The Night Crew by Brad Ricks

Vampires, vengeance, and a quest for survival—The Night Crew is a heart-pounding supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

After the brutal murder of his wife, Michael White is thrust into a world of unimaginable horrors. With no help from the local authorities, he embarks on a personal investigation that uncovers a chilling truth—vampires are real.

When he confronts his wife’s killer, he discovers the true nature of the monster who tore apart his life—a bloodthirsty vampire who has already claimed countless victims. On the brink of becoming the undead himself, Michael is saved by a team of vampire hunters known as The Night Crew. They offer him a chance at revenge and a shot at redemption.

Teaming up with these skilled hunters, Michael must navigate a dark, dangerous world filled with vampires and other supernatural creatures. But the road to vengeance is fraught with peril, and Michael’s humanity is at risk as he battles to destroy the creature that killed his wife.

Will Michael be able to seek vengeance against the vampire that shattered his life while retaining his own humanity, or will he succumb to the darkness that threatens to consume him?

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!

Michael White returns home from work one night to a real-life nightmare.

He sees his wife through the window lying in a pool of blood. He thinks she must have hit her head, but then he sees it. Someone feeding on her. He tries to fight it off, but its superhuman strength makes that impossible.

Wracked with grief, and harassed by a cop who wants to blame him for the murder he vows to hunt down the killer, but he is not prepared for what he finds.

This was an action-packed, suspenseful, and blood-soaked read. The fast pace and heart-pounding search for the killer had me on the edge of my seat and was equaled only by my fear of what would happen once he was found. This is a book that straddles the line between horror and action thriller while fitting snugly into both categories.

My thanks to Crystal Lake Publishing for the e-ARC.

Get a copy

 

NORO by William F. Gray

 As a blizzard hits their rural Wyoming homes, Jonah Miller and his neighbor Con think the worst thing they have to worry about is being trapped and isolated with their dogs.

Then Con’s German Shepherd gets out in the middle of the storm after a mysterious meteor crashes out in the woods, forcing Jonah and Con to learn that there’s far more to fear than the cold and the snow piling up outside their doors...

John Carpenter’s THE THING meets CUJO and THE TROOP in NORO, a horror novella about two men’s fight for survival against an alien parasite searching for its perfect host.

Jonah and Con are neighbors and an approximation of friends. Con is a younger, affable man. Jonah is an older curmudgeonly type who lives alone with his dog Noro, and the guilt of what happened to his wife. He thinks he needs no help preparing for the storm, but this is his first winter at the cabin.

There's more to worry about than being snowbound when a meteor crashes in the woods. Con and his dog are the first ones on the scene, and unfortunately for them, the meteor has carried something alien and deadly to earth.

I loved the interaction between Jonah and Con. Even though Jonah seems to sometimes resent that his younger friend knows more than he does, when it really counts Jonah steps up to help. This was a perfect read for a cold winter's day. It's an adrenaline-fueled sci-fi horror that the author has also managed to pack with loss, grief, sacrifice, and gruesome body horror. I don't know how such a vast amount of sorrow and apprehension fit into 132 pages. 

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the e-ARC 

Available for pre-order

The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein

 There’s something wrong in Renfield County.

It’s in the water, the soil, the wood. But worst of all, it’s in the minds of the residents, slowly driving them mad. When Lawrence Renfield massacred his family and drew The Giant in his farmhouse with their blood, no one imagined the repercussions. At the very least, the bloodstained wood should have been set aflame, not chopped down and repurposed as furniture, décor, and heirlooms across the county. But that’s exactly what happened. Now regular people—like you and me—are sitting on… eating with… admiring… the cursed wood and reaping the consequences.

These are their stories.

In “My Name Is Ellie” a young girl uncovers disturbing secrets hiding in the walls of her beloved grandmother’s home. An unassuming box, built with reclaimed wood, connects a grieving widower with his late wife’s lingering spirit in “Hector Brim.” In “Detour” a father, desperate to return home, finds himself trapped in a dizzying maze, haunted by stories of lurking monsters that live off the remains of weary travelers.

Playing with the uncanny to explore themes of loneliness and grief, Sam Rebelein returns upstate to unravel the mysteries of Renfield. But regardless of what started the trouble, there’s one thing of which we can be for those living here, the nightmare is far from over.

The Poorly Made is anything but! This is an outstanding collection of wicked tales connected by the evil that seeped into the wood, water, and land of Renfield County and spread through the country in the form of blood-stained souvenirs.

At the start of the book and in between each story is a frantic series of emails from a woman who is desperate to connect with her brother to share what she has learned about Renfield and its connection to their mother's death. These emails provide insight into the dark history of Renfield and the far-reaching consequences suffered by those who have come in contact with it. They also help to create a sense of urgency because for goodness sake why doesn't he answer her?

As for the stories themselves, they bring the tangible fear of finding yourself on a road that never ends, body horror, cannibalism, lost souls, and more. They are dark, disturbing, and imaginative. The writing is impeccable. This is the first time in a while that I have felt truly lost in a book as if the vivid descriptions made the real world disappear.

5 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to William Morrow for the e-ARC

About the author

Available for Pre-order

Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel

Twenty-five year old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. Jamie, full of good-natured sixteen-year-old recklessness, is usually off fighting for what matters to him or getting into mischief, often at the same time. Dre, their brother, promised he would help raise Jamie–but now the ink is dry on the paperwork and in classic middle-child fashion, he’s off doing his own thing. And through it all, The Nightmare never stops haunting Calla: recurring images of her brothers dying that she is powerless to stop.

When Jamie’s actions at a protest spiral out of control, the siblings must go on the run. Taking refuge in a remote cabin that looks like it belongs on a slasher movie poster rather than an AirBNB, the siblings now face a new threat where their lives–and reality–hang in the balance. Their sister always warned them about her nightmares. They really should have listened.

 

Calla, Dre, and Jamie are siblings without parents. Their father is deceased and their mother may as well be dead since she is less than useless. Calla has taken custody of teenage Jamie, with promises of help and support from middle sibling Dre, but that never did amount to much more than empty words.

"To raise a child was to guard them. To raise a child was to let them find their own path."

 Jamie has always been a handful, and Calla is plagued with nightmares and visions of both brothers deaths. It's been a struggle all along to keep Jaimie out of serious trouble and she prays to whatever is willing to listen, to keep him safe. She is exhausted, and resentful, yet fiercely loyal in her love for her brothers but she is pushed beyond her breaking point. How can she protect them both at the same time? She is only one woman. Isn't she?

I can't say much else about the plot without spoiling it for you. So I will just say it's an original, imaginative, humorous yet horrifying debut novel. 

"He'd knocked over a guest book, or possibly the Necronomicon because the last guests of this cabin were probably the undead skeletons in the basement."

This is a remarkable story of family, love, dysfunction, and grief. It is alternately hilarious, frightening, and heart rending. If you are in the mood for something wild and weird this is it.

My thanks to St. Martin's Griffin for the invitation to read an early e-copy.

Get a copy