SYNOPSIS: Titus and Melanie Bell are on their honeymoon and have reservations in the Okefenokee Swamp cabins for a canoeing trip. But shortly before they reach their destination, the road narrows into a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car.
Much later, Titus wakes up lying in the middle of the road, no bridge in sight. Melanie is missing. When he calls the police, they tell him there is no such bridge on Route 177 . . . This marks the first Cherie Priest that I've read! The mood and atmosphere of the book is lovely and nostalgic and sinister all at once, and I really enjoyed that. The characters all felt real (my favorite was Netta) and I love the concept of the story. The strongest parts, for me, were Daisy, Claire, Dave, Jess, and Netta's-- Titus and Cameron weren't bad characters, but the others were more compelling, and Melanie wasn't in the book long enough to really get to know her. I'll definitely be reading/reviewing more of Priest's stuff! I mean, look at this opener: "What nobody ever tells you about gardening is...how many things you have to kill if you want to do it right." Hooked from then on. Quotes/lines: ((spoilers below!)) -- "You've got your cell phone." "I can hardly use that thing." He grinned. "You used it just fine when you wanted pizza last Friday." Familial sass. <3 -- 'fishing for anything other than the station playing Sunday worship music- the sole broadcast survivor in a wasteland of poor reception' *solidarity from Kansas* -- ...for a honeymoon, they do NOT seem happy together. -- "Throw your money on the counter. I'll get it later." Ah, super-small towns. -- "Hey, Jess," he said brightly, waving a little too cheerfully for anyone's comfort, much less his own.' Awww, dorky teenage crush! -- "You can't hardly walk, and I can't hardly see. Last time we met it...that was our last time. We knew it then, but I'm saying it now: We're too old, anymore. We did our part. It's no fault of ours, if it wasn't enough." I *love* the "people who tried to fight something years ago watch it come back and have to decide whether to fight again" trope. -- 'he should take some time and go looking for Melanie himself' You've never heard of the 'stay put when you're lost' thing, have you. -- 'One of the only lessons he remembered was the admonishment to stay put when you're lost.' I stand corrected. Titus. WHY. -- "Fifteen or twenty minutes? What if I was drowning or something? What if I was bleeding out?" "Then you'd be drowning or bleeding out in the middle of nowhere, and there are only so many police to go around." Wow, dispatch lady is having none of your shit. -- "She's not a cocker spaniel, Mr. Bell. If she's lost, anybody's voice will bring her around." Kemp. <3 -- *intrigued by Netta* -- "Here, man. Let me get you some fries or something." "I don't need any fries." "You're getting some anyway." I really like that particular kind of hospitality-between-strangers that's just, "I can tell you're in a bad way even if you won't admit it, so just shut up and let me caretake". -- 'He was tying himself in logic knots, trying to imagine a scenario where he got to spend just a few minutes in her company without her longtime boyfriend.' This is not going to end well. -- "I just want to know where Jimmy is, and how he got there. They can give me back his bones. I deserve my son's bones, don't I?" YIKES. -- 'and he was a thin guy- but that wasn't the same thing as being in good shape.' Thank you -- 'Boomer looked like some amiable mix of Saint Bernard and yeti' PUPPY. I love him already. -- 'She gave him a look that said she wanted to squish him in the world's smallest bear hug of sympathy' Betty ilu too -- So does everyone in town know about this and they go through the motions for an outsider? Pickett looked like he knew about the bridge, but Betty was confused. ??? -- LISTEN TO THE DOG. -- "She ought to know better by now. It's been long enough. She ought to move on, or go home, or just go someplace else." 'Been long enough'? 'Move on'? Her child is dead. I'm on Netta's side here. -- I love that it's just casually acknowledged that the dolls are alive. -- "Every time you talk about it, you say it different. You remember it different. ... You can't trust your memories." Your gaslighting is creepy as hell, Jess. -- 'Nah. He knew better than to ask that woman anything more in-depth than her drink order.' The way everyone treats Netta is making me wish they'd all get eaten by the swamp thing. -- "What do I do now?" ... "Oh, honey. I wish I had the slightest idea." Netta is my favorite. -- "Isn't that--?" Dave whispered, "Yeah. But don't tell the reporters it's him. He's had a shitty enough couple of days. Help me give this guy a break, for once." Dave. <3 -- 'His eyebrows lifted. "You're going to let me keep drinking?" Claire laughed. "Baby, I want to get you so liquored up you can't leave the house for the next two days. I want you staying right here, and a formal grounding will only keep you so close." Well, that's...pragmatic. I hate how they treat Netta, but I can't help but like these two. -- "You know I put my faith in a shotgun, any day of the week and twice