The Binding:by Nicholas Wolff

Description
When a rare mental disorder begins to consume his small-town neighbors, a young psychiatrist digs up the past for clues to the epidemic’s bone-chilling source in this brilliant supernatural horror debut, written in the bestselling tradition of Peter Straub.

Convinced that evil spirits have overtaken his daughter, a desperate father introduces her to Nat Thayer, a young psychiatrist in their sleepy blue-blooded Massachusetts college town. Thayer quickly diagnoses the girl with Cotard Delusion, an obscure condition sometimes described as “walking corpse syndrome.” But Thayer soon realizes his patient—and many of the local families—are actually being targeted by a malignant force resurrected from the town's wicked history. Thayer must discover the source of the spreading plague…before there is no one left to save.

Something horrifying is going on in this picturesque town in MA. The dead are not at peace. Bodies in the morgue are rearranging themselves or disappearing altogether, Meanwhile a living breathing girl insists that she is indeed dead. A little boy who can not speak is drawing pictures of his only friend, a demonic looking being he calls The Magician. All is this and more ties this community to something horrible that happened long ago and far away. I love horror stories that are set right here in New England so I was already looking forward to reading this book, and it did not disappoint me.

I received an advance copy for review

The Real Mrs. Price by J.D. Mason

Description
"Lucy Price is living the American dream. She has been married to her successful husband and businessman, Edward Price for a year and couldn’t be happier until she learns that Eddie is a dangerously ruthless man, heavily involved in illegal activities that threaten not only her marriage, but her life. Eddie abruptly disappears, but not before warning Lucy that if she wants to keep breathing she'd better keep her mouth shut. Six months later, word of her husband surfaces when she learns that he is presumed murdered in a small Texas town, apparently killed by his “wife”, Marlowe Price.

Marlowe is no stranger to trouble. An outcast in her own community for being one of those "hoodoo women," who can curse you or cast you under her beguiling spell, Marlowe is shunned at every turn. Six months ago, a whirlwind romance in Mexico led Marlowe to marry the man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with. For Marlowe and Eddie, there is no such thing as trouble in paradise. But late one night, when Marlowe witnesses her husband putting the body of a dead man in the trunk of his car, the illusion comes crashing down around her and she knows she has to move fast before the devil comes calling once again.

Now, Lucy and Marlowe must come together to find out where and who Eddie really is, and help each other through the threat he poses. There's nothing more dangerous than a woman scorned...except for two women scorned who are willing to put their pasts behind them and band together to take one bad man down" 


Lucy Price has reason to believe that her husband has been involved in some illegal activity and may have killed someone. In a rage he almost kills her as well, but when a neighbor intervenes Eddie runs off.
Meanwhile the "other" Mrs. Price knows more than she's telling, and has seen visions of a "devil" coming her way. She is suspected of killing her husband Eddie, but is he even really dead? More than just the two wives and the police want to know the answer. There are other far more dangerous people interested in his whereabouts.
This is a story of Sex, murder, magic, and mystery. I would rate it 4 out of 5 suspenseful stars.

I received an advance copy for review.

The Voice Of The Night - By Dean Koontz (originally under the pen name Brian Coffey)

Description
No one could understand why Colin and Roy were best friends. Colin was so shy; Roy was so popular. Colin was nervous around girls; Roy was a ladies' man. Colin was fascinated by Roy - and Roy was fascinated by death. Then one day Roy asked his timid friend: "You ever killed anything?" And from that moment on, the two were bound together in a game too terrifying to imagine...and too irresistible to stop.


I didn't realize that I had read this book many years ago when it was published under the name Brian Coffey. A few years ago I bought it when it was released on kindle under the name Dean Koontz. As I finally got around to reading it, bits and pieces came back to me.

Anyway, Colin is a shy and quiet, friendless, boy who loves to read and watch movies. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother who is almost never home and does not seem to have much if any time for him.

He strikes up a friendship with Roy, or more specifically Roy chooses to strike up a relationship with him. Roy is a disturbed and twisted individual who enjoys torture and killing.

I would probably have rated this 5 stars if Koontz had not made the mother such a senseless flipping moron who would rather believe outrageous stories about her son with no proof and so easily having the wool pulled over her eyes by an Eddie Haskell type fake politeness. Therefore, 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Carrion by Jonathan R. Rose

Description
Carrion is about a world consumed by chaos. But in this world, you are not a desperate survivor hoping to outlast the bedlam; instead, you are the monster that caused it. Consumed by an insatiable hunger, a malevolent need to feed, you are the one from whom the masses flee. And because of you a group of barbaric men led by a fanatic with a gleaming badge fastened to his chest have banded together with the intention of hunting you and all those like you down. Follow in the footsteps of a fiend. See what he sees. Taste the flesh. Smell the decay. Suffer the anguish. Witness a massive city crumble under the weight of fear and hate and become hell. Whether engulfed in flames, or flooded by lakes of blood, all that remains are monsters and men, and the war that wages not only between them, but within themselves.



Carrion by Jonathan R. Rose
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book will not appeal to everyone. This is hard core horror. By that I mean if you only like to dip your toe in the horror pool as far as occasionally reading Stephen King this will not appeal to you and you may find it somewhat offensive. If however your tastes run more towards diving head first into the brutal and graphic horror of Edward Lee, this may be for you. If dripping entrails or chewing up the chubby little arm of an infant make you feel faint this is not for you.
“He ate ravenously, mouth frothing and slick. Drooling and snarling, his eyes rolling around like those of a shark”

Carrion is told entirely from the point of view of “The Monster” and because of that there is very little dialogue here. The monster is hungry and it wants to eat. That’s all. It has no interest in anything else. There are few human characters in this story and since the story is not really about them they remain undeveloped. Their interaction with each other is sparse and because of that you may not care much one way or the other whether they are killed and eaten.
I would have liked someone to root for, and a stronger plot line.

Jonathan Rose can write. I will definitely give him that. I can see a huge potential here.

I received a complimentary copy for review

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