Born to Bleed by Ryan C. Thomas (CBR-V #48)

Cannonball Read V: Book #48/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 184

Genre: Horror

I loved Ryan C. Thomas' The Summer I Died and I had no idea there was a sequel until recently. I picked it up despite the mediocre reviews and unfortunately came to the same conclusion: disappointing. 

This books takes place 10 years after the horrifying events in The Summer I Died. ***SPOILERS FOR THE SUMMER I DIED*** Roger ended up surviving after watching his sister and best friend die at the hands of a maniac. ***END SPOILERS*** He's obviously still very traumatized and barely functioning after he moved to southern California to be an artist. He's out painting at a lake one day when his co-worker at the galley he works for, Victoria, and her boyfriend mysteriously vanish. After finding their car still there with blood on the ground, Roger goes all detective to track down a suspicious SUV that was there earlier and that he thinks might be the kidnappers. 

***MORE TSID SPOILERS***I loved seeing Roger come back and how he was dealing with the events from the first book. I also thought it was interesting to fast forward to 10 years later when he's 30 years old instead of it taking place weeks or months after the first book. ****END SPOILERS***

Now for the bad: I wanted to like this book, but it was just no where near the caliber of the first. The relationship between Roger and Victoria was virtually non-existent. One of the best parts about TSID was the close relationship between Roger and Tooth. 

Also the whole wolf cult thing was terrible. The "bad guys" had kidnapped Victoria to sell her to a cult of cannibals. Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. It was also completely unnecessary because the cult was never really explained that well. Crazy guy in a house in the woods who tortures people in his basement = much more believable than rich people in a wolf-worshiping cult who buy people to eat them. It was just so ridiculous that it ceased to be scary.

The ending really made me mad because it almost ruined the first book as well. In it, Roger escapes most of the torture due to constantly winning a dice game. It almost always went in his favor and caused Tooth to lose and get most of the punishment. I liked just leaving it as extreme blind luck, but in this book it's kind of explained at the very end. I won't spoil it, but it did not make me happy.

Apparently there is going to be a third book in this series as well. I just hope that the author took some of the critical reviews into consideration and makes it more like the The Summer I Died than Born to Bleed.

Duma Key by Stephen King (CBR-V #46)

Cannonball Read V: Book #46/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 700

Genre: Horror/Fantasy

Another brick of a Stephen King book. Some are completely worth wading through 1000 pages (The Stand, Under the Dome...shut up, I liked that one) and some aren't (Insomnia, The Tommyknockers). Duma Key was pretty middle of the road. Good enough to actually finish (can't say the same for those last two I mentioned up there), but not crazy good. 

Edgar decides to move to Florida after he has a bad accident at work and his wife leaves him. He made a pretty good fortune on his business, so he settles down for a nice early retirement on Duma Key. Edgar is lonely and he's still dealing with the divorce and recovering from his accident (he lost an arm and had a pretty bad head injury). He hires a young college-age kid to run his errands for him and he befriends an old lady and her caretaker down the beach. Edgar also finds out that he has a knack for painting. Then, of course, weird stuff starts happening that has to do with some traumatic stuff that happened on the island in the past. 

I liked that there were very few characters in this book. King is amazing at character development, but sometimes it seems like you need a concordance to keep up with everyone. With so few characters, you really got to know each of them. I also really liked the location. Usually King's stories are set in Maine, but I connected a little more with Florida since I lived there for a few years (and I've never been to Maine). 


I debated between 3 and 4 stars for this book (it's probably more like 3.5), but the ending got a little bogged down and stretched out at times. This probably could have been a 500 pages book vs. a 700 page book.

The Troop by Nick Cutter (CBR-V #34)

Cannonball Read V: Book #34/52
Published: 2014 (expected)
Pages: 368
Genre: Horror

**I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. It is expected to be released on January 7, 2014.**

Scoutmaster Tim takes his troop of 14-year-old boys to a remote island in Canada so they can earn a merit badge. Unfortunately for them, the island isn't quite as remote as they thought. A sick looking man shows up at their cabin on the first evening and since Scoutmaster Tim is a doctor, he invites the man in to see if he can help. Turns out, the man has FRICKIN WORMS basically eating up his insides. As you can imagine, it all goes downhill from there. It doesn't help that one of the boys ends up being a certified sociopath. 

