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So far this novel has been excellent as I had been expecting from my time with his social plays as a teenager. Lord Henry is a beast in so many ways and in so being will be the undoing of Dorian Grey

"Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.… A new Hedonism– that is what our century wants. You might be its visible symbol."

Another local library read for me today. Seems like a great setup for a horror story. Not much to report so far but seems like it could be a script for one of those Conjuring style movies. Great setting as well in an small town in Sicily.

Library Read #2. I don't really read enough mainstream horror these days. So it's nice to grab some at the local library and settle in. This one sounded a blast. Horror set in a historical setting and also with a sense of adventure or doomed expeditions are really fun. Hoping this one is good. The atmosphere so far is really good at least.

Recently signed my kids up to the local library so whilst I was there I renewed my card and went shopping around for some good stuff. I haven't read a Jonathan Aycliffe for a while so jumped on this one. So far so good. Very creepy atmosphere brought together in a series of journal entries, letters, newspaper articles. Very reminiscent of Bram Stokers classic. But a much easier read that oozes atmosphere.

So so many ideas have been pinched out of this novel for later books and TV shows. 🤣 World War Z, Walking Dead, 28 Days Later etc. Funny really how it's not as well recognised as it should be. Some some ideas even seem straight lifted from the pages.

One of the lesser names of the old school UK horror scene. When I was reading "Them" by Mique Watson I briefly remembered this book among the rank of crazy people doing crazy things books with some nice gore that would make him recognisable against the other proto splatter guys around the same time like Hutson, Laymon etc. Though this one was definitely written for teenagers who were stealing away dad's nasty books

Eesh.. that segment was vile. Though I was kinda prepared for it after reading some reviews but man.. that took it bit far.

There's a few issues with the writing in this one, a couple of continuity errors and some general loose writing. But overall I'm impressed with the story. Bonus marks for including a section in the sewers as it's always a great place for some nastiness, especially given the limited light sources available to the survivors.

The first couple of chapters were very creepy and well done. I love that whole imposter syndrome setup if had going with the smiling creeps. Nice stuff. Then there is a very gruesome scene in a rundown building that really pushes boundaries. Very lurid, gruesome and nasty mean spirited stuff.

So begins the absolute carnal violence that made movies such as ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ so infamous. Ruggero Deodato would no doubt blush at what Jon Athan is able to ‘get away’ with in the written form. Jon Athan was able to handle this well without it seeming forced and childish. It's a realistic, chilling depiction of savagery and survival.

Really well written, oozes with malice and mystery.

All in all a remarkable start to the novel. McCammons writing style is so phenomenal. Building up layers of dread and tension with a skill much higher than most of his contemporaries. 

I've really enjoyed this one so far. Weirdly the first 30% or so was a slice of life drama that I actually quite enjoyed. The rest I have read so far I would classify as fantasy, specifically portal fantasy. A grown up Narnia. There's a tiny scattering of horror here but not as much as what I would expect from Stephen King.

Making slow progress with this one as not getting as much time to read the last few days. But really enjoying this one so far, much more literary than the last few novels I have read. The characters are all very well crafted, the dialects are very realistic, lots of historical detail.. There's a supernatural element to the story but the horror is from the abuse and day to day racism that the characters deal with.

Reminding me of Laymons "Beast House" books. Never read one of Sodergren's books before so this is good. **** just hit the fan so I'm expecting it to go flat out from mere on it.

Absolutely non-stop action and gore. Absolutely relentless. Always had a soft spot for books like this, "The Fog" and "The Dark" by James Herbert for instance or like The Crazies movie.

So far so good, quite enjoying it. Failing to find the "splatterpunk" as mentioned in the blurb though. But there's still a chance.

This one's really good, enjoying the story a lot. It's very menacing and you never quite know what to expect as the games begin. I can only imagine that it's going to get much, much worse for Jane.

Breasts, breasts, breasts, nipple, breast, breasts, nipple, rump. Sexual menace. You can tell this is going to be classic Laymon formula 🤣

Seen a lot of negative reviews on this but it's not half bad. Will probably try and finish this off today.

Reading this one alongside the kids. They have been constantly buzzing about this series as they have access to a large pool of them between home and school. Decided to grab a handful of ebooks that they could take away and read on holiday and in the meantime decided I would have a read through as struggling with some of my books at the moment. It's not a masterpiece by any means but I'm enjoying it enough.