August 15

The Darkest Lullaby – Jonathan Janz

The old house waited. For years there had been rumors that the owner, Lilith Martin, had been part of an unholy cult. People spoke of blasphemous rituals, black rites filled with blood, sex…and sacrifices. Then Lilith died and the house sat empty. Until now.

Lilith’s nephew, Chris, and his wife, Ellie, are moving in. Ellie isn’t happy about living in such a dark, foreboding place, but she wants to get pregnant and this house has a lot more room to raise a baby than their apartment. Unfortunately, she and Chris will soon learn that Lilith has other plans.

 

My thanks to Flame Tree Press for my review copy and to Anne Cater at Random Things for the chance to join the blog tour.

 

I think there must come a point in every horror book or film where the viewer/reader asks “why don’t they just leave this place?”  In The Darkest Lullaby I think I reached this point around the time my Kindle told me I had read 40% of the story.

Clearly Jonathan Janz also appreciated his characters should have been getting the Hell out of Dodge as he worked in a couple of nice twists to ensure Chris and Ellie (our couple in peril) have to remain in their creepy house in the woods. No escape for Ellie from her husband’s odd and threatening behaviour. No escape for Chris from the strange woman he is compelled to follow into the woods. No escape from the strange things in the old run down house.  Uh oh.

I have read a few of Jonathan Janz’s books and he is great at building up the tension, has no qualms about bumping off characters in grizzly and disturbing ways and you cannot be sure if the good guys will survive (or if they even are the good guys).  For fans of a good-old horror tale you can’t go far wrong with Janz’s books.

In The Darkest Lullaby we have an entity who wants to use her nephew to find a way to return from the grave…if she even made it to her grave! Chris and Ellie move into Chris’s aunt’s old home in the hope of finding peace and a nice place to start a family.  However soon after they arrive Chris starts to behave oddly and Ellie becomes increasingly alarmed by strange goings on in the house.

As the story unfolds we learn that Lillith, Chris’s aunt, had an unhealthy obsession with her nephew and a really strong dislike of Ellie. That really can’t be a good combination!

The Darkest Lullaby is one for the horror fans. Bloody, unsettling and with strong adult themes. A late night page turner which kept me reading…mainly so I could find out which characters survived!

 

The Darkest Lullaby is published by Flame Tree Press and is available in digital and paperback format here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkest-Lullaby-Fiction-Without-Frontiers/dp/178758271X/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=jonathan+janz&qid=1565820624&s=gateway&sr=8-16

Category: Blog Tours, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off on The Darkest Lullaby – Jonathan Janz
November 27

The Sorrows – Jonathan Janz

The Sorrows, an island off the coast of northern California, and its castle have been uninhabited since a series of gruesome murders in 1925. But its owner needs money, so he allows film composers Ben and Eddie and a couple of their female friends to stay a month in Castle Blackwood. Eddie is certain a haunted castle is just the setting Ben needs to find inspiration for a horror film.

But what they find is more horrific than any movie. Something is waiting for them in the castle. A malevolent being has been trapped for nearly a century. And he’s ready to feed.

 

My thanks to Flame Tree Press for my review copy and to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the chance to join this tour.

 

I find horror tales to be the most unpredictable reads in my tbr pile.   With a crime thriller you generally know what to expect, adventure stories feature the “untouchable” heroes and psychological thrillers are twisty unexpected tales where the lead character will usually prevail in the end.   In a horror story – all bets are off.

My favourite chilling tales are the haunted house stories where the menace is hidden, subtle and is slowly revealed.  But there is very much a place on my bookshelves for a “schlock horror” where everything is bloody and brutal and the story has zero subtlety.

So what of The Sorrows?  This one evolved as the story developed.  Early indications were that this would be a subtle read.  Four key characters in a remote location.  Each brings their personal demons to a large lonely castle on a quite island off the coast of California.  The aim is to produce the score for a forthcoming horror film – the creepy location to inspire the creative process for the composers.