Don't let the Boy Scouts trick you - this is a full on horror novel. There are WORMS. And lots of blood and gore. I am terrified of most worms and the idea of parasitic worms makes my skin crawl. That may be why I found this book to be so terrifying. I read a lot of horror novels and parts of this book made me ill at times. 

The writing is actually really good. I've read some pretty awfully written horror novels, so this was a breath of fresh air. The characters are well-written, although a little cliche at times (there's the nerd, the jerk, the sociopath, etc.). I was afraid the teenage boys were going to get on my nerves by the end of the novel, but the author did a good job of making them authentic without being irritating or over the top (for instance, they told a dirty joke here and there, but it wasn't overdone for the sake of trying to prove to us that they are teenage boys). Once they are fighting for their lives, the boys get downright insightful and each boy has his own way of dealing with the terror they face. That's where the writing gets really good. I loved the juxtaposition between two of the boys tearfully trying to kill a turtle because they are out of food (that scene was so awful!) and the sociopathic boy reminiscing about the animals he tortured and killed for fun as a kid. 


The Troop actually reminded me a little bit of The Ruins by Scott Smith. If you like well-written horror, I'd highly recommend checking out this book out when it is released (and maybe reading The Ruins in the meantime).

The Descent by Jeff Long (CBR-V #32)

Cannonball Read V: Book #32/52
Published: 1999
Pages: 598
Genre: Horror

The Descent started off really strong with several stories that hinted of the underground horror to come. The first (and strongest in my opinion) followed a group of explorers headed by a guy named Ike who take cover in a cave from a snowstorm. Then they find a creepy-as-hell dead body with disturbing writing all over it in the cave with them. That probably should have been a sign not to further explore, but they descend through the cave anyways hoping to find a way out and they all end up slaughtered. There were a few other opening stories that introduced us to Ali, the sort-of nun (she's supposedly a Nun, but besides helping lepers in Africa, there's not really much else that would categorize her as a nun) and Elias Branch, a military officer. Basically, they find out that a bunch of mutant freaks live under the earth and have for millions of years. They're savage, but based on some of their dwellings may have been more advanced than humans at one time in history. Humans are trying to eradicate the "Haddies", as they are called. 

After that, it all pretty much went downhill. It was super disappointing after such a strong opening too. The book just continues to get more and more ridiculous as it goes on and keeps introducing more and more characters that are so under-developed that they are hard to keep track of. If it had kept the three major characters (Ali, Elias, and Ike) that it started out with, I think it would have been a much better book. The actually did enjoy the part where a group of scientists, including Ali and Ike, are sent on a several thousand mile trek through underground tunnels. Maybe the book should have focused more on that plot line instead of some of the more ridiculous ones (like maybe the Haddies-can-infiltrate-our-brains one, for instance). 


I had planned on reading the sequel to this book, but I don't think I will now unless the reviews say it's MUCH better. I'm only giving it three stars for the awesome opening and the underground trek sections of the book.

The Woman by Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee (CBR-V #26)

Cannonball Read V: Book #26/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 208
Genre: Horror

I picked up this book because I really like Jack Ketchum for the most part (The Girl Next Door is one of my favorite horror novels) and I really enjoyed the first two books in this particular series (Off Season and Offspring). I didn't even know there was a third book until recently.

The Woman would read fine as a stand alone book, but if you've read Off Season and Offspring, you have more of a background on who the Woman is and where she came from. After the massacre at the end of Offspring, she is wandering the woods on her own and is found by a guy named Christopher Cleek. For some reason that I'm not entirely sure of (just insane, I guess?) he decides to take the Woman and lock her up in his cellar then try and bring his wife and kids in on the fun of trying to "domesticate" her. Turns out Chris is a pretty sick guy (and so is his pervert son) and there's lots of blood and rape. 

