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Ouija – Zoé-Lee O’Farrell

The only thing for certain is the deaths were no accident.

Rayner High School once a prestigious school stands in ruins after such a terrible event.

A year later, a group of friends return to the abandoned school and their nightmare begins.

Something wants to get out and won’t take NO for an answer…

My thanks to Zoe-Lee O’Farrell for the opportunity to join the Question Mark Horror Blog tours.

I received a review copy of Ouija and Camp Death from the publishers so I could participate in this double-header blog tour.

I missed out on Point Horror as a reader, I was already onto King, Herbert, Laymon and Hutson when the Point Horror titles were at a peak. However, I was a young bookseller back in the day and I sold dozens of them, usually to the same faces every couple of weeks as a wave of young horror readers came to our bookshop to get their latest fix.

Question Mark Horror seem to be tapping into the same target readership as both Ouija and Camp Death are chillers but keep on the careful side of being too detailed with the depictions of carnage. YA readers will have a ball with these though and it is always great to see horror titles being enjoyed.

This leg of the Two Books One Tour is about Ouija by Zoé-Lee O’Farrell and the name is a big clue as to where the menace lies. Six childhood friends decide they will use an ouija board to communicate with the dead. Not only do they feel this is a sensible thing to do, they decide to do it in the old school in their town, a building no longer in use after it was the scene of an horrific massacre where staff and students died at the hands of an unknown assailant. Though perhaps this is a mystery which the ouija board could help cast some light upon?

The book opens with a flashback to the start of the massacre in the school but before we can get too much idea as to what may be about to unfold the narrative switches to the six friends who will be the stars of the show. Readers get to learn about each of the kids and understand the group dynamic. It’s clear there are some rivalries and hidden affection but they seem a tight group despite not all of them being keen to venture into Rayner High School and communicate with the spirits.

Soon the friends are slipping out their homes and making their way to the ruined building. Their final destination (as it were) is to be the Headmaster’s study but as they edge their way along the dark corridors we can see they are not the only ones moving around the old school that night. Without getting into too much more detail things do not go to plan and the friends don’t get to complete their ritual properly, have they left a path open for any of the spirits?

It isn’t long before unexplained incidents start happening around some of the group and each becomes increasingly unnerved. Their terror is complete when one of their number dies and the readers soon learn that one death is only just the beginning.

As I tend to read at night I will confess Ouija had me nervously glancing into the dark corners of my room on more than one occasion. It’s a relatively quick read and the story zips along at a very satisfying pace which meant we got to the darker events pretty quickly. Fans of horror films and chilling fiction will get their kicks from this one as there are plenty of recognisable horror devices brought into play. Good fun and always a treat to get a new horror read, I look forward to seeing what Question Mark Horror will have for us in future.

Ouija is available in digital format and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0997CPK3J/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

The Question Mark Horror tour is a two book affair and I will be back with my thoughts on Camp Death at the end of the month

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July 1

The Corruption of Alston House – John Quick

Katherine’s life has been on a downhill turn, filled with tragedy and heartbreak. When she bought Alston House in the small Tennessee town of Poplar Bend, she hoped it would be the chance to turn things around, center herself again, and get serious about her art. True, it was a risk buying a house virtually sight unseen through the internet, but she knew it needed some extensive renovations, so what could go wrong?

What the real estate agent never told her was that Alston House had a history that was among the darkest secrets in the small town. As Katherine begins to put her life back together following her dream as a painter, she discovers there is more here than meets the eye. One of the home’s former residents never left, even after death, and now he seems to have set his sights on her. Can she uncover the darkness at the heart of the town and overcome her personal ghosts, or will she become one more victim to the town’s hidden hearts?

I received a review copy from the publishers, Silver Shamrock, but I also bought my own copy which I read through Kindle.

Forgive me readers but it has been one month since my last confe…erm…my last blog post. This is entirely down to gravity. Had it not been for gravity my laptop would not have fatally rushed towards the floor after it lost balance from a high place and the screen would certainly not have cracked up. Not that it cracked up anywhere near as much as I did trying to get a replacement laptop through my insurance company – but all sorted now and no need to involve the Ombudsman as I eventually had to suggest may happen.

*And Breathe*

So let me turn to John Quick’s excellent The Corruption of Alston House. I started this one back at the beginning of lockdown but rest assued it has not taken me over 100 days to get through it. Sadly for much of the lockdown time I have been unable to focus on books, everything I had started back in March got put to the side and it has taken me several weeks to slowly get back into my reading. But I had been enjoying The Corrupton of Alston House so I went back to the start and began again – a good decision!

