Crawl by Edward Lorn

Description
You’re out in the middle of nowhere.

You’ve been crippled and left for dead.

There’s something in the woods.

It’s coming.

There’s only one thing you can do…

CRAWL


It's hard for me to write a detailed review of a short story without giving too much away. I will just say Edward Lorn has done it again.
An unhappy couple are about to separate. Perhaps that separation would have been temporary, or perhaps this trip would have led to eventual divorce, had it not been interrupted by the horror they encounter during their travels. A quick and creepy read. 4 out of 5 stars from me.

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn

Description
By the New York Times bestselling author of Manson, the comprehensive, authoritative, and tragic story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre—the largest murder-suicide in American history.

In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California. He became involved in electoral politics, and soon was a prominent Bay Area leader.

In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jones’s life, from his extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing to the fraught decision to move almost a thousand of his followers to a settlement in the jungles of Guyana in South America. Guinn provides stunning new details of the events leading to the fatal day in November, 1978 when more than nine hundred people died—including almost three hundred infants and children—after being ordered to swallow a cyanide-laced drink.

Guinn examined thousands of pages of FBI files on the case, including material released during the course of his research. He traveled to Jones’s Indiana hometown, where he spoke to people never previously interviewed, and uncovered fresh information from Jonestown survivors. He even visited the Jonestown site with the same pilot who flew there the day that Congressman Leo Ryan was murdered on Jones’s orders. The Road to Jonestown is the definitive book about Jim Jones and the events that led to the tragedy at Jonestown.

You probably know the expression... "don't drink the Kool-Aid." You may not know it was actually a cheap knock off  called "flavor-aid" laced with cyanide that hundreds of people were forced to drink under threat of armed guards that fateful day in a South American jungle.  Years ago I saw a short documentary on Jim Jones, but until reading this book I never knew the road to Jonestown was paved with good intentions. The Peoples Temple began with like minded people who wanted only to help the downtrodden, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Elderly people were housed in nursing homes by followers of Jim Jones where even if they could not afford to pay, were given care that met or exceeded state standards. Young people were given college educations that they never could have paid for on their own. They were made to feel that Jim Jones truly cared about them, and at first maybe he did. Then it all began to go horribly wrong.  This detailed and factual account  begins before Jim Jones was even born to a negligent mother who wouldn't allow him to be in the house when she wasn't home, and a sickly father who was too weak to stand up to her. It ends with the aftermath of murder and suicide that took 918 lives. If you ever wondered why or how so many people could allow themselves to be led astray this is the book for you. 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review.

And Then There Was Me by Sadeqa Johnson

Description

On Memorial Day weekend in posh Spring Lake, NJ, Bea is vacationing with her husband Lonnie and their two children. A surrogate, she is hot, bothered, and very pregnant with Lonnie’s cousin Mena’s baby. But Bea is also secretly bulimic. No one knows her secret, especially not Lonnie.
Controlling husband Lonnie has recently plopped them into the middle to upper class suburb of Evergreen, New Jersey, which lacks the diversity that Bea, half African-American and half Dominican, craves. The demands of motherhood and fitting in to this new environment, while pretending not to know that her husband is cheating on her, again, is more than she can handle.
And Then There Was Me is the story of a woman who is stripped down to her lowest point and then has to turn inward to save herself from her own destructive behavior and find the will to press on.


Poor Bea! She learned early in life how to comfort herself with food as a substitute for love, and then to throw it all up instead of dealing with her feelings. Secretly bulimic for years, she does have long periods of time when she is able to control herself. However, this "dark horse" does rear it's head when she is going through times of extreme stress, such as finding out her husband is cheating on her again (and again and again)
On the outside Bea seems to have a great life, a handsome and attentive husband, great kids, and wonderful home. On the inside she is losing it, and losing herself. She beats herself up for staying with her husband through all of his cheating, but his latest affair takes the biggest toll of all.
4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review.

Something (Wisteria, Book 1) by Shelby Lamb

Description
“I will find true love and everything will be okay. I will find true love and everything will be okay…” she chanted.

They say be careful what you read. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. It can happen to anyone. This is just four teenagers’ story. Aubrey Golding hates her face, her body, and is devastated after Nathan Silva leaves her. Alone, suicidal, and desperate for love, she discovers a book called Something and unknowingly links others to a dark and terrifying curse that is beginning to consume her. Nathan is glad to be moving on with someone new and can hardly believe what is happening now. Wild child and amateur porn star, Bella Broadhurst, loves bullying that “emo whore” Aubrey with the other girls, but mostly she loves partying, hookups, and plain ol’ drama when terror arises. And Kendra Coke is just a new teen mother working on a delicate relationship when things start becoming utterly bizarre. Chilling sleep disturbances and figures hiding in the corners of their rooms are just warnings of what is to come. Be careful what you read, they say. Tread carefully.


I don't know what I just read. Is it porn? Is it horror? Is it horror porn? Part of me wants to say this book is for younger readers as the main characters are in their late teens, though it would not be appropriate for anyone under 18, with it's vast amounts of sex and partying.
Aubrey is suicidal over her break up with Nathan, who unbeknownst to her has hooked up with her best friend. At one of many parties (all these kids do is drink get high and switch sex partners) someone tells a creepy story of sleep paralysis and a stick woman who moves things around and leaves twigs behind. After this, everyone starts seeing strange visions, and shadowy demonic figures, and waking up with weird marks or pustules on their bodies. It's a complicated and convoluted tale.

I received an advance copy for review.