Sadly, this book disappointed me, especially since I know Ketchum is capable of a much better story. This one felt like he just sort of threw it together last minute. It doesn't help that I just recently read the excellent The Summer I Died, which also involves a crazy person holding someone against their will in a basement. This isn't a terrible book (Ketchum is an excellent writer in general), but it just fell short in the character department. The Woman was alright because I knew her character from the previous two novels, but the family who kidnapped her weren't as fully formed as I'd like. I never got a clear reason WHY the father was insane and WHY THE HELL DID HIS WIFE OR DAUGHTER NOT RUN TO THE POLICE THE FIRST CHANCE THEY GOT?? I'm sorry, but if my husband or my dad told me that he had a wild woman chained up in the basement the last thing I'd do would be to stay in that house. The whole family just took the whole thing in stride. It was weird. 


I'd definitely recommend Off Season and Offspring, but maybe skip the third book in this trilogy as it doesn't really seem to add much to the story from the first two novels. 

The Summer I Died by Ryan C. Thomas (CBR-V #19)

Cannonball Read V: Book #19/52
Published: 2006
Pages: 174
Genre: Horror

I have to admit, I put off reading this book for a long time due to the reviews saying how gory and disgusting it was. I've read a lot of horror and I'm pretty sure my goal back in high school/college was to find the grossest horror novel of all time, but since I've gotten a little older I've realized that I no longer like gore just for the sake of gore. I like a story and good characters too. So ultimately, that's why I finally decided to read this novel. Although it's hailed as being extremely gross, it also supposedly has solid characters. 

Roger and Tooth are best friends. However, this past year Roger went off to college while Tooth stayed in their hometown. The reunite over the summer and take a trip into the woods to drink beer and do some target practice. When it's almost dark, they hear a woman screaming. After some debating, they decide to go find her in case she's hurt or needs help. Unfortunately, the crazy man who is chasing the screaming woman starts chasing Roger and Tooth as well. Then he chains them in his basement and tortures them.

The reviews weren't kidding - this book is gory. If the most horror you've read is Stephen King, this is much worse, but if you've read stuff like Jack Kilborn or Jack Ketchum you'll be fine. So is this book just torture-porn? Well, yes and no. Torture-porn tends to be gross without having characters or a storyline to back it up. That's where this book is different. I LIKED Roger and Tooth. They're not perfect, but they're really likable guys. The whole reason they are caught in this mess is because they tried to help a screaming woman even though they were tired and half drunk and just wanted to go home. 

For such a short book (less than 200 pages), I thought the character development was great. I've read 500 page books that I remember less about the characters. Even Skinny Man (the crazy guy who chains them up) is an interesting character. He's not just pegged as sick and evil like a lot of villans - he seems to actually have some sort of mental issue as well (he talks to himself and has conversations with his dogs). I mean, most killers probably aren't totally right upstairs, but I liked that the author gave this killer more symptoms of a mental issue than just killing. 

Roger and Tooth were great characters as well. They were just so honest and real. They weren't heroes or anything. They even debated whether or not they should even help the screaming women - just like drunk 19-year-old boys probably would do. I also liked the honesty of Roger being both sad, but mostly grateful, when Skinny Man was torturing Tooth instead of himself. That just seems like how people would REALLY think if they were in that situation, no matter how awful or selfish it may seem. 

I'd highly recommend this book if you can stomach it. The writing and characters are probably the best I've seen in a horror novel in a long time. 

The Twelve by Justin Cronin (CBR-IV #51)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #51/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 568
Genre: Post-apocalyptic/Horror

*First of all, I'm going to apologize for the brevity of my last two book reviews. It's a really busy time of year and I just need to get these written before Jan 1. for Cannonball read.*

The Passage was actually one of my favorite books that I read last year. It had a few downfalls, but overall I really enjoyed it. The Twelve is the second book in a soon-to-be trilogy and it didn't disappoint.

I was a little worried because The Passage was so intricate and had a large group of characters that I had a hard time following at times. I like to read a book series all at once otherwise I tend to forget plot lines and characters. The most genius thing in this book was the prologue that summed up everything that happened in the first book. I probably would have been a lot more lost without it.