I have always enjoyed a creepy story with a haunted house and in that regard this book was exactly what I needed. Katherine moves to Alston House to start a new life for herself, she leaves upset and tragedy behind her and hopes to restablish her painting as she is a talented artist. Her new home, Alston House, is a grand property but in need of some maintenance to make it comfortable. I was already imagining the sprawling old homestead with dark nooks and hidden corners. There is a graveyard in the grounds (never a good sign) and the basement gives Katherine the chills when she needs to venture down in the dark.

The author builds up the anticipation around the secrets of Alston House really well and even before the really weird stuff kicks in there is a definite sense of foreboding. The first unusual incidents manifest themselves around the paintings which Katherine produces – she becomes so lost in the creative process she cannot even remember some of the details she includes. It is not long before the paintings are just a small part of the shocks which lie in store.

Katherine is befriended by the local marshall who is also trying to match-make her with his younger colleague Bradley. As events in her new home become increasingly dangerous for Katherine she relies more and more upon the support of Bradley and there is more than a spark of romance in the air. However, one former resident of Alston House wants Katherine for himself and he will not let anything, not even the grave, stand in his way. As Katherine gains greater understanding of the horrors which ocurred in her home many years earlier she realises a confrontation is looming – one she may not survive.

I always enjoy swapping out my crime reading to take in a good horror tale and The Corruption of Alston House helped me out my lockdown reading slump. Horror readers should have this one in their collection.

The Corruption of Alston House is available in paperback and digital format and is free to Kindle Unlimited readers. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0826TT1HH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

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March 15

Last Ones Left Alive – Sarah Davis-Goff

Watch your six. Beware tall buildings. Always have your knives.

Raised by her mother and Maeve on Slanbeg, an island off the west coast of Ireland, Orpen has a childhood of love and stories by the fireside. But the stories grow darker, and the training begins. Ireland has been devoured by a ravening menace known as the skrake, and though Slanbeg is safe for now, the women must always be ready to run, or to fight.

When Maeve is bitten, Orpen is faced with a dilemma: kill Maeve before her transformation is complete, or try to get help. So Orpen sets off, with Maeve in a wheelbarrow and her dog at her side, in the hope of finding other survivors, and a cure. It is a journey that will test Orpen to her limits, on which she will learn who she really is, who she really loves, and how to imagine a future in a world that ended before she was born.

I received a review copy from the publishers and was invited to join the blog tour by Anne Cater at Random Things. My thanks to both.

Last Ones Left Alive opens with Orpen, alone, isolated and vulnerable. She is carefully making her way towards Phoenix City but it is not immediately clear why. Orpen is traveling with her dog (Danger) and in a barrow she is pushing her sister Maeve. If you read the blurb of the book, as above, then you will know that Maeve has been bitten – infected with a disease which will lead to her “turning”. However, when you read the book this is not made clear from the outset and you need to follow Orpen’s journey before you can begin to piece together how she has reached this point.

Orpen is in Ireland. She has grown up on an island off the mainland where she has been sheltered from the events which seem to have changed our world forever. People have died; many have been bitten by the infected denizens and when they get bitten they change into one of the infected too. It is dangerous to be out in the open and Orpen has trained since her 7th birthday to know how to fight and defend herself.

Watch your six. Beware tall buildings. Always have your knives.

Orpen’s story is told in two time periods – the present day and her constant plight and then the story flips to her childhood and we see Orpen living with her mother and sister (who in present day is in a barrow being pushed along by Orpen as she resists the “change”). It builds a comprehensive overview of the characters and gives real depth to the situation they find themselves in.

Encounters on her journey will define Orpen’s story and although I found this book to be a slow burn which rewarded readers with a gradual build-up of the overall picture, it is a fascinating read.

Dystopian dramas bring a terrifying landscape to life – Sarah Davis-Goff gives us a tense tale in which survival is everything, self preservation crucial and forming attachments ill-advised.

Last Ones Left Alive is published by Tinder Press and is available in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Ones-Alive-Sarah-Davis-Goff/dp/1472255208/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=last+ones+left+alive&qid=1552598760&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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November 18

Wasp Latitudes – Allan Watson

Against a background of brutal attacks on people and property by a rag-tag group of homeless men whom the media quickly dub Berserkers, DI Will Harlan is juggling with a head-in-a-bucket patricide, a lethal wife-swapping session, a sex-tape scandal involving the Royal Scottish National Orchestra – and perhaps most discomfiting of all – a spate of late night phone calls from his favourite serial killer, Howie Danks.