At first the castle seems to be tormenting each of the residents, apparitions or memories will surface.   Footsteps stopping outside a locked bedroom door but no sound of the person leaving again. The castle has a dark history and it soon becomes apparent that our residents are in grave danger.  However, it is hard to feel too sorry for one of the guests as he really does not come across as a nice guy.  Heavily in debt and unable to convince his father to bail him out of his latest predicament – the castle presents a haven to escape the unwelcome attentions of the debt collectors.  If something bad were to happen to this chap it may make for entertaining retribution!

Happily Jonathan Janz knows how to deliver the chills.  The subtle chills give way to monster perils, the danger full and bloody and very much in your face. The tone of the story changes up once the scene has been set and the back stories established.  Danger escalates, terror increases and the psychological chiller gives way to a brutal battle with a demonic entity.

The unpredicability of the story kept me reading, I wanted to see which of the characters may survive and which would meet a grim fate.   It is the eternal lure of a horror tale – we know there is a “big bad” out there and that not every character will make it to the end of the story…the fun is seeing what may happen.

 

The Sorrows is published by Flame Tree Press and releases on 30 November 2018 in paperback and digital format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sorrows-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07JGDX81V/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543257520&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sorrows+janz

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off on The Sorrows – Jonathan Janz
September 8

The Siren And The Spectre – Jonathan Janz

When David Caine, a celebrated skeptic of the supernatural, is invited by an old friend to spend a month in “the most haunted house in Virginia,” he believes the case will be like any other. But the Alexander House is different.

Built by a 1700s land baron to contain the madness and depravity of his eldest son, the house is plagued by shadows of the past and the lingering taint of bloodshed. David is haunted, as well. For twenty-two years ago, he turned away the woman he loved, and she took her life in sorrow.

And David suspects she’s followed him to the Alexander House.

 

My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tour for the chance to join the blog tour and to Flame Tree Press for my review copy.

 

Over recent weeks I have been extremely fortunate to have enjoyed some of the new titles being published by Flame Tree Press. They are assembling a cracking collection of horror tales, each new read has left me unsettled and thoroughly entertained.

The Specter and the Siren is a haunted house story – there is more (much more) to it than that but events do centre around Alexander House and David Caine’s experiences while he stays in the house.

Caine is an author noted for his cynicism towards the supernatural and an old school friend invites him to live in Alexander House – an old property with a dubious past and the reputation for ghostly experiences. If he writes a book on his experiences then there is a hope the interest generated in Alexander House will turn the property into a money-spinner for his friend.

From the moment the reader is taken into the Alexander House there is a tangible sense of gloom and foreboding. Caine feels it too and we realise that despite not believing in the supernatural he does get nervous easily and is not enjoying the dark, creaking house. Things are about to get considerably more terrifying for Caine.

The house does not sit in isolation.  Caine has a neighbour, a retired gentleman who enjoys fishing on the river (Alexander House sits on an isolated peninsula and is surrounded by water).  Another neighbouring house shelters the most dysfunctional family I can recall.  The parents are permanently drunk or stoned. Hard-core pornography streams constantly on their television and the mother, Honey, has insatiable desires – Caine being fresh meat.  Her husband is a willing participant is violent physical abuse and their kids try to find a “normal” in this toxic environment.

These neighbours will both help and hinder Caine as he tries to adjust to his new living arrangements and he is going to need all the help he can get.  Alexander House is not a happy residence and Caine is sitting in the heart of danger.

Jonathan Janz has delivered a truly unsettling read which horror fans will love. The history of Alexander House is horrific and it it not content to remain “history” – Caine and his friends are in more danger than they could possibly have realised.

Loved this – even though it freaked me out!

 

 

The Siren And The Spectre is published by Flame Tree Press and can be bought in paperback and digital format.  A copy can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Siren-Spectre-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07GVQJHTX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536399131&sr=8-1&keywords=the+siren+and+the+spectre

Category: Blog Tours | Comments Off on The Siren And The Spectre – Jonathan Janz