The Twelve has some characters from the first book but also quite a few new characters. I kind of liked that because it almost felt like just another book in the same post-apocalyptic setting instead of a straight sequel. 

My only complaint is the same as with The Passage: I had a hard time getting a grasp on some of the characters because there were just TOO many to try and differentiate them all. However, this book was a little shorter than The Passage, which was a good thing. The Passage had a little too much fluff in the middle and it dragged. This book didn't drag at all and I couldn't put it down. Even when I forgot who certain characters were or what they had done, the plot kept my attention and kept me reading. 

Sister, Sister by Andrew Neiderman (CBR-IV #47)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #47/52
Published: 1992
Pages: 292
Genre: Horror

I picked up this horribly cheesy novel at the used bookstore for $1. It's not worth even that probably. I actually forgot I even read this until I was looking through my Goodreads account (add me!) and realized I never wrote my CBR review for it. 

It was a pretty forgettable novel, so forgive me if this review is somewhat vague. The plot follows a school teacher who gets a really good paying job to teach a set of conjoined twins. The twins (named Alpha and Beta...seriously) are locked up in a lab and have never been outside their small apartment in there. They're pretty much treated like lab rats. 

What mainly stuck out to me is how far we've come in 20 years. This book treats the conjoined twins like they are so freakish that they could never been seen out in public. They are kept a huge secret. Now, conjoined twins can get their own reality show in TLC (See Abby & Brittany). I was sort of appalled at how these twins were treated in the book.

Anyways, there is some weird stuff involving mind control with one of the twins and people die...blah blah. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill cheesy horror novel. Worth it for a super quick read if you're into that sort of thing (which I obviously am for some reason). 

The Association by Bentley Little (CBR-IV #40)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #40/52
Published: 2001
Pages: 448
Genre: Horror

I can't believe I'm already on book 40 for this year! I'm on much better track than last year when I had to read about 10 books in December to get caught up. 

So, The Association is a schlocky little horror novel. I was actually surprised to see that it was published in 2001 because it just screams of cheesy 80's horror. I've read one or two of Bentley Little's books before, so luckily I wasn't expecting a masterpiece. 

The plot is pretty simple: a couple moves into a gated community in Utah called Bonita Vista and everything is awesome until the homeowner's association keeps getting increasingly bothersome with their crazy rules. I decided to read this book because I had never really heard of homeowner's associations growing up because I lived out in the country. Now that I live in southern California, I get a kick out seeing some of the stupid rules they come up in the HOA (one place we lived wouldn't let you put up curtains unless the backs of them were white). Fortunately, those rules seem perfectly normal compared to the HOA in this book.

At first, Barry and Maureen are just mildly annoyed by some of the rules (or C, C, & R's, as the HOA in the book calls them). No pets of any kind, no working out of the house (Barry is a writer, so he has to rent an office in town), things like that. They become friends with their neighbors who also aren't too keen on the HOA rules. 

Eventually the rules just become insane. Only married couples allowed to live together. No one is allowed to have kids. No residents or visiters that are not Caucasian. People who break the rules or defy the association seem to have a habit of disappearing or dying suddenly. 

Like I said, it's a cheesy horror novel. Nothing more, nothing less. 

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (CBR-IV #38)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #38/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 617
Genre: Horror/Dystopian

I first read this book back in college. I know now it's getting a little more press due to the Hunger Games comparisons. I actually first picked up Hunger Games the week it was released back in 2008 because I read that it was similar to Battle Royale. They do share a lot of similarities, but enough differences to make them totally different novels. 

For instance, both novels take groups of teens and pit them against each other to the death. However, The Hunger Games picks a boy and a girl from each district. Battle Royale randomly picks a ninth grade class who has no idea they were chosen until they're already there. They pretend they're taking them on a school trip then gas them on the bus. I think it's a little more chilling that ALL of these students actually know each other and grew up together vs. HG's involving mostly strangers. 

Both novels also provide weapons to the players, but they are distributed a little differently. Instead of HG free-for-all weapons and food in the cornucopia, BR hands out bags to each student as they leave. Each bag contains some sort of random weapon. However, it could be anything from a fork to a machine gun. 

