Father's Little Helper by Ronald Kelly

 

Black Christmas

The citizens of Cedar Bluff, Tennessee, have never recovered from the Christmas Massacre of 1978 - that tragic day when Richard McFarland, armed with a shotgun, abandoned his wife and son and selected a local church as the stage for a bloody, murderous rampage. McFarland paid for his crimes in the electric chair. Yet, not even death will stop him from finishing what he started.

Bloody Legacy

After 14 years, Sonny's father is back. He'd been away so long that Sonny hardly remembered him. But Richard McFarland remembered his only son. And now, he will teach him how to kill.

Sonny is about to become a deadly force that will be unleashed on the unsuspecting citizens of Cedar Bluff. For, when the time is right, he will return to the small, quiet town, bringing death and destruction on an even more terrifying Christmas Day!

I took some time off from reading ARCs to get back to some old school Zebra horror from 1992. This particular version is hard to find these days, but it has since been rereleased for Kindle under the title "12 Gauge"

I had a hard time reading this one. Not because it isn't well written, but due to the subject matter. I think I just chose a bad time to read a book about mass shootings. Or maybe since there have probably been around 300 mass shootings in the 30 years since this was first published there may never come a time when I wouldn't struggle with such a plot. In Father's Little Helper, the son of a mass murderer comes back to town to shoot the survivors of his father's crime. It is gut wrenching, and brutal. The story opens with the original shooting spree, after which the killer's wife takes her young son into hiding. Sonny grew up never knowing what his father had done, but he always had an interest in serial killers and mass murderers. When he is 17 he learns the truth and sets out to make his daddy proud. I would only cautiously recommend this book to those who think they can handle it.

Kindle Version

About the author

Ronald Kelly was born and raised in the hills and hollows of Middle Tennessee. He became interested in horror as a child, watching the local "Creature Feature" on Saturday nights and "The Big Show"---a Nashville-based TV show that presented every old monster movie ever made ---in the afternoons after school. In high school, his interest turned to horror literature and he read such writers as Poe, Lovecraft, Matheson, and King. He originally had dreams of becoming a comic book artist and created many of his own super heroes. But during his junior year, the writing bug bit him and he focused his attention on penning short stories and full-length novels. To date, he has had ten novels and eight short fiction collections published. In 1992, his audio-book, DARK DIXIE, was included on the nominating ballot for a Grammy Award. He currently lives in Brush Creek, Tennessee with his wife, Joyce, his two daughters, Reilly and Makenna, and his son, Ryan (Bubba)

Nightmares in Aston: Wicker Village by Michael J. Moore

 

Aston, Washington, isn’t much more than a farming community, strewn with trees and fields full of cows. Located across from the local cemetery sits Wicker Village, a trailer park with a dark secret that eleven-year-old Juanito wishes he hadn’t uncovered. He’s only lived there a week, yet something has begun to stalk him in the form of bizarre hallucinations. Though he doesn’t know what’s causing them, it’s clearly not friendly and has no intention of going away until it gets what it wants. Unfortunately for Juanito, all it seems to want is him.

When the Boogey man shows up Juanito  has not even had time to process the stress of leaving his friends and his house in the city for a tiny 2 bedroom trailer that looks like a Twinkie. Of course he doesn't really believe in such things, he's practically in the 6th grade and too grown up to be scared by monsters, but there is definitely something spooky going on in the trailer park. It's a good thing Juanito is good at making friends because he'll need some help if he's going to solve the mystery and save his family from a threat they won't even believe in.

This is a fun and creepy story geared towards a middle school audience but could certainly be enjoyed by older horror fans as well. I liked the main character Jaunito who seemed wise beyond his years, and who had the maturity to befriend the bullied kid Pinky even knowing it may cause the bullies to start picking on him too. There are a few really spooky scenes but I think if your kids have read any Goosebumps they can handle it. It did surprise me that there was a reference to drinking beer in the woods by an 11 year old, I hope kids these days don't really start that early. To be clear it was not as if drinking in the woods was glorified or encouraged, but it happened, and if I were purchasing this book for a child I would want to be aware of that.