As the wife-swapping investigation spirals into a glut of cold-blooded slayings carried out by a mysterious pair of killers known as the Wasp Queen and the Priest, Harlan has to look into the past where a cold case may contain uncomfortable answers. But it’s in the present where the real danger lies as he follows a twisted path of mind control and madness leading to a cruel land some call the Wasp Latitudes.

My thanks to Sarah Hardy for the chance to join the blog tour

My introduction to DI Will Harlan was Wasp Latitudes – the second book to feature Harlan. It was clear as I was reading that there had been an earlier book but it didn’t stop me from enjoying Wasp Latitudes.

Harlan is having a busy old time of it – multiple incidents are commanding his attention and it seems his colleagues are not the cohesive and united team which he may hope them to be. Of course disruption in the masses and professional rivalries (along with hopeless careerists) make for entertaining reading.

Entertainment is high if you are not after a genteel story. A wife-swapping party goes horribly wrong for one couple. Just down the road a man is found dead with his head in a bucket and a foreign object inserted into his…erm, well lets just say, into him. A gang is terrorizing Glasgow with random violent acts and a young woman has been publicly shamed when a video recorded while she was enjoying a drunken evening in company goes viral.

With dogged determination and a great deal of people manipulation Harlan will split his attention to each of these crimes. His input is not welcomed and attempts will be made to ensure he does not look into the “bucket man” investigation – other forces are interested in that death and Harlan is warned to keep away. Of course that is not how Harlan works and, if anything, he becomes more determined to uncover the truth.

Police politics, fascinating investigations, dark murders and lots of dry Glasgow humour – this was a cracking read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Another series I will enjoy following and that can only be a good thing.

Wasp Latitudes is available as a digital download here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wasp-Latitudes-Will-Harlan-Book-ebook/dp/B07GZYY6D1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542541330&sr=8-1&keywords=wasp+latitudes

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October 9

The House by the Cemetery – John Everson

Rumor has it that the abandoned house by the cemetery is haunted by the ghost of a witch. But rumors won’t stop carpenter Mike Kostner from rehabbing the place as a haunted house attraction. Soon he’ll learn that fresh wood and nails can’t keep decades of rumors down.

There are noises in the walls, and fresh blood on the floor: secrets that would be better not to discover. And behind the rumors is a real ghost who will do whatever it takes to ensure the house reopens. She needs people to fill her house on Halloween. There’s a dark, horrible ritual to fulfill. Because while the witch may have been dead… she doesn’t intend to stay that way.

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

Just in time for Halloween we have a new release ideally suited for reading durint the dark autumnal evenings. John Everson’s The House by the Cemetery brings a great mix of chills, witches, ritualistic kills and at the heart of it all a house reputed to be haunted.

The scene is set perfectly from the prologue when we see a group of kids exploring the haunted house under cover of night – their trip is a dare and the house seems to be a haunted property marketed as a visitor attraction. However, it is night and the kids are in a place they are not meant to be so we can be sure all will not end well and a mystery is quickly established.

What I particularly enjoyed about The House by the Cemetery was that the author grabbed my interest in the prologue then takes a small step back to build up the chills and the creepy events. It is very effective and avoids the less subtle ‘schlock horror’ where every second chapter is a bloodbath. Constant build and increasing peculiarities gave the impression of a growing menace.

Our lead character, Mike, is renovating the haunted house – making it ready for paying visitors who will part with their bucks for a scare on 31 October. The longer Mike spends in the house the more he becomes aware of the odd and unpleasant incidents which are happening. Yet he presses on with his work, removing dead animals one morning and chatting with the young woman who comes to the house to chat with him and share some beers. You want to shout at your book to make Mike get the Hell away from the creepy property but he needs the cash and keeps coming back…can it end well for him?

John Everson has a very readable writing style and I poured over The House by the Cemetery. “One more chapter” is the best internal debate to have when I am reading late at night and it was very much in evidence here.

Get yourself some Halloween reading and order a copy of The House by the Cemetery. Chills aplenty.

The House by the Cemetery is published by Flame Tree Press on 18 October and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Cemetery-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07J2MQ5N8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539029287&sr=1-1&keywords=house+by+the+cemetery

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