My favorite difference with Battle Royale is the collars. The students are fitted with thin, metal collars that are used as tracking devices. They also contain explosives that will detonate if the wearer tries to remove it or if they are found inside of a forbidden zone. Every few hours, a new zone on the island is "forbidden" and anyone in that section will be killed. If 24 hours goes by without a kill, everyone's collars will detonate and no one wins. 

The novel mainly follows local "rockstar" Shuya (even though rock music is outlawed in their country). Shuya was raised in an orphange along with is best friend who is also on the island. Shuya joins up with Noriko early on and feels he must protect her since his best friend had a crush on her (remember, they're 15-year-olds). Noriko is also injured after being shot in the leg. Shuya and Noriko meet up with the mysterious loner Shogo and they all band together to try and overthrow the game.

I love this novel. I can't say weather I like more or less than HG because I really can't compare the two. BR is much more brutal and bloody. It does have some great characters and even love interests, but that's definitely an afterthought to the violence (which is probably more realistic in a situation like this). 

With 42 characters it can be a little hard to keep track of everyone, especially with all of the unfamiliar Japanese names. I do like "students remaining" tally at the beginning of each chapter though. I also like that there is a "main" group of students we follow and get to know well, but chapters with other students are interspersed throughout the novel as well. 

I don't think Battle Royale is for everyone who might have enjoyed The Hunger Games. However, if you wished HG was a little more brutal and a little less YA, go ahead and try it. 

Desert Places by Blake Crouch (CBR-IV #37)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #37/52
Published: 2003
Pages: 289
Genre: Horror/Thriller

I'm a huge fan of Blake Crouch, but I didn't think this was his best novel. I think it's one of his earlier ones, so maybe that has something to do with it. Andrew Thomas is a writer who finds a strange note in his mailbox one morning. It says that there is a body buried on his property with his blood on it and if he doesn't do what the note says, the police will be notified about the body. 

The story had a great setup, I'll definitely give it that. However, the rest of the book fell a little flat. I struggled through finishing it, which is pretty bad for a thriller. In my opinion, thrillers should always leave you wanting more and I figured this would be a quick read. 

I finished this book about a week and a half ago and honestly can't even remember enough details to write any more about it. That probably says something. It didn't stick with me and was ultimately pretty forgettable. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't BAD, but I wouldn't start with this book if you're just getting into Crouch. 

Eerie by Blake & Jordan Crouch (CBR-IV #30)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #30/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 284
Genre: Horror


At first, I thought maybe this was father/son writing team, but after reading the interview with the authors at the end of the book I found out that Jordan Crouch is Blake Crouch's little brother. Interesting. I like Blake Crouch, so I figured I'd give this book a shot.


The book had a really good synopsis: It starts out with a horrible car wreck with a brother and sister and their dad. The dad is severely brain damaged and the kids are left parentless since their mother had died not to long before the accident. 


Flash forward thirty years and now the little boy (Grant) is detective with the Seattle Police. He hasn't seen his little sister, Paige, in years -- ever since he tried to conduct an intervention to get her away from drugs and prostitution. One day he gets a lead on Paige's whereabouts. She's now a high-end prostitue in the area. Pretending to be a new client, Grant ends up at Paige's house.

When he reunited with his sister, he thinks she is still on drugs because she looks awful -- too thin with bags under her eyes. However, Paige has a different problem. There is something living under her bed that won't let her leave the house. If she tries to leave, she gets violently ill. And now that Grant has been inside the house, he is trapped to.

Then...everything just goes downhill. The plot gets boring after a while (they can't leave the house! What is that thing under the bed?). Literally half the book is them just being trapped in the house with nothing really happening. Mostly, I just wanted to know that the heck that thing under Paige's bed was. Until I found out that is.

Which bring me to the ending. The AWFUL ending. I'm STILL not sure what happened. I won't spoil it, but I was really disappointed. It's was definitely one of the most WTF endings to a book I have ever read -- and not in a good way. It was a complete letdown.

