CASTAWAYS by Brian Keene

(out of 4)

THE SALT ON THE RIM: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Hell has a special place set aside for Brian Keene. I first thought the management of Hell would have been furious with Keene for giving away their secrets.

Now I'm beginning to think Keene's simply Hell's reigning king. The man simply knows the nightmares that dwell in the underworld.

THE LIME:In this, Keene's eighth offering from Leisure Books (and ninth mass market release), the contestants on the reality tv show, "Castaways" (think "Survivor"), are stranded on a remote island when a cyclone threatens to deluge the island, leading to the production crew pulling most of their staff back to the homebase ship anchored off the coast. While the castaways are left alone on the island and the cyclone pounds the island to pieces, a tribe of natives, beasts that bear an incredible resemblance to Richard Laymon's beasts that roam the California coast in his Beast House trilogy attack, killing the castaways one-by-one.

THE TEQUILA:This is more seat-of-your-pants horror action from a modern master of the genre. CASTAWAYS might actually be Keene at his very best. You can tell the author was having fun writing the novel. It shows through in many scenes and exchanges of dialog and the characters seemed to nearly jump off the page, dragging the voyeuristic reader along with them through the action.

Grab a copy as soon as you can. CASTAWAYS now sits on the shelf at the Review Hut, for all visitors who saunter in, margarita in hand, seeking something good to read.

-Jack

DEAD SEA by Brian Keene

(out of 4)

THE SALT ON THE RIM: Hell has a special place set aside for Brian Keene. Just like the CIA doesn't take kindly to agents giving away their secrets, so do the residents of Hell.

For the past few years, under the guise of "publishing horror fiction", Keene has been slowly giving away Hell's most prized nightmares...those delirious illusions reserved for the only the most wicked sinners.

I can only think Satan's pissed.

THE LIME:In DEAD SEA, Keene's latest journey to the dark land, zombies have taken over the world--mindless, shambling things roaming Balitmore. If they bite you, you're infected. You might as well be dead already. Keene introduces us to Lamar Reed, a young man with a recently spotted past before the zombies came along.

We run side-by-side with Lamar as he escapes the fiery inferno that Baltimore has become. We race through zombie-infested streets, dodging the shuffling dead and gunfire. There are some calling this Keene's triumphant return to the sub-genre he helped revive. I call it taking the sub-genre and spinning it on its ear. Keene has created a phenomenal world for his characters to inhabit, at once global in scope and claustrophobically confining. And Keene leads us through this world with near jovial delight as he keeps launching surprise after surprise at you.

THE TEQUILA:This is seat-of-your-pants horror action as you've never seen it before.

Grab a copy as soon as you can. You won't regret it.

-Drew

HOUSE OF BLOOD by Bryan Smith

(out of 4)

THE SALT ON THE RIM: I had never heard of Bryan Smith before picking up this novel. With new authors, you never quite know what to expect. Some times you get a fresh, amazing new novel, as in the case of Joe Hill's surprisingly captivating HEART-SHAPED BOX. Other times, you get the literary equivalent of a two-year-old's dirt-encrusted fingers being forced into your mouth--you've gotta accept it or the two-year-old is going to become distraught. And by distraught, I mean, they're going to bawl.

This was the case with HOUSE OF BLOOD. I didn't quite know what to expect and I'm glad I didn't go in with any preconceptions.

THE LIME: HOUSE OF BLOOD starts off like any number of shlock horror films do: a bunch of young people traveling and their vehicle breaks down. Ok, I can dig it. But then it becomes painfully clear that this isn't simply a horror novel of perversions and terror.

It's a quest novel.

Someone is meant to do something because it's their destiny.

I absolutely detest novels of like this. They're meant for the Fantasy genre and, maybe, if deftly handled, the mainstream genre. They are NOT meant to be mixed in with horror. There's no reason for it. Incidently, this is the reason I despised Edward Lee's CITY INFERNAL. It just didn't mix well for me. Although, I'll be the first to defend Lee's introduction of a sci-fi plot smack dab in the middle of his horror novel, COVEN. Why did I not mind that but hate quest novels? (shrug) I have no good reason. It simply didn't sit well with me.

As is the case with HOUSE OF BLOOD.

THE TEQUILA: Bryan Smith has two more novels out by Leisure and I have high hopes for THE FREASKSHOW (his current release). While I wasn't a big fan of HOUSE OF BLOOD, I could tell that Smith is a strong storyteller that just needs to get his bearings and find his own way. I'm hoping THE FREAKSHOW has led him down the right path.

