Horror Reader 13

This book should come with a warning. Once you get past halfway, it gets increasingly difficult to stop reading. Other things get pushed back, like eating, sleeping, paying attention to the kids and getting anything done. Do not try to read just a little more before going to work!

One thing you can say for Stephen King, he does description well. Whether it's the setting or a character, he gets those mental images in place early in a story. I loved that skill in this story because an old fashioned amusement park has natural creepy overtones, even before you throw in a murder or a possible haunting.

The owner of the park and some of the key managers have a variety of experience in the amusement business. Some of them are what's called "carny from carny", second generation carnies that settled down to this stationary park for a few years, or in the case of the owner, for good.

King seems to have two different ways of telling a story. His Horror stories are usually written in third person, but this one fits in with his first person narratives that give the reader a feeling that they are being told a story in person by someone who might have been an ordinary person, but who has had some extraordinary experiences.

Would this story be classified as Horror? Maybe, because of the ghost. But that's not the main focus of the story. It's more a relation of the main character coming of age, surviving his first love, making choices for his life, having a few first experiences and finding his place in the world. A summer job in the amusement business has a significant effect on his journey of self discovery.

A little ghost hunting also plays a significant part, and I'm glad King didn't fall back on cliché and what you would expect to happen. As a matter of fact, he managed to surprise me pretty good in the end. There were some exciting moments towards the climax of the story, but a lot of interesting twists and turns along the way. I would highly recommend this as one of King's best works, but don't look for a lot of gore or a really scary ghost story.

"The first thing you learn on the lion tamer team is to stay out of the path of the urine."

This has turned out to be one of those real indie gems that are such a joy to discover. To start with, the editing and grammar are pristine. I didn't notice a single typo. It has obviously been professionally edited.

The characters include some circus people who are bound to be interesting, but the main character had layers of background and personality that are one of the real strengths of the book. John Nieves, actually Juan Nieves, is an insurance investigator who used to be a New York cop. He's half Hispanic and that brings up issues from his past. He's divorced, has a son, and has a phobia about clowns. Perfect for investigating the death of a lion tamer at a circus!

Secondary characters include the big cats, who face an uncertain future. The circus is small and can't afford upkeep on the animals. While the death appears to be an accident, the secret dealings of the circus people and a few attempts on John's life make him suspicious of foul play, which he's determined to get to the bottom of regardless of the danger.

This book made me literally laugh out loud several times, made me tense up, made me have all sorts of strong feelings. I got completely wrapped up in the fate of the big cats and with the life of the main character and what it's like to be an outsider looking into a closed community like the circus. The author seems to know his stuff too. According to his Amazon profile, he worked with a carnival so he knows the difference between the circus and the carnival, including some of the lingo which comes out in the book in a way that lets the reader learn the terms as they come up.

This will appeal to Mystery readers who don't want a lot of explicit gore. What violence there is stays within PG parameters and the messy death of the lion tamer is only implied, having happened before the start of the story. It will also appeal to anyone who likes a circus story or anything with scary clowns, but again, not in the realms of extreme terror. It's an amusing read and is something I will probably read again. I'll also be looking out for anything else by this author.

Bobo is a short story, just ten pages long. It's the story of a woman who has had a lot of bad breaks in life and is being held captive. I wondered many times how much of what she related was real and how much was hallucination. I read it as a descent into madness and wondered whether the voices she heard might be coming from a nurse in a mental hospital. The strength of the story is in that it could go either way and the reader, or at least me, isn't sure for a while.

There was some language dripping with imagery in some of the descriptive passages. "Trailing oily bubbles of fear..." Phrases like that. It worked well in context and interested me in the author's other writing, although the sample at the end of the story didn't grab me.

As short stories go, this was close enough to an episode of The Twilight Zone to keep my attention all the way to the end and to keep me wondering how it would come out. There was a short time when it wasn't clear what side of the good/evil divide Bobo was meant to be on, but it was all pretty creepy in the end, either way.

This is a little different than I usually read, but why limit myself, right? It's sort of remiiscent of Sherlock Holmes, but the eccentric detective has a past. It's very cleverly done. Told from the point of view of his new assistant, a down and out Welshman who was about to do himself in if he didn't succeed in this last job application. As it happens it was his very desperation that got him the job.

It's a slightly atypical Murder Mystery story, but I didn't guess the culprit before s/he was revealed. What's different about it is the excursion into exotic corners of London subculture, including the Jewish and Asian communities.

I thought it was very well done and the author seems to know his history. Enjoyable for a diversionary read.

This was an amusing take-off on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that made me think it would make a great Tim Burton movie. I found it original and funny while nodding and even apologizing to the original material.

Maureen is a strong-willed character and might just give the ghosts a few surprises while they're going through their usual past, present and future routine. The only thing I found a little weak was the ending, but the journey was enough fun to make it worth the .99 I spent.

This only really counts as Horror because there are ghosts. If you're looking for a creepy ghost story version of this, well let me know if you find it. When it gets closer to Christmas I may even go looking for one. In the meantime, this is good for a laugh and I would definitely read the author again.

The description says that this is, "An acid trip frenzy that delivers color and intensity the whole way."

That about sums it up. The whole thing is pretty disjointed and non-linear. Sort of a stream of consciousness work with swearing interspersed with poetic language, but ultimately not much of a story.

It lacks description and dialogue, but we're given the impression of some form of evil presence following the protagonist, who finds safety with strangers. I suppose you could say it's the stuff of nightmares, but not particularly scary.