Brunner's Bar

Carrie I have put this off for far to long and I can't think of a better time to read this than during the R.I.P. challenge. For one of Kin'gs earlier books I was really impressed with this. It is a little dated because of the time period that this takes place, and there is a reference to changing the speed on a record which no one younger that maybe 30 will get. This Is a very well written book even with the outdated references.  As a man I cannot understand what adolescent girls go through during those awkward teen years. All I can say is I am thankful to be a man and not have do deal with all the crap women do. I am not afraid to admit that I couldn't handle what women go through as a part of growing up. I have a daughter and this whole time in her life scares me to death. I was also impressed that King could write some of these scenes so well that they caused me to have such an emotional response to them. Carrie is a very special girl. She has abilities

Hell House I have heard some great things about this book and it is one of the horror classics. I finally got around to reading this one and I am glad I did. I have seen some of the movies that are based off of this book like House on Haunted Hill and I have been itching to read this. Now the book is very different from the movie but there are little bits from the book slipped in from time to time.  When I first started reading this I felt like it was very similar to The Haunting by Shirley Jackson. I'm not sure which came first to be honest but I read The Haunting years ago so I compared this right away. The book starts out slow but I was interested in what was going on. A wealthy magazine and newspaper publisher is desperate to learn the secrets of the Belasco estate so he hires a team of experts to figure out what is haunting the old place. Each person gets a hundred thousand wach if they can figure out and stop what is going on.  This is a classic and not somethi

Blood Rites I love this series and I am finally into the books I haven't read already. I wanted to re-read the first 5 books so I could remember what all lead up to this book. I was so excited to see where the story was going to go with the war between the red Court and the White Council continuing. Based on the title I figured this was going to be about the vampires and I was excited to start this one. Compared to the last two books I wasn't as impressed with this book. The plot is less convoluted in this book. Instead of 10 different story lines that all tie into one at the end we only really had 2. In this book the Black court of Vampires is causing problems and Harry decides he is going to hunt them down and kill them all Bram Stoker Style (Wooden stakes, Garlic, and beheading). He is also asked by his White court vampire friend Thomas to protect a friend of his who seems to have the people around him dying. I was really excited to see Harry rip through a nest of

The Hospital I am in the middle of my Audible free trial through Amazon Prime. I have to admit that I am loving Audible. Trying to find some new horror novels for my R.I.P. challenge I was browsing there suggestions and came across this one. This book was a free audio book and I couldn't pass it up. Well, I wish I did. I try to never comment on an author's style because I want to be one and I wouldn't want someone to judge me to harshly, but I have a few issues with this story that I just can't get past.  First and probably my biggest issue with this story is that you have no idea what is going on in this story. This is supposed to be a prequel to the first book in the series, Mountain Man and there is no explanation as to what is going on. For a short story it took way to long to get going and for the most part I had a feeling this was a post-apocalyptic story with Zombies but there is no actual explanation. Take two paragraphs and let us know what the world

Throne of Atlantis For the most part this book is the same as Aquaman Vol 3 but there are several issues from the Justice League series that were enjoyable to read. The parts of this that are just Justice League and not part of the Throne of Atlantis story seem to be setting up a bigger story. The beginning of the book is all about Wonder Woman and her lack of trusting others. She is chasing the Cheetah and has to open up and let the rest of the Justice League help her for a change. There is also a small section with Steve Trevor that seems there is more coming that might not be good for the League. So what the book is all about is the war between the people of Atlantis and our world. On top of that the current King of Atlantis is Arthur's brother. He stepped down as the King of Atlantis so he could be prat of the League and remain in our world where he grew up. Trying to decide which side he is going to help is a difficult choice for him. It's this choice that leads t

The Scarlet Gospels I was so excited when I saw this book pop up on Goodreads. I love the Hellraiser movies no matter how terrible and cheesy they may be. The Hellbound heart was a great book and I read that in highschool which was a really long time ago. Having a new book with Pinhead and the rest of Hell following behind him was something I couldn't wait to read. Expectations can really ruin a book in my experience. I had this so buildt up in my mind that there was only one way this book could go and that is to disappointment.  The prologue was amazing. Violent and gruesome just like you would expect from a cenobite scene. The last of the remaining magicians from the order of magic are pooling their talents to finally be rid of the Demon Hell priest fans know as pinhead. From there I began to lose interest. As the book progressed it seemed to get dull and my mind started to wander away from the story. I can always tell when I am starting to loose interest in a book

A Darkness Surrounds Him I love Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead series. The plot is so well done and the characters are so great that when I heard he had another series out I had to pick it up. I had hear that this series was being made into a show for either Starz or Showtime but I can't remember which. This series revolves around demon possession and a Mysterious main character named Kyle who seems to hurt these demons.  So here is the description from Goodreads and why I really wanted to read this:  Kyle Barnes has been plagued by demonic possession all his life and now he needs answers. Unfortunately, what he uncovers along the way could bring about the end of life on Earth as we know it.   Don't expect to get any of this out of Volume one other than the fact the there are a lot of people in Kyle's life that have seemingly been possessed at one time or another.  This is what bothered me so much about this book. "...what he uncovers along the way