I think this would have been a better short story or novella than an actual novel. The plot was intriguing, but it really needs a better ending. 

The Cellar by Richard Laymon (CBR-IV #29)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #29/52
Published: 1980
Pages: 309
Genre: Horror


I'd heard good things about this book. So much so, that it seems to almost be a "classic" in the horror novel genre. Richard Laymon is pretty well known as a horror novelist as well, so I figured this would be a good place to start with my first Laymon book. I can now safely say that I probably will not be reading anymore Laymon books. 


This book was awful. Between the unlikeable characters and the unnecessary, stomach-churning depictions of child rape, I just couldn't believe how many people recommended this book. I was expecting a scary creature in the cellar type book. Well, there was a creature in the cellar (or sometimes in the attic, or the bedrooms, so I'm not quite sure why it wasn't just called "The House" or something). I'm still not quite sure what the heck this "creature" was. Was he an alien? A mutant human? Half animal? Science experiment gone wrong? I have no clue. It would have been nice to have some sort of background on this thing. 


But the creature only is half of the plot. The other half is about a woman and her 12-year-old daughter who are on the run from her ex-husband who was just released from prison. He was in prison for raping his daughter and now the reader is being punished by having to read a bunch of graphic scenes of him child-raping his way up the California coast to find his ex-wife and daughter. Ugh. I know it's a horror novel and horror novels don't always have likable characters, but my God, it would have been horrifying enough to allude to the child abuse instead of telling us every detail. 


These two plots are linked because the mom who is on the run ends up sleeping with some guy who is trying to kill the creature in the cellar of "Beast House". Oh yeah, Beast House is the house where the creature lives that the owners conduct tours of due to to all the murders that have happened there. I think Laymon was trying to write two different stories and came up with the most nonsensical way to link the two plots. There is no character development between the mom and her new lover (I can't even remember their names!). They just start sleeping with each other and when they are having sex THEY LEAVE HER DAUGHTER WITH THE GUY'S ADULT MALE FRIEND. Yes, she leaves her daughter WHO WAS RAPED BY HER FATHER with a strange, older male. Great parenting, lady. 


Anyways, I would not really recommend this book unless you're a sick person who needs some new pedophilia material, and even then it's probably not worth wading through the rest of the book for that. 

Swan Song by Robert McCammon (CBR-IV #24)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #24/52
Published: 1987
Pages: 956
Genre: Horror/Post-Apocalyptic

Swan Song has been on my to-read list ever since I heard it being compared to Stephen King's The Stand. I read The Stand in high school and loved it, so I wanted to see how Swan Song measured up. It does have some similarities to The Stand: both novels take place after an apocalyptic event (although Swan Song is a nuclear war instead of a disease) and follow several different groups of people (the "good guys" and the "bad guys") until the final good vs. evil battle at the end. But other than that (and the length), it's a totally different story.

The characters were great and well-written. There's a little girl named Swan is has been cared for by a former wrestler named Josh since the death of her mother. Then a crazy New York bag lady who escapes from the city after the bombs. Then there's Colonel Macklin and his sidekick Roland a.k.a. the bad guys. The story rotates between these different groups of characters until they all come together at the end of the novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel but probably wouldn't read it over and over again like I could The Stand. Definitely worth a one-time read for any fans of long, post-apocalyptic novels in the same vein as The Stand or The Passage. 

Jigsaw Man by Gord Rollo (CBR-IV #22)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #22/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 288
Genre: Horror


Jigsaw Man is a kind of campy horror novel about a guy named Michael Fox. I know. I really wish novels would research their character names better so I don't have to picture Michael J. Fox getting his appendages chopped off. Anyways, Michael Fox is a homeless guy who is contemplating suicide when he gets an offer from a rich guy who wants to pay him two million dollars for his right arm. Well, he's left handed and was going to kill himself anyways, so why not? However, when someone wants to pay a ton of money for one of your body parts, RUN AWAY. It's probably too good (not to mention bizarre) to be true. 


The story is fast moving and fairly interesting if you like pulpy horror. It's not going to wow you in a literary sense, but it a nice throw-away novel to read by the pool.