The Fright Factory-William R. Potter

THE FRIGHT FACTORY -A cozy cabin on a lake. A few glasses of wine. Erotic conversation. What could go wrong?

Wesley and Robin Tate became empty-nesters in their early forties when their daughter left home for college.

Jesse Lawless is an indie film maker intent on producing the next great horror classic despite lacking the funds for actors, effects, or a script. He will stop at nothing to capture and upload his chilling masterpiece to satisfy his rabid internet fan base.

With a secluded resort cottage as the setting and the Tates as his cast, Lawless sets in motion a plan to produce the most realistic slasher flick ever.

The Fright Factory is Jesse's version of reality show and movie premise rolled into one. For the Tates, no acting ability is necessary as the terror becomes all too real. In each round, Jesse turns up the brutality in a game where killing your best friend may be the only way to survive.

I was given a complimentary copy for review.

It was a quick read that heads straight for the shock value, reminiscent of an Edward Lee novel or perhaps a Rob Zombie film where people are thrown together to be raped tortured and murdered.

I had issues with a few of the details where I would have to flip back a page to see if I had missed something. For example where one victim jumps from a boat and begins swimming to shore, even though as far as I could ascertain the boat had not yet left the shore.

The main character Wes is not particularly likable and I was not able to muster up much concern for whether or not he would live to the end of the story. The other characters and the relationships between them were not as well developed as I would have liked.

The Disappearance by Bentley Little

Description
When Gary's girlfriend Joan vanishes, calls to her parents' home yield only dead air. Her school records are gone. There is no longer any evidence that she even existed. Most disturbing of all is what Gary does find: a warning and a tantalizing clue, leading to a mysterious backward cult known as the Homesteaders. Now Gary may be the next to disappear.

I can usually count on Bentley Little to grab my attention and get my heart pounding from the very first chapter if not the very first page. This one just didn't do that for me. The first few chapters dragged a bit. Once it got going, it was an enjoyable, albeit predictable tale.

The Teratologist-Edward Lee, Wrath James White

Billionaire John Farrington is obsessed with the idea of offending God to the point that God would want to confront him in person. Farrington has abducted priests and nuns to commit sexual atrocities with the most grievously genetically deformed people he can find. People that he's also abducted and kept in such a high state of sexual intensity, with a drug his company produces, that they are just ravenous for physical contact. The abductees, with basically no self control, commit some of the most depraved sex acts, over, and over again. Westmore and Bryant, a photographer and journalist, are given the rare opportunity to interview the reclusive Farrington and see inside his mansion and operation. Only to find the horrors within, and who have become pawns in the mysteries they find behind every door. Farmington's plan may work, and to make sure he's successful, he will do whatever it takes to have the deity of man face him.

As a long time horror fan I have pretty much read it all, and as a long time Edward Lee fan nothing really shocks me anymore. I started sneaking my mother's horror paperbacks to school when I was 11 years old, which means I have now read over 30 years worth of horror novels (gasp!)In all those years, and all those novels, this is the only book that ever made me gag. And I do mean, I literally gagged, and thought for a moment I was actually going to toss my cookies. If that was the reaction Lee was going for, well kudos to you Mr. Lee.

Bad Wolf by Tim McGregor

Description
Detective Lara Mendes’s hard work pays off when she finally gets to join the homicide detail. There’s only one catch; she has to partner up with a cop no one wants to work with.

John Gallagher is a veteran homicide detective who wants nothing more than to work alone. When the Lieutenant partners him with Lara Mendes, his first reaction is to ditch her but a call comes in about a body on the river bank and the rotation says they’re up.

What they find are human remains, mutilated and partially devoured. Their investigation reveals a killer stalking the city with a pack of vicious, feral dogs.
And the suspect believes he is a werewolf.

But this is Portland, where crazy bastards outnumber normal ones ten to one. Except there’s another catch. The crazy werewolf guy? He isn’t crazy...

Author's note: Bad Wolf is my first novel and remains a favourite. This free full-length novel is the first in the Bad Wolf series about two homicide detectives trying to stop a monster. A murder mystery and police procedural, it's premise is simple; cops versus werewolves. I had an absolute blast writing this series. Now that's it's done, I miss these characters. The books, in order, are:

1 Bad Wolf
2 Pale Wolf
3 Last Wolf

This free book is the gateway to a world of monsters, gritty detectives and the werewolves that haunt the moonlit night.

 I found Bad wolf to be a well written story, with likeable and well developed characters. I would describe it as a police procedural with a twist. The twist being a bit of supernatural horror in the form of a werewolf that should appeal to fans of both crime thrillers and horror stories alike.