Chamber of Secrets This is the last of the Harry Potter books I haven't read. I was a late comer to the series for my own reasons. I bought the 5th book on the day it came out as well as 3 and 4. I started at book 3 since I had seen the first two movies I figured I was good. My wife is currently reading all of the Harry Potter books to my son as part of his bedtime routine so I sit and listen too. So now I can happily say that I have finally read all of the Harry Potter books. I have never written reviews on any of these though so this is a great opportunity to write up a review as we re-read the series to my 5 year old for the first time.  This is a fun book and I liked it from the very beginning. Like every other book it starts with Harry living with his Aunt and Uncle anxiously awaiting his new school year at Hogwarts. I love reading just how horrible his Aunt and Uncle can be as well as their little brat Dudley. While in their home Harry meets his very first house el

Drunken Fireworks I love Stephen King's books and his short stories. When I saw this was coming out in an audio short only I had to have it. I finally got around to listening to this and I have to admit. It was just ok. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book but after reading Mr. Mercedes and Doctor Sleep I just expected more. There wasn't any suspense or mystery and it sure wasn't scary. This short is just a hick redneck story about two families competing Hatfield and McCoy style.  Without making this review as long as the story and giving everything away I will try to be brief. Alden McCausland and his mother are trying to out do the other rich family across the lake at who has the biggest fireworks. Every year Alden gets beat with bigger and better but he keeps trying. You will just have to listen to see what happens in this.  I wish there was some sort of suspense to this story to really keep me on the edge of my seat reading this. Tim Sam

Throne of Atlantis It is no secret that Geoff Johns is one of my favorite comic book writers and he is the only one who could make Aquaman cool. New 52 was thebest thing that ever happened to Aquaman and the stories have been really good. Arthur has chosen to turn down being king of Atlantis to stay on land and help the Justice League while his brother rules. In the earlier books we have found that deep in an ocean trench there are these flesh hungry creatures that Aquaman sealed in. In this book not only does someone release these creatures, but a naval carrier malfunctions and fires missiles deep into Atlantis. This begins the war with Atlantis and our world. This book collects several issues of the monthly Aquaman series and Justice League. This means that we get the whole story in one book so you don't have to get multiple books to get the whole story. Now, this does cause some cross over. I am reading the Justice League Vol 3 and can skip most of the book because I

The Big Burn It has been awhile since I have read a good Two-Face story. My favorite is still Face the Face which is where Harvey Dent has had surgery to heal his face and he is whole once again. The challenge then becomes is Two-Face really gone now that the scaring has healed? It was a pretty good story. In this book we get a little history lesson about Harvey Dent and I really liked it. We get to see how he became District Attorney and the New 52 twist on how he became Two-Face. There is even a little history about Bruce and his relation ship with the now head of a crime family.  Two-Face wants revenge on the woman who killed his wife right in front of him before turning him into Two-Face. The woman is in town to kill Two-Face and tie up loose ends and Batman is stuck in the middle. I liked this book but compared to the last couple volumes I read this wasn't as good. I am always happy to have a good Two-Face story and this delivers. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell I have seen this book around a lot but never cared to know what it was all about. At the start of summer a 7 episode mini series was made. An article about said it was like Harry Potter for grown ups. So there are magicians and they are in England and that is about where that comparison ends. Still my wife and I were anxious to watch it. Well I found another Television version I liked better than the book. The show was pretty good but there seemed to be holes in the plot that I wanted to fix by reading the book. There was good bit trimmed out to make the show and I was ok with that. There were a lot of spots in this book I could have done without.  This book was really slow. Had I not listened to this book in audio form I never would have finished it. However, the audio version is terrible. There are footnotes throughout this book and in the audio version the story would just be interrupted so the foot note can be read and then we pick

Death Masks Jim Butcher did it again. Just when you thing Harry can't have any more crap dumped on him something else happens that he has to dig his way out of. Our adventure opens with Harry being dragged into a dual with an assassin of the Red Court of vampires. Ok, Harry started a war between the vampires and wizards in the last book and a dual could bring it to an end. Shortly after that Harry finds himself being hunted by a contract killer and a priest who needs him for a special task. Harry is asked to help find the stolen Shroud of Turin. To make matters worse he has been asked to help the police with a headless corpse and the love of his life comes back to complicate things. Wow, how does this character remain standing. Well it helps that Harry has a great support system. One of the best parts about this book is the characters. I always get excited to see Michael and Harry working together. Not that they are like Batman and Robin but more like Batman and Batman. Th