on Sunday-- but every girl with an ounce of granny magic knows it's true: Things from other worlds don't like iron." -- "The dead in our world linger, don't they? Why not the dead from someplace else?" I LOVE THIS BOOK -- "Tell yourself whatever you want," Claire said. "Whatever lets you sleep at night, after what you did to your own flesh and blood." TELL NETTA. Don't let her keep thinking she's crazy; you know what this thing is (or at least know more than most). Befriend her, for Pete's sake. -- "We need to un-domesticate ourselves, as soon as possible." There we go, Claire. -- 'He couldn't just let her go, not like that. Not when she might be heading into some kind of danger. All alone. No sign of Dave. No one to rescue her, if it turned out she needed rescuing.' Well, Cameron, you are right about the 'desperately and stupidly' aspect of this love. -- Thank goodness for the hangover. Trailing after her would not have gone well. -- ...dammit kid. -- "It was probably just the hangover. Hangovers played tricks, too." Orrrrr it's the swamp monster playing with its food before dinner. -- "What are we gonna do? That boy is the only thing that ever grew here. The only good thing we ever tended." *heart shatters* -- "We tried to be heroes, and we only made it halfway there. I'm not even sure if it counts, but we still have time to finish the job." I LOVE THEM. All books need a pair of kickass grandmas (or godmothers) thanks -- oh my GOD Claire and Daisy kickass godmother GHOSTS i cannot handle this -- 'He was worried about the ladies too, though he couldn't have articulated exactly why.' Because you know they love you and are therefore likely following you into extreme danger? -- 'His was the trickery of true love, and no one could fault him for that.' Ummm... *raises hand* -- 'Jess would understand. She'd possibly even love him back at long last, too. Those were the rules, he was pretty sure.' **hork** -- "But now I think about Netta, and maybe it's just because of what we did, and how I can see better now, and hear better now... Daisy, I wish we'd been gentler with her." ... "Maybe we can do a little righter, this time." <3 -- 'The woman's voice, burbling and low, like running water thick with slime.' NOPE. -- "Who are you really? Talk to me yourself- quit hiding behind her voice. Use or own, or shut the fuck up." Dave, you are probably not long for this world, but points for bravery. -- 'like a scarecrow meant to lure instead of chase' -- oh shit it wasn't an unintended consequence she did it deliberately Jess you ASSHOLE -- "Promise you'll run, and you won't look back." DAVE. Also, Cameron, if he lives through this you'd best be making all the apologies later. -- Daisy. Claire. <3 -- Oh, Cameron. -- Hell no Jess is not alive and fine. Cam, go get Netta and tell her what you know; Netta deserves that confrontation and closure. -- ...you're not gonna do it, are you. -- This ending. I'm just gonna sit and stare into space for a while.
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Synopsis: A meek man enters a spooky theater for an all-night horror movie triple bill. An unscrupulous contractor messes with the wrong family. A single other discovers a bizarre link between her son and an unspeakable Lovecraftian horror. A con artist posing as an outcast from an Amish church gets more than he bargained for in the Indiana forest. And a college professor eager to make money by solving a decades-old cannibal atrocity learns the true meaning of terror in the Great Smoky Mountains.
In this collection of rarely-collected nightmares, you'll find tales of suspense, dread, and madness. It's time to take a journey to Jonathan Janz's Shadow Side. The second of the Night Worms exclusive books. Half the stories in this collection--Witching Hour Theatre, Old Order, and The Clearing of Travis Coble--are all available as individual short stories on Amazon. A Southern Evening had a nice twist to it and Witching Hour Theatre was wonderfully nostalgic, both in a "the community of late-night horror movies" sense and the "eighties slasher flicks" sense, but my favorite in this collection was Throwing Monsters. Quotes/Lines ((spoilers below!)) OLD ORDER -- I've known you for two and a half pages, Horace, and that's two and a half too long. -- "Dinner won't be ready for a while anyway, so you'll have plenty of good daylight to work." Ha. -- "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means you'll be gone by first light, a meal in your belly and your hands as soft as when you came." Call him out, Deek. <3 -- no wait I take it back, Deek, you can die too -- "I know who you are," the old woman said. "What I want to know is why you're in my house." Hi Agnes! ilu -- Agnes seems like such a goodhearted person (though I do hope it's a front so she can eat Horace's brain) -- Um, Belinda? Wha...? -- "Don't you have family?" "Haven't seen 'em in years." Probably because you do things like spy on girls when they're bathing you creep -- Okay what the heck is going on, is this some kind of fertility ritual? -- Please tell me all this expensive jewelry lying around the house is from all the people they've