zombies as much as the next person, I wish there weren't so many. They were enjoyable, but I felt like "here we go again, more zombies."

Some of the stories felt a bit choppy toward the end, but overall it was an enjoyable read and gave me things to think about before my vacation.