Sleep Paralysis A Collection by Patrick Lacey

 

Description
Sleep paralysis: A transitional state between wakefulness and sleep, accompanied by powerful hallucinations and muscle weakness, preventing one from moving.

A website that specializes in suffering. A basement filled with secrets and bones. An apartment housing much more than just ghosts. These are the places between reality and the unknown. These are the stories that stay with you long after you've read them. These are the things that visit your dreams. And nightmares.

240 pages

Expected publication: July 2016 by Great Old Ones Publishing

This is a collection of 18 dark tales that manage to horrify and delight at the same time. While poking sarcastic fun at everything from  reality TV to those annoying telemarketer calls, the author never loses his grip on the good old fashioned creep out factor.
I enjoyed every story and I don't want to spoil any of them for you. My absolute favorites were the following...
 "Pen Pals" in which letters written by a 3rd grader travel much further than any postman delivers.
"Drowning In Filth" A popular host of a hoarders type TV show gets more than she bargained for when she is called to Amanda Cunningham's house.
"Lost And Found" in which a boy with a speech impediment finds his voice.. sort of.
"Send Your End" Was creepy as hell! Perhaps a cautionary tale of internet addiction.
In "Lynnwood Vampires" a father is concerned about the influence his daughter's new boyfriend is having over her.
In "Norton" a newly separated single father regrets letting his daughter bring home a stuffed animal.
"Cold Call" is the story of a woman having a devil of a time with harassing phone calls.
"Bad Egg" is about Laura, a woman who is heartbroken over her inability to conceive a child.
"Last Words" After the death of his father a man discovers some long hidden secrets.
"Lost Things" Henry, a homeless man finds a new purpose in life.
"The Boss" will make you think twice about complaining next time the local fast food place screws up your order. If they offer to fix it just let them.
"Mrs. Alto's Garden"  Kristen meets her new neighbor and learns some gardening tips that they don't teach you in home and garden magazines.
5 out of 5 stars from me

I received an advance copy for review.

The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn

Description
"Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or something—has other plans.
Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House…a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time."

The beginning of this book was quite intense and had me hooked right away. Aaron never knew his parents. He was raised by his aunt until the horrible day he lost her. At that time he was whisked away from his friends, and his childhood girlfriend never to return or contact them again...until another tragedy sends him home to Holbrook house. Aaron is in a terrible state of mind, and the fact that his childhood home is now considered the local haunted house by the towns people doesn't help matters any. He really is not a believer in ghosts or hauntings, but something has been waiting a very long time for Aaron to come home. I enjoyed this book though I can't say it blew me away like the previous work I read by this author "Brother" 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Ink And Bone by Lisa Unger

Description

In this explosive psychological thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger, a young woman’s mysterious gift forces her into the middle of a dangerous investigation of a little girl’s disappearance.

For as long as she can remember, twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery has been able to see into the future. She dreams about events before they occur and sees beyond the physical world, unconsciously using her power to make supernatural things happen.

But Finley can’t control these powers—and there’s only one person who can help. So Finley moves to The Hollows, a small town in upstate New York where her grandmother lives, a renowned seer who can finally teach Finley how to use her gift.

A gift that is proving to be both a blessing and a curse, as Finley lands in the middle of a dangerous investigation involving a young girl who has been missing for ten months and the police have all but given up hope.

With time running out there’s only so much Finley can do as The Hollows begins to reveal its true colors. As she digs deeper into the town and its endless layers, nothing is what it seems. But one thing is clear: The Hollows gets what it wants, no matter what.

 

 

Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I loved the beginning, and was sure this was going to be a real page turner, but the pace was too slow for my taste. Finley was the only character that I really liked, probably due to her "gifts." I enjoyed the supernatural/paranormal elements of the story but there weren't enough thrills for me to consider this a thriller.

I received a complimentary copy for review

View all my reviews

Dead Ends: The Pursuit, Conviction, and Execution of Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos by Joseph Michael Reynolds

Description

The chilling true story of female serial killer Aileen Wuornos, whose violent crimes shocked the nation—and inspired the Academy Award–winning film Monster.

When police in Florida’s Volusia County were called to investigate the murder of Richard Mallory, whose gunshot-ridden body had been found in the woods just north of Daytona Beach in December 1989, their search led them to a string of dead ends before the trail went cold six months later. During the spring and summer of 1990, the bodies of six more middle-aged white men were discovered—all in secluded areas near their abandoned vehicles, all but one shot dead with a .22 caliber pistol—and all without any suspects, motives, or leads.

The police speculated that the murders were connected, but they never anticipated what they’d soon discover: The killings were the work of a single culprit, Aileen Wuornos, one of the first women to ever fit the profile of a serial killer. With the cooperation of her former lover and accomplice, Tyria Moore, the police were able to solicit a confession from Wuornos about her months-long killing spree along Florida’s interstate highways. The nation was quickly swept up in the drama of her trial and the media dubbed her the “Damsel of Death” as horrifying details of her past as a prostitute and drifter emerged.

Written by the Reuters reporter who initially broke the story, Dead Ends is a thrilling firsthand account of Wuornos’s capture, trial, and ultimate sentencing to death by lethal injection, that goes beyond the media frenzy to reveal the even more disturbing truth.

I was not very familiar with this case before reading Dead Ends. Sure I have heard the name Aileen Wuornos and knew she was a convicted and executed serial killer, but that's really all I knew. I never knew she was pregnant at such a young age,  or tossed out on her own so young.
This was a highly detailed and informative account of how Aileen Wournos was caught, and her subsequent trial and sentencing.. There is no doubt she was guilty but after reading about people who planned to use her story as their own personal jack pot, or ending up with an attorney who called himself Dr. Legal I can't help but almost feel a speck of sympathy, not so much for her but for the childhood she had, and the child she was. I can't help but wonder if her son ever found out who his mother was and for his sake I hope he didn't know. Some questions are better left unanswered.  4 out of 5 stars from me.

 

I received an advance copy for review.