Paranoia Tango by Ray Garton

Some claim we are living in the “last days.” Some believe that extraterrestrials have been controlling world events for ages and now, having grown weary of us, are hitting the reset button. Others suspect that a sinister cabal has somehow wrested control from the hands of all the world powers and are steering us toward doom. The only thing everyone agrees on is this:

Something is not right. Something seems to be sucking the hope out of the world.

Hector Graham sees it in the gradual death of his hometown, Seabreeze, where he was born and grew up, where he married and raised a son. He sees it in the arrival at night of strange children who go door to door, demanding to be let inside. For some, the children bear gifts . . . but they come with a terrible price.

Jeff Duggins sees it in the sudden disappearance of an online friend known as Lizard Man. Jeff and his friend Darryl take a road trip to Sacramento to check up on Lizard Man and make sure he’s okay. They are concerned because he’s been making some strange claims about a pet iguana that has grown to enormous size and started to talk . . . and say some scary things.

Ray Garton brings his unique brand of fear to these two novelettes of modern dread in the digital age . . . a time when nothing is as it seems and everyone has a theory about what’s really going on.

The music has begun. It’s time to dance the . . . PARANOIA TANGO.

Paranoia Tango contains two creepy stories "The Last Days of Seabreeze"
and "Lizard Man Dispatches" based on urban legend and the crazy world of conspiracy theories.
I am a sucker for creepy kids in horror, be it books, movies, or urban legends. I think it goes back to my fear of dolls as a child. So Seabreeze was my favorite  as the mist rolls in and the town is taken over by those  black eyed children that have been all the rage since the 90s.
I'm not as big a fan of conspiracy theories or reptiles but somehow when you combine them it just works. It's easy to ignore people who go on and on about Roswell and the Illuminati but I suppose if a lizard wanted to bend my ear on the subject I would sit up and take notice!
5 stars from me.
If you can get hold of a copy give it a read, mine was a limited edition copy and I'm not sure if they're still around.

Before I Let You In by Jenny Blackhurst

From the No.1 bestselling author of HOW I LOST YOU, which Clare Mackintosh called 'utterly gripping', comes a chilling new novel. Perfect for fans of Louise Jensen's THE SISTER and Katerina Diamond's THE SECRET, Linda Green and Paula Hawkins.

Karen is meant to be the one who fixes problems.
It's her job, as a psychiatrist - and it's always been her role as a friend.
But Jessica is different. She should be the patient, the one that Karen helps.
But she knows things about Karen. Her friends, her personal life. Things no patient should know.
And Karen is starting to wonder if she should have let her in . . .


Karen, Bea, and Eleanor have been the best of friends since they were kids. Karen was always the one Bea and Eleanor could count on, come hell or high water. One day a threat presents itself to this friendship, in the form of a new patient who seems to know far too much about Karen and the lives of her friends. Wanting to protect them as she has always done, Karen struggles with how much information she is able to share since giving away too much would breach patient confidentiality. Tensions mount under the stress of too many secrets that even these best of friends have kept hidden from each other, and the dangers that lurk may threaten not only friendships but lives.
This was a brilliant psychological thriller full of suspense and domestic drama.
5 out of 5 stars
I received an advance copy for review.

The Sound of Broken Ribs by Edward Lorn

Lei Duncan has it all: the ideal life, the perfect career, a loving husband. What more could someone ask for? It is with this in mind that Lei takes her morning run.

Belinda Walsh has just lost it all: her home, her husband, her sanity. Everything she’s known to be true is a lie. It is with this in mind that she goes looking for something—or someone—to destroy.

When the lives of two strangers intersect, something will be born of the connection. For one of these two women, the truth of the world will shift and morph into something powerful and dangerous. A darkness of the mind. A rip in sanity.

And something will peek through that darkness, beckoned by the sound of broken ribs.


I have never read an Edward Lorn that I didn't enjoy. There are very few authors I can say that about.
The Sound Of Broken Ribs is as twisted as it's title. I'm not sure there's a lot I can say without giving away too much plot so I will stick with how it made me feel, because for me the best books are those that make you feel something.
For the briefest moment I felt sympathy for Belinda who had just had her ordinary hum drum life ripped out from under her, and then BAM I spent the rest of the book wanting to beat her to a pulp for making me feel sorry for her. Lets face it, lots of us have at some point been screwed over by a man we expected to live happily ever after with, but we didn't pull a Belinda.
The depth and scope of Lei's pain literally made my heart hurt. The suspense of not knowing for sure whether there were supernatural elements afoot or who would survive to the end kept me up turning pages until long past my bedtime. The ending was spectacular.
5 out of 5 stars

Gorilla in My Room by Jack Ketchum

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Description

I’m done.

 

Jack Ketchum is back with a brand new short story collection, full of the horror and terror we've come to love and expect from the author Stephen King has called, "one of the best in the business."

What Ketchum has crafted in these stories are portrayals of the starkest, darkest aspects of the human condition. These stories are enthJack Ketchum is back with a brand new short story collection, full of the horror and terror we've come to love and expect from the author Stephen King has called, "one of the best in the business."

What Ketchum has crafted in these stories are portrayals of the starkest, darkest aspects of the human condition. These stories are enthralling, expertly constructed, and very very powerful. Some will put a lump in your throat. Some will have you squirming. Some might be so intense and disturbing that they leave you no choice but to put it aside for awhile, catch your breath, and finish when you've worked up the guts.

This is fiction that does far more than "entertain," and it goes far beyond what we expect when we read "horror." No haunted houses here, no pitchfork-wielding devils with horns on their heads. The only monsters are the very worst kind: humans.

Table of Contents:
Introduction by Edward Lee
Gorilla in My Room
The Western Dead
Bully
Listen
Polaroids
Squirrely Shirley (with Lucky McKee)
Group of Thirty
Winter Child
Cow (with Lucky McKee)
The Transformed Mouse
The Right Thing
Awake
That Moment
Oldies
Seconds

Shortly after this book was published, we lost Jack Ketchum. I put off reading it for a while because I hated that it would be the last of his work that I would ever read, and I was not ready for it to be over. Now I wish I had started it sooner so that I could have asked him what in the world the title story was about. I didn't know him in person, but we were Facebook friends, and had I asked he would have answered because that is the kind of guy he was. He always had time for his fans, It was probably genius and whooshed right over my head? I don't know but it was a head scratcher for me. I loved the rest. My favorites were Squirrely Shirley, Group of Thirty, Winter Child, Cow, Oldies, and Seconds. Writing this review is harder than I expected it to be. The world has lost a master story teller. Thank you for the fears, the tears, the suspense and the gut wrenching horrors over the years.