4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review

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About the Author:

Michael J Moore is an author from Washington state. His books include Highway Twenty, which appeared on the Preliminary Ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award, the bestselling post-apocalyptic novel, After the Change, which is used as curriculum at the University of Washington, the psychological thriller, Secret Harbor and the middle- grade story, Nightmares in Aston. His work has received awards, has appeared in various anthologies, journals, newspapers (i.e. the Huffington Post) and magazines (i.e. the Nation), on television (with acclaimed newsman, Carlos Watson) and has been adapted for theater.

Links for social media:

https://michaeljmoorewriti.wixsite.com/website

https://twitter.com/MichaelJMoore20

https://www.instagram.com/michaeljmoorewriting/

https://www.facebook.com/michaeljmoorewriting

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-moore-28b800178/

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi

 

A masterful, heart-palpitating novel of small-town horror and psychological dread from a Bram Stoker nominee.

Aaron Decker's life changes one December morning when his wife Allison is killed. Haunted by her absence--and her ghost--Aaron goes through her belongings, where he finds a receipt for a motel room in another part of the country. Piloted by grief and an increasing sense of curiosity, Aaron embarks on a journey to discover what Allison had been doing in the weeks prior to her death.

Yet Aaron is unprepared to discover the dark secrets Allison kept, the death and horror that make up the tapestry of her hidden life. And with each dark secret revealed, Aaron becomes more and more consumed by his obsession to learn the terrifying truth about the woman who had been his wife, even if it puts his own life at risk.

Expected publication date July 20 2021

Mired in grief, a man uncovers some startling revelations about his recently deceased wife that make him wonder if he ever really knew her at all. Small time reporter Allison had been doing a very different kind of investigation far out of the scope of her job. As Aaron becomes obsessed with following in her footsteps he discovers more than he may have wanted to know about his wife. Come With Me is a very dark and twisty tale of suspense that builds slowly at first until suddenly I got that awful sensation I have on elevators when my stomach drops and I feel like the floor fell out from under me. This was a brilliant mystery with supernatural overtones. Ronald Malfi has become one of my must read authors. I love the way he brings his characters to life. They are solid and their emotions are believable. The good guys are never the fake ultra perfect type and and the bad guys may be as foul as they come but they still feel genuine.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Available for preorder

About the author

Malignant Summer by Tim Meyer

 

It’s 1998 in Hooperstown, New Jersey and people are getting sick. Some citizens blame the local chemical plant. A select few believe something far more terrifying is responsible, a dreadful force that causes nightmarish visions and aberrant illnesses. Bad things are blooming in Hooperstown, and the stench of death is growing stronger...

Standing on the edge of summer break after the longest last day of eighth grade ever, Doug Simms and his two best friends join a group of older kids for an all-night scavenger hunt. It’s supposed to be a celebration, an evening of fun and freedom. But what happens that night will change their summer in the darkest ways imaginable. And not just their summer...but their entire lives.

MALIGNANT SUMMER is a coming-of-age epic where innocence is lost and the path through adolescence is painful. Where dreamscapes merge with reality. Where love seems possible, and the best season feels like it can last forever.

It's all fun and games until the mother of dead dreams wants to play.

What begins as a scavenger hunt ends in a fight for their souls. 

There is a lot going on in this larger than life coming of age tale. Hazardous waste dumping, a town built on abduction and assault, a supernatural entity. Now one after another the children are being diagnosed with cancer.

The author weaves this all together in a spellbinding story of epic proportions.

"From Almost every street corner, you could smell something rotten in the air, a fetid stink of a town gone wrong."

There are lots of characters here, the high school kids, middle school kids, chemical plant workers, a couple of sets of parents, a mom in a mental institution, a teacher and principal. It was a little overwhelming at first to keep track of them all, but they each have such strong personalities and all brought a unique element to the story.

Some of the residents of Hooperstown have succumbed to the evil, some have embraced it willingly.

Now it's up to Doug and his friends to save themselves, and maybe the world.

Not since the Losers Club have I been so invested in a group of kids, I even developed sympathy for one of the bullies after her bleak home life and abusive, drug addled parents were revealed.

Clear some space, the mother of dead dreams is coming to visit you this Malignant Summer.

I received an advance copy for review

Available for pre-order

About the author
Tim Meyer dwells in a dark cave near the Jersey Shore. He's an author, husband, father, podcast host, blogger, coffee connoisseur, beer enthusiast, and explorer of worlds. He writes horror, mysteries, science fiction, and thrillers, although he prefers to blur genres and let the story fall where it may.

You can follow Tim at https://timmeyerwrites.com