-Jack

THE CELLAR by Richard Laymon

(out of 4)

THE SALT ON THE RIM: In light of the fact that Leisure Books is releasing the entire BEAST HOUSE trilogy by Richard Laymon (this is the first time the entire trilogy's been in print in the U.S. in mass market), I was extremely excited to get my copies of THE CELLAR (book 1) and THE BEAST HOUSE (book 2).

Let me set the record straight. Richard Laymon is a horror god. All should fall on their knees and praise at his altar.

THE LIME: THE CELLAR is the first novel Richard Laymon published. It descended upon the literary world in 1980 around the same time that Jack Ketchum's OFF SEASON did and both novels were unique in taking the "down and dirty" approach to horror. These novels were absolutely horrific. THE CELLAR, specifically, is a truly uncomfortable read because not only does it involve such monsters as "The Beast" but it deals with such real-life monsters as pedophile rapists, not something that curls up to your nerves in a good way.

Laymon's narrative eye does not shy away from the uncomfortable situations he depicts, either. There are many scenes in this novel that are not for the faint of heart so any aspiring readers whose ages end in "teen" should do well to most likely steer clear of it. As for the rest of us, I'd say that if you're not frightened by the "boogeyman" aspect of THE CELLAR, then the final page will stop your beating heart for sure.

THE TEQUILA: THE CELLAR is a graphic, fast-paced read that will raise the hairs on every bit of you (including your knuckles). I was able to devour THE CELLAR in one sitting under the thatched hut roof, even with a margarita in one hand and the occasional dip in the pool.

Laymon fans, you won't be disappointed. If Richard Laymon's a name you don't recognize, readers. Shame on you. There's a reason that the horror genre continues to survive (even with the complete and utter crap that one usually finds out there): Richard Laymon is that reason.

-Jack

DEAD SOULS - by Michael Laimo

(We're reviewing DEAD SOULS Margarita-style)]

(out of 4)

THE SALT ON THE RIM:I used to have a love/hate relationship with Michael Laimo: I would love to hate this guy. I mean, how many new authors come on the scene each and every year? How many blurbs for new authors state that they are "the next Stephen King"? After a while, as a reviewer, you begin to drown out these pleas for attention and, if you hear it enough, you want to hate the guy. I wanted to hate Michael Laimo.

But I can't. I can't hate him. It's impossible.

I read his first novel, ATMOSPHERE, expecting one thing, getting another, hating it all the way but when I was done, I loved the damned book. It was extremely well-written, thought out and executed masterfully. The way he crafted the tale really made me enjoy the whole experience in reading it.

Then came DEEP IN THE DARKNESS, his second novel that I believe had had a previous existence as a series of shorts in small fiction magazines like FLESH & BLOOD. And I wanted to hate him all over again. It wasn't what I was expecting at all ...

...

... and I loved every minute of reading it. It turns out DEEP IN THE DARKNESS has fought its way through the myriad of trash I read to lodge itself in my subconscious. Every once in a while, when I'm looking out at my own backyard and my thoughts constantly turn to the horrors of DEEP IN THE DARKNESS and I end up wondering if there are not-so-natural creatures looking back at me, staring at me in the darkness. Waiting for me to head outside. The novel STILL sends shivers down my back and I read it nearly a year ago.

And this I owe to Michael Laimo.

And it was with this kind of anticipation that I received a copy of DEAD SOULS.

THE LIME:I will warn you now, reader: DEAD SOULS is crafted in such a way that if you can't read it all in one sitting, you'd better have a DAMNED good excuse. Laimo is a master of leading you through a story and interesting you every inch of the way. I could not put this book down.

The story involves a young New Yorker, eighteen-year-old Johnny Petrie, who has inherited a house and land up in Maine from a man he's never heard of before. When he decides to leave the oppressing atmosphere of his current life to accept this good fortune from a stranger, Johnny's world is forever changed--and NOT in a good way.

DEAD SOULS is fast-paced and the characters begin to take on almost real flesh and blood (which is scary thought in and of itself and even scarier once you read the book). I devoured this book in one sitting over the course of several hours. From the first paragraph, I was hooked. This is one of those books that grabs you and pulls you by the throat to the end. It's got everything: religious zealots, occult happenings ... hell, the thing's even got some pseudo-zombies in it.

Pick it up at your local bookstore, amazon.com, bn.com or shocklines.com where you can get an autographed copy.

THE TEQUILA:There's a vast sea of horror authors and horror novels out there, folks, both good and bad. With DEAD SOULS, Laimo has thrown down the gauntlet to them all. I hope that he continues to do so.
-Jack