Jeff’s Reviews > Cracking Spines: Three Decades of Horror > Status Update

My average rating for a book on a 5-star system is right around 3 stars. I believe this puts me firmly in the internet’s “hater” category. I disagree, of course. I believe I am respecting great books more by not associating them with average ones.

Misspelling Terminator 2: Judgment Day is unforgivable. And I had trouble remembering whether to put an 'e' in unforgivable, so there you go.

He Who Types Between The Rows is a great title for a book.

The Hungry Ghost by Dalena Storm: "Evil spirits, possession and...rescue cats? Yep." This sounds worth investigating.

I should specify these are fictional serial killer books. True crime is a separate genre, with a completely different fan base. Those people are even weirder than us.

Most monsters, alone, can terrorize an entire city. There are countless examples: vampires, werewolves, serial killers, Godzilla, etc.). This is where zombies are an anomaly. Zombies elicit fear through sheer quantity. In many aspects, zombie stories have more in common with natural disaster narratives than horror.

All I’m saying is, keep an open mind. Great books defy categorization. As much as I love horror, I can still admit a great family drama is always better than a terrible zombie book. But the zombie book will probably have better cover art.

I use the library constantly. I buy used books. I have an e-reader. I get free advance copies. Yet, I could still buy a brand-new Toyota Camry with the money I’ve spent on books in my life. Even more depressing is the amount of time spent reading books I didn’t even like. This book can save you from both of those horrible fates.

This may surprise you, but I want you to disagree with my rankings. A disagreement is still a conversation, and a book conversation helps everyone. Besides, it’s plain fun to talk about books. (You wouldn’t believe how much money I’ve spent flying to places just to do this).