Little Black Crimes: Stories by Nathaniel Blackhelm

 For the sinners and antiheroes in LITTLE BLACK CRIMES, the road to deliverance is paved with brutality, and chock-full of deadly twists and turns.

Heavy are the crosses and crowns of these wayward souls, who wrestle with the pain of loss, the torment of lust, the burning need for retribution, redemption, power.

Sparks and bullets fly in these tales of noir and terror that ignite the page, blazing their way into the pantheon of modern pulp.

Little Black Crimes is a collection of well-crafted, brutal, and malignant stories concerning humanity's vile and seedy side. Loaded with repugnant characters beyond redemption, it is not a book for the faint of heart. It is unnerving, unsettling, deeply disturbing and more than once made me question whether I was "mature" enough for this content. You will want to read this book, yet you will not want to get caught reading it. I mean seriously hide this book if you have guests over, it's not something you would want your grandma to ask you about if she saw it on your coffee table.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Nathaniel Blackhelm 

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The Horror at Pleasant Brook by Kevin Lucia

 

This Halloween, a malevolent, creeping horror invades a small, isolated town nestled deep in the Adirondacks. It cares nothing for this town’s secrets, prejudices, or flaws. Its only desires are to consume everything in its path and spread, until nothing else remains.

It is ancient, pitiless, and unstoppable. It is the horror at Pleasant Brook.

Then:

Lisa Owen just wanted the pain to go away. The loneliness. The ache for children that she will never have. The loss of love, trust, and intimacy that turned her marriage into a shell of what it used to be. What she sets in motion is horrific.

Now:

Squatters living in the old Owen house awaken an evil that had been dormant until Bobby Lee Haskel put on a mask that wouldn't come off. A mask that changed him into something else. Suddenly there are residents of Pleasant Brook going missing, and people are seeing menacing figures skulking around in the most repulsive looking masks.

One young horror movie obsessed teen, and the town's constable have discovered the truth, but they may be too late to save Pleasant Brook and themselves from a fate worse than death.

The Horror at Pleasant Brook is a gory, blood splattery, good time, with a diverse cast of characters, bucket loads of entrails, and suspenseful writing that will have you jumping at shadows and cringing at every unexpected noise. This is a book that I would love to see made into a movie, even though I might have to cover my eyes during the more grisly parts.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Kevin Lucia

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Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

 When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.

Christa is expecting a getaway with her boyfriend in a secluded mountain lodge. What she gets is a vacation from hell, stranded with strangers in bitter cold howling winds after their bus gets stuck. The snow is drifting ever higher, there's very little food, no cell phone service, and a psycho killer is on the loose. 

Taking refuge in a small hunting cabin, these strangers must band together if they hope to outlast the storm and the killer.

Dead of Winter is a survival horror that overlaps with the slasher genre. Personalities clash in the claustrophobic little cabin. As the tourists get picked off one by one tempers flare and trust flies out the window when they suspect the killer must be one of their little group. I had my own suspicions before the halfway mark that turned out to be correct. Towards the halfway point, I began to wish they would just get on with it when it began to feel too long and drawn out to get to the reveal. So while I loved the premise and the set up I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was a crisp and clean 300 pages instead of dragged out to 384.

3 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press

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The Reaping by Bernard Taylor

When Tom Rigby is commissioned to paint a young woman’s portrait at Woolvercombe House, the offer is too lucrative to refuse. But from the moment of his arrival at the secluded country mansion, strange and inexplicable events begin to transpire. Soon he is drawn into an impenetrable maze of horror, and by the time he discovers the role he is intended to play in a diabolical design, it will already be too late. For the seeds of evil have been sown, and the time to reap their wicked harvest is nigh!

The classic third novel by ’70s and ’80s horror master Bernard Taylor, The Reaping (1980) returns to print at last in this edition featuring a new introduction by Will Errickson and the original cover painting by Oliver Frey.

Tom Rigby, widowed father, and struggling artist, dreams of selling his work and settling down with his mostly missing girlfriend, who is always galivanting off to exotic locals for her work. 

When he is offered a large sum of money to stay at a mansion and paint a portrait it seems that his talent is finally getting the recognition he has hoped for. The people at the mansion are strange and so is the group of nuns who are staying at the property.

I loved Sweetheart, Sweetheart by Bernard Taylor and after giving it 5 stars I rushed to buy several more of his books including The Reaping. I've been wanting to read it for years but am always behind in ARCs. So it was with great anticipation that I finally sat down to read this over Mother's Day weekend when I felt that my time belonged to me, to do as I please. If I were to describe it in one word it would be boring. It is 220 pages and gets interesting around page 200 in time for the ending, which was not all that original. I'm disappointed and wish I had my weekend back. This book has loads of good reviews, so you may enjoy it more than I did, but personally, it is not a book I would recommend. Someday I will read his other books since I have already purchased them and I will hope that this is the only clunker in the bunch.

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