killed. -- "Or perhaps she would remember him fondly, a daring rogue who'd loved her and left without saying goodbye." ....ew. -- That's so cute, that you think they're calling the police instead of firing up the barbecue grill. -- "...Demeter..." Ooooh, harvest-related creepiness/sacrifice? -- Okaaaaaay I did NOT expect this to veer into rape/lobotomization. (I do appreciate the horrifying reveal as to what the 'pigs' are, but I'm not going to be reading this one again. Also, their nakedness 'revealing' that Daniel and Jimmy have vaginas-- why is that there? Why add that detail? Because it reads like a continuation of "look how weird and scary this family is" and ummmm.) On to the next one. Yeah. THE CLEARING OF TRAVIS COBLE -- ...does anyone know you're out here, Myers? -- You're meeting someone who's intelligent and prone to mind games *alone*? Yeahhh, this is gonna end well for you. -- 'Coble was innocent so there was no real danger in talking to him.' PFFFT. -- Uncle, wife, and kids disappeared without a trace? You are going to die. Only question is whether you find the bodies first. -- If this guy gets a hold of your notebook, you are TOAST. (well, I mean, even more than you already are) -- "I'll be going then." Wishful thinking... -- 'Ike was unbuckling his belt.' oh come onnnn A SOUTHERN EVENING -- 'and the goddamned Benbow urchins swarming all over the property like shabbily-dressed gnats' Aren't you a peach. -- 'Why couldn't men be men for a change?' yawwwwwwwn -- ...hang on just a minute is this character's name Mike Pence -- 'God, if those girls had been inside when the whole thing caved, there really would have been problems. Publicity like that could sabotage a project, not to mention harpooning a career.' *calling Melody from Wolf Land down on you* -- Tabitha, stab this condescending douche with a steak knife -- 'so far removed from civilization' Oh good, so the Benbows can kill you without interruption! -- 'His pants had been lowered to his ankles.' If this is another rape ending I am putting this book down. -- Aw, not the kids, they had nothing to do with this. -- 'what *happened* to Molly'? You remain, as always, a jackass. -- Fantastic twist there; I love it. THROWING MONSTERS -- "The monster only eats little boys who throw things when they're not supposed to." This is going to backfire on you SO hard. (I mean, the temptation is there as a parent, I get it, but it's not worth it) -- 'She hadn't meant to plant the idea, but she could see her words working on imagination, conjuring ghastly creatures and generally scaring the shit out of him. "Yes," she pressed on. "The Hitting Monster. The Screaming Monster." This poor kid. -- 'No apology. Eric never apologized. It was a point of pride for him.' Sounds like a real sweetheart. -- Not 'and her child would be *dead*' but 'and she'd get thrown in jail for neglect'? Go get eaten by that basement monster you just created somehow. -- "Were you watching him?" A beat. "Of course I was watching him." "How much did you see him drink?" "I didn't see him drink it." NOT THE TIME just explain so that poor kid can get help! -- 'but a couple of times--okay, a few times--she'd shaken him by the shoulders. If he'd only listen.' ... 'God, she thought. She loved him so much, but why did being a mom have to be so *hard*?' Ohh, hon. You need a therapist or at the very least someone to help watch the kiddo and a friend to talk to. -- Call. The. Cops. ((okay, depending, I mean they'd likely blame her for sleeping with Eric in the first place and therefore 'deserving' this shit.)) SOMEONE get the kid out of here, though. -- no no no NO do NOT go into the basement guard your child's door until the police get there. And CALL TOM. -- Bittersweet ending, it fits really well. And nice last line. WITCHING HOUR THEATRE -- 'He slid his hands into his coat pockets and crossed the street, careful to avoid a beat-up van dragging its muffler behind it like a spilled intestine.' -- A movie theater that shows a horror triple feature every Friday sounds like heaven and I want one -- Sid Haig!! :( -- "The feeling of community of sitting around a giant campfire with a group of old friends, was strong tonight." <3 -- "You could sit with me." "That would be nice." Aw, they're cute. -- 'Getting beaten to a pulp had to be better than feeling like a coward. Maybe.' Heh. -- I understand, Goth girl, that's when I would've left, too. -- You are gonna logic yourself into an early death Wilson. -- 'He had to go back inside because if he didn't, he might as well be dead anyway.' Your'e a good guy. Hope the two of you make it. -- Use one of the metal film reels! Better than nothing! -- Good boy. -- 'Both killers couldn't be dead. It was too soon.' This guy has seen Halloween. -- "You're a sick woman," he said, grinning despite himself.' <3 -- "One movie might be enough for tonight." They're still cute. |
A WORLD WITH A BLUER SUNMy reviews are set up a little like live-tweets: I write down lines I like/impressions as I read, and then transcribe. Reviews will contain spoilers, but I'll give a warning before they start. Archives
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