The Nightmare Man by J. H. Markert

 

Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of New Haven. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his latest horror novel, The Scarecrow. Now, on the eve of the book’s release, the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life.

Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder: a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks, and hung from the rafters of a barn, eerily mirroring the opening of Bookman’s latest novel. When another family is killed in a similar manner, Mills, along with his daughter, rookie detective Samantha Blue, is determined to find the link to the book—and the killer—before the story reaches its chilling climax.

As the series of “Scarecrow crimes” continues to mirror the book, Ben quickly becomes the prime suspect. He can’t remember much from the night he finished writing the novel, but he knows he wrote it in The Atrium, his grandfather’s forbidden room full of numbered books. Thousands of books. Books without words.

As Ben digs deep into Blackwood’s history he learns he may have triggered a release of something trapped long ago—and it won’t stop with the horrors buried within the pages of his book.

MY REVIEW: 4.5 Stars 

I’m trying to find the words for this review. It’s a sad day as Queen Elizabeth has died so I’m going to keep this short. 

I kept going back and forth between 4 and 4.5 stars. Some things I didn’t like for my own personal reasons. There were also many times I got confused with all of the different people of them being called by different names. 

All of this aside, I felt this was a refreshing horror novel. I loved the different ways the deaths were portrayed. I loved certain other aspects I can’t mention as they would be major spoilers! There are twists and turns, gruesome scenes and crazy revelations. I did grow to love a few characters and some deaths in the book got to me. 

I might have to get a physical copy of this one but definitely a finished kindle version

*Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane for a digital copy of the book 

Mel 

Terminal Peace by Jim C. Hines

 

The third and final book of the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse follows a group of unlikely heroes trying to save the galaxy from a zombie plague.

Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos and her team were trained to clean spaceships. They were absolutely not trained to fight an interplanetary war with the xenocidal Prodryans or to make first contact with the Jynx, a race who might not be as primitive as they seem. But if there’s one lesson Mops and her crew have learned, it’s that things like “training” and “being remotely qualified” are overrated.

The war is escalating. (This might be Mops’ fault.) The survival of humanity—those few who weren’t turned to feral, shambling monsters by an alien plague—as well as the fate of all other non-Prodryans, will depend on what Captain Mops and the crew of the EDFS Pufferfish discover on the ringed planet of Tuxatl.

But the Jynx on Tuxatl are fighting a war of their own, and their world’s long-buried secrets could be more dangerous than the Prodryans.

To make matters worse, Mops is starting to feel a little feral herself… 

MY REVIEW: 4.5 Stars 

I loved this trilogy!! I love the original storyline, the characters, and space as the setting 

In my opinion, this trilogy is underrated!! I think theses books should get more attention! The books are funny, have wonderful species of characters and you care for them! I’ve already ordered my hardback to go with my first two books!  Highly recommend! 

I’ll leave it with some fun quotes! 

*Humans are little more than animals. I say this not out of malice or racism. Indeed, I’m quite fond of human beings. But after years of study, I’ve found them to be an evolutionary quagmire of inefficiency. Scientifically and objectively, humans are a primitive species. 

They have redundant lungs and kidneys, but only a single brain or heart, as well as seemingly "optional" organs like the appendix. Even more absurd is their reproductive system. Half the species keep their genitalia on the outside of their bodies! Then there’s the human gastrointestinal abomination if ever there was one!! 

*The human GI tract is more than seven and a half meters long. Despite this absurd length, humans regularly emit foul-smelling exhaust as a byproduct of inefficient digestion. Krakau biochemists have tried for years to reduce these emissions through a carefully controlled diet, but their efforts have met with minimal success. 

** Thank you to Netgalley and DAW Books for a digital copy